15x70 or 20x80

[nightfisher]

sorry guys need more help:rolleyes:

have narrowed my search down to celestron 15x70 or nipon 20x80, really fancy the nipon`s and what ever set i get will be mounted on a half decent camera tripod. the nipons have bak4 and full coated optics..........come on fellow stargazers, lets have your views so i spend my dough wisely:glasses1:

[Mark at Beaufort]

If you are going to mount either pair then perhaps you should buy the larger aperature binos.

In support of the Celestron 15x70 although I place them on a tripod with a RDF - sometimes I just grab them for a quick hand held view. Not sure if you could really handle 20x without a tripod.

Mark

[ollypenrice]

Both good. Mark has a point above, I'd say. Do you know how the apparent fields compare?

Olly

[nightfisher]

im guessing the nipons are just chinese cheap ones! wish i could access the for sale section on here but got a bit more posting to do yet

[tinvek]

i've just got some celstrons and i found i could mange pity well without a tripod for a quick view, also it gets easier after a few nights as your arms get used to it, i'm able to spend quite a bit of time now holding them steady before needing to rest my arms if i don't wish to use a tripod.

bigger may seem better but if you do go for bins that need a mount remember that whilst tripods are more stable, apart from the problem of viewing near the vertical, a tripod does take away the big advatage that bins have of being able to take advantage of the slightest opportunity and being able to react quickly, last night, whilst at a friends house i saw one of the most spectacular meteors i've ever seen and was able to swing the bins up and get a glimpse through them before it disappeared, if they had needed to be on a tripod not only is it very doubtfull i'd have bothered to take them with me but i wouldn't have been able to turn so quick nor been able to just bring the bins up into my line of sight. i'd suggest that if you get a big / higher magnification pair you could probably find a use for a smaller pair aswell.

[nightfisher]

thanks guys, have ordered the celestrons from FLO they should work ever so well on my tripod and give me the option of panning free hand, cant wait to get them