what binoculars do you own

[Dark Vader]

I  started off with a "free" Mirador Japan 7x50 acquired in a box of "junk" from a friend who passed away. Cleaned them up, pointed them at the moon and was hooked!!

Bought a 10x50 Olympus DPS1 and a Celestron Skymaster 15x70, an Amazon basics tripod with pistol grip head, and a long Giottos 3290B monopod. 

The 10x50s get the most use. 

[Criermike]

Nikon Aculon 7x50s, Celestron Skymaster 15x70s and Bresser 10x50s

[russ]

I still have my Lidl special Meade 10x50 bought in 2003. But don't use them too much anymore. 

Picked up some Tokina 10x42's a couple of years ago and they are great for general use. But my son laid claim to those. So now using Helios WP6 8x42, which i enjoy using a lot. Quite compact and great for wildlife. Not used them much for astro.

Miss my Celestron 15-70's. 

[johnbaz]

I think i've around fifty bino's but my fave are the Nikon Monarch 8x42 roof prism ones, They're just soooo crisp and bright and not unwieldly 👍

 

John 🙂

[DaveS]

An old pair of Carl Zeiss Jena 7 x 50W Jenoptem bought from a stand-alone shop in, would you believe, Woolies . I think I picked them up in '76 or so, they had just been reduced from £65 to £32 (I think), a fair bit of money in those days. I still have an even more ancient 8 x 40 (? may be 30) somewhere if I can find them.

Nowadays, 7 x 50 gives too big an exit pupil for my old eyes, maybe something like 10 x 50 would be better, as I'm losing a lot of aperture.

Bit since visual is only a very minor sideline I'm not willing to spend much money.

[jcj380]

Nikon Aculon 10x50s, Celestron Skymaster 15x70s, WWII vintage US Navy 7x50s.

I'm considering replacing the Skymasters with Oberwerks as they have never been quite in collimation.  Love the 70mm and 15x though.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by jcj380
typo

[Limerick John]

Celestron Skymaster 15x70, Pentax SP 10x50, Nikon Monarch 5  8x 42, Panorama 10x 50s (40 years old), Meade (Lidl) 10 x 50s

I love using the Monarch 5 8x 42s.. They are so light and optically sharp. The Pentax 10x50 work great on a tripod mount.

[John]

Just been going though mine. Rather surprised to find:

8x21 unbranded

10x25 unbranded x 2 (pair in each of our cars)

8x30 Carl Zeiss Jenoptem x 2 (one old pair and one newer pair)

8x30 Swarovski Tirol

8x30 Komz

8x32 Opticron Adventurer Roof Prism

8x40 Helios Naturesport

10x50 Helios Naturesport

8x56 Opticron Vega II

11x70 Opticron Oregon LER

Where do they all come from - must breed in the cupboard

[A40farinagolf]

Being honest too many - please don't tell my wife:

Fujinon 7 x 50 FMT - SX

Hawke 8 x 56 ED Endurance

Celestron Granite 9 x 33

Celestron Granite 12 x 50

Pentax 10 x 50 S series WP

Lunt Engineering 16 x 70

Lunt Engineering 100 x 45 deg angled with interchangeable eyepieces

Several fieldscopes but that's another story and they don't count!

 

 

 

[Nakedgun]

I have many sizes/types for a variety of purposes, from a lowly 2.3x up to 32x.

For handheld astro use, from dark skies, for the last 20 years I have been continually satisfied with these 10x50s:

 

 

 

 

 

[gurneyfan67]

10x50 Pentax used mostly for Astronomy, but I carry a pair of 8x42 Bushnell in the car for terrestrial use.

[Frank the Troll]

Celestron Ultima DX 9*63 clear & sharp, well worth having.  I Use mounted on an eq3 & photo tripod. Also just right for hand-held use

These are a keeper

[Merlin]

It's been my experience that, whichever binoculars I handhold, they all register the heartbeat. It's impossible to get a steady image with handheld bins. My solution has been to construct a binocular mirror-mount. It's incredibly comfortable and shake-free, if we don't mind an inverted image.

First surface mirrors are available at www.scientificmirrors.co.uk .

[DaveL59]

Mine are Minolta 10x50 6.6 degree FoV tripod or monopod mounted tho I don't really enjoy the neck ache so much lol. Do have a garden chair that tilts back but not really used that so much.

Other bins are Hensoldt Jagd dialyt 6x42 circa 1945, Foton & swift trilyte 7x35 among others of same format, a couple 10x50 ZCF type vintage japanese, Nikon Sportstar 8x25, several mini reverse porro type from 5x15 to 15x50 (one being a 6x20 Starlux Minim circa 1950's or earlier I think). All told around 27 pairs! plus a few spares/repairs. Madness 😮 

Edited January 20, 2020 by DaveL59

[PeterW]

Latest addition have been some APM 10x50Ead, very sharp and crisp, need to give them better slies some time. Mounted on a monopod and using a recliner helps steady the view. I al about or give an old pair of 7x35 to a relations son as he lives under dark skies and is interested in what’s up there. So one in, one out 😉

Peter

[mark81]

21 hours ago, PeterW said:

Latest addition have been some APM 10x50Ead, very sharp and crisp, need to give them better slies some time. Mounted on a monopod and using a recliner helps steady the view. I al about or give an old pair of 7x35 to a relations son as he lives under dark skies and is interested in what’s up there. So one in, one out 😉

Peter

Peter, 

Can I ask how you would compare the 10x50ed to a standard pair of 10x50s? 

Thank

Mark

[PeterW]

Sharp almost to the edge and nicely wide. The individual focus take a bit to get use to, but once focussed to infinity you don’t need to fiddle with them. I don’t have any standard 10x50 to compare them too, but away from the edges of my parents old 10x50 everything goes fuzzy, so these are a step up. They are very nice in the day, though the close focus is a bit further than my other birding bins. They’re r clones to be close or equal to the Fujinon fmt which are established  as the best 10x50’out there. The APM also come with the most robust tripod mount I think it is possible to make! I’m happy with them.

Peter

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My current collection consists of

Helios LightQuest 16x80 HR for astronomy

Nikon Monarch 7 10x42 for birding

Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars for solar

Bresser 10x50 (1990s vintage 7 deg FOV, pretty decent) for outreach and the kids

COMBI-Foto 7x50 (Yashica-built, late 70s vintage) for outreach and the kids

TS 15x70 (BA-1, version with better coatings than most) for outreach and the kids

[Space Hopper]

Currently have 3 pairs

Canon 15x50 is :  now my oldest owned astronomy kit : purchased 2004 from new and still going strong.

Canon 10x30 is :  not enough juice really for astronomy, but they are truly excellent. They accompany me on nature walks, are great for bird watching and for when i'm at a cricket game.

Fujinon 7x50  These are also an old pair, (2002), which i purchased used. Fabulous quality, build, and optics ! Star colours are beautifully rendered, and are exceptionally sharp. They're just a tad on the heavy side.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Space Hopper

[LukeSkywatcher]

Strathspey 10x50.

Strathspey 20x90.

Lunt Whitelight 8x32 Sunoculars (see image below)

Omegon 2.4x40 widefield binoculars (see image below).

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by LukeSkywatcher

[Doc]

I only have one pair and they are the Swarovski EL 10x50 binoculars with Swarovision, simply amazing for stargazing and birding.

[John]

I've just picked up a pair of Opticron Taiga 8x25's. Not for astronomy (although the moon is very sharp with them) but they are really nice ultra-compact birding / wildlife binoculars. Great to keep in the glove compartment of the car

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/all-binoculars/opticron-taiga-compact-25mm-binoculars.html

[wookie1965]

I've just got some revelation 10 x 42 waterproof binoculars they were on offer not sure how good they are going to be.

Being roof prism not sure how they will be for astronomy.

[John]

Just as a warning, I picked up a pair of those 10x-30x X 60 zoom binoculars that Aldi were selling, for a few quid from a charity shop just out of curiosity. They were really poor, even just for terrestrial at the lower ends of the zoom range. Not sharp, lots of false colour. Just to be avoided.

Not even going to give those away - not fair on whoever gets them, might put them off binoculars !

 

[Nakedgun]

8 hours ago, John said:

Just as a warning, I picked up a pair of those 10x-30x X 60 zoom binoculars that Aldi were selling, for a few quid from a charity shop just out of curiosity. They were really poor, even just for terrestrial at the lower ends of the zoom range. Not sharp, lots of false colour. Just to be avoided.

Not even going to give those away - not fair on whoever gets them, might put them off binoculars !

 

 

So, John,

Just give them away to someone you dislike.