How do I clean my binoculars?
October 22, 2009 | Posted by Best Binocular Reviews 
No matter how carefully you treat your binoculars, at sometime you will need to give them a clean, so what is the best way to do this?
To start with be sure to read the owners manual as they will often contain information on the best way to clean your specific model or brand.
The important thing to take into account before cleaning is that the less rubbing you can do on any optical surface the better – even the best microfiber cloths can potentially damage the surface, but this is more likely if there are dust or other hard particles on the surface that will act like sandpaper. So it is vitally important that you remove these first – to do so start by blowing off any large debris and dust from the body of the binoculars as well as on the lenses. You can do this with your breath, but because of the increased moisture it is far better to get a blower (the type that you squeeze) or even an air pump. I would not recommend using canned/compressed air cleaners that are often used for computers, as they may contain pretroleum distillates, that can damage some coatings on your lenses.
The depending on how dirty or if there is still some dirt on your lenses you may wish to either carefully rinse with tepid water to remove any more stubborn abrasive particles, as well things like salt spray.
The next steps should only be done if the first two have still not managed to clean your optics: Use a soft lent-free cloth or microfiber cloth, the best of which are designed specifically for the use on binoculars or cameras and are often called camera lens cloths. You can also get specialized lens cleaners or alcohol for the exterior glass. Coatings can be relatively easy to scratch or damage, so be extra careful cleaning the lenses.
Lens Cleaning Kits & Pens
You can easily find many lens cleaning kits and “pens” on the web that are mostly designed to be used with cameras, but work just as well with your binoculars. There are also a few that are specifically designed for binoculars.
Nikon make an excellent lens pen cleaning system, that is small making it simple to carry on your person or binocular case and consists of a soft brush that retracts into pen body to stay clean. The brush can safely remove fingerprints, dust, and other debris from your binoculars and works with all types of binoculars, telescopes, cameras and other optical products.
For full kits, take a look at my Guide to Optic Lens Cleaning Kits
US Shoppers
UK Shoppers
Cleaning the Body of the Binoculars
A soft cloth with warm water and possibly a mild cleaner can be used for the outer metal, rubber, or plastic, but make sure you don’t use this on the lenses.
Cleaning the inside your Binoculars
What if there is moisture, dust or dirt inside binoculars, how do I take my binoculars apart to clean them?
Don’t! Remember many binoculars, especially the more expensive pairs are filled with nitrogen that keep the optics from fogging up. Opening them up will also probably destroy any waterproof seals and you could easily make the completely un-usable by moving the alignment of the lenses or prism.
If you think the interior of your binoculars need to be cleaned, it is best to contact the manufacturer or an authorized dealer for more information take a look at my page on Binocular Repairs that includes contact details for most of the major manufacturers as well as independent experts that can repair your optics.
Categories: Buyers Guides, Uncategorized | 
Tags: Accessories, Cleaning Binoculars, How to, Lens Cleaning | 
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