How is this for a pair of bins?

[BeerMe]

I was thinking of buying a cheap pair of bins from eBay just to get me started and have came across a couple of pairs of Bressers, which I think is a name associated with astronomy gear?  Anyway, one of the pairs has the following spec;

• Objective Diameter (mm): 60
• Magnification: 10x-30x
• Glass: Bk-7 Porro Prism design
• Coating: Fully coated, Blue
• Field of View (m@1000m): 60 at 10x
• Width (mm): 235
• Length (mm): 230
• Depth (mm): 80
• Weight (gms): 1180
• Rubber Armour body
• Tripod thread

Do these seem worthwhile?  They are only £22 but I don't want to get them if they're going to be completely useless...

[Tinker1947]

There 9" long, 9 1/4" wide, 3" deep and weigh just under 3lbs , there be useless for astro, a nice pair of 8 X 42 would be much better...... 

[stargazerslivingroom]

For magnification you state 10x-30x...If these are zoom binoculars forget them!

I agree with previous post....Nice 8 x 42 are a good start.

HTH

Steve

[ronin]

Go with Tinker and just go get a pair of 8x42's, the common everyday birding variety. They work as well or better then just about anything.

Bresser when it comes to budget binoculars seems to be less associated with astronomy and more associated to Lidl and Aldi. Never have quite managed to link between the budget store offering and much of the Bresser astronomy items. There just seems a somewhat wide gap.

One option is look round the charity shops, occasionally something good appears in them.

[Bizibilder]

For general astronomy work you need a magnification of around 8-10 (any more and it is very difficult to hold the binoculars steady - unless you invest in some sort of mounting for them as well).  An objective of around 50mm is generally considered ideal.  Lightness is also important (see the comment about needing a mounting) and quality - which really only comes at a price.  Have a look at the websites of the various Astro suppliers and you will get an idea of what is available - then try and find the "best price" before buying.  

[Astro Imp]

Take a look at http://binocularsky.com/ you will find loads of advice for choosing and using bins. together with monthly observing suggestions.

HTH

Good luck.

[Putaendo Patrick]

As has been said: don't go with zooms (especially cheap zooms), avoid coloured coatings (the blue sounds suspicious) and if you can, go with Bak4 prisms (the glass formula is much better). Good sizes are generally anything in the 8x40 to 10x50 range, some people use 7x50 as well. Anything with higher power will be difficult to hold by hand for long and will need a tripod.

Bresser, once German, is now owned by a big Chinese company so really the name is used merely as a brand. Some good and more expensive telescopes do appear with this brand, but it is also used as a very dubious cheap line sometimes rebranded by department stores or marketing concerns such as National Geographic. At this level it's to be avoided!

A more than adequate pair of binos will cost about 50 pounds - but, you can get very good secondhand bargains.

Good luck!

[Dave In Vermont]

There were some decent zoom binocs - many years ago. I have some - nicely collimated and quality coatings. These are from Vivitar in 1990's. But Vivitar is now garbage, and the vast majority of zooms have a well-deserved dreadful reputation. If you find some old one's at a yard-sale, though - look them over carefully.

Dave

[laudropb]

Stay away from zooms. Look at astro bins from a reputable dealer like flow. My common or garden birder bins cost over £1000.

[brantuk]

Bigger isn't always better with bins. Sir Patrick Moore recommended a straight pair of 10x50's for beginners all through his life and he wasn't wrong. Once accustomed to them you will have a benchmark from which to compare all others - then you can start choosing according to what you want to do with your next pair.

The criteria mentioned above all apply - Bak4's or Bak7's, porro prisms, fully multi coated etc. Keep the size and weight down if you intend to hand hold - arms get tired very quickly when constantly looking up to the sky (larger bins require a tripod). Around £50 will get a very satisfactory pair.

But if you're after a bargain bucket pair try Liddl or Aldi. They often have the Bressers on offer for around £15 to £30 - but take them outside and check they're well collimated. They usually have a good replace or refund policy so there's nothing to loose. I tried 3 or 4 pairs before I was happy lol.

[Paz]

There is so much choice it can be difficult to decide but starting out I agree a pair of 10x50's are ideal.

[BeerMe]

The binoculars you asked about might be fine but, as you have seen, the general wisdom is to stay away from zooms.  The issue is that it is difficult to keep the left and right side in sync and once they go out of sync most inexpensive zoom have no way to correct.    could they be great?  Sure?  But overall the recommendation is stay away from zoom binoculars.

In general, any binocular with a magnification higher than 10X is going to be very difficult to hold steady.  Even 10X are going to suffer form some hand shake.  7X less so.

40 to 60 mm aperture is generally considered best for hand held binoculars.  Above that they get heavy.  Most people recommend 40 to 50 mm.

Many binoculars can be mounted on a tripod using a tripod adapter however the typical camera tripod does not go high enough for astronomy so you have to use them sitting or at odd angles.   Astronomy binocular mounts can get pricey, in the hundreds. 

If you want an inexpensive entry level binocular consider these Celestrons:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-Upclose-Porro-Bino-10X50/dp/B006ZN4TZS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1451604260&sr=1-1&keywords=celestron+binoculars+10+x+50

Choosing your first binoculars

http://binocularsky.com/binoc_choosing.php

Top 6 tips for using ordinary binoculars for stargazing

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/top-tips-for-using-ordinary-binoculars-for-stargazing

Top 10 binocular Targets

http://www.astronomysource.com/2012/02/20/top-10-night-sky-objects-for-astronomy-beginners/

How to hold binoculars

http://binocularsky.com/binoc_hold.php

I shouldn't have been so impulsive.  Great post and those bins in the first link look ideal.

That said, I bought the ones I posted about and despite the seemingly endless clouds, I took them out on the porch the first night I got them and managed to find a gap on the eastern sky.  Just a bright point that came in to view after my eyes adjusted for a minute or so.  I pointed the bins at them and caught it straight away at 10x.  The jitter wasn't as bad as I expected and it just showed as a white/bluish orb.  Excited, I zoomed in slowly to the full 30x mag while making sure I didn't lose sight of it.  Once the zoom lever stopped, I got it centred as much as I could and started fiddling with the focus.  The orb then became more defined, a definite white with a bluish hint and perfectly circular.  At that mag, it did move around slightly in my fov but it wasn't difficult keeping it there for maybe 20 seconds or so until the clouds moved in and obscured it completely.

Excited, I got back in the house and told the wife I was sure I had just seen once of the planets, as it was so round and well-defined and I was sure a star would just show as a point of light.  Fired up Stellarium and had a look at the sky (Monday evening around 7pm) and there were no planets even remotely close in the eastern sky.  The only possible contenders were Rigel and Sirius given the colour and brightness.

So...should stars show as white orbs at those mags or does this mean the bins aren't working properly?

[baggywrinkle]

Stars will not appear as orbs, they should be nice points of light and if the bins are any good they should show some colour and not chromatic aberation.

[Putaendo Patrick]

I have to agree with Baggywrinkle. Even with the best amateur telescope, stars appear as points, some bigger and brighter than others, some with an indication of colour, but certainly not what I would call orbs.

What do you see at the minumum zoom (x10), and how does this change as you increase the magnification?

[Chris]

Just to further hammer it home, run a thousand miles in the opposite direction when it comes to zoom binos!

[BeerMe]

aeajr: That screenshot is very similar to what I saw on Stellarium. I think it may have been a half hour before or so...Rigel and Sirius were closer to the East, and Alhena was slightly left of the position in your screen.

If I was pushed, I would say Alhena....it was at maybe 40°. Alnath would have been much higher and I don't think Procyon would have been visible over the rooftops in front of me.

With the naked eye, it showed as simply a point of light. I was able to find it with the bins easily using the rooftop as a guide as I went up until it came in to view. When I focused the bins at 10x, it was a small circle...definitely not a point of light but an actual circle, with a very slight blue tint in the white. I had no problems at all keeping it in view at that magnification, with just slight movement. I then slowly increased the mag to 30x just to see how it would appear....took me about 15 seconds to get to full mag as I was careful to keep it in view the whole time. It was a blurry circular mass until I focused it a bit then it became a very clearly defined orb...the best I can describe it is the photos people post of the sun using solar filters, but with a very slight bluish hint. I managed to hold it long enough and steady enough for it to keep its shape and definition until the clouds rolled in to obscure it.

Hope that helps someone suss out what I was seeing. I've had no other opportunities at all to use them since Monday... just wall to wall clouds up here.

[BeerMe]

Whatever it was it was exciting and well worth the fun of finding it.     

It most certainly was!  I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever looked at the sky with any kind of visual aid and it's just got me itching for more.

As I read elsewhere on here, it's not until you have this interest that you realise just how cloudy our skies are   I've been twitching the curtains to peer at the night sky for any kind of break in the clouds lol, but so far it's just an endless gray mass