New celestron semi giants spotted online

[Astro_noob]

Just a quick post to gauge everyone's thoughts on this strange new binocular I spotted online this morning. It's a Celestron cometron 12x70 for £76. For anyone looking for a 15x70 under £100 this may be a little easier to hand hold versus a 15x70! Hopefully this will become more readily available through other retailers soon.

Is this the first signs of the demise of the skymaster line?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

12x70 is interesting, but the larger exit pupil might not be to everyone's taste. I avoided the BA8 10.5x70 for that reason.

[Astro_noob]

Maybe the revision will provide for better collimation or at least better factory QC?

[Steve Ward]

Link ... ?

[Astro_noob]

I didn't think links to vendor URLs was appropriate so I didn't leave one earlier but since you asked here you go: 

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/celestron-cometron-12x70-binocular-p-10437.html

Mods if this is not appropriate please feel free to delete.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Looks like a BA-1 housing. The lower magnification does not give much more FOV (probably limited by the prism size)

[BinocularSky]

They came out around August in the US -- intended for observing "comet of the century over-hyped comet" ISON (hence their name). At 4.6*, the FoV is hardly any bigger than the 15x70 (4.4*), so the apparent FoV will be smaller at 55*. Apparently, the actual aperture is stopped down internally to around 63mm, so the actual exit pupil will only be 5.25mm, not the 5.8 cited on the Microglobe site. The eye relief is better than the 15x70, so will be better for spectacle-wearers.

FWIW, I recently reviewed the Opticron Oregon 11x70 for the January Sky@Night mag. It's also a BA1, also 4.6*  FoV. Is easier to hold steady than the 15x70 but, apart from that, the only advantage I see over a 15x70 is under dark rural skies -- IMO the 15x70 wins under anything with a naked eye limiting magnitude brighter than around +5.5.

[Astro_noob]

I have very light polluted skies limiting my views to only the brightest objects, does this mean anything with an exit pupil larger than 5 will provide washed out views?

[BinocularSky]

The greater the magnification, the darker the sky background. This gives you better contrast on point objects (stars) but doesn't make a lot of difference to extended objects (faint fuzzies). 5mm is generally considered to be a good compromise, but it's a bit of a myth, really: it's a very individual thing - what some like, others loathe. Best thing is to try out other people's kit, then decide what to get for yourself.

[Damo636]

This one is also new but much higher specification (and price!)

http://www.celestron.com/sports_outdoors/series/echelon/?cat=67

http://www.adorama.com/CN1670EC.html

[Astro_noob]

I thought those look interesting until I saw the price! Ouch!

[Damo636]

At that price they will need to be very good, as the Fujinon FMT-SX (the benchmark in this price range) can be had for a fair bit less....

http://www.buytelescopes.com/fujinon-polaris-16x70-fmt-sx-wcarrying-case

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Ouch, indeed. It makes the Fujinon look affordable (for a given value of affordable)