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Who Makes The Best Binoculars?

refractordude

By refractordude
in Discussions - Binoculars

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Doc

Doc

Posted
Posted

I have only ever used small binoculars in the x10 section and out of them only two have met my expectations for pin point stars while scanning the milky way and they are my Swarovski 10x50 and a borrowed pair of Canon 10x42L IS binoculars.

Out of those two the Swarovskis win. 

 

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

Posted
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My Helios LightQuest 16x80s are pretty much pinpoint out to 90-95% of the field, they are really stunning, especially for the price. I have also looked through a pair of Leica 8x42s and they are very sharp indeed. They edged out the Helios Apollo 15x70 I had at the time for sharpness, although it was a close run thing in the centre. Towards the edge of the field, the Leica was better. However, in terms of light grasp, the 15x70 won by a mile. For the biggest binoculars (25x100 and upwards), you will need to go for apochromatic correction and choose good EPs (most of the big guns accept 1.25" EPs). I bet the APM/Lunt 100mm bins with a pair of Panoptics would be very nice indeed.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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BTW, for the big bins, a good mount is probably more important than the actual optical performance. If you do not mount even my 16x80s, you would not be able to get all the detail out of the image. I can hand-hold them a short time, but a monopod and pistol grip, or better still my p-mount make all the difference.

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John

John

Posted
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My best ones are:

Swarovski 8x30's

Zeiss (Jena) 8x30's

Opticron (Japan made) 11x70's

The Helios Naturesport 10x50's get an honorable mention as well.

I've owned plenty of others including 25x100's 20x80, 15x70 etc. The 25x100's look impressive but in practice were very hard to get mounted steadilly. If I was to go for binocs larger than 70mm now I think I'd look for the type with 90 degree eyepieces.

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PeterW

PeterW

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Nikon 8x30E2, Bushnell 7x35 Rangemasters. As noted, pay more, get more better.... there are some golden sets to be found secondhand if you do some digging. Personally I go for widefield views, if the extreme edge is a wee bit soft, no one is going to notice.

PEter

 

 

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Charic

Charic

Posted
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9 hours ago, John said:

The Helios Naturesport 10x50's get an honorable mention as well

Never tried the other brands listed by John, but I  do love my 8x40 Naturesport's and their 8.2° field.

Great views, even better mounted!

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