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The UoAk website is only forecasting aurora activity from solar wind and coronal holes. They do that by watching the sun rotate and guess when a known coronal hole will point toward Earth. Unfortunately, coronal holes rarely make uber-auroras. And in May in Alaska, you will need a very bright aurora to see it. Very bright auroras are caused by coronal ejections and ejections are caused by sun spots. The sun is close to its solar minimum, is quiet, and does not have many sun spots. There have only been 17 sun spots the whole year.

Bottom line: The odds off seeing an aurora in May-July in Alaska is almost zero. So do not get your hopes up.

The Busnell's ARE 10x50 or is it the auto focus you don't like!

Mine are arriving today and I will head down to the ocean and see how they work here at home.

Personally, I do not care for the PermaFocus. But it has its place and its advantages. But it also has disadvantages. If you are someone that has a hard time findingsubjects with binoculars, then PermaFocus may make the experience moreenjoyable because it is one less thing to deal with. But you may be better off going with lowerzoom and/or wider field-of-view. Maybenot. Everyone is different.

When you go to Cabela’s, take your Bushnells with you. Get some high-end binoculars and go look outa window into the distance. Findsomething small and detailed like tree branches, leaves, or bushes. Immediately swap to your Bushnells and youwill probably notice a difference. Perhaps thatdifference is worth the upcharge to you? Perhaps not. I think a lot of itis based on how good you are at holding binoculars and how interested you arein seeing the animals closer up. If youare unsteady with binoculars, better optics may not be noticeable. Again, everyone is different.

Also, try some other budget binoculars. You may like them better only because theyare roof prism and fit your hands better. Look at one of their stuffed birds from 25 yards with the PermaFocusbinoculars. It will be blurry. How blurry depends on your eyes. Some folks will be fine with that becausethey would rather look at something that close without binoculars. But I would encourage everyone to do both ifsomething sits still long enough. Afteryou have seen your 20th bald eagle of the day, seeing one at 25 yardswith binoculars is an interesting experience.

But back to the OP’s topic. Ido not disagree that the Bushnell PermaFocus are good budget binocular for $50. You cannot go wrong with them at that price. But I think for $24 more, the manuallyfocused Wingspans are a better value and more versatile. Ionly disagree that the Bushnell PermaFocus “…are the best Binoculars for aAlaska Cruise.” I guarantee a $1000 pairof Swarovski binoculars are noticeably better. In other words, I do not want people to get the impression that BushnellPermaFocus have some kind of magic that makes them “the best”. “The best for $50”? For most people, sure. But not “the best”.

The Bushnell Perma Focus 10X 50 are the best Binoculars for a Alaska Cruise.

I strongly disagree with this statement. If your budget is $50, then the BushnellPermaFocus binoculars are good. However,if you can afford an Alaskan cruise, then you can afford more than $50 forbinoculars. If you are reading thisthread, then you are probably interested in seeing animals and willing to spenda bit more. I suggest that you do spend abit more.

Short story…

PermaFocus is not ideal. There isa reason almost all binoculars have manual focus.

Roof prisms are much more compact than porro prisms.

I like 10x50 for Alaska. Mywife does better with 8x42.

Budget binocular = Wingspan 10x42 Voyager/Eagle Scout for $74

Midrange binocular = Hawke 10x50 Endurance ED for $240

Long story…

I remember being on the top deck in front of the glaciers in GlacierBay. Someone was pointing out seals onthe ice. I could see them great. The lady next to me complained she could notmake them out clearly. I traded her binocularsand she was surprised how big of a difference they made. Then her husband used my binoculars and was surprisedat the difference. Since we were sittingstill and everyone was standing around, over a dozen people used my binoculars. And I tried theirs. A little more money on better binoculars wenta long way that day, that cruise, and many years later.

I remember looking at sea otters at 75 yards and seeing their individualwhiskers. It was evening, heavily overcast,and the ship was moving. You need the10x zoom to enlarge the whiskers and you need 50mm to make the most of the lowlight. More than 10x and I start gettingannoyed holding the binoculars still free handed. More than 50mm and they are too heavy, toobig, and/or too expensive.

I remember looking at bald eagles at 30 yards in Ketchikan and seeingthe individual feathers on their face. And looking at a grizzly’s face in the bushes from the Denali bus at 25yards (only his face was visible). Ifyou think a grizzly looks impressive at 25 yards, use binoculars and you will seeamazing details.

I remember heading into the Gulf of Alaska and looking at MountFairweather. Then I saw a small glacierunder it. Then I noticed the glacier wasmoving. Then I used my binoculars andrealized the small glacier was a cruise ship many miles away. It really put the size of Mount Fairweatherinto perspective.

I would suggest 10x50 binoculars for Alaska. You need the 10x because many things will be faraway. But you have to be good or practiceat handling 10x on close objects. Ithink 12x or higher is too much when looking at close animals or free handingon a moving boat. I like 50mm becauselow light can last for hours in Alaska. However,if you are not good at finding/tracking your target with binoculars, then dropdown to 8x. It is better to see a smallerquality image at 8x than to get frustrated with 10x. If you cannot hold heavy binoculars up long,then drop down to 42mm, maybe 32mm. ButI would never drop down to 20-25mm as your only binocular. Being that small, optics quality is far morecritical and going cheap costs you much more. They can be great as a spur-of-the-moment pocket binocular, but a 10x25 canbe frustrating to use at important times.