First Light - Bresser 10x50's

[Ianladd]

Hi All,

Well after 2 weeks of waiting I have finally just hit first light with my new binoculars!! Bresser 10x50's that I picked up from ebay for £22 including delivery. Here's my little report whilst I wait for the idiots that run the tennis court over the wall to turn off the floodlights! (No-one is even playing!!)

The Binoculars:

Well, what can I say, for £22 you cant complain at all! Im no expert when it comes to optics, but they seem to be well collimated and give really bright view of the sky (I did momentarily think that the collimation was out but then I realised I was looking through the glass of the window.. opening it magically fixed that! ) Also Im not sure exactly what model they are but the leaflet that arrived in the box with them says they have BaK4 Prisms with fully coated objective lenses, and if I understand from what I have read then BaK4 gives a brighter image than BaK7 with night time viewing. They came with a carry case (Not the most sturdy but fine) A lens cleaning cloth and a wide neck strap and the obligatory lens caps for the eyepieces and objective lenses which all seem to fit well and dont drop off easily.. All in all for the money I'm fairly happy.. they seem to retail elsewhere for anything between £30 - £60.

The View Of The Sky!!

Ok, now this was the fun bit.. If you have stellarium, set the light pollution setting to 8 and you pretty much get to see what I see out back on a clear night. However, Lo and behold I look up at Orion, scan across Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka.. Then drift down and BOOM! Not only can I see all three object that make up his sword (pretty much invisible to my naked eye) but multiple stars in the great nebula along with some really faint nebulosity. I also noticed lots of fainter stars in the area.. A Quick scoot around the other major stars in the constellation showed the same was true for Betelgeuse Bellatrix, Rigel and Saiph! Well, I suppose what I'm trying to say is that for £22 you can get some surprisingly serious light gathering power. I know they're going to increase my enjoyment of Astronomy immensely.. Granted they're never going to match up to a 8" Dobsonian light bucket, but until I can afford a half decent scope they're going to keep me really happy and show me so much more of the night sky, even in the light polluted quagmire that is West London!

Clear Skies All,

Ianladd

[Astromart]

Im glad you are pleased with your bino's. They definitely show more than the naked eye for sure, and to find your way around the sky.

[Doug]

Hi Ian

Thanks for the the report ,it read well

and congrats on you new binoculars sounded like you had a great time

Clear skies

Doug

Essex

[Ianladd]

Thanks guys!

I honestly didn't know how much to expect from them with living in such a light polluted area but was pleasantly surprised to say the least!

I think we can safely say that even if you cant afford an expensive pair of bino's your not excluded from getting a pair with pretty admirable performance..

Hmmmm, now to decide on a scope and set up a savings plan

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks guys!

I honestly didn't know how much to expect from them with living in such a light polluted area but was pleasantly surprised to say the least!

I think we can safely say that even if you cant afford an expensive pair of bino's your not excluded from getting a pair with pretty admirable performance..

Hmmmm, now to decide on a scope and set up a savings plan

The Bresser 10X50 bins really are a BARGAIN for the price. Most who own them probably bought them in Lidl (as did i).

Whenever i reach for a pair of 10X50 bins while observing, i have my Bresser right there beside me.

Ive had mine about 3 yrs now and they are as good and solid as the day i bought them (and i have even dropped them once from about 3 ft)

[Nexus 6]

Hi Ian, very nice report on your bins, I know them well as I had the same ones, bought for £25 3 years ago and definatly worth it.

they have just gone to a friend who has gone to France working, I am sure he will enjoy using them.

only thing is I now need a new pair of 10x50's, not that I will need to spend that much to get a decent view.

good luck with yours

[LukeSkywatcher]

Hi Ian, very nice report on your bins, I know them well as I had the same ones, bought for £25 3 years ago and definatly worth it.

they have just gone to a friend who has gone to France working, I am sure he will enjoy using them.

only thing is I now need a new pair of 10x50's, not that I will need to spend that much to get a decent view.

good luck with yours

Alan

Strathspey sell a set of marine 10X50 for about £30. They were voted the best bins of their size in the Sky At Night mag a couple of years ago.

I'd easily give them a try for that price.

[Nexus 6]

Alan

Strathspey sell a set of marine 10X50 for about £30. They were voted the best bins of their size in the Sky At Night mag a couple of years ago.

I'd easily give them a try for that price.

thanks Paul will check them out

[scogyrd]

Alan

Strathspey sell a set of marine 10X50 for about £30. They were voted the best bins of their size in the Sky At Night mag a couple of years ago.

I'd easily give them a try for that price.

The marine bins cost about £110 delivered, it's their normal 10x50s that sell for about £30 (minus vat and delivery).

[Nexus 6]

The marine bins cost about £110 delivered, it's their normal 10x50s that sell for about £30 (minus vat and delivery).

Not to worry I won't be spending that much on which ever I buy, £30 sounds about right

[LukeSkywatcher]

The marine bins cost about £110 delivered, it's their normal 10x50s that sell for about £30 (minus vat and delivery).

My mistake. You are right. But the normal 10X50 bins for £31 are a good deal also.

[MrsR]

Glad you had a great first outing

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The Bressers are very nice (I have an old model which was considerably more expensive, back in 1995). Still very nice piece of kit. If you live in a high LP area, you can easily take them to a dark place and have even more fun.

The main advantage of the "marine" type is that they have individual focusing, which is a lot better at night. Whether you find that worth the extra money is quite another matter.

[scogyrd]

The main advantage of the "marine" type is that they have individual focusing, which is a lot better at night. Whether you find that worth the extra money is quite another matter.

I've not tried my new strathspey marine bin's under the stars yet, I only got them this afternoon and it's cloudy here, but if they perform half as well as they're built then I think they'll be worth every penny. Compared to all the cheaper bin's I've had and looked at the strathspeys feel like they'd survive a nuclear war.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I for one would pay the extra cost of owning bins which allow me to focus each EP individually. Sounds logical.

Unless you have perfect 20/20 vision, both of your eyes are going to focus differently.

Do they (eyes) focus to such a degree that needs each EP to be focused individually?

I've used bins since i was 10 yrs old and never really noticed much difference between both eyes with bins that only allow one EP to focus and then you use the central focuser.

[scogyrd]

Do they (eyes) focus to such a degree that needs each EP to be focused individually?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean here both eps need to be focused on whatever you're looking at.

One thing I have found is that once you've focused on something you can use your eyes to focus on other objects instead of adjusting the eps. Obviously if you're looking at something far away and then decide to look at something close by they'll need readjusting but if you just want to look at something a bit nearer, or a bit further, there is no need to adjust them. I suppose it's a bit like those focus free binoculars you can get, only I can adjust these to get a greater depth of vision.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The key problem of central focusing is that, although you can adjust one of the eyepieces to adjust for differences between your eyes, they tend to be wobbly. It is usually OK for daytime viewing when your pupils are fairly small and their depth of focus can compensate. At night however the binoculars with individual helical focusers are much more stable.

This is why I do want to replace my Omegon 15x70 by the APM or TS counterpart. The constant need to refocus in the Omegon drives me to distraction from time to time. I do not mean they are a waste of money, far from it. I have had a lot of fun with them, and showed me what a fun instrument a 15x70 is. They have proven I use such an instrument so often buying a really good pair makes sense.