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Vixen SG 2.1x constellation binos for Bortle 3


badhex

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Hello all, 

I have recently shipped all my astro stuff into storage for my upcoming move back to the UK, and have hit upon a quandary. 

We're visiting Japan for two months before we go back and mostly staying in large cities, so I reluctantly decided not to take any astro gear with me.

For three weeks of that I'll only have a tiny backpack, so even binos were not really an option and I'm not really a fan for stargazing anyway, plus at the time we did not really know our itinerary. Now we have narrowed it down, and it turns out that we'll be doing a week of hiking and staying in several traditional Ryokan along the way, following one of the old Edo samurai postal routes.

One of the Ryokan does a free stargazing/ observing evening at the top of a mountain, they provide the scope, and it's a Bortle 3! This has lead me to the idea of picking up a pair of the Vixen constellation binos to take advantage of the dark skies. 

As they are so small, I will be able to fit them into my backpack easily enough, plus they have Japanese made optics and are significantly cheaper there, so I'll likely pick them up in Japan.

I'd love to hear any feedback or pointers from owners, and of course any reason why I *shouldn't* get them! 

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I love my Vixen SGs. I don’t use them that much - mainly on hols in the med under dark skies. Lovely wide vistas of the Milky Way. You get an extra 1, maybe 1.5 mag range. It’s not so much like using conventional bins, more like naked eye on steroids 🙂

More to the point: we need your pics of the astro shops stuffed full of Tak products you visit 😊👍🏻

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1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

I love my Vixen SGs. I don’t use them that much - mainly on hols in the med under dark skies. Lovely wide vistas of the Milky Way. You get an extra 1, maybe 1.5 mag range. It’s not so much like using conventional bins, more like naked eye on steroids 🙂

More to the point: we need your pics of the astro shops stuffed full of Tak products you visit 😊👍🏻

Don't worry Jeremy! Plenty of photos to come. If anything I fear that your phone screen may wear out from all the licking 😂

Glad to hear you like the SGs. I figured they would not be something I'd get chance to use under normal conditions but I've liked the idea of them for a while and never really felt like I had a justifiable excuse - I think this counts! Everything I've read says a similar thing to you - not a conventional observing experience per se, more like super vision 🦸

Edited by badhex
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I have always been tempted by the SG, but as I have astigmatism, I am not sure how this would work with glasses if at all?

Enjoy your Japan exploits Joe, somewhere I would love to go, but as it involves a plane ride, would be doing it alone.

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44 minutes ago, badhex said:

Don't worry Jeremy! Plenty of photos to come. If anything I fear that your phone screen may wear out from all the licking 😂

Glad to hear you like the SGs. I figured they would not be something I'd get chance to use under normal conditions but I've liked the idea of them for a while and never really felt like I had a justifiable excuse - I think this counts! Everything I've read says a similar thing to you - not a conventional observing experience per se, more like super vision 🦸

Actually they work surprisingly well under moderate LP. It’s just that dark skies really work very well indeed

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40 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

Another vote for the Vixen SG. Had mine a few years.
Great for when you don't want to carry much.

Great, this is exactly the thinking! The ultimate widefield travel kit perhaps! 

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24 minutes ago, Alan White said:

I have always been tempted by the SG, but as I have astigmatism, I am not sure how this would work with glasses if at all?

Enjoy your Japan exploits Joe, somewhere I would love to go, but as it involves a plane ride, would be doing it alone.

Thanks Alan, have been a few times previously but never for so long.

With the SGs I am lead to believe from the reviews I've read that the best results require you to get the eye lens quite close to the eye, so I'm not sure if glasses might mean you lost some of the field of view perhaps? 

Edited by badhex
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8 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Actually they work surprisingly well under moderate LP. It’s just that dark skies really work very well indeed

Interesting! Well, I will be in London area for a while after my trip and finally reunited with my all my other astro gear (so the stuff I had already in storage in London plus the stuff I built up in Berlin) so I imagine I'll be quite busy with all that lot, but the eventual plan is to move somewhere commutable but with darker skies, possibly Kent. Perhaps I can take them and an SQM with me when we go on field trips to figure out our final landing place! 

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Vixen SG2.1x42's are brilliant and bonkers, it's like naked eye observing from a really dark site but all the constellations are a little bigger, I love mine.

Don't look into a mirror through them though, they'll make you look like Marty Feldman.

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I don't have the Vixen SG2's.

I have the Orion 2x54 ultra wide field angle, and as you all have said these constelllation binoculars are a brilliant accessory.

Also when steadied against your eye sockets and gaze with no wobble, lovely.

Edited by Mick H
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Not like traditional widefield bins and take some getting used to, but worth it. Rather than holding them still and letting your eyes move around the field, you must observe on axis and move your head and bins around. I had a look through the China made Vixen SG2x40f model as well and they were very similar to the Japan made SG2.1x42 and quite a bit cheaper.

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I made a pair [image below] from a pair of photography conversion lenses I purchased from you where... eBay.... after I found that @Philippe LECA makes 3D printed frames for them. As the 'project' was not that expensive, I ordered a Batinov mask at the same time from him.

AA8O1VJptDKUy3Ow9ABfAunbKz8@250x188.jpg.30ca70df6e9d4734f98f99de1d8acf64.jpg 

BTW... mine are all black! 

 

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14 minutes ago, Philip R said:

I made a pair [image below] from a pair of photography conversion lenses I purchased from you where... eBay.... after I found that @Philippe LECA makes 3D printed frames for them. As the 'project' was not that expensive, I ordered a Batinov mask at the same time from him.

AA8O1VJptDKUy3Ow9ABfAunbKz8@250x188.jpg.30ca70df6e9d4734f98f99de1d8acf64.jpg 

BTW... mine are all black! 

 

I've heard about the DIY option in passing from the Actual Astronomy podcast but I think I might have missed the episode where they discussed how to actually make them! How do they perform? 

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On 16/02/2023 at 21:57, badhex said:

I've heard about the DIY option in passing from the Actual Astronomy podcast but I think I might have missed the episode where they discussed how to actually make them! How do they perform? 

Not to bad! They take a bit of getting used to as they are fixed focus at approximately 2x magnification per lens.

To ensure the lenses do not fall out of the frame when in use, I used Gorilla Glue and left it to cure/set for 24 hours in the airing cupboard.

I replaced the supplied centre screw with an M4 x 30mm thumb screw and a thumb nut. I also added the paracord wrist strap during 2021. 

IMG_1405(Edited).JPG.319f46a20797fb0160d177d6e29d8856.JPG

Lens caps are included, (one push-fit for the front / one threaded for the rear) and a vinyl carry pouch, (one per lens).

Edited by Philip R
edited text and reduced image size.
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I bought the Vixen SG 2.1x42 some years ago, and have to confess, that it's my least used optical device - and I don't know, why. The optical and mechanical build quality is excellent, and it should find it's use under my SQM-L 21+ skies. I guess, the view it gives is for me too close to the naked eye view character. When I'm pressing something against my eye sockets, I subconciously am expecting something different, in the direction of telescopic view. I several times found me reaching, after the use of the Vixen, to my smallest optical device, the excellent Docter 8x21, and pushing it to it's limits (e.g. spotting the NAN (easily) or M 82 (doable in good nights; M 81 is always in reach)). My ultra grab-and go binos are 7x50 Fujis.

Maybe, it's a "Marmite" variety thing. If I'd go lightweight for Bortle 3 skies, I'd get a 7x35, or a small IS bino.

Btw., the use of glasses will restrict the TFoV to about 18-20°  (compared to 28° without glasses), IME. No problem with myopia or hyperopia in moderate grade (up to -3/+3 dpt, IIRC), but with astigmatism.

Stephan

Edited by Nyctimene
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I also have the Vixen original version.  The main thing I found took some getting used to is the apparent field of view which is less than most low power conventional binoculars.  It's when you realise that the actual field of view encompasses whole constellations, that the binocular stands out.   🙂

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18 hours ago, Philip R said:

I made a pair [image below] from a pair of photography conversion lenses I purchased from you where... eBay.... after I found that @Philippe LECA makes 3D printed frames for them. As the 'project' was not that expensive, I ordered a Batinov mask at the same time from him.

AA8O1VJptDKUy3Ow9ABfAunbKz8@250x188.jpg.30ca70df6e9d4734f98f99de1d8acf64.jpg 

BTW... mine are all black! 

 

Would you be able to give us a link to which lenses you bought? I'd only need one as I can only see out of one eye, no point paying for binos when I only ever use one side!

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4 hours ago, Nyctimene said:

I bought the Vixen SG 2.1x42 some years ago, and have to confess, that it's my least used optical device - and I don't know, why. The optical and mechanical build quality is excellent, and it should find it's use under my SQM-L 21+ skies. I guess, the view it gives is for me too close to the naked eye view character. When I'm pressing something against my eye sockets, I subconciously am expecting something different, in the direction of telescopic view. I several times found me reaching, after the use of the Vixen, to my smallest optical device, the excellent Docter 8x21, and pushing it to it's limits (e.g. spotting the NAN (easily) or M 82 (doable in good nights; M 81 is always in reach)). My ultra grab-and go binos are 7x50 Fujis.

Maybe, it's a "Marmite" variety thing. If I'd go lightweight for Bortle 3 skies, I'd get a 7x35, or a small IS bino.

Btw., the use of glasses will restrict the TFoV to about 18-20°  (compared to 28° without glasses), IME. No problem with myopia or hyperopia in moderate grade (up to -3/+3 dpt, IIRC), but with astigmatism.

Stephan

Thanks Stephan. I'm not really a big fan of traditional binos for stargazing, so it will be very interesting to see how these pan out. The cost of the Vixens when bought in Europe has put me off in the past, considering they might be more of a novelty, so I never felt I had the right justification. The Docter 8x21 looks very interesting as well!

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On 17/02/2023 at 16:33, CraigT82 said:

Would you be able to give us a link to which lenses you bought? I'd only need one as I can only see out of one eye, no point paying for binos when I only ever use one side!

Hi @CraigT82

Sizes are from 37mm up to 58mm… https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=telephoto+lens+corverter+lens&_trksid=m5467.l1311&_odkw=telephoto+lens+corvertor+lens

I cannot remember which particular brand I purchased. I ordered 52mm. At the time I purchased mine they were about £7.99 per lens… or two or more for £7.49 each.

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I bought the Helios constellation bins but sent them back as it felt like looking through toilet roll tubes. Not sure how the Vixen ones compare but the diy ones i put together afterwards using the Nikon teleconverters (ebay) have considerably wider afov and i enjoy using 

Mark

 

628C6A40-0842-4F24-A97D-F841C6504BCD.jpeg

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1 hour ago, markse68 said:

I bought the Helios constellation bins but sent them back as it felt like looking through toilet roll tubes. Not sure how the Vixen ones compare but the diy ones i put together afterwards using the Nikon teleconverters (ebay) have considerably wider afov and i enjoy using 

Mark

 

628C6A40-0842-4F24-A97D-F841C6504BCD.jpeg

Have just ordered one of these TC-E2 jobbies off the bay for monocular viewing, only £20 so no biggie if it doesn’t work out.

Edited by CraigT82
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1 hour ago, markse68 said:

They’re great Craig- I’m sure you’ll like it and that’s a good price- they vary a lot. I  can send you a screw on eye cup if you like

Mark

That would be amazing thanks Mark, I’ll see what it’s like when it comes as it may already have one, couldn’t quite tell from the listing. But I’ll get in touch if not. Cheers 

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