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Big Bino's!

argonaut

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PeterW

PeterW

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What gets me is that the Chinese who have been making complex big bos for years have not also made a nice parallelogram mount to use them on. All you need is a surveyors tripod (cheap) and some chopped up square metal beam, some teflon washers and knurled bolts to adjsut tension and a counter weight. Universal Astronomics have sucha range of options even the Garrett UA page is hard to work out what you want and how much it'd cost. You want one design that can take either of the big bins (change weight) in an adjustable cradle (to remove balance issues) and a good surveyors tripod so you can observe to the zenith from standing up to lying on the ground. If a suitable design could be found then it would be cheap for the chinese to run them out. It would also help those who have bought big bins in the past to use them more. I bet most of them struggle to be used on 'barely adequate' camera tripods (which suffer from the out-of-balance cantilever problem at high elevations, which a cradle wouldn't).

Not too much to ask?!?!?!

PEterW

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kaadenmz

kaadenmz

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Hello again all

Talking of the Chinese making big bins there is a great post (or two) on CloudyNights on this. I could post link here but not sure of forum rules yet so plse advise. If OK I will do so.

Its esp relevant to the earlier bit of this thread when a few folk said hello and asked me to write a review of the Helios Quantum 74s. Well I ordered a second pair of those this week and they arrived today. Look exactly the same and performance etc. seems just as good, same mount, tripod, BAK4, same slightly cr*ppy case etc. but......

They are almost certainly Oberwerk BT-100-45's ! I can trace them back to the Chinese factory where they are made for Oberwerk (Yunnan Yunguang Development Co), by their serial designation SW100/Q45-B.

Im seeking absolute verification from both retailer and wholesaler that having paid for Helios Q-74s Im actually getting Q-74s or an exact equivalent of course (since there are no other makers marks to speak of) - but it looks very much like Obewerk BT-100-45 = Quantum Helios 7.4 = YYDC SW100/Q45-B and all come from the same YYDC source.

Assuming it all checks out and specs are the same then Im happy - and the new bins work just as well as the originals in daytime (yet to test after dark). Also - there are lots and lots of very good reviews out there on the BT-100 and BT-100-45 which saves me a lot of typing reviewing the Helios here ! (Although I will have a go I doubt I can match some of the great work on CN and elsewhere.)

I'll post back when this 'equivalence' has been confirmed (or not as the case may be). Both retailer and wholesaler are very reputable and have been very happy to help confirm Ive not been sent a set of cheap copies (confirmation expected tomorrow).

Anyway - a bit of a ramble - but hopefully useful to some thinking about buying. It made me wonder where the also excellent big Strathspeys come from and exactly why they are significantly cheaper.....? (I opted for the more expensive Q7.4's in the end on the basis of the Sky at Night review which compared the two directly).

Regards

Andrew

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argonaut

argonaut

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Jamie: Beautiful set up . I REALLY like that mount :icon_rolleyes:

Astro-baby: Those things have a big mirror thingy in ;)

Got to have a lens or two for my liking :)

Andrew: Hope everything goes OK with the new glass.

Clear Skies everyone.

Glen.

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Jamie

Jamie

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Now then Jamie - not seen those before - more info please !

Regards

Andrew

Hi Andrew

They are the Quantum 6.1 100mm 90° bins with interchangeable eyepieces.

The bins are mounted on a modified Meade LX10 driven fork mount.

This makes for a very stable platform to house this type of set up.

I am in the process of acquiring a GOTO fork mount to further this set up's modification.

Sweet or what.....

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kaadenmz

kaadenmz

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Thanks Jamie - sweet indeed. More info on that mount modification would be of interest when youve settled it.

Glen

Thanks for the thought - all has turned out well today - both retailer and wholesaler have confirmed that the mysterious 'SW100/Q45' is indeed a generic 'origin' label given by the original Chinese manufacturer mentioned above. The product is then branded Oberwerk BT-100-45 or Quantum Helios 7.4 depending on where it goes after leaving the factory. But they are all one and the same thing. All the physical evidence in front of me confirms this (although its been permanently cloudy ever since they arrived)

So now if you go surfing for reviews of the BT-100 or BT-100-45 you will find a LOT of reviews, although I'll add my two pennorth in due course.

Regards

Andrew

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  • 2 years later...
Demon Barber

Demon Barber

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Hi All not sure how to get link but if you can access my photo`s you will see my Garrett 28x110`s ver y pleased with them but can find the individual eyepiece focussing a little awkward if you lose focus on deep sky objects,on the moon it feel`s as if you could reach through the optic`s and touch the surface.

The parrallelogram mine are mounted on are on an eq6 set of legs and are very stable,would just love a pair of fujinon`s or large Nikon`s or my current fav`s ww11 marine big eye`s (Zeiss 10x80) with a near 5deg f.o.v.

ATB

Mike

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