Small but decent pair of bins - advice needed

[stevil]

I am currently fairly near Bermuda and have beautiful clear and dark skies and will be working off the coast of Texas on and off for the next 7-8 months.

Unfortunately the rolling of the vessel is making observing with my monocular pretty frustrating as I cannot compensate for the movement - I think the way forward is a pair of Canon IS ones  

Thanks to all who replied.

Steve

[BinocularSky]

I think the way forward is a pair of Canon IS ones

At the risk of being repetitive, do consider the Fujinon Techno-Stabi, which are usually considered superior to the Canon for counteracting deck-roll (but inferior to the Canon for general stargazing).

[Tim]

I recently had the opportunity  to do some viewing at a dark sky site using a couple of pairs of premium binos.

Firstly I fell in love with the Canon 10x42 IS with the L-series lenses........

But then I got to try a pair of these:

http://www.dalephotographic.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/DalePhotographicOnline/_EL%2010x42%20SWAROVISION

I wish I hadn't because now no other bino will compare. Lightweight, and perfectly formed, the view was absolutely staggering.

[BinocularSky]

I wish I hadn't because now no other bino will compare.

I know exactly what you mean! A friend (serious birder, leads birding tours to exotic places) has the 10x50 version. I was completely satisfied with my Opticron BGA until I tried his Swaro!

[edjuh]

A friend on a dutch forum has been avoiding swarovski for years. He had sort of a quest for the perfect bino, and started bottom-up.

Interesting read, as he grows to the more expensive kinds. Last week he did the swarovski, and well .... the story continues.

I love his postings, because as he goes along I encounter a lot of affordables as well as abundancy of interesting facts.

That way I found a pretty decent 8x40 from a certain brand, hoping to add the 7x50 to my collection one day.

However a swarovski will never be added to my collection, it has no use for my skyconditions.

[Tim]

The old adage of "You get what you pay for" seems to apply yet again

TBH I would not have believed that the view from any binos could warrant spending the best part of £2k on them, and I could never justify that for use from my home location, but I was handed those Swarovskis in the pitch dark, I had no idea what brand they were, I had been enthusing about the Canon L series 10x42 IS binos to a friend, and he just passed me his binos and said "See what you think of these".........

It was one of those "OHHHHHHHHHHH.......WOW!!!" sharp intake of breath moments, the double cluster and Pleiades were in a prime position. You know kit is good when you almost get a lump in your throat at the view!

[ollypenrice]

The old adage of "You get what you pay for" seems to apply yet again

TBH I would not have believed that the view from any binos could warrant spending the best part of £2k on them, and I could never justify that for use from my home location, but I was handed those Swarovskis in the pitch dark, I had no idea what brand they were, I had been enthusing about the Canon L series 10x42 IS binos to a friend, and he just passed me his binos and said "See what you think of these".........

It was one of those "OHHHHHHHHHHH.......WOW!!!" sharp intake of breath moments, the double cluster and Pleiades were in a prime position. You know kit is good when you almost get a lump in your throat at the view!

I don't know the Swaros but I had one of these costly epiphanies when handed, in the dark, a pair of unidentified bins. I looked at M31. Whaaat????  The colour, the tiny tiny stars, the blackness of the background, the comfort, the clean field stop... With a huge grin I asked our guest, 'OK wise guy, what are these?' and was told Leica 8x42. That was that. My dream bino changed from Canon IS, which I do like, to the Leicas. Eventually I found an eleven year old (but unused) pair for half the insane new price and have never looked back.

It's a bit like wine. A friend who will have none of this 'wine claptrap' bought ten bottles of wine from 2 quid to 20 quid and had ten of us, not wine buffs, blind taste them just for a price order. He was certain we'd fail. But we didn't! 

I'm not setting Leica against Swaro because, as I say, I've no experience of the latter. I'm just saying that quality is really very nice. Dammit!

Olly

[Crebles]

If the Leica's are beyond your budget, and/or youre maybe saving for a scope in future, try some good quality ED glass 8x42's or 10x50's. Helios Nirvana 8x42's I can heartily recommend. Barr & Stroud Savannah ED 8x56's are highly regarded by their owners. Plenty of good quality 10x50's to choose from. http://binocularsky.com/ worth a look for advice.

More broadly, pop in to your local astronomy group and have a chat and a try of members' kit if you can. Even if you head towards a scope eventually, a nice pair of 8x42 or 10x50's will serve you well on ship or on land in the future.

[melsky]

I've always been a fan of leica binoculars I have the 8x20 Ultravids and up until last weekend some 8x32 Ultravids. I visited a couple of shops with the intention of upgrading to the 8x42 HD Ultravids but thought I'd better test the opposition first

I compared some Zeiss HT's, Kowa Prominar and Nikon HGL's with them and nothing jumped out and said WOW to me, well, that was before I tryed the Swarovski 8.5 x 42 Swarovisions and then nothing else would do. I traded in my Leica's which I bought secondhand 5 years ago and got £40 less than what I paid for them ( so 2p a day to use ) good bino's will hold their value well and give you the best viewing experience with is priceless.

Mel

[NeuStar]

I think IS ones may be out for me as they are a lot of money and my luggage tends to get knocked about quite a bit on planes, helicopters and crew boats. Given the option I would not like to lose any money (see where I'm from!) but I'd be happier having a 50 pound pair of binoculars being damaged than a 350 pound or 1000 pounds+ I.S. pair being broken.

I think I'll look at a x7 or x8 pair for the vessel and a bit better pair for home though.

thanks chaps, appreciate your help.

Steve

Are these beyond your budget?  They are the type of thing I'd be looking for.  They do smaller lighter models too.

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/steiner/navigator/7x50/3959/marine/binocular.html

[BinocularSky]

Are these beyond your budget?  They are the type of thing I'd be looking for.  They do smaller lighter models too.

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/steiner/navigator/7x50/3959/marine/binocular.html

Not a comment on the binocular, which is a decent bit of kit, but you might want to read this thread before deciding on a supplier.

[Cygnus_X1]

My Olympus dps1 10x50 has just arrived,£44 from Amazon. There well built and solid and the terrestrial views are sharp and crisp. Just need clear skies now.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

I bought the same, a week or so ago. They are actually surprising good for the price ( have gone up to £55 since you bought them ), with a good bright image.  There is a very slight degree of flare when looking at brighter stars such as Sirius, which suggests the lenses are not 100% aligned....but one is not going to get absolute perfection for that price and they show comet Lovejoy and comet ISON very well indeed.