dexter77

Thank you for your kind words, more reports coming soon!

Date: November 8, 2023 Binoculars: APM 16x70 ED Location: Central Europe (Poland) I took all the photos with my smartphone. Have you ever had the opportunity to go alone outside the city for night observations? If not, I sincerely recommend it. Amazing experience. And I'm not talking about some nearby area. Just pack your equipment in the car and drive to the countryside under the dark sky. Some time ago this was unthinkable to me. Not for social reasons, I just didn't have the courage to go completely alone to a wild field, where visibility ends only a few meters away, and then only darkness and the specific sounds of forest animals nearby. A clear night in November is such a rare occurrence that I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity. I only took 16x70 binoculars with me, so setting up the entire set took me only a few seconds. As soon as I looked at the starry sky, I immediately knew that it was worth it. In the blink of an eye, I was immersed in the views and forgot about the local world around me. The best thing about solitary observations is that we fully focus on the objects, we drift among the stars and are not distracted by anything. In addition, extremely good adaptation of eyesight in the dark, maximum enlargement of the pupil, which really gets a "kick" when no unplanned light reach us from any direction. I had two main binocular challenges, the rest was recreation. The first of them was the spiral galaxy NGC 7331 in Pegasus with a brightness of 9.2 magnitude, which is not an easy object to observe with small binoculars. I aimed at the corner of the constellation Pegasus and bounced to the star Matar, which became my guide. I found the location of the galaxy quite quickly in the field of view thanks to the characteristic three stars right next to it. As for the facility itself, I had big doubts, but I wasn't going to give up. I stared at the place for quite a long time, until at some point a small, slightly elongated glow began to appear. To gain confidence, I took several approaches until I reached such a level of visual adaptation that the galaxy basically loomed straight ahead. There are several other challenges at this facility, such as: "Stephan's Quintet", but I leave that for a much larger aperture. Cetus A, a spiral galaxy numbered M71, was another challenge for my 16x70 binoculars. The constellation Cetus was already diving towards the horizon, but its tail was still quite high. After finding the Delta Cet star, the galaxy I was looking for appeared quite quickly. This time it was definitely easier. It resembled a delicate, small fluffy ball. All because of its location relative to us, some 33 million light years away. The distance is impressive. As I immersed myself in the autumn deep sky objects, I basically forgot about the darkness surrounding me. The focus on the stars was so strong that I wouldn't even notice a passing "forest creature" if it decided to come closer. Out of curiosity, I took a look at Saturn, which was about to disappear over the horizon. To my surprise, conditions were so good that for the first time in my life I saw something more than an egg-shaped ball in small binoculars. There were moments when the snapping focus gave a characteristic shape to the rings, almost separating them from the planet itself. Well, maybe "almost". Small, but still - Saturn in all its beauty through 16x70 binoculars. A rare sight. As the minutes passed, I was able to see basically any objects within the range of the binoculars. However classic deep sky objects made the greatest impression. The Double Cluster in Perseus, which was bursting with countless stars. The Andromeda Galaxy, which stretched across the field of view along with its neighbors M110 and M32. The Pleiades, which showed their nebular glow, and finally the open clusters in Auriga, which spread like diamonds in the sky. Finally, for the first time this season, I was able to take a longer look at Orion and M42, or at the Monkey Head Nebula NGC 2174, which was an easy object for 16x70 binoculars that night, even without filters. I must admit that it was probably one of the best autumn nights I have ever had in terms of observations. I don't remember such a crystal clear sky at this time of year. You could choose from both simple and more difficult objects. The slight cold didn't bother at all, and the humidity wasn't too bad either. It was good to get out of the city in the middle of the week and look at the night sky, even if it didn't suit anyone else at the time. Observing alone outside your comfort zone is a completely different experience. On the one hand, a little adrenaline that something might happen, and on the other, the feeling of exploring unknown regions of the sky with total concentration, making you feel like a space explorer. It was worth it. Hear you soon! Regards!

Great bino, I bought it last year on the german forum (Astronomie.de). Better image quality than TS Marine 15x70 and other BA8 binoculars etc. Views are sharp almost to the end field of view. This is a nice grab-and-go binocular for Deep Space Objects. Worth to buy it!

I have APM 10x50 ED, APM 16x70 ED and APM 25x100 ED. I think this is a perfect set-up. I've started with Nikon 10x50 EX a few years ago.

Thanks, but all of your proposals are too small. Most are for telescope eyepieces, less than 40mm in outer diameter. I found out that only Baader have 43 mm for eypieces, I need to try it: https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/baader-winged-rubber-eyecup-4243-(hyperion-68°).html https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/baader-hyperion-m43-rubber-thread-cover-and-eyeshield.html

Dimensions: outer diameter: 43mm inner diameter: 33mm height: 13mm These from alli are to small

Hello! I have an APM 16x70 ED and an APM 10x50 ED. I have to replace the rubber eyecups with new ones (the old rubbers are worn out). Do you know where I can buy it in Europe?

Yeah, my own dream team

Last month upgrade

TS Marine 15x70 will be good choice. I have been using something like this for last 3 years. Great views. At the same time I had 10x50. Nice combo. Remember that better quality is more important than magnification. Last month I upgraded my equipment and bought APM 10x50 and 25x100.

I've just ordered Pocket Sky Atlas from S&T shop: https://www.shopatsky.com/pocket-sky-atlas-new

Hi! Is it possible to buy new atlas in Europe right now? I cant' find it in any bookstore.

Unfortunately in my country we don't have company that can make "true collimation" (lack of equipment), so I will have to use "conditionally aligned binoculars" or find some other way to fix it

Yeah, right, for my IPD is ok, but I will have to send it to optical service to get full collimation

Thanks to everyone for the answers. Yesterday I had clear sky and free time to check it again. So in my opinion there was a little wrong collimation on my IPD. My brain merged star to one, but when I close one and another eye I saw a liitle shift of the star (Altair). It looked like this: I've decideced to move a little bit a correct screw (number 4 on graphic, I was turning left to move star up/right) to achieve the same view in two lenses. It took me a 5 minutes to achieve good result. Now, for my IPD the collimation is ok, but when I change IPD then binoculars are getting out of collimation - I see two stars. When I get back to my IPD and leave it - everything is fine. So as someone said, maybe bino is "conditionally aligned"? I will try to send it to optical service in my country (Poland).

Ok, but how to explain that sometimes collimation is perfect and sometimes not? I'm not saying about view merged by brain. Like I said, it happens when you adjust distance between eyes. When I set correct distance for my eyes sometimes collimation is perfect, but other day is not - I see two stars. I need to move back and forward IPD and suddenly fine collimation pops up. Is here anybody here who also has this bino?

Hello! Recently I've bought APM 28x110. Great giant binoculars. When I look on mountains and other terrestrial object everything is fine. Collimation is fine, objects are single and sharp. I can easily move hinges to adjust distance between eyes. But I've noticed something else. When I look at night sky stars, sometimes collimation escape when I move hinges to adjust distance beetwen eyes. I see two stars etc. I need to try different position of hinges to set up collimation correctly. Why is it happening? Is here anybody who also have APM 28x110?

A little update. I've received second bino from TS, but there was the same issue - a shaking mount. I've decided to return bino and I've received a refund. Few days ago I bought WO bino here from one user, I'm waiting for delivery.

Hi! I've decided to buy APM 25x100 for astronomy observations. I have ba8 10x50 and 15x70, now I want to try something bigger. I know, that there are two versions of APM 25x100, ED and without ED. The ED version is much more expensive. Is there anyone who had a chance to test these binos together? I don't know if the price difference is really worth it fo night sky observation. I found a lot of happy users with ED and non ED version.

Ok, maybe my context was wrong. I was thinking about astro products made in China for example 5 years ago and now. Please compare old version TS bino and the new one - old version is made better and it was cheaper. Of course there are other causes like economical world situation etc. A little update about my bino TS. I've contacted wit TS, they will replace with new one bino without shaking mount (I hope ).

There is no suprise that in the past products were made better than now, today we have everywhere worse materials and quality. More over we pay more for it. Despite this TS binoviewer is stlill made ok, it doesn't look like a cheap product. These shakings are also on the second mounting / housing with loosen diopter.

I can adjust dioptres. This bino is well collimated and I'm afraid that the second on will be not. The problem was badly put eyepieces in clamping ring. This shaking mount doesn't have affect on observation. But I wrote to TS.

You know, It depends. I had one cheap SW binoviewer which was well made and good collimated. There wasn't shaking in housing mount. Sometimes you need to choose carefullly one bino from few in shop. But when you buy from website it is impossible. I had also Baader MaxBright (first version) binoviewer and I didn't see a lof of difference between it and SW. Back to the topic - yesterday I gave it second try. First of all I put pair of eyepieces in housing mount with diopter tightened all the way down - then there is no shaking or wobbling. Then I rotated clamping ring that eyepieces were put tight and straight. To my suprise image was really good collimated and I see only one Jupiter and Saturn with a lot of details. There was no double images. Summarizing, first of all it is necesarry to put eyepieces in housing carefully and straight. Secondly (as you wrote) - you have to keep diopter tightened all the way down or up when you put eyepieces. The day before I put eyepieces in bad diopter position and this was the reason why I couldn't get one image - eyepieces were shaking and were not straight. Observing with pair of Baader Ortho 18mm is amazing!

Thanks, yes, it is new item, I bought it in TS Shop: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/ I wrote e-mail to shop that I would like to replace it and get new one, we will see what they say. Last year I had Baader MaxBright and I didn't have problem with eyepieces mount like here, nothing was wobbling or shaking.

Hi, yesterday I received package with my new TS bino. I had also clear sky and I could test binoviewer with pair of Baader Ortho 18mm. Unfortunatelly I saw two Saturns, two Jupiters and so on. I tried with different adjustment to get one planet and have good collimation, but with no success. Then I've noticed that one mounting socket is shaking and when I move it with eypieces inside then I get one image for a while. But when I do nothing there are two planets. There are aligment problems. I've recorded video, take a look: With pair of 25mm Plossl image is one and stable. Any idea? Collimation problem or what?