largest comfy binos

[janoskiss]

I'm after a decent pair of binos to assist me with DSO hunting.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Steve, I nominated 10 x 50's as the 'max' hand held. I find anything larger is pushing it a bit much. I normally take a tripod for my 7 x 50's anyway. If there are any newbies, it helps to have the binos fixed on the object/asterism/area you're describing. :D L.

[ballaratdragons]

Steve,

I hate hand-holding Binocs of any size. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy using my Binocs but it frustrates me trying to hold them still!!

I need a tripod to enjoy it more.

[janoskiss]

Never mind guys, I'll just get these babies and the fork mount:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/HMAS_Melbourne_binoculars.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HMAS_Melbourne_binoculars.jpg )

[ballaratdragons]

LOL! Do they come with the Ikara Missile too Steve?

[janoskiss]

Nah, the Ikara costs extra, but the cracks in the OTAs are included for free (that's what you get when you buy third hand from the US navy).

[ballaratdragons]

Thay ain't gonna reach zenith either!!!!

[RAJAH235]

Been here????? >>>(www.binocularschina.com) or here????? >>>(www.oberwerk.com)
:D L.

[ballaratdragons]

No Ikara missiles on either site Laurie! Binocs are nice though.

[janoskiss]

Oh my! What happened to what was gonna be a serious helping-me thread? I know Idunnit with that giant HMAS bino pic, but please everyone concentrate on the task at hand held binos.

[iceman]

For hand-held it would have to be 7x50 or 10x50, but the problem then is, you don't have the extra aperture or magnification to *really* assist you with DSO hunting.

I've got 11x70's, and you can hand-hold them but they are very difficult to keep steady, so anything you find is going to be wobbling about. You really need a bino adapeter for your tripod (about $15) and then you can go larger.

But make sure you have a good quality tripod - any cheap camera tripods just won't handle the weight and the locking mechanism on the head will fail you.

[mch62]

I voted the 20x80 for serious DSO's hunting but I have both 20x and 11x 80's.
I didn't vote for them for hand holding just the aperature for DSO's.
I find that I can hand hold the 11x steady for quite a while but I am a big guy . The 20x for a minute or two for a quick look but that's it.
I usually find a support to steady either set.
I have a bi pod that I made that works great for a steady.
If your of smaller build stick to 11x60's .
Higher magnification will be too hard to hold steady for DSO's and any smaller aperature will be disapointing.
For any serious DSO hunting use a sturdy mount or lay back chair, even for smaller bino's.
I even just lie down with supports under my arms for over head.
The view through 80mm really is a leap ahead of 50-60mm bino's and suggest trying out different size bino's first and as what I said about a mount you can then go bigger if your budget will allow.

Mark

[ving]

cant remember how big seekers (narayan) binos are but they were good...

[Jonathan]

I use a pair of Pentax 12x50 and they're a bit wobbly for hand held. I usually lean on the clothes line to steady myself and then the views are pretty good.

[janoskiss]

Thanks guys for the input. I think I'll go with a 8x56 from Andrews for that little bit of extra light gathering power over the 7x50. I'm just not sure if it's worth the FOV reduction from 7 to 6 degrees. By "assist DSO hunting" I meant help me star hop (easy to get lost up there). I don't really expect to see anything fainter than some of the brighter open clusters.

[janoskiss]

Andrews does not have any 8x56 in stock and I've decided to go for broke (literally) and gonna get a 7x50 as well as the 20x80. I have a fab old Linhof tripod that's been waiting for something BIG! :D