Hilkinson 20X80 Binoculars ??

[lewisjones]

Hi

I see someone is selling these binoculars on some other Astro forums.

I may be interested but cannot find out ant info about them.

Do any of the SGL members know anything about these binoculars, whether they have owned/used them or have heard reports as to their quality. 

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Lewis

[BinocularSky]

I know very little, except that the early models - "Solus", I think - were Japanese made and had a reasonably good reputation - equivalent, from what I recall, to the Japanese Helios Stellar of the 1990s. I think the brand-name "Hilkinson" was acquired by Viking about 5 or 6 years ago. You might get more (and more reliable!    ) information from the Cloudy Nights binocular forum.

[melsky]

Depends how old they are, I had a pair of Hilkinson 20x80's forty years ago which were superb.

Mel

[lewisjones]

I believe they were bought new in the early 70's 

[lewisjones]

Pics attached

[lewisjones]

Do these look like the ones you used to own melsky?

[F15Rules]

They look great and the lenses look like new. I've had older smaller Hilkinsons in the past and they were nice, well built too.

If they at no more than around £80 max I'd say go for it:).

Dave

Dave

[Hallelujah]

"Coated Optics" generally have performance problems.

Ghosting is one of the problems encountered when viewing bright objects such as the moon.

There can also be flaring on brights objects such as Jupiter & Venus, etc.

Stan

[melsky]

Do these look like the ones you used to own melsky?

Yes those are the ones, I certainly think they would be better than any of the the "cheap" 20x80's you can buy new as long as they haven't been knocked about.

Mel