Binoculars

[kbp]

Thank you for all the earlier advice on telescopes. I've decided to initially buy a pair of binoculars and I'm not sure about how much to spend. The money saved on the binoculars can later be put towards a telescope, although maybe if I buy a good pair of binoculars I may find this proves sufficient for my use and decide not to buy a telescope later. I've been looking at the Helios Naturesport plus 10 x 50 recommended by Sky at Night @ £85 and also Helios Quantum 10 x 60 @ £112. The weight of the 10 x 50 seems better at just under 800g compared to 1.37kg. I would appreciate guidance on this before buying.

[Catweazel]

Hi kbp, if you want to hand hold the bins then 10 x 50 would certainly be easier. I have 15x70 Celestron bins, and they have to have a tripod to be used for even a short length of time. Having looked through some 10 x 50's, I reckon they would give you a good enough magnification and FOV, and also, as you say, the money you save will go towards a scope, and I would guess that if you enjoy the bins, you will want a scope fairly soon

[Zul]

I would buy those witch has bigger FOV. That means i will go for Helios Naturesport.

[pete_l]

The other thing to consider is a monocular

We're all quite happy with a single eyeball to look through a telescope, so there's no logical reason to use 2 eyes and have to buy binoculars. Plus "mono's" are cheaper, due to only having half as much "stuff" and lighter to hold, so you won't get such tired arms, which leads to wobbly images. You also don't have the complication of having to collimate the two optical paths so you don't get overlapping images (much more apparent when looking at stars, than in brightly lit daytime views) ... In fact, I think I've just convinced myself ... where's my credit card!

[Bart]

the 10 x 50 will make for easier finding your way around the sky and are good starters. They will allow you to find and see some things well enough. The 15 x 70 s will allow more detail to be seen.

[paul schofield]

I can use my 15x70's for about a hour if I sit in a comfy deck style chair, but would be a bit of an effort to use standing for long periods. So yes more detail with 15x70, but at the price of discomfort, a tripod would be the order of the day with 15x70s.

[Tinker1947]

As with telescopes, get as much light as you can through them, the Helios Quantum 10 x 60 would be better than 10 x 50 and shouldn't be to heavy..

[kbp]

Still pondering, but thank you for the feedback and advice.

Karen