Bresser 10x50s mini review

[lunator]

I had to go away for 2 nights on a sales conference. It was being held at Centerparcs at Longleat.

I knew the skies would be darker than my London skies but I also knew a telescope was not a viable option. Time to role out my newly aquired Bresser Bino's from Astrofest.

On Wednesday night the Moon wasa Waxing gibbous and was in the Western part of Gemmini.

I started with the Moon. The image was clear and crisp with a good contrast. I could see Sinus Iridum as it was on the Terminator. It took a while to work out what I was looking at as I am used to looking at the Moon upside down.

The next target was Saturn and the behive (M44). You could see that Saturn was not a star and their was a hint of the rings in its slightly oblate shape. In M44 there wasa good scattering of Stars.

I briefly stopped at X cancri as it is mention in the astro book I am reading (review will appear shortly). It appeared to be about mag 6 (just below max).

I moved across to Orion. The Nebula stood out and was a fantastic sight. I could see 3 of the stars of theta Ori. which was the same my initial experience.

I moved upto the Hyades and then the Pleiades. both clusters filled the view with Stars. The Pleiades were showing dozens of stars, definately more than 50. It was a fantastic sight.

My final call was the double cluster. This appeared as 2 smudges with just the hint of some of the stars being resolved.

On Thursday night I looked at the same groups but as the Moon was slightly further East in Gem. I decided to try for the Messiers in Auriga. I observed M38 as a slightly elongated patch of fuzziness.

In summary.

The Binoculars have good light grasp and the images are clear and sharp across most of the field of view. They are easy to hold and the large focus knob is very easy to use.

They had to be held in just the right place to get a comfortable view. I put this down to the exit pupil being slightly smaller than my eyes pupils were so I sometimes got part of the field darkened.

The only drawback that did impact observing was internal reflections due to the bright Moon. I found that anything with 10 degrees of the Moon was washed out by the moon light reflecting within the binoculars even though they were not pointed directly at the Moon.

In conclusion

For £13 you can't go wrong.

[Naz]

Well worth the money then.

nabban

[russ]

Excellent mini review Ian. And I agree with you 100%. Pure bargain for £13.

Russ