As I recently broke my TS 15x70 binos and made a
small handheld scope from one of the barrels, I am now looking for *good* binos.
Good 70mm binos are too heavy (2.5kg) the oned I had were only 1.4kg due to plastic barrels. The
TS15x70 were good in the center of the image, particularly for the only $119 price tag, they are the same as the Celestron Skymaster or Oberwerk 15x70, rather portable.
But they have weaknesses which I experienced.
- poor image quality and color errors at the edges
- weak eyepiece bridge which results in different focus for both eyes at each use
- prisms not firmly attached which results in frequent decollimation
- plastic barrels can break easily
What I need is:
- At least 50mm objectives
- Collimation should retain
- Focusing of both barrels should remain equal (once adjusted)
- at leaast 10x power
- preferably sharp to the edges but at least no visible color errors
- not heavier than 1.2kg
- preferably a compact roof prism design
- obviously astronomical use
- nature and field use (birds, game)
- near focus not more than 5m
The best option can be
these from the same supplier but the $2300 price tag is a bit too steep for me. For that money I can buy a nice 11cm APO or a 30cm travel Dob.
But there are intermediate options for about $500 such as the:
- Eden XP from Kato 10x56
- Vortex Vulture 10x56
Does anybody have ideas ?