Binocular capability

[mishy30forever]

Those bino users what level of detail can you see with binos - is it star spotting or can you get some that you can see planets with - eg Jupiter and moons...........   ive a travelscope 70 and contemplated but wondered would I see more with some quality binos - opinions and recommednations welcomed.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I can see the disk of Jupiter with my 15x70s, and certainly its moons, but no detail on the disk (glare/not enough magnification). I can make out the shape of Saturn, and the crescent phase of Venus. Craters on the moon can also be seen easily. For detail, the higher magnifications are really needed, and this is where the travel scope will beat the bins. For extended DSOs, the bins beat the 70mm travel scope

[laudropb]

Bins will give you a wider field of view and help you learn the night sky and help you to locate targets. Of course there will be less detail than in the scope. It's really a matter of what you want personally.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Bins will give you a wider field of view and help you learn the night sky and help you to locate targets. Of course there will be less detail than in the scope. It's really a matter of what you want personally.

 You get the wide field experience,and it's the 'right way up'

  Bins ARE great for learning the night sky,and a half decent binocular is a tool that will not be consigned to the cupboard if you get a large scope,as the two instruments compliment each other.

  Also- Bins must be the ultimate grab n go instrument of choice-portable,no cool down time,plus you have all the day time possibilities- Birdwatching for example.

   Galileo would have loved to have had decent 21st century Bins!

[happy-kat]

With my 8x42 I can just see the 4 main moons of Jupiter. The Moon looks cool too and this size binoculars are very easy to use.

[mcolbert]

I've had my 10x50's for about 35 years (that's scary when I come to think about it! ), always there and now the kids enjoy using them.  Got to agree with laudropb for targetting and wider field of view.

michael

[DemosL]

I find my 15 x 70 bins to be the best combination of magnification and field of view. They're powerful enough to detect DSOs like the Andromeda Galaxy and globular and open clusters. The field of views are more star filled than when I used scopes for 46 years.

[Ruud]

I only have 7x50s and 4x22s but I really like them. I love the rich star fields of the Milky way, the Moon, open clusters and when I go out on my bicycle my binoculars rarely stay at home.  

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Some time ago I compared my two favourite wide-field instruments: the Helios Apollo 15x70 HD bins vs the APM 80 F/6 APO triplet, with Nagler 31mm Type 5, 15.5x magnification, and 5.3 #degree# FOV. Despite the optical quality of the latter clearly being better, I would never ditch the bins, for their outstanding grab-and-go capacity. The comparison can be found here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/193207-tales-from-santa-luce-tuscany-episode-v-great-globular-and-wide-field-shoot-outs/