Omegon 2.1x42 Binoculars

[DaveGarland]

Hi all.

Does anyone know how the Omegon 2.1x42 binoculars compare to the Vixen 2.1x42? They look incredibly similar in build but around £100 cheaper! I've wanted to get the Vixen ones for some time now but keep bawking at the price. I would happily part with £160 though.

So what do you guys think? Do they compare well? Or is it really worth saving the extra money for the Vixens?

Thanks for any advice.

Dave.

 

[Carbon Brush]

Watching with interest. As an owner of the (once unique) vixen model.

[rl]

There's a french astronomy magazine which recently did a direct comparison between these two models...trouble is I can't remember which magazine. It might well have been either ciel et espace or astronmie. If I remember there wasn't much in it; the Vixen was a bit better optically especially at the edge of the FOV, but the other one wasn't far behind an a lot cheaper. 

I do struggle with these a bit myself. The effective aperture is no more than about 15mm if you multiply up your pupil diameter by the magnification; most of the light entering the 42mm aperture is wasted. The reason for this is to gain an acceptable field of view with the Galilean optical arrangement; the FOV is the objective as seen through the concave eye lens. I think I'd prefer a miniature set of 6*30mm or 5*20mm

[DaveGarland]

Thanks rl. I must admit I'm starting to get a bit of an itchy 'add to cart button' finger at the mo but I'd love to hear from someone who actually owns a pair first.

[Ben the Ignorant]

My personal ideal specs for a mini binocular are 4x24 or 4x20 with a 16° field in an Porro arrangement, but no one is manufacturing that. Wobble would be negligible, and it could display some entire small constellations. Could finally see things in context between the naked eye view and the 10x view, which is already magnified a lot when you consider the 6.5° field relative to the 180° naked eye field.

Would be great for teaching newbies to navigate the constellations, and for seeing them as they are shown on basic atlases with the complete set of stars, even through light pollution.

[Stu]

20 minutes ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

My personal ideal specs for a mini binocular are 4x24 or 4x20 with a 16° field in an Porro arrangement, but no one is manufacturing that. Wobble would be negligible, and it could display some entire small constellations. Could finally see things in context between the naked eye view and the 10x view, which is already magnified a lot when you consider the 6.5° field relative to the 180° naked eye field.

Would be great for teaching newbies to navigate the constellations, and for seeing them as they are shown on basic atlases with the complete set of stars, even through light pollution.

I have a pair of the Kasai 2.3x42 widefields but if I'm honest I have yet to try them under a decently dark sky. I want to trawl through Cygnus with filters fitted with the MW very visible to the naked eye but that will probably have to wait until August.

I also have an old pair of 7x35 widefields with 11 degree field of view which will be great under similar conditions.

[JeremyS]

I've got the Vixen 2.1x42 model and haven't tried others. But it's a fantastic piece of kit under dark skies. I get about 1.5 mags extra. Best is for observing the milky way - especially if you get to more southerly latitudes and you can enjoy the galactic centre star clouds.

Jeremy

[Dave Smith]

I bought a pair of the Vixens on SGL Buy/Sell recently. I've only been able, so far, to try them out on a darkening sky with much cloud around but was impressed with how they performed. I normally wear glasses but had no trouble focusing without. There is a massive discussion of these and comparison with other makes on Cloudy Nights that you may find useful.

dave

[DaveGarland]

Ah thanks Dave, I'll go and look that up?

[SoupDragon]

have a read of this;

http://www.webastro.net/forum/showthread.php?t=142043&page=15

and look at this clone;

https://www.gearbest.com/binoculars-and-telescopes/pp_325327.html?vip=2714337&siteid=73669&utm_source=webgains&utm_campaign=GearbestUK

L