BINOCULAR RECOMMENDATIONS

[AstroJen]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone can suggest a decent, reasonably priced pair of bino's for a beginner? My budget is around £80-£100. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for- specs wise. A while back I was looking at a pair of quantum 4 helios 10x60, but never went through with is due to many reasons. Any one got any suggestions? Anything you can recommend will be useful.

[Butchless1]

Helios naturesport 10x50 would suit the budget!

[E621Keith]

Olympus DPS-1 10x50 seems to be a popular choice on SGL, but it is only mono-coated

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-118760-Binocular-10x50-DPS-1/dp/B0000AKGX3

Pentax XCF 10x50 is another to consider - multicoated and bak4 prism

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-10x50-Binoculars-With-Case/dp/B00007IP4Y

[stargazerslivingroom]

This link (hopefully) points to a similar thread.

HTH

Steve

[avtaram]

I have praktica 10x42 roof prism waterproof binoculars which I use mainly for looking at star clusters.

They are lightweight and easy to hold steady, the image is sharp in the whole field of view (6 deg) I find them to be excellent.

Avtar

[damnut]

All good advice above, however you have a good budget and the strathspey 15*70 binos are £85. These are large but give great views and are highly thought of. Can be found here :--- http://www.strathspey.co.uk/shop/full.php?q=1118416781

[swag72]

I bought a cheap pair of 10x50 Bresser bins from Lidl last year - They were only 20 euro's so my expectations weren't too high, just as well really!!

Recently I bought a pair of 8x42 Opticron Aspherics (no longer available, so bought second hand) - they are fantastic. Really clear and crisp. I don;t know much about bino's but what I like about these are that they are fairly widefield. My mum has a pair of Opticrons with a less wide field and I don't like looking through them, it's like looking through a tunnel.

[robhatherton]

Hi, personal opinion and going against popular opinion but I prefer a set of lower magnification 7x50's. Much easier to handhold them steadily, which counts for a lot, and they gather so much light. Faint stars just leap out at you. I have some general purpose 8x22's and they can't compete!

Rob

[jonathan]

I like my 8x42 Bushnell Legends, a nice well-constructed pair that have a quality feel to them, and they give great views too. Easy to tripod mount (they are light compared to many) for steady views of the moon and clusters.

[DaveGarland]

+1 for the Helios Naturesport 10x50. I recently asked the question your asking on this forum and these were recommended. I bought some from Sherwoods and I have to say I absolutely love them. I dropped into the store as I was in the area and the guy was really helpful and knew his stuff. I also found they sold them at the best price, £80 which fits your budget. They are also a Sky at Night **Best Buy**

http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/helios_binos/helios_field_fs.htm

[E621Keith]

Hi, personal opinion and going against popular opinion but I prefer a set of lower magnification 7x50's. Much easier to handhold them steadily, which counts for a lot, and they gather so much light. Faint stars just leap out at you. I have some general purpose 8x22's and they can't compete!

Rob

7x50 is a good choice too and you are right about stability. 7x is much easier to hold steady than 10x. However, not everyone's pupil can dilate to 7mm especially in suburban sky. Therefore part of the aperture will be wasted, in which case it may be a good idea to go for a smaller and lighter 8x40 or 8x42 instead.

[glowjet]

At less than £100 the Strathspey Marine10x50 came out top in a survey undertaken by S&N some time back. The 15x70 model have already been mentioned, but there may be difficulty in hand holding these, but no problem when tripod mounted

[Nordberg]

I have Celestron 15x70's and Jessops own-brand (I know..) 7x50's. I have to say that the 7x50's get the most use by far. The weight difference is very significant, especially when you're craning up to look at the sky.

A good tip is to use a sunbed for observing with binoculars. I know that sounds a bit odd, but it's quite a comfortable way to observe and you can hold the binoculars much more steadily this way.