Vixen SG 2.1x42 Binocular

[osbourne one-nil]

Thanks Ian - when I did do that last night as opposed to scanning my eye around the field of view, things were lovely. It did feel a bit odd though as stars seemed to appear without any real sense of magnification and with the view holding rock steady. Very nice indeed.

[Joves]

These sound like ones for the to-get list.

[tingting44]

do you have to hold these to view or is there a way of attaching them for hands free use?

[DirkSteele]

do you have to hold these to view or is there a way of attaching them for hands free use?

Great question, I was wondering the same.  Being able to attach them to some kind of headwear (bit like a night sight) would be a very attractive observing solution.

[Joseki]

Perhaps you could fit them to safety goggles? I.e. cut a hole in the front plate and wedge them through.

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[jabeoo1]

Perhaps you could fit them to safety goggles?

Army surplus stores may also be a good place to hunt something down.

[tingting44]

got this message back from FLO

""Hi Martin, Thanks for your message unfortunately there is no way to use these with any attachments they are purely hand held binoculars . hope this helps

Regards
Steve""

[DirkSteele]

That is a shame.  It might be possible to still rig something but it will require a more innovative solution.

[pete_gamby]

There is a threaded hole on the front of the central hinge which is covered by a flat-headed metal bolt. But it is not a "standard" thread for tripod mounts - its quite shallow and the distance between the lens housings is very narrow indeed. I'm not sure how useful that would be in trying to head mount these anyway... I suspect the weight would make them uncomfortable.

It might though be suitable for a customised tripod mount (narrow and with a shortened thread) to use with a parallelogram mount.

HTH

Cheers, Pete

[NickK]

You need a flying/driving cap.. then mount these as the goggles..

[davedownsouth]

Got a pair of these; they would be too heavy to 'wear', although it would be cool if you could 

[BinocularSky]

Couldn't resist - mine arrived around 3pm yesterday. Murphy's Variable Nebula has, of course, been at maximum ever since, so no astro-use possible. I did, however, take them along to the Wessex AS Exhibition Evening last night. Those who tried them were impressed.
 
So am I! Extremely well made. Optics seem very sharp in the central bit of the FoV. Apart from anything else, they are superb for demonstrating the characteristics of Galilean optics (e.g FoV dependent on eye distance, no actual exit pupil (well, strictly speaking there is, but it's a virtual one between the eyepiece and objective)) so will be useful for that, coatings are very good.
 
 

There is a threaded hole on the front of the central hinge which is covered by a flat-headed metal bolt. But it is not a "standard" thread for tripod mounts - its quite shallow and the distance between the lens housings is very narrow indeed.

 Actually, Pete, the thread is standard 1/4" Whitworth (1/4 - 20 tpi  to our colonial cousins) and is deep enough for both my cheap-but-otherwise-favourite Chinese bracket:
 
 
and an old Minolta roof-prism bracket I have: 

 
The main issue is lack of room for the Tonk-conk, which gets uncomfortably flattened by the Minolta bracket, and which (because of the geometry of the bracket) renders the cheapo Chinese one unusable.
 

(I was as delighted as you will be to find that the nasty plastic abomination that comes "free" with some budget binoculars is too wide to fit.)
 

I'm not sure how useful that would be in trying to head mount these anyway... I suspect the weight would make them uncomfortable.

 I'm not sure that "wearing" them is a good idea anyway. Call me "Elfin Softie gone mad", but the idea of wandering around in the near dark with these fixed to the eyes rings all kinds of alarm bells. (Yes, I know the idea is not to wear them in order to wander around in them, but that is an inevitable consequence).
 

do you have to hold these to view or is there a way of attaching them for hands free use?

I imagine that the above answers your question: i.e. it is possible.

[m0dal]

Could you take the screw out of the Chinese bracket and replace it the other way round? The shape of the mount might then give sufficient clearance for a large proboscis.

Regards, AlanP

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[Psychobilly]

Could you take the screw out of the Chinese bracket and replace it the other way round? The shape of the mount might then give sufficient clearance for a large proboscis.

Regards, AlanP

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I have done that in the past and also packed the "screw" with washers to allow for the shallow thread on a pair of bins I have...

The screw will just unscrew through the plastic mount - it sometimes takes a bit of effort to get it "started" ...

Peter...

[osbourne one-nil]

Just checking, but no one wants to do this to help hold them steady do they? At x2, holding them steady isn't an issue!

[FLO]

Just checking, but no one wants to do this to help hold them steady do they? At x2, holding them steady isn't an issue!

This is my thinking too. They are so compact, convenient and easy to use. Mine will live in the car glove compartment or my coat pocket and I like that it doesn't need any kind of support

You can tell from the comments in this thread the new Vixen SG Widefield binocular is selling very well and owners are pleased. We have asked the importer to bring in more ASAP but if they don't arrive this week we might need to make then unavailable at our website to ensure we have some to offer at the International Astronomy Show this weekend. But don't worry, if the next delivery doesn't arrive this week it will sometime next week. 

Steve

[BinocularSky]

Could you take the screw out of the Chinese bracket and replace it the other way round? The shape of the mount might then give sufficient clearance for a large proboscis.

Thanks for the suggestion. Just tried it. Still insufficient conk-clearance (about the same as the Minolta)

(No, I'm not seriously thinking about mounting these, but just curious to investigate the possibility...)

The screw will just unscrew through the plastic mount - it sometimes takes a bit of effort to get it "started" ...

Ahem! This is not one of those plastic abominations; this is genuine cheap Chinese alloy! Removal of the screw was a non-trivial exercise that involved the removal of a recessed spring washer -- which I eventually found in the grime at the bottom of the wine rack.

Just checking, but no one wants to do this to help hold them steady do they? At x2, holding them steady isn't an issue!

No, I think the idea is just to leave both hands free, thus enabling the observer to combine indulging in his hobby with maintaining a fully balanced diet (large tumbler of Laphroaig Quarter Cask in each hand).

[Psychobilly]

Ahem! This is not one of those plastic abominations; this is genuine cheap Chinese alloy! Removal of the screw was a non-trivial exercise that involved the removal of a recessed spring washer -- which I eventually found in the grime at the bottom of the wine rack.

The one I had was the Opticron one bought at the Birdfair last year   

Peter...

[melsky]

Checked these out at the IAS today and was instantly sold by them especially with the show discount so count me in as another happy 2.1 x 42 club member

[BinocularSky]

Gave mine a first astro-outing in the early hours of Saturday morning. Very impressed indeed. The totally unoriginal thought that kept lurking around what I nowadays try to pass off as a mind was, "This is Binocular Astronomy, but not as we know it, Jim!" I concur with everything Ian Watkins wrote earlier in the thread. 

My sky when I tried it was not particularly transparent and was eventually clouded out, but it was a remarkably enjoyable experience. The dark lanes in the Cygnus region of the Milky Way, for example, just leap out. The best way I can describe it is that this is a very different sort of astronomy to, say, pushing the limits of a big bino by hunting faint galaxies; this is like letting technology compensate for what technology has previously taken away, specifically through light pollution. There really is something special about seeing things, from a suburban site with six-decades-old eyes, almost as they would appear to unaided and youthful eyes from a good dark site.

Just lovely.

[Vega26]

Sound fantastic. Going to see if the CFO willlwt me buy a pair.

[JohnC64]

had a look through a pair at the show today - very nice views - totally immersive and they can adjust either eye to suit  a prescription.  I'm starting the saving fund now
And on the plus side they make the Jaffa cakes look HUGE

John

[melsky]

Tried my "Magoo's" out last night and was very impressed, they are less binoculars more like image intensifiers, even in strong twilight I could see stars that were invisible to the naked eye.

Mel

[Horwig]

AAAh, shoot, looks like I'm going to have to get a pair.

Huw

[jabeoo1]

Just a quick report home on these:

Under rural dark clear skies:  The view that put the biggest smile on my face was being able to see Sagitta, Vulpecula, Delphinus & Brocci's cluster all in the one field of view, all perfect in miniature form as if they were being inspected under a microscope ! 

These really do deliver something different & special.  Others who used them really liked how 'easy' they were to look through and actually preferred them over 10x50's.  These people normally have little interest in hunting for specific objects, but were very surprised by the increased aesthetic detail they revealed over normal naked eye views of the heavens.  I had to prise them back ! 

They are winners for sure & they will be kept

Enough said I think