Kronos 20x60 bargain buy I hope

[StevieDvd]

I was intending to buy a set of new 20x60 Helios Stellar at what I thought was a decent price on Ebay but there appears to be no stock of them anywhere. As a alternate I was offered a set of the older Kronos 20x60 which I held back from until I checked them out and whilst the shop checked if they could find the Helios anywhere for me,

In the end no Helios Stellar 20x60s could be located and the Kronos were apparently out of collimation so I was allowed to make an offer for them - £25 delivered by courier.

Have not had a chance to check the collimation though I've located several sites showing how - these are eccentric ring collimation binoculars so I hope I can fix them.

Optics and case are all fine and the only marks are on the hinge where a mount adapter had been fitted (not supplied) so have spent the evening finding and ordering one.

If this all comes together then my grab & go binos will be:

Kronos 20x60 - £25

Clamp for mounting £13.50

Grip tripod head - £35

Manfrotto 681 monopod £49

Less than the cost of the Helios Stellar 20x60 themselves, thanks to a lot of googling prices.

[Syntarsus]

Cool, hope it works out for you.

I actually like the idea of 20x60s and for a while I've been thinking of getting the Pentax PCF 20x60s. The impression I get from reviews is that they are much more easily hand held than 70mm objective binoculars. Anyway I actually found a decently priced pair of 20 x 80s which I've ordered so definitely need a tripod now.

[StevieDvd]

When I first tried the binoculars on Jupiter I saw 2 completely separate images, a large vertical gap and a smaller horizontal one. Checked for loose connections and dis-located prisms but all looked OK. So with a little trepidation I unscrewed the end of the objective of and loosened the retaining ring so I could move the eccentric rings just a tad to see the effect. Luck had it I moved the right one in the right direction and bit by bit brought the 2 images into one.

A quick test on Orions Nebula showed a clear set of stars and the expected foggy nebulosity.

I plan on cleaning the eyepiece lenses as they were the dirtiest but I'll need some ring spanner wrench or equivalent to undo them.

To check collimation, especially with eccentric rings, I found this page and if the sun is visible this weekend I'll see how near or far they are actually collimated.

Still looking though:)

I did not spend my budget on binoculars so am still looking for some new giants.

Any recommendations/comments on the following:

Pentax 20x60 PCF WP II £173.00

Helios Quantum-3 20x80 £169

Strathspey 20x60 £90

Had planned on around £150 but don't really want to exceed £175, for decent 20x60 or larger.

[BinocularSky]

To check collimation, especially with eccentric rings, I found this page and if the sun is visible this weekend I'll see how near or far they are actually collimated.

You might also like Rafael's lamp method if the Sun doesn't co-operate; I prefer his autocollimation method

Also, take a look at Konstantinos's (user-name here= Pleiades) use of Bahtinovs to check alignment; I've tried it and it works very well.

[StevieDvd]

You might also like Rafael's lamp method if the Sun doesn't co-operate; I prefer his autocollimation method

Also, take a look at Konstantinos's (user-name here= Pleiades) use of Bahtinovs to check alignment; I've tried it and it works very well.

Thanks I did not know there were other collimation articles from the same person who did the Sun collimation one. The threads from Pleiades look worth having a go with Bahtinovs too.

[StevieDvd]

Update

Made some bahtinov masks for each using the generator at astrojargon - Bahtinov Focusing Mask Generator: Version 0.4 by printing them on inkjet transparency and sandwiching this between 2 layers of card.

By the time I'd got them finished the clouds had rolled in but from a quick test using a street lamp down the road the focus lines all lined up nicely. That sort of confirms my visual collimation and should be good enough for now.

My thanks to tetenterre and Pleiades (SGL member not the star cluster) for the helpful threads on binoculars.

[Neil john]

Hey guys i have here 20×60 62m/1000m kronos russian binoculars 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Neil john

[StevieDvd]

I don't have these any more, I managed to get a pair of new Helios so I gave the Kronos to a fellow SGL member who had popped around to see me.  I hope yours are in good condition and collimated as it was a bit hit & miss for me colllimating them - but this was the first and only time I have colllimated a pair of binoculars.

Steve