Bino choices, choices and more choices

[autoq]

Just getting into this astonomy malarky and have managed to borrow 2 pairs of old binoculars , one of which is a very old (made in DDR) pair of 10x50's . They are still giving me a decent view of various objects in the sky - even managed to pick out Lovejoy. The second pair are smaller - I think they are maybe 8x50's but there is no real way of checking - they are newer and give a slightly clearer, but less magnified picture. I have purchased a tripod as holding the 10x50's is tiring after a few minutes.

All this has convinced me to wait a few years to save up for a really good scope, and in the meantime buy a pair of decentish binoculars to keep me going....
but which mag/power is "best"?

I am not too bothered about portability as I have the smaller of the above for carrying around. I am going to be using a tripod for the "big" ones. Most people on here appear to be happy with 15x70's , however I am looking at 20x80's as I hope this extra light and magnification will give me a noticable difference over the 10x50's.

However, I am now just wondering if 25x100's might be worth aiming for ?

I was originally considering the Revelation 20x70's for about £50 on Amazon , or possibly the 20x80's for £74.

Then I found the Helios Quantum3 20x80's which sound like a real step up, but at about £180 will I actually notice the difference ?

Then there are Helios Quantum 4 , which for the 20x80 are about £230  - and yes I know they do a 20x90(£255 FOV 3.22^o 3.7Kg) and a 25x100 (£270 FOV 2.53^o 4.6Kg yikes - new tripod required ) . This is way more than I was originally going to spend, and so it will mean the telescope waiting quite a few more months, but I am actually okay with that.

The main differences between the 20x80 Q3's and Q4's appear to be FOV 2.99^o and weight  2.4Kg for the Q3 , but FOV 3.2^o and weight 3.17Kg for the Q4's. The slightly better FOV is appealing - especially since I am also probably using these to try to learn to star-hop .

Generally should I spend a bit more for the Helios (or similar) or should I just go for the more budget ones e.g. Revelation and spend the rest on a good pair of gloves to keep my hands warm ?

Anyone got any real world usage information ?

[ronl]

Try this link http://binocularsky.com/index.php Steve Tonkin is our expert in everything

binocular, he gives excellent advice, and I'm sure you will find what you are looking for.

[spike95609]

For me a quality pair of 15x70s on a tripod are best as they show a surprising amount but still give a pretty wide field of view. I tried my own against the 22x85 in the same range recently and found they could only see very marginally deeper. And I think those 22x85s will be pretty close to the performance of many 25x100s on the market as their aperture actually measures 85mm, whereas most 100s are a fair bit less than what's advertised.

[just_ed]

I am in the same situation, wanting to upgrade from my 10x50’s, and getting lured by bigger is better. I’ll probably go for the 15x70’s so I can use the tripod I have with its weight limitations, and also the fact that the 15x70’s have the close focus where I can use them to observe the birds at my backyard feeders.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

however I am looking at 20x80's as I hope this extra light and magnification will give me a noticable difference over the 10x50's.

I went from using 10x50's (for 30 yrs) up to 20x90. The difference is VAST. I still use 10x50 very very often while just casually wandering around the night sky. In fact i just bought a new pair of 10x50 Strathspey bins.

Bins will never deliver the views you get with a scope, so you have to decide if spending a lot of cash on BIG bins is the way you really want to go or would you be happier with a scope and maybe a smaller set of bins in the 10x50 or 15x70 range.

Binocular astronomy and telescope astronomy are two different things. Its great to do both. 

[autoq]

Thanks for taking the time to respond - yeah think I'll speak to a few guys at the local astro club and then (try to) actually make a decision  . FWIW when I do make a decision . I'll try to post some sort of review here to maybe help some other newbies ..