Helios Apollo 15x70 first light - best night's viewing for a ages!

[Chinapig]

Decided to take the plunge on a new pair of binos, and although I started out looking for 10x50s, to replace an ageing pair of somewhat knackered Russian 10x50s I'd had for years, I finally settled on the 15x70 Apollo.

Oh wow, am I glad I did!

Collected them today, and by around 23:00 the haze had miraculously improved. Mounted them on a Manfrotto tripod, and ventured out for first light. Reckon I've just enjoyed one of the best Messier-bagging sessions I've had for a long while, including M27, M51, M81 and M82, M13 and M92, plus M31, which was lurking low in the urban glow, where I could hardly spot any naked eye stars at all.

This is the first really decent pair of binos I've ever had, and I'm very pleased I took the plunge. Wonderfully involving, and a usefully wide field of view.

A good night's first light.

[Damo636]

Congrats on the new addition, the 15x70 Apollo is a lovely instrument.

[Chinapig]

Thanks - yes, very pleased with them.  Wish I'd bought them a while back, but there you go.

Having now spent a couple of evenings with them on a tripod, I can see why a monopod is often the preferred choice!  Extending the centre column right up and folding the tripod legs in kind of worked, but there's obviously room for improvement.  

The tripod's centre column can also be slotted in horizontally and, luckily, one of my SW counterweights is a neat fit on the column.  Have used it before in that mode as a grab-&-go for my ED80, and so if I can solve the 90-degree mounting of the binos, I might experiment with a "counterbalanced horizontal beam" approach.  

But it could go horribly wrong!  Fortunately, my son has offered to design a P-mount - a very welcome offer!

Cheers

Simon  

[jkwhinfrey]

They're fantastic. I've found objects with mine that I never noticed using my scope.

[stafford_stargazer]

Seriously you found stuff using binoculars you didn't with scope? Can you give me some examples, I'm intrigued, can wait tonget mine out now. :-)

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[jkwhinfrey]

The first time it happened was with M33. I'd been trying to find it for quite a while and it was becoming my nemesis ;-) I was trying out my new 15x70s and there it was! Not bright or detailed to be sure, but distinctly visible.

Extended DSOs really appreciate large bins. I'm fairly sure I've seen a hint of dust lane in M31 too.

Please bear in mind that I was using an 80mm refractor and 130P reflector at the time. I doubt they'd out perform a large DOB. My skies are of the suburban variety too.

[stafford_stargazer]

Cool thanks for reply,

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