holiday bins

[m37]

Hi all

I was thinking of getting a pair of basic bins for casual star gazing on holiday. I would like basically to get the best general purpose wide to medium field bins sub £100 if you could recommend something...

I would like to buy from FLO if possible and have been tempted by the celestron nature 10x50 or the Helios nature sport plus 10x50.

These would be for very casual observing and hand held rather than on a tripod.

Cheers!

Chris

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

10x50 seems a good bet. Helios Nature Sport has a good rep. Check out here:

http://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php#3

[m37]

Coooooooool. That's a great article.

Thanks mate.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Coooooooool. That's a great article.

Thanks mate.

Thank Steve, not me

[hobsey]

The Olympus DPS1s are currently £45, fantastic bins with very good FOV. Also mentioned in Steves write up.

They were £58 the other month when I purchased them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-118760-Binocular-10x50-DPS-1/dp/B0000AKGX3/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400785112&sr=1-1&keywords=olympus+10x50+dps+i

[Damo636]

http://www.microglobe.co.uk/pentax-10x50-pcf-wp-ii-water-proof-porro-prism-binocular-p-2603.html

Slightly over your budget but would be my choice with a £100 budget

[BinocularSky]

Yup, those Pentax WP-II are a real bargain at that price; just check that they are actually in stock before pulling the trigger on them.

[Crebles]

Hi Chris, don't overlook the Helios Weathermaster III 10x50's. I love mine." http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/binoculars/helios/waterproof/weathermaster-iii "

Not too dear (£60-£75ish), great quality, solid and rugged, waterproof-ish and nitrogen-filled, BAK4. 6.5 degree field of view. Lovely crisp optics on stars and great in the daytime. I tested them side by side against Naturesport 10x50's and the Weathermaster won out for me. I keep them in the car for grab n go duties. 

Good luck whatever you decide.

[Charic]

The PCW WP II's were my first choice from Microglobe. The email said no longer available from any suppliers? I went for the Nikon 10x50 Extreme ATB instead. Not sure I like them! and only a 12 Month warranty. Not UK Import?

Planning to put the Nikon's on "the" auction site, but thought I`d give them another trial first, if/when this freaking weather clears away, as I've seen so many good reviews/likes about them. I'm just not finding them to my liking. 

My renewed interest at present falls with  either Oberwerk, Pentax and Olympus. Something else will certainly  arrive in the equation.

And I'm still not overly impressed with my 15x70's  (something else for auction ?) compared to my original Helios 20x80s. I don't see any detail in Jupiter or Mars. I`ll leave that for the telescope from now on.

Perhaps my needs are  more  modest. A  modern  pair of 7x50 or even 8x40, with better optics than my old non-water proof/fog proof BK-7's  for some really wide views of the Night sky, and just a pair of 10-12x50s for daylight terrestrial work.