A very quick comparison of a few of my binoculars

[NobodyReally]

I've just (ie, within the past fortnight) bought a couple of pairs of binoculars to up-gun my small collection into the "medium" capability range, a pair of Bresser 7x50 Astro & Marine and a Celestron 15x70 Skyaster Pro. 

I've just answered a post asking for recommendations for a pair of 7x50 binoculars and, on the basis of my quick first light impression recommended the Bressers. 

 At the time I answered, the sky was 100% cloud, as it has been pretty much all of the time since first light.   However, about 20 minutes later, I wandered outside to get something from the car and spotted a bright object straight ahead of me. "By Jove!", I thought, not unreasonably for it was indeed Jupiter, so I forgot my car-bound mission and dashed inside to grab the 7x50s just to see if second light made a liar out of me.   However, I am pleased to report it did not, as I quickly found the Auriga Messiers, Pleiades, M42, M35, M54 and sundry other vistas.

Before the clouds decided to follow SOP and intervene in my viewing, I conducted first light of the 15x70 Skymaster Pro; I have a pair of standard Skymaster 15x70s, but not to hand, so I have some idea of what the differences should be.  The Pro is much sharper than the standard model and gives a darker background.   Again, I easily picked up the Messiers, but I was surprised by how little improvement in object brightness they gave over the Bresser 7x50s, and they seem to have a slightly sloppy focusing mechanism, as I had to refocus when switching between zenith and horizon - the 7x50's focus remained fixed.   My usual astronomy observational procedure has been to use a 10x50 to get familiar with a patch of sky, the 15x70 to hone in on an object of interest, and once I know where to look, switch to my Vixen R130Sf telescope ... now, I'm not entirely sure I need anything more than the 7x50s after noting what I can see with them.

Whilst I was on a roll, though, I had a quick look through the rest of my at-hand binoculars.

Bresser 8x56 Roof Prism - I'm not sure what model they are as they were an eBay acquisition (as were the two above-mentioned binoculars) and are unmarked, but they look like Linears.  However, they are pin-sharp, and their focusing is the proverbial immovable object.  They provide a somewhat darker image than the 7x50s and 15x70s but still picked up the Messiers. 

Bresser 10-30x60 Zoom - I know what you're thinking - "A zoom binocular? Has he lost six marbles or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself.  However, despite 'only' having BK7 prisms and a zoom mechanism, they showed a bright and sharp image at low- to mid-magnification and picked up the Messiers quite nicely.  It was nice being able to acquire M42 and then zoom in on it and still see a good image.   Looking at the specs, I think Bresser now markets this binocular as the Optus 10-30x60; if so, they are currently available directly from Bresser for £35 + p&p or from Amazon for £21 inc p&p.  What can I say?  At that price, I might just get a pair to check if they are of the same quality and, if so, keep them in the car.

Please bear in mind that I literally only spent a few minutes with each pair of binoculars to get a "feel" for how they compared.  In part, this was due to my existential panic at the prospect of clouds rolling in or transitioning out of warp drive and, thus, ruining my evening (the Ayrshire coast can be a bit volatile, weatherwise(*)), and in part because it's chilly and I have a cold (I'm writing my memoir as we speak - Diary of a Wimpy Astronomer). 

I would have liked to have added my Celestron Skymaster 15x70s and Visionary HD 10x50s to the comparison, but that would have required some digging around in boxes.

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(*) However, a mere few months ago, I was living in deepest, lightest, Bortle 8 Glasgow, where the cloudscape was just as bad, but the sight of even a Magnitude 2 star always made me think of Isaac Asimov's "NIghtfall".