Expensive 8x40 bins or cheap 15x70?

[Highflight]

Telescope House Special Revelation 15x70 Binoculars and Tripod Deal

I've got these. Hope it helps.

Chris.

[Highflight]

Telescope House Special Revelation 15x70 Binoculars and Tripod Deal

I've got this set up. Really pleased with them.

Chris.

[haitch]

For my tuppence worth I'm perfectly happy scanning the skys with my LIDL £15 10x50 Bresser (Meade) Bak4 bins.

[jonathan]

Then using BOTH eyes move the two "tubes" of the binocular closer or further apart until you only see one image. You should NOT see the old "binocular shape" that was used in old black and white movies of the 1940's!!!!!!!!

Hope this helps.

This has never ever worked for me in all of the binoculars I've used, if I just look normally I always see two holes just like in those films from the 1940's, no matter how much I move them. What does this mean? Am I a freak?? I can't believe that every single pair has been rubbish.

[jonathan]

Sorry to revive an old thread but something interesting happened tonight...

I decided to get outside as it's a new moon and not a cloud in the sky, saw fantastic views of the Milky Way right across the sky. I took out my SkyScout and Bushnell 8x42s - SkyScout recommended Jupiter for tonight so I had a butcher's through the binocs - I have never seen this before, but somehow I managed to see five or six moons around Jupiter!! This has definitely been the highlight of the night, week, probably month and year too! Now I really want to buy that big scope and tripod.

The thing with the eyes - it was a bit hit and miss, often I would have double vision when looking through the bins, but on just a few occasions I got a crystal clear view long enough to see some fantastic details... then it all got a bit shaky as I have nothing to rest my elbows on.

I think from this I must conclude that it is possible for me to see through binoculars properly, it's just very hard! My eyes seem to have a mind of their own and wonder apart or closer together at will, it's like the old looking at a star out of the corner of your eye thing, almost have to trick my eyes into behaving properly.

Ah well, perhaps a scope would be a lot better for me.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Unless some stars aligned with the moons, you must be seeing things (or double). Even with my 8" SCT on a very solid mount, I never see more than 4 moons.

[brianb]

Even with my 8" SCT on a very solid mount, I never see more than 4 moons

Well, it's rare, but occasionally you get a mag 5/6/7 star near enough to Jupiter and in the same line as the Galilean satellites, giving the illusion of 5 satellites.

[russ]

Well, it's rare, but occasionally you get a mag 5/6/7 star near enough to Jupiter and in the same line as the Galilean satellites, giving the illusion of 5 satellites.

Yes, that happened last night. There was a star in the field giving the illusion of 5 moons.

Good choice with the 15x70's. It's a great size, about right for FOV, weight and price. The Celestron/Revelation is quite light for a 15x70, which is quite handy for short handheld sessions. But they work well on a monopod.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well, it's rare, but occasionally you get a mag 5/6/7 star near enough to Jupiter and in the same line as the Galilean satellites, giving the illusion of 5 satellites.

As I said, UNLESS there is a rare alignment

[jonathan]

Maybe they were distant stars that just happened to be nearby in the line of sight, one of them could even have been Uranus as I wasn't familiar with what I was supposed to be able to see through binos at that time (looked it up later). Since then I have viewed on other nights and seen the four brightest moons moving positions night to night, still fills me with awe to see a part the solar system in action with my own eyes rather than in a book or a computer simulation.