Binos or scope with binoviewer?

[andaroo]

Hi, in a quandry - nearly bought a skywatcher evostar 100ED on an EQ5 synscan mount & adding a binoviewer but offered a Helios Quantum 7.4 100mm lens binocular with interchangable eyepieces at 45 degrees on the fork mount tripod. I love binos (using quantum 4's 100x25) & was about to buy my first 'scope - my question is which for still a beginner who won't have the readies for anything else for a while?

[LukeSkywatcher]

Me personally, my heart says go for the Quanum 7.4 100mm with interchangable EP's at 45 degrees (i had to type it all out cuz it looks and sounds great).

[umadog]

With those binos being 100 mm, they're bigger than a lot of refractors out there. My hunch is that you will get better binocular views through 100 mm binos than through a 100 mm refractor with a binoviewer. Not only will the refractor be giving you less light, but good binoviewers aren't cheap. If you know you love binos then the Helios are a good option. I don't know much about them, but I'm guessing the draw is that you'll be able to use a range of magnifications, which your current binos do not allow. That seems good to me!

Big binos sound great and in future you can buy a larger reflector to complement them. I think you'll gain little by just switching to a refractor of the same size.

[Johnboy]

I have a binoviewer and a pair of 20x80 binocs and I must admit I use both. I don't like one eyed viewing. The binocs are great for wide field viewing and the binoviewer is great for close up planetary work. The interchangable eyepieces sound like you could have the best of both worlds though...

[LukeSkywatcher]

Large bins are superb. Its like having two scopes side by side (it basically is). You will lose some light in the scope/binoviewer combo.