William Optics Binoviewers

[DeepSkyMan]

Hi there everybody, I am considering buying a set of William Optics Binoviewers for my 8" EdgeHD, however I am concerned about their weight and the impact on the balance of my setup.  The balance point n the OTA already seems very close to the backend with the kit that I typically currently use (Kendrick ZAPCAP, Celestron star-diagonal, Celestron RACI finder).  Anybody used binoviewers on similar equipment? 

[LMC]

I use the WO binoviewers + 2 Televue Panoptic 19mm eyepieces in an 8", f15 Mak-Cass.

No idea how much weight it adds to the OTA, but, when balanced properly (there's the rub!) it rides happily on an ancient HEQ6.

If your C8 is fork mounted, it should easily bear the extra weight.

If you are using a GEM, then a little fiddling with the position of the OTA on the mount should yield results.

The only real caveat being that you will want a mount that will remain steady under load (EQ6,Ioptron iE45, Losmandy G8 etc.)

Remember: There's no such thing as too much mount!

Hope that was helpful.

LMC

[DeepSkyMan]

Thanks LMC, appreciate the comment 'There's no such thing as too much mount', however my kit is designed for portability, so this imposes a 'limit of realism' lol...  My mount is a Sphinx SXW.  I'm thinking this might be a case of 'suck it and see'. for £179, its not too big a dent in the wallet, and there's always AstroBuySell if things go pear shaped :-)

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Ya Deepskyman - I use them on the back end of the CPC 1100 with a 2" Diagonal and a heated dew shield up the front, but my dad made me a rail to go underneath the tube and I use a weight (I think its about 1.5 KG) which I can slide to adjust for balance - with this set up and a pair of Baader Zooms hangin out the Diagonal I need to have the weight towards the front of the scope - but the WO's come with a pair of 20mm EP's which work very well and don't really add much weight on the back end.

I must say that the supplied EP's are very nice when used with the 1.6 Barlow (also in the box) - the views of Jupiter were amazing - not really had much scope time with the Baader's yet - but they are heavy - just tried the initial focus and eye placement and trying to merge the image ok, to see if everything works ok, but once balanced, the scope works very well with good alignment an no problems with the weight issue, but that's with the Alt/Az mount - which seems to be able to handle the extra weight well - I think its best if you can balance the whole set up so as not to put any stress on the motors, but as said, with the supplied EP's, the Binoviewer is light enough and I think well matched in the SCT - there is talk about increased focal length when added to the optical train - but long focal lengths work much better on the Planets/Moon and with this sort of aperture, the splitting of the light path which dims the object hasn't really been a problem and it costs a bit with all the extra adapters and new diagonal to make the light path as short as possible - I have not had any worries, the views on Jupiter have been very nice and I think using both eyes really do make for a very comfortable and pleasant experience - I could sit there for hours in Bino mode, the detail over mono vision really has to be experienced to be believed.

Just one point though - your using an EQ mount - so you may just have to be careful when "sending" the mount to different parts of the sky as this will alter the EP position - I know you just have to rotate the diagonal, but if it were me - I think I would take the Bino unit out of the diagonal when the scope position will change because you can find yourself with the EP upside down when moving to different parts of the sky - but not a problem if your settling in for a few hours on Jupiter or the Moon - I think that's whats good in Alt/Az mode the Ep stays the same no matter what part of the sky your moving to.

HTH a little - but for the price these WO Bino units are very nice - you have to spend a large amount of money with the other systems - and as said, you can spend a load just by trying to make the optical path the shortest possible - but I've not tried any other Bino's, but the WO's are a definite keeper.

Paul.