Celestron Granite 12 x 50 vs. Canon IS 15 x 50 - any views?

[kreekineez]

I have a couple of trips overseas coming up and want to take a decent pair of binoculars with me mostly for stargazing - after carrying out some internet based research I have narrowed my choice down to either the Celestron Granites 12 x 50 or the Canon 15 x 50 with image stabilisation - both have their strong good features but also some minor negatives - does anyone out there have first hand experience of either of these and if so can you give me your personal views with or without a recommendation to buy? Appreciate the help as always

[Doug]

hi

well as you can see in my signature that I like binoculars i have always taken bins aways with me on holiday and for holidays taking them around all day and using them at night

you will not do better then the Canon 15x50 IS All Weather Binoculars they have exceptional depth of field you should be able to see 4 major stars in the Orion nebula and with younger eyes even more, you will see the Jupiter and it's moons but unable to see the central bands on it for that you may need much larger bins 25x100 :-) I did spend another £30.00 on 8 rechargable batteries I think I went over board on the batteries as they lasted days and just recharge when necessary ,they are lovely for day time and fantastic for nights I have been told that the 18x50 are also very good but have never tried them all you will need is

clear skies

[kreekineez]

Thanks Doug, that's very helpful. How do you find the weight and 'bulky' size of the Canons? Are they OK to carry around and hand hold for reasonable periods or do you need to use a tripod? The nearest retailer to me that has them to test and buy from stock is over 100 miles away so I may need to take a day out to follow up on your positive feedback - regards, David

[Stu]

I have a pair of 15x50is bins too and love then. They are reasonably heavy but I do mainly hand hold them. The stabilisation works very well and damps out all the high frequency jitters so making the view much better. I find that the view tends to swim around gently when hand holding, but it's far clearer than with the stabilisation off. I like using them either sitting down or lying on a sun lounger when you can hold them much steadier.

I think the view is slightly sharper when tripod mounted with the stabilisation off, than hand holding with it on, but this does not mean you NEED a tripod by any means.

As said, it is quite possible to see Jupiter as a disk and to see all the Gallilean moons if they are suitably placed. I have split Mizar on a good night, and plenty of other DSO's look fabulous, particularly from dark sites - have seen M33 and M101 from dark skies.

Cheers

Stu

[Peter Drew]

The Celestrons sound a bit heavy!

[Doug]

Thanks Doug, that's very helpful. How do you find the weight and 'bulky' size of the Canons? Are they OK to carry around and hand hold for reasonable periods or do you need to use a tripod? The nearest retailer to me that has them to test and buy from stock is over 100 miles away so I may need to take a day out to follow up on your positive feedback - regards, David

I have no problems with them I am used to binoculars the more you use bins the easier it is when you press the button the stabilizer kicks in and Viola it all stops moving around this is size and wieght of them

Canon 15x50

If you do get to try them that will be it ,you will be taking them home

Dimensions Width 6 in. Depth 7.6 in. Height 3.2 in. Weight 41.6 oz.

[Alma]

Another vote for the Canon IS 15x50's here - I use them much more than any other piece of astro kit and the IS is worth its weight in gold. To obtain an absolutely rock steady image and avoid the "swimming" effect of holding them while standing, I find the use of a lightweight neck tripod indispensible - the cheap ones such as this work just fine.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Konig-Neck-Camera-Camcorder-Tripod/dp/B003HIE116