Observation binos for ex-scope owner

[russ.will]

Hi, long time no see!

Long story short; got divorced and sold scopes (12" Dob, 127mm frac, ED80, ES100 eps, mounts, etc) due to lack of space or garden. The new 'we' now have a village edge house on the Fen Edge and a very rural, very dark (darker than Kelling, at least) house in rural Normandy. Fiscal commitments have me running scared of going scope again (at least for now) because I know what I'm like and I need money for stuff like staircases, pointing, patios, etc.

So I'd like something that allows me half decent views of fuzzies, will at least pick out the moons of Jupiter and can be slung in the back of a car and taken away for the weekend, without taking up too much load space, which brings me to binos.

Assuming a top end budget of £400 and that I have a decent Manfrotto tripod what is recommended? Celestron and Helios 20 or 25x80ish have caught my eye, but with the memory of pin-prick precise stars of the ED80 and Baader Orthos, are binos at this price going to send me running screaming?

Then I see things like the Bresser 6" Newt/Dob and think that with a brace of well chosen plossls and the ES Tele-extender that I kept, I'm getting a more versatile tool for similar money and not much more room taken up now I can leave a tripod at home...

Help!

Russ

[Stormbringer]

I have the Helios 22x85's and they are damm good bins i also have the celestron 15x70 pro bins which are £125 at FLO not tried these under the stars yet but they do get a good write up by Binocular Sky (Steve Tonkin) 

http://binocularsky.com/

HTH 🍻

[mark81]

One thing to consider is the size of binocular.   A pair of 50mm from a very dark site will show you plenty - obviosly the faint fuzzies are literally going to be that, but you can at least hand hold them.  Once you begin to venture into the world of 70-80mm bins you can use them for brief sessions but to get the most out of then youll need a tripod/monopod.... And then of course you begin to wonder if you should have just bought a scope...

I guess it comes down to what type of observing your going to go for.... At the end of the day, a small dob is easily transportable - will show you much more for you money and stood in a corner really won't take up that much room (but then again, a dob is not a pair of binoculars)

Mark

[russ.will]

Well, I asked around and had phone/email convos with a couple of dealers.

 

Stock is obviously a problem with OVL closed, but the Helios Stellar II 20x80 seemed to be the best balance of price, performance and weight.

I would of sprung for the Apollos but I couldn't really find any content to suggest it was worth it, even if you accept the law of diminishing returns that we all too readily do.

Some of the money saved is already diverted to a trigger-grip ball head, dew shields and I'm still quids in. Result.

Russ

[mark81]

Russ,

The Stella ii do have a good reputation. I think you get slightly better light transmission and correction on the Apollo s but the Stella's really are good quality and of course much lighter than the Apollo's so a trigger grip should work well... 

Clear skies

Mark

 

[BinocularSky]

Trigger grip works well for both.

[Ciaran Meier]

Hi Russ

I've a set of Stellar II 15x70's and they're great.  Optics seem superb to me and they are light enough to hand hold for a short while.  The image brightness they produce is excellent and give great views even from heavily light polluted skies.  First time I had them on the Beehive Cluster from a dark site it took my breath away,  absolutely beautiful.  I was considering buying the Apollo but opted for these instead. No regrets. 

Ciaran.