Rubber armour on Canon 10x30is binocular has gone sticky

[catburglar]

My circa 10 yr old Canon ISB’s have developed a sticky outer coating. Is there anything I can do to fix it- short of trying to physically remove it. 
 

They’ve always been kept in their case when not in use, so also wondering if there’s something I could do to prevent it happening to my other binos.
Any ideas?

[PeterW]

Try baby powder and/or Armorall spray. The powder seems to have halted the degradation on my old 13x36. Again always been in a box. Not seen any problems with other binoculars, not that I have any with the same type of rubber material.

 

Peter 

[johninderby]

Thiis might be worth a read on the subject.

https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=353430

[catburglar]

Thanks to both- might take a trip to my local Halfords to get a can or ArmorAll and see how it goes.

[PeterCPC]

I used surgical spirit on mine.

Peter

[PeterW]

Baby powder first, see if you can stabilise the sticky... make them smell nice, tiny amounts so you don’t get talc on the inside!

PEter

[Space Hopper]

I remember i read a similar thread about this a few weeks ago, either on here or on CN.

A bit of a worry ; i also have the same similar age 10x30s and an even older pair of 15x50s. They have also always been kept in their 'crappy' cases and not subjected to a lot of use or left in the sun for hours at a time.

But thankfully mine are both okay, as good as new really.

But it seems the rubber armour is vulnerable to anything with a vaguely chemical content coming in to contact with them  ; even sun tan lotioned hands can have detrimental effects later down the line.

I'd hate anything like this to affect them : they are such super binoculars. 

I'd be very wary about 'cleaning' them 'willy nilly' with anything.

I found the other thread that mentioned it :

 

 

[Nakedgun]

I have two Kowa spotting scopes, both 20 years of age, one kept on a tripod ready for instant use, the other in a case with other items ready for transport. New, both had a somewhat spongey exterior surface which aided grip, and at around 15 years the surface of the exposed scope became a sticky mess but it is slowly drying out, the material shrinking slightly in the process, the cased scope not having this problem.

Clearly seen in the images are permanent fingerprints and dust and lint stuck to the body. I never tried any chemical solution, and any silicone-type product would not be an improvement, in my view, as I hate the slick surface they leave behind.

Kowa produces extremely fine optical systems but how they got this part wrong baffles me. Perhaps long-term testing of this skin was not conducted prior to adoption.