Confused about what's best

[Claire]

Hi, my fiance has just told me he's going to be buying me some binoculars He has about £100 to spend (roughly), and told me to ask you lot what he should buy!

I've had a browse in this bit of the forum and it seems that a lot of people recommend Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 15x70, but I've found these for only £60 on Amazon.

Is there something better for slightly more money around that £100 mark? I know I'll probably need a tripod for those particular ones, but what about ones with more magnification, would they be better?

[Flyingpig]

Stick with the 15 x 70 they really are superb, in astronomy magnification is not everything it first seems the field of view ( how much sky fits in the view) is more important especially for binocular viewing as its harder to keep them still enough at higher magnifications because they are heavy and cumbersome. You could either get a half resonable pair of 10 x 50 out of the £40 as a second pair or buy a half decent tripod theres no point getting a cheap wobbly and unstable tripod that would be a waste of money. Binocular astronomy is classically done with 10 x 50 binoculars although the 15 x 70 is becoming more popular and is just about light enough to hold stable enough by hand if you hold them by the end of the barrels! Higher magnification binoculars get very expensive and the mounts that support them even more so. For higher magnifications most of us purchase telescopes. £50 buys a Celestron first scope and accessory pack, this is a small usable table top telescope with a proper full size focuser and 4 eyepieces so for £110 you could have 15 x 70 binoculars and a starter telescope!

[drdavekaplan]

The most important thing that I got for my Binocular setup was a parallel mount that fit on the tripod

Then you can see everything perfectly

Also Skymaps. Com is great for downloading this month's things to see

DrDave

All the best for 2012

[West End Wendy]

Personally I would get a decent pair of 10x50s. As you say, 15x70s will probably need a tripod, and personally I find the freedom to handhold binoculars one of their main attractions.

Have a look at the Opticrons and Pentaxes on FLO. They're top quality and I don't think they cost much more than £100.

Tim.

[BinocularSky]

I've had a browse in this bit of the forum and it seems that a lot of people recommend Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 15x70, but I've found these for only £60 on Amazon.

Is there something better for slightly more money around that £100 mark?

The Celestron/Revelation/Strathspey 15x70 are a remarkable achievement for the price, but these binoculars are over-represented in "how do I solve this problem?" type threads on astronomical forums. Think about it: a half-way decent astronomical eyepiece costs about 40 quid. A binocular has two eyepieces, two objectives, two different focusing mechanisms, prisms and housing, and other bits of tubing: realistically, what sort of quality is it reasonable to expect for the cost of one and a half eyepieces? One thing to be aware of is that internal vignetting (common in budget binoculars) reduces the effective aperture to around 63mm.

In my opinion, there is a lot that is better quality for around a hundred quid. West End Wendy suggested Opticron 10x50 -- they are excellent value (Opticron has, for over a decade, been a highly under-rated brand, but now seems to be more highly rated), but may push you over your limit.There are some very good Olympus 10x50s for around a hundred, and the Strathspey Marine is still a good buy in this price range, but may be a bit heavy for you.

Whatever you choose, check it against my "How to Evaluate a Binocular" while it is still in the "returns" period; it may save you from making a mistake.

[Claire]

thank you very much! i'll have a look at all that you have recommended

I guess I could stretch the budget slightly. I didn't know you could get telescopes for under £100, let lone £50. I was expecting them in the £300+ range!

[BinocularSky]

I didn't know you could get telescopes for under £100, let lone £50. I was expecting them in the £300+ range!

Frankly, I wouldn't buy any telescope costing £50 -- you are much better spending that sort of money on a binocular.

[Flyingpig]

Frankly, I wouldn't buy any telescope costing £50 -- you are much better spending that sort of money on a binocular.

I thought the same until I bought one for my 6 year old son. I expected little better than toy quality, but the scope is superb for the money, the optical quality is very reasonable and being a Dob its a fast scope so its better than cheap refractors and suffers very little chromatic aberation; okay it's not a patch on a larger scope but for fifty quid it rocks and it's more stable than any binocular (without the aid of a decent tripod). This was one of the mass produced scopes designed for the international year of astronomy and I presume that the cost of producing it has been absorbed somewhere possibly by Celestron and Skywatcher who jointly manufacture it, as I don't know how they make it so cheaply. My advice on scopes generally though is to get the best you can afford do some research and try a few types out if you can. I usually advise beginners to go for binoculars first, but if you want a little more magnification and I mean no more than about 50 to 75x then you certainly won't be dissapointed buying a Celestron first scope for £50.

As for the Celestron 15 x 70 they were the group test winner in Sky at night magazine and have also been well reviewed in Astronomy Now. I agree though the opticrons have also had rave reviews.

In summery best advice, go and try them both out at a dealer or order both online to try out and keep the ones you like the best.

[Syntarsus]

I'm currently deliberating about a pair of Barr & Stroud 12x56. You can get a pair for £110 from here which is a pretty good bargain.

I find 12x perfectly fine to handhold provided you get yourself into a good stable position - eg. seated, elbows on knees or use a fence tree etc to keep still. I do this even for 8x. My current 12x though are appalling quality, hence thinking about these.

Not as powerful as a 15x70 of course but I think if you go for that you probably will need a tripod/monopod so eating into your budget and not as flexible. I'd use these for birdwatching in my garden too.

[Flyingpig]

Can't say I know anything about Barr & Stroud; the magnification and size should be okay but as for their optical quality I have no idea. I see you have some cheap 12 x 50's that extra 6mm won't make a huge difference so they ought to give you an idea of what to expect of the FOV and magnification.

Had you considered a spotter scope? Suitable for bird watching and usable for astronomy, Bushnell and Bresser are good manufacturers of these. It's just another option - choices, choices hey!!! I repeat my advice to try a few out a good dealer, (if you go to the dealer after 4.30pm this time of year on a clear evening you might get the chance to try them on Venus or Jupiter and a few stars too)

[Claire]

Thanks everyone - I'm not sure what a spotter scope is tbh?

i do already have two old pairs (cant remember off hand what they are) but the bigger pair makes even the moon blurry! i think some suggested the colination(sp?) is out as I can see the moon reflected next to itself!

does anyone know of a good dealership in the Preston area?

[Syntarsus]

I also like the sound the Pentax PCF 12x50s which are advertised here for the unbelievable and probably wrong price of £125 - the next cheapest places are some £50 more!

[Flyingpig]

Those Pentax look very nice don't they....

I'm not sure what a spotter scope is tbh?

It's a small usually low power telescope designed for watching birds and wildlife, (hence the term spotter scope) if that's your thing then might be a good choice it is certainly suitable for astronomy; but don't confuse it with an astro telescope, with these spotter scopes your looking at the same sort of magnifications up to around 100x which is around the same as you get from larger Binoculars. They also need to be tripod mounted, some come with tripods most don't but they are generally lighter than binoculars (of similar aperture) and many have the option of several magnifications with a few eyepieces (not they are not same fitting as astro sizes) or a zoom lens.

I was actually talking to Syntarsus regarding the spotter scope (as they mentioned bird watching) but it may also suit you especially if you fancy bird spotting, its all personal choice.

[Claire]

Ah ok - I don't think I'd do bird watching tbh. I think i'm gonna go for the 15x70 - my grandad has some tripods that he doesn't use so I'm hoping that maybe he has a sturdy one I can have/borrow so I don't need to buy one

[Syntarsus]

WARNING

Just looked into the company selling the Pentax bins above (Awooza UK). Apparently the UK stands for Hong Kong. They have a terrible reputation take ages to deliver and you may well be billed for import duty and taxes after the product arrives. So avoid like the plague seems to be the general advice.

[BinocularSky]

you may well be billed for import duty and taxes after the product arrives.

And a handling fee for dealing with HMRC stuff this end, then VAT on the whole kaboodle.

[AdrianP]

Get a pair of the Celestron 15x70's and with the change get a better bracket to support the bins on the tripod. It appears out of the box to be quite strong but when mounted can really make the bins wobble if slightly touched. I got a metal one from eBay for under a tenner.

These really are a good set of Astronomical Bins.