Travel scope or binos?

[Nathan UK]

10 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I generally use my Galileo 15x70mm binos for viewing large open clusters like the Pleiades and Collinder 70 and for searching for comets.  As Mark at Beaufort suggests, sitting in a reclining position, preferably a rocker recliner, works best.  I also prefer to hold them by the objective end for better stability since that's where most of the weight lies.  Using them with a tripod just ruins their portability.  You might as well use a binoviewer in a refractor.  It's more versatile and steadier, just no where near as wide.

As Charic suggests, 8x40mm to 8x44mm binos are great all-rounders.  I take them with me on most trips because they take up so little room, are fairly light, and are fairly easy to hold steady.  I have 20 year old Meade 8x42mm binos that are most similar to these.  They're also great for daytime use as well.

Thanks  a lot of your advice ,  I  do have a recliner in the back and a shelter so  I'm sorted ✌️

I'm going to order a smaller pair also so 8x40s it is ?

I can see my having a lot of fun with these

i think there coming tomorrow or should I say today, tracking says its on way to Liverpool, just hoping for a clear night now liverpools been very cloudy recently 

[happy-kat]

Have 8*42 here and they get a lot of use particularly if there is a comet to view.

In case you ever look again binoccularsky.com very good site ran by a member on here.

[Nathan UK]

Great news they come!!!!!

delivered in a record breaking 22hours!!!!

perfectly packaged and IMO over bubble wrapped and in perfect collimation . I'm really impressed with them especially for the price! 

Measly £46! That's one of our orders on just eat in my house.

thanks for all your help everyone.

hopefully be on the recliner tonight if there's clarity or gaps between clouds and will do a little review and a report 

 

[25585]

On 18/09/2017 at 17:33, John said:

I use a pair of Opticron 11x70's and find that they can be hand held for short periods but you can see much more with them, astronomically, when they are mounted on a monopod or tripod.

 

Seconded. My Helios Apollos 11x70s are my most used big bins. Any higher magnification needs a steady support all the time, unless image stabilised.

A spotting scope can be fine for casual viewing, they are compact and there is a variety of choice.

[Nathan UK]

2 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Seconded. My Helios Apollos 11x70s are my most used big bins. Any higher magnification needs a steady support all the time, unless image stabilised.

A spotting scope can be fine for casual viewing, they are compact and there is a variety of choice.

My first set of bins came yesterday,

used them last night, 

loved them and done a report...

.I got support by being in a recliner,

im ordering a neck pod in a moment

[Charic]

16 minutes ago, Nathan UK said:

im ordering a neck pod in a moment

....anything to do with an injury from the weight of ( I think thats a reticulated python - correct me if I'm wrong) that snake around your neck?

I've been wanting to own a Corn Snake for some Years now, but Mrs Charic would leave me?....................
Hmm! that does create an option here? 

[Nathan UK]

42 minutes ago, Charic said:

....anything to do with an injury from the weight of ( I think thats a reticulated python - correct me if I'm wrong) that snake around your neck?

I've been wanting to own a Corn Snake for some Years now, but Mrs Charic would leave me?....................
Hmm! that does create an option here? 

????? IT is a Royal/ball python,

im opting for the neck pod because I'm 6ft6 and if they do the job and stop me doing my neck and back in that would be awesome 

[Charic]

At least I got the Python but right!

I opted to purchase a tripod for my DSLR, but the binoculars  seem to have priority. The feature I most like is the articulation that can be achieved using a ball head, plus my tripod has the horizontal extension feature.

Failing that, I do find the kitchen chair most comfortable, and the high back is just the right height for me when I lean back, all items featured in this image...... ( Manfrotto 055-X-Pro3' with 222 Trigger Grip!  & Revelation 15x70 )

[Nathan UK]

59 minutes ago, Charic said:

At least I got the Python but right!

I opted to purchase a tripod for my DSLR, but the binoculars  seem to have priority. The feature I most like is the articulation that can be achieved using a ball head, plus my tripod has the horizontal extension feature.

Failing that, I do find the kitchen chair most comfortable, and the high back is just the right height for me when I lean back, all items featured in this image...... ( Manfrotto 055-X-Pro3' with 222 Trigger Grip!  & Revelation 15x70 )

Your making we want the above set up now that looks like some comfortable fun ?

[Charic]

It is my friend ........though I have to shorten the farthest leg for stability,  counter balancing that extension, but once set, its pretty solid.

Having a rock solid image is a joy. 

[ollypenrice]

The plastic tripod adapters are fixable if they are of the I-beam section kind, as mine were. I just cut some steel bolts to fit into the hollows of the plastic beam and bonded them in place with a fill of Araldite. Performance became perfectly acceptable.

As regards power and hand holding, you get two entirely different verdicts if you compare birding forums with astro forums. The birders gravitate towards 8x, with 10x still popular. Only rarely do birders advocate more. I'm more astronomer than birder but I agree - for me. I can't speak for anyone else. However, you can perform a simple self test. Take your different powered bins, hand held, and find some distant text on the limit for the lower powered ones. Try readng the letters of the text backwards. This stops the brain going into 'predictive text' mode. Can you really do better, hand held, with the higher power? This is the way to find out...

Olly

[billyharris72]

Interesting point by Olly. I wonder if the astro community has changed on this due to the increasing number of high power bins on the market. Before my time but I seem to remember that many older astronomy books tended to advocate 7x50 binoculars over 10x50, partly for brightness and field of view, but presumably also because they are so easy to hand hold.

Is this an area where we've diverged from the birders over time?

Billy.

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, billyharris72 said:

Interesting point by Olly. I wonder if the astro community has changed on this due to the increasing number of high power bins on the market. Before my time but I seem to remember that many older astronomy books tended to advocate 7x50 binoculars over 10x50, partly for brightness and field of view, but presumably also because they are so easy to hand hold.

Is this an area where we've diverged from the birders over time?

Billy.

It seems to be. My main hand held binos are 8x42 and suite me to perfection. I also have some excellent Leica 10X25 for pocket wildlife viewing. To be honest I find the 10x a bit much. Obviously it isn't the weight because they are tiny, it's just the focal length.

Olly

[Jonk]

My 10x50 bins took me a while to get used to but give very good views of say, M42, M45, the double cluster etc.

I'm not sure I'd want to hold anything bigger / heavier.

The hardest part to get used to is neck strain. A tripod sorts that out if space allows it.

[JG777]

For a long time I was using a set of Bushnell 8x42 for stargazing and daytime work, optically they are very good, well built and light so a joy to hand hold. I now use my Pentax 10x50 more for stargazing as I like the view and optically they are a step up but even these become uncomfortable to hand hold after a while so I use them on a tripod. It can be hard to find a tripod tall enough that does not weigh a ton or cost a fortune,  or you are not having to be a contortionist but I took a punt on this http://uk.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=109827&utm_source=google&utm_medium=comparisonshopping&utm_campaign=UK-googlemerchant&gclid=CjwKCAjwxo3OBRBpEiwAS7X62bOspUMjcf8u3SNcg-JepUQLU2FMp8S29JzK8NoW2Rm7AIihnPFokxoCc-EQAvD_BwE

and for the money it has so far been quite good. It's not top quality and the head is not quite the fluidity of posh Manfrotto or Gitzos but it does work well for me at 5 foot 10 and allows me to view the very high up objects with minimal arching of my back. You can also mount the bins the wrong way around so the adjustment bar is in front of you making it even easier to use and without it being in your face! I prefer to stand up than sit because once seated the temptation to have a quick nap becomes all to real ?

Each to their own though with binocular choice it has to be about what works for you and what is comfortable to use but just like scopes it can be a bit of trial and error. Plenty of choice though, and that must be a good thing. 

[Louis D]

What with decent Chinese made binos being so cheap, there's nothing that says you can't take an 8x42, 10x50, and 15x70 all out at the same time and grab whichever suits you at a given moment.

[John]

5 minutes ago, Louis D said:

What with decent Chinese made binos being so cheap, there's nothing that says you can't take an 8x42, 10x50, and 15x70 all out at the same time and grab whichever suits you at a given moment.

True. There are a couple of pairs of reasonable 15x70's at £30 plus a little postage on e.bay at the moment. "Cheap as chips"

[Geoff Lister]

On ‎21‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 14:49, John said:

True. There are a couple of pairs of reasonable 15x70's at £30 plus a little postage on e.bay at the moment. "Cheap as chips"

Yes, John, but beware! Some manufacturers use a different ruler to the rest of us. A while ago I bought a pair of "Sakura" binoculars on eBay, marked, and advertised as "10 - 70 x 70 zoom". The objective lenses have a diameter of only 47mm, and not the full 70mm of my, much more expensive, and heavier, Strathspey 15x70s. Perhaps Sakura's marketing team considered that a pair of 47mm lenses have about the same area as a single 70mm lens and marked their kit accordingly .

However, the Sakuras are still handy (at the x10 magnification end) when I don't have monopod/tripod/elbow support.

Geoff

Update:- Just checked eBay, and there are plenty of vendors selling these binoculars with a number of variations of "zoom", "10", "x or -", and "70 x70". If you look closely at the adverts there is no mention of objective lens diameter. Caveat emptor.

[Nathan UK]

On 25 September 2017 at 16:46, Geoff Lister said:

Yes, John, but beware! Some manufacturers use a different ruler to the rest of us. A while ago I bought a pair of "Sakura" binoculars on eBay, marked, and advertised as "10 - 70 x 70 zoom". The objective lenses have a diameter of only 47mm, and not the full 70mm of my, much more expensive, and heavier, Strathspey 15x70s. Perhaps Sakura's marketing team considered that a pair of 47mm lenses have about the same area as a single 70mm lens and marked their kit accordingly .

However, the Sakuras are still handy (at the x10 magnification end) when I don't have monopod/tripod/elbow support.

Geoff

Update:- Just checked eBay, and there are plenty of vendors selling these binoculars with a number of variations of "zoom", "10", "x or -", and "70 x70". If you look closely at the adverts there is no mention of objective lens diameter. Caveat emptor.

Thanks for the heads up about that brand I also seen them on eBay 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Have fun with the new bins!

Note that cheaper 15x70s are effectively 15x64, but that doesn't stop them from being excellent value for money. I had an Omegon pair for several years, and had loads of fun scanning the southern skies on my trips to Australia and South Africa. They ultimately did break, just after the purchase of the (clearly better, and built like a tank) Helios Apollo 15x70s. I still have a cheap 15x70 pair (TS-branded), which my eldest loves to use. They are great for outreach too. I frequently use my 15x70 (and now the 16x80)  hand-held which worked for me, but either a monopod with pistol grip, or a home-made parallelogram mount (P-mount) do give a better view. The P-mount is ideal for outreach, as you can point the bins at an object, and then lower it so kids can look, whilst keeping them pointed at the same location in the sky.

The monopod with trigger grip

P-mount with 16x80