Are these binoculars ok for beginners?

[bsf]

Hello,

I hope someone can advise me on the following.

I am familiar with the night sky and would like to get some basic 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars for Astronomy. I would like to take the binoculars out with friends and family. But later on I would like to invest in either bigger binoculars or telescope.

I think I am familiar with the basics and workings of binoculars themselves. I now want to spend some cash, so I went online to buy them.

But there seems to be a lot of similar binoculars on the market at prices that seem too good to be true. I almost brought some for £14.99.

Is this ok?

10x50 Sport Series, £14.99 (was £29.99), says Bak-4

7dayshop.com - Online Store

Other binoculars;

Adler Optus 10x50 CB porro £19.99

Adler Adler Optus 10x50 CB porro

Meade 10x50, £28.99

Meade 10x50 Binocular Special Offer

Bresser 10x50 High Definition Binocular (was £59.95), Bak-4

Skyview Optics - Binoculars, Telescopes, Monoculars, Spotters, Scopes and Tripods at Bargain Prices

Would anyone recommend these for what I need?

Thanks in advanced.

Bob

[NGC 1502]

Hi Bob, It's hard to say without handling or looking thru binos if they are any good.

But I think I would avoid the very cheapest. Telescope House do 10x50s for under

£30, should be OK without spending too much. Regards, Ed.

[Capricorn]

I use standard 8x42 birding binoculars.

Have 2 sets and I always use to poorer of the 2 but they are easily good enough.

Nice size, and can be used for anything else.

Saw a set of 10x50's in a charity shop today, so may be worth a search/look around as you could get a bargain.

Suggest that you try a selection of sets in a retailer first as people find some more comfortable then others.

[ezza123]

I have those Meade 10x50's and they are very nice. For them money I was very happy.

[Nick P]

I have 8x42 binoculars and used to have 10x50's, both of which give good views (moons of jupiter, M42, and rich star fields in the milky way, clusters, etc etc) however the main problem was how to keep them stable? I used to wedge the bins against a wall or garden post until I got an adapter to mount them on my tripod, I also find the 8x42's easier to navigate with as they have a wider FOV.

[cootuk]

I recently bought a pair of Helios Weathermasters - £45 from Ebay.

Compared to the Miranda 10x50s I bought years ago they have a lot more eye relief and are quite a lot brighter.

I'm dubious of some of the really cheap pairs, like the Lidl bargains, as you seem to need to try them to find a good pair rather than expecting the majority to be good, then it's a case of whether there's a decent shop near you. My local camera shop starts at over £100 for bins, and actually had the Mirandas secondhand for £40!

[umberto]

I have Meade 10x50's from telescopehouse - they are the only pair I have owned but they are not too heavy to hold, with a reasonable (to me) clear and bright image of the moon, double cluster, M31 and the you can use them during the day. Fainter things like most clusters will be very small smudges, just at the edge of your imagination

[bsf]

Thank You for all your responses. It was most appreciated.

I have heeded calls not to buy the cheaper binocular model. On the forums there are people who buy the cheaper LIDL models.

Remember I am looking for general inexpensive binoculars. Because later I will invest in either bigger binoculars or a telescope.

I have decided to either get the ‘bresser 10x50 High definition’ binoculars that sell for £19.99. You may say thats contradict what I wrote above. But these bresser pair are normally sold for about 30 to 40 pounds and these are on offer. They have been out of stock for weeks and they say new ones will come this Monday coming. The other ones I like to get are the ‘Meade 10x50’ from telescopehouse for £29.

From what I can see both pairs have Bak4 optics and are in the 30-40 pounds range. However the Bresser ones are from a non-astronomical internet company. Has anyone tried these bressers?

The Meade is from telescopehouse. The difference is £9 pounds. So which one would you buy?

Thank You

Bob

[step_hen]

Meade own bresser and sell their stuff rebadged under the bresser name- the two binos may therefore be the same! I have a few pairs of the bressers sold by lidl and they are suprisingly good for the £15 you hand over in exchange!

Stephen

[umberto]

I checked the reviews on forums like SGL for both meade 10x50 (from telescopehouse & others) and the bresser 10x50 (mostly from LIDL). I found both had reviews from newbie people like me who found them to be good enough for them as a first instrument to look at the night sky. I also found reviews from more experienced users who found them to be unsuitable. I didn't come across adler reviews and the 7dayshop.com ones don't name the manufacturer.

There are undoubtedly far better products which even a seasoned user will find satisfactory but these will cost more (no doubt justifiable if you have the experience to judge their merit). For example Helios 10x50 binos have a "best buy" recomendation from sky at night magazine. You can get them from FLO for £69 (cheaper than most)

Helios - Helios Naturesport-Plus

I went with the cheap meades from telescope house. At less than £30 for the binos I was able to purchase myself an inexpensive tripod + adapter + binos for about £70. A stable view which is clearer and brighter than my unaided eyesight provided. I am happy with this setup for learning the sky and surfing the milky way (for the moment). And I would have bought the £15 Bressers from Lidl but they only sell them for a few weeks of the year.

You can check out the supplier reviews on forums so you only buy from those with a good reputation for sales and fixing problems (people like FLO and telescopehouse and many others). SGL has a supplier review forum (listed on the home page)

Best of luck making you decision. I am off to see the NLCs

[bsf]

Hello,

I have just got the bresser 10x50 for 19.99 from my memory. I was really excited. With my first binos didn’t know you had to do a lot of aligning. I followed their instructions, but i keep getting a double image. I have been following the instruction, been outside and inside adjusting the dioptre, closing my left eye etc.

Can someone tell me what things i need to do to get rid of the double vision?

Is it a standard beginners mistake i am doing?

The double image is clear but annoying.

Cheers

Bob

[bsf]

Hello,

There has been some improvement since my last post. Because it was new I followed the instructions to the letter, but by adjusting the way I look down binos and simply moving my eyes away from the eyepieces the double image seems to go. However the instructions didn’t say anything like this, it said if there is double image simply ‘move the axis’, which didn’t work for me. If I look down them normally, then you have problem there. So thought something must be up.

Interesting I let my friends and family have a go and the younger ones seem to be ok with them quicker. So I assume its subjective thing rather than the binos themselves. After playing around with them during day, I am now used to just picking them up and looking through them, slightly tilted.

Sorry I posted the last post too soon. At the time I read, re-read and followed the instructions. Only when I started 'messing around' and adjusting things myself the double image started to go. At least beginners can learn from my experiences.

Next I am going to try out the night sky for the first time. I will now read the separates threads for recommended bino objects that you all have helpfully provided.

Once again thanks for all your help on the thread and apologize for that earlier post.

Bob

[beetlejuice]

Hello,

I have just got the bresser 10x50 for 19.99 from my memory. I was really excited. With my first binos didn’t know you had to do a lot of aligning. I followed their instructions, but i keep getting a double image. I have been following the instruction, been outside and inside adjusting the dioptre, closing my left eye etc.

Can someone tell me what things i need to do to get rid of the double vision?

Is it a standard beginners mistake i am doing?

The double image is clear but annoying.

Cheers

Bob

Unfortunately, this is a standard feature of these cheap Bressers in my experience. I tried two pairs before I got a pair that were reasonably collimated but that didn't last long before I started to get double vision. I know many people on this forum have claimed success with 'cheap' binos, but my experience has been universally poor. After several cheap pairs I bought a pair of Pentax 10x50 binos (sse my sig.) and have never looked back. They are my favourite 'grab'n'go'. Didn't cost the earth either.

[MarkF]

Bob,

Sounds like collimation is out, if you can get your money back IMHO, or go back and keep trying until you get a pair without double vision. Younger eyes can adapt more easily with poor collimation from what I have read. I did a lot of research and bought a pair of 10x70 in the medium class range to avoid such issues.

It is possible to adjust them, there is a post somewhere on here indicating how, but it is a bit hit and miss.

[Steve]

Bob, it might be that the misalignment is still there.

When binocular optics are only slightly misaligned our eye muscles can pull them back into alignment. Unfortunately this isn't an acceptable solution because it can cause eye strain and sometimes headache and nausea. You say the younger members of your family find the double image dissapears sooner, it might just be that their young eyes are better at correcting the problem.

It sounds like you have just purchased them, I would contact your supplier to discuss a replacemant or refund. If you accept another and have bought via mail-order then ask the supplier to check them for you prior to dispatch and to include plenty of packaging in the box.

Hope that helps.

Edit: Ah, I didn't see Mark's post

[bsf]

Hi,

After some weeks I'll just wrap up on what binos I have.

I got my £19.99 bresser ones refunded because they were not collimated but the company were helpful.

I decided to buy some £28.99 Meade 10x50 but this time from buzz optics which is part of telescope house. The pair I got were collimated but I saw spots on the lenses. The company were excellent. They had a look and said it could be some particulate matter or sleek. It was explained that sometimes this was typical of these price range of binoculars for the price. But it did not affect the overall performance. They offered a refund, exchange but recommended other binoculars. I decided to get an exchange. Since they were good to me. And I was going to invest in a new telescopes or bino later and these binos are for fun. The exchange pair I got were perfect. After days of cloudy skies I finally took it out and was excellent.

So from my experience;

For the beginner when you are buying first binoculars that are at sale price, check them out first. (Of course its always true, the more expensive the better quality they tend to be). Also go to a reputable astronomical company. I went to Buzz optics/telescope house and they were very good, they explained everything to me. I recommend them.

Of course the above paragraph is not a revelation, most know this and was written down on the forums.

Once again I thank you all for the advice and patient for helping me out.

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Bob

10x50 Meade.