Kowa Highlander

[GavStar]

I visited Astrofest today not intending to buy anything, but these the price of these beauties was just too good not to take the plunge. Really looking forward to testing them out! Probably clouds for the next month 

[Damo636]

Wow, now that's a nice rig!  I'm sure the views from that set-up will be nothing short of stunning, congrats!

[Alfian]

Just read a review of these (I'm assuming they are the same) over on Cloudynights and they look a very serious beautiful bino at an equally serious price. It would be good to hear of your experiences with them as and when the skies clear - surely they will sometime. 

[GavStar]

Yes Cloudynights was where I got most of my info about this binocular. I did look to get one a couple of years ago but no one in the uk supplied them at that time. I got a quote from Germany and it was £5k which was a bit much to say the least! In the past few months a couple of uk dealers are now supplying them at a much better price - apparently due to the yen exchange rate but Cloudynights are also saying competition from the apm 100ed binos. I looked at the apm binos at astrofest as well. They are now broadly similar in price having been a lot cheaper two years ago. Also the apms are not fluorite and side by side with the kowas are a lot bigger and need a significant mount. As I already had the technosky Elle which works with the kowa and the price was good on the day I thought I'd give them a whirl. I will post my thoughts once I get a chance to use them.

[bob4026]

Beautiful Instrument.

I assume it gets even better when you look thru it?

ATB

Bob

[TheMightyKong]

Wowsers!!!  Great binos, go big or go home eh?  I drooled over those at Astrofest too, they were beautiful and should give stunning dark sky views.  Congratulations!

[GavStar]

First proper outing with the highlander this evening - awesome! M45, M42, sigma orionis and M35 all wonderful. I also used some field optics eyeshields which made the view even more all encompassing, well worth purchasing.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Wonderful instrument. Glad first light confirmed their quality

[GavStar]

Good to have a couple of clear nights to test the highlander out. One aspect that I was having a bit of difficulty with was not having a finder.

So hopefully this set up will solve that problem (one advantage of the apm ed100 binos is the easy attachment of a red dot finder to the handle - no such thing in the highlander)

 

[Alfian]

Something like the Rigel quickfinder, with is small footprint stick on base, would work I think.

[BinocularSky]

+1 for Alfian's suggestion: this is exactly what I use on my Miyauchi. The double-sided sticky-pads they provide to mount the base still have "chewing gum to a carpet" adhesion after over a decade. Fix it on the tube opposite your dominant eye in order to reduce the likelihood of breathing on the eyepieces when using it.

 

[Alfian]

Like the "chewing gum"   analogy Steve, slightly less messy (and more printable) than the comparison that readily comes to mind. The Rigel is a good bit of kit. It's slightly cheap plastic looks bely its functionality and sturdiness.

[GavStar]

Not too keen to put sticky bits on the binos. Tried my set up this evening and it works very well imo and away from the eyepieces so that I don't breath on it

[TheMightyKong]

The more pics I see of these the more I want to look through one.  It's one of the few pieces of equipment I still have gear lust for.

 

Any more observing reports please?

[GavStar]

I compared them with my binoviewers setup over several nights (mark v, tak fc100df, pans 24mm and Pentax 8.5xf with 1.25 and 1.7x gpc) For me, the binoviewers were the much better setup. More flexibility with eyepieces, ability to get wide views and also high magnification planetary views. Also I found the quality of the views with the binoviewers noticeably better. So I no longer have the highlanders and will be sticking with the binoviewers. Interesting to do the comparison though.