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Helios 25 x 100 Quantum-4

ashworthacca

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fmeireso

fmeireso

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OK,

Well i hope you enjoy your new purchase. Angled binos are more comfortable to look high up and they seem to have come with a good tripod too.

I am looking forward to your first light report.

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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First Light Report, 4th April 2010

All through the day it was looking increasingly likely that the clear sky gods were looking down on me and tonight would see the first outing of my new binoculars. By 9pm it was very clear and the sky was a lovely dark blue colour. Not quite dark enough but I took the chance to get the bins setup and cool down (do you need to let binoculars cool down?).

Setting up was a piece of cake. The tripod legs open out and are secured by a centre structure. There are screws on each which you can unscrew to extend the lower part and tighten to fix in place. The binoculars have a handle on top which helps getting them out of their box and onto the tripod. The binos screw into the top of the tripod by a centre screw and are held centred on the mount by 2 spring loaded screws. Extending the tripod and attaching the binos took all of 2 minutes, very easy.

The whole structure is extremely solid, the tripod legs are lightweight aluminium (I think?) but more than capable of holding the near 5kg weight. The u-mount on top of the tripod turns on its axis very smoothly, and the vertical movements are just as slick. Minute adjustments either horizontally or vertically are performed with such ease and precision It was a delight.

The binos came with 2 pairs of eyepieces, 20x and 40x. The 20x were in place to start the nights viewing and I played with the focussing and tripod height to match my small stool for another 10 minutes.

After going back inside and making myself a warm drink and putting on some warm clothes, 10pm came and I ventured back outside. Clear skies....yes the gods were looking down on me tonight, I hope I don’t disappoint them. I had planned my nights viewing using Astroplanner and had my skycharts and Celestron Skyscout with me to offer some form of verification if I did actually see something. However, my plan only included objects I’d already seen in my 15x70’s, I wanted to revisit some old friends.

Mars was shining brightly in the sky in Cancer and this was my first planet to enter the fov of my binos. 20x showed nothing more than a small source of light and changing to 40x didn’t really make it much bigger.....but could I see a reddish tint? Maybe wishful thinking but I like to think so. I knew Mars wouldn’t really show me anything but I used it as a guider to the beautiful sight of M44 The Beehive Cluster. About 5 degrees to the left of Mars, slowly moving it appeared. M44 is one of my favourite sights , 20x showed it well but at 40x it filled the 1.5 degree FOV and was mesmerising. I stayed here for what felt like eternity.

Hoping to see Pleiades but it was too low, I can’t see anything below about 20 degrees in my garden....she will have to wait for another night. I turned my attention to the Great Bear. Finding Alkaid high in the sky and heading roughly 20 degrees left I was looking for M101 Pinwheel Galaxy. I have seen this many times before but it didn’t appear. I had left the 40x eyepieces in, changing back to the 20x and back to Alkaid to start the search again I found it instantly. Bright centre and very fuzzy, actually the brightest I’ve seen it. 40x does make it a little bigger but doesn’t bring out any detail. Averted vision helps extend the fuzziness but the bright core is centre stage with this one.

Staying in the same part of the sky but about 15 degrees lower and 35? degrees right is the lovely sight of M3. 40x brings out a lovely well defined core with a fainter type cloud surrounding it. I’m sure I could get some more detail out of this so it will be revisited many times I’m sure.

Time was moving on.....was it nearly 1pm already, I must have spent more time on M44 than I realised. I’d seen M5 the Globular Cluster before through my 15x70’s. By now it was surely high enough to see over my garden wall. My skycharts indicated it was exactly south east at about 30 degrees. I couldn’t find it. Damn, was I reading the skycharts correctly? I cheated, out came my skyscout and confirmed its position. I was close but I kept leaving the 40x eyepiece in and the 1.5 degree FOV makes it difficult locating things....well to me it does. Anyway, M5 is a lovely sight in the 40x eyepieces. Doesn’t seem round but more elongated but a good size and worthy of more time and study.

Was now getting late and the last object that I wanted to see before bed was M81 Bode’s Galaxy, pretty high in the sky at roughly 60 degrees. I seem to find this one pretty easily using Dubhe in the Great Bear. About 10 degrees down and to the right M81 appeared in the FOV. Lovely bright core this one surrounded by nice fuzziness. Not round but elongated. Better viewed with averted vision and at 40x is a nice size. I could see a small smudge to the right of this one in the same FOV?? M82? Not sure it was but it was late, I may have been seeing things at this point.

All in all a lovely first night with my new toy, viewing high in the sky is great which is usually a problem for binos on a tripod. The u-mount works well in this instance. A joy to use and they have reignited my desire to keep viewing the night’s skies. All the objects that I viewed are pretty easy to find....that was my intention. I wanted a night where I could test the binos actually seeing something that I’d seen before and not spend a wasted night searching like a lost fool.

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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Good report. Seems those puppies are really working out for you. You don't have to let bins cool down.

:) Thanks, I didn't think they needed cooling down but wasn't sure.

Next time I think I'll give them a tougher test to see what they are really capable of.

Regards

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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Nice report.

Angled binos do interest me too. How is the sharpness, meaning how quick does it decrease out of the center?

Lately i saw 'The Eyes' in Markarians Chain in my 22x85. I wonder, but i should be more visible in your 100 mm bino at 40x. This sounds nice!

Telescope Reviews: The Eyes with two eyes

Hi, if the sky stays clear tonight I'll be out searching fuzzies in Virgo so "The Eyes" may make an appearance

As for sharpness, I'd say 65-70% of the the centre fov is extremely sharp losing sharpness slowly towards the edges. Not too bad really.

Ps, if you are in the Yorkshire area you are more than welcome to come and give them a try.

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argonaut

argonaut

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Nice report Martin. I always like to read reviews of what other people 'see' in the same binoculars series. I must agree that after 70% the image is not as sharp as I like,but it's still good enough for the price point of the binocular.

I have still not taken these to a dark site,no excuse. I think these will really perform in good conditions. I like both standard eyepieces that came with mine. I have tried quite a few others as well.

Venus would be a good/bad target to see if there is any ghosting in one of the tubes. I have ghosting in the left tube when viewing this difficult planet.

Thank for taking the time to report your views.

Clear Skies.

Glen.

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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Thanks for the comments Glen. What I like is the fact that despite their size they are extremely portable and can be setup in a couple of minutes if the clouds decide to vacate the sky.

Looking at the sharpness again, they are extremely sharp in the centre, only losing some towards the edges. I'm impressed with this.

Thanks again Glen.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I've never really thought about what % of the objectives are sharp focus before drifting off at the edges. I guess thats because most of the targets we observe are usually slap bang in the centre of our FOV. Also at night it wouldnt be obvious that the edges of the objectives are not as sharp because we only see dark sky there. It would only be an issue during daylight when terrestrial observing wildlife etc.

I must give my 20X90s a test drive tomorrow to check this out. I have used them once during the day to observe Dublin city from the top of a local hill. I could see structure in buildings and the windows also of buildings right across the other side of the city.........about 10-15 Km away. Cant say i noticed the sharpness decrease around the edges of objectives.

70% focus from centre of objectives sounds a bit low to me. 80-85% would be fine.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Thanks for the comments Glen. What I like is the fact that despite their size they are extremely portable and can be setup in a couple of minutes if the clouds decide to vacate the sky.

Looking at the sharpness again, they are extremely sharp in the centre, only losing some towards the edges. I'm impressed with this.

Thanks again Glen.

That really is the beauty of BIG bins. Great light gatering ability while being portable. They really are "grab n' go".

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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I've never really thought about what % of the objectives are sharp focus before drifting off at the edges. I guess thats because most of the targets we observe are usually slap bang in the centre of our FOV. Also at night it wouldnt be obvious that the edges of the objectives are not as sharp because we only see dark sky there. It would only be an issue during daylight when terrestrial observing wildlife etc.

I must give my 20X90s a test drive tomorrow to check this out. I have used them once during the day to observe Dublin city from the top of a local hill. I could see structure in buildings and the windows also of buildings right across the other side of the city.........about 10-15 Km away. Cant say i noticed the sharpness decrease around the edges of objectives.

70% focus from centre of objectives sounds a bit low to me. 80-85% would be fine.

70% may be on the conservative side.....and the falling off of sharpness is pretty minimal.I'm very happy with the overall sharpness tbh and I can achieve pin point stars in both eyes which I've struggled to do with other binoculars i've owned.

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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70% focus from centre of objectives sounds a bit low to me. 80-85% would be fine.

70% may be a conservative estimate.....and the falloff of sharpness is minimal and not something that I even thought about until the question was asked.

I'd actually put sharpness up near the top of these binos positives list.

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fmeireso

fmeireso

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Ps, if you are in the Yorkshire area you are more than welcome to come and give them a try.

I would love to, but this may be somehow difficult. I'll have to cross over some water...I am from Belgium...

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fmeireso

fmeireso

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70% focus from centre of objectives sounds a bit low to me. 80-85% would be fine.

Hardly any bino can do this. Only the very best like the Fujinon are sharp until 80% from the center.Off course i was talking about degrading, wich can go slow like on my BA8 series. You see it only on stars too,in daylight objects do 'seem' sharper further out.

One exeption are the Quantum 4 series. My 10x60 Quantum 4 is sharp 85% out of the center, that's extremely good, however, its aperuture is reduced, probably for sharper images.

OTOH illuminosity of the exit pupil, brightness and contrast are very important too.

My 22X85 BA8 is amazing just for the contrast, pretty amazing how faint objects you still can pick out. It was a big differene to my 20x80 stellar, allthough the latter was still a good bino (degraded allready from 60% from center as shaprness is concerned)

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I would love to, but this may be somehow difficult. I'll have to cross over some water...I am from Belgium...

Sorry to digress but i have traveled the world and the most beautiful country/town/city i have visited was in Belgium. I stayed in Brugge.............

I hope to go back there soon.

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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Bottom line is if you are happy with your bins thats all that counts.

Personally i know from experience with my 20X90s that i can observe "faint fuzzies" galaxies under full moon light.

I totally agree although jury spent an hour or so looking for "The Eyes" in Virgo with no luck.....all I got was a shooting star that I managed to follow for about 90 degrees until I lost it behind the neighbours rooftops.

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ashworthacca

ashworthacca

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Sorry to digress but i have traveled the world and the most beautiful country/town/city i have visited was in Belgium. I stayed in Brugge.............

I hope to go back there soon.

Only been to Belgium once....Ostende on a stag do. Had some lovely blonde beer if I remember right.

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