Binocular choice under £100.

[Telescope40]

Hi. Looking to purchase a pair of binos to replace a trusty pair of 10 x 50's I own.

Come across a couple of possibles at Scopes and Skies. ( Yes I know ).

Both made by Adler.

Kosmos model 15 x 70's only £49.99 Jupiter model 20 x 80's £89.99.

Couple of links below ( I think)

Adler Optik Adler Kosmos 15x70 high powered binoculars

Adler Optik Jupiter 20x80 giant observation binocular

I'm wondering if i went totally budget would I be really losing out by not buying the larger pair? Anyone have a pair of either of these bins .

Any opinions gratefully received re build quality, ease of use etc.

I am looking to use on a standard camera / photo tripod to start with.

Thx as always. John

[Rossco72]

I've got revelation 20 x 80s from Telescope House and am quite pleased with them. They are £82.99

Revelation Premium 20x80 Binoculars

[GazOC]

I had some Adler 16x70s and didn't rate them at all. A lot of false colour and distortions a long way from the edge of the FOV.

[shaunster]

the celestron 15 x 70's from FLO are meant to be good

[MarkF]

I recently did a lot of research into binos and for under a 100 quid I would have gone for the revelation either 15x70 or 20x80, couldn't find much on the latter though, or you could look at the strathspey slightly more but when I looked at the pictures the outside looked the same as the revelation 15x70.

[Muddy Rutter]

I bought a pair of Revelation 15x70's from telescopehouse.com for just under £50 - incredible value for the money. These are said to come from the same factory as the Celestron model of the same size. See some of the reviews on telescopehouse.com Website (sorry FLO!).

I use my old Benbo Model 1 photography tripod (see on Ebay) which is ideal for binnoculars or an anchor if you happen to sail a dinghy (i.e. it's heavy). I also bought a decent metal adaptor (not plastic) off Ebay as well for just under £10.

Regards

Nick

PS: Just had a look at those Adler 15 x 70's and they look remarkably like the Revelations.

[John]

I've owned a pair of the Adler Jupiter 20x80's and they were pretty good for what they cost I thought. You do need a good, tall, tripod though - hand holding is out of the question with those IMHO.

I've now got a pair of Celestron Skymaster 15x70's which I'm enjoying a bit more because they can be hand held for short periods at least. The optical and build quality of the Celestrons seems around the same as the Adlers although the quality of the coatings on the objective lenses seems better on the Celestrons.

[LukeSkywatcher]

If your budget is £100 you COULD go for the Celestron 15x70. BUT also for under £100 you could also go for the Revelation 20X80.

With VERY little difference in the price, i would say your best bet is the bigger the better.

20X80 will be most rewarding.

I think my Strathspey 20X90 were a little over the £100 mark (£160....I THINK......................i paid in Euros so they were about 200 for me including shipping to Ireland).

You WILL need a good sturdy tripod to mount them on. You can pick one up for about £100 (you will have a few quid change).

[F15Rules]

Can I suggest an alternative route?

Ebay.

If you want big size, they come up regularly. I recently got a total bargain, a pair of nice Inpro 20x80 (never heard of them but found one decent review online). I got them plus a Velbon extending tripod (very light, too light really but ok) for £25 the pair - I was the only bidder!

I've also seen Practika and Hilkinson big bins in the past couple of months.

The other route is quality. You can pick up a pair of 1970s or 80s Carl Zeiss 10x50s for £100 or less complete with leather case. The quality optically is superb. I now have 10x50s and 8x30s, both Jenoptems, and they are hand holdable but with amazingly sharp and colour free views..

hope this helps

Dave:)

[pbyrne]

I had both 15x70s and 20x80, I sold the 20x80s, and I would go for the 15x70s. Personally I think that x20 is too much for the 80mm lens, it restricts the field of view meaning you will take that bit longer to find the object. The x15 magnification with the 70mm lenses works better.

Weight wise the 15s are just about hand held, the 20s are not.

If it were me I would use the entire £100, and a little bit more if you can scrounge up the money, and buy a really good pair of 10x50s. I bought Pentax PCF II 10x50s and as a result the other pair never get used. The wide field of use and ease of handling make them the ideal choice.