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I have had the privilege of using binoculars over many years that cover the full spectrum, from tiny tots to absolute monsters, from Cheap Chinese dogs do do, to the creme de la creme. I can go from the 8 x 32 Nikon SE, which are an exquisite small binocular for birdwatching, to the 22"/F5 Binocular telescope we have as part of our 3RF arsenal in storage at Peter Reads SDM telescopes. We currently have in active use (pre COVID) as part of our 3RF kit a 12"/F5 binocular telescope and a pair of 25 x 150 Fujinons mounted on an electric powered star chair, which is a $20k piece of kit, with matching quality views. I can't hand hold either of those.
I much prefer to hand hold smaller binoculars and I have found 2 things are critical to hand holding binoculars comfortably for longer periods.
1. The correct technique and this is absolutely critical. Over 50% of people who use binoculars for astronomy aren't aware of the best techniques to enable them to be hand held more easily. I'll expand on this later!
2. The design and weight of the binoculars is really important, as is the magnification, but the aperture is not so important. For instance a well designed 12 x 60 that weighs 800 gms can be far easier to hand hold than a 10 x 50 that weighs 1.2kg.
I can easily hand hold my Pentax 16 x 60 PCF WP and a friends Pentax 20 x 60 PCF WP. The 16 x 60 Pentax's weigh about 1.3kg, so they are pretty light for what they are and very well designed ergonomically.
I have had the good fortune and the despair, of having spent quite a while one evening with a pair of Zeiss 20 x 60 Image Stabilised binoculars. These are worth North of $14k and are optically the best binoculars I have ever used, and the list includes some pretty good ones. They are also the most frustrating binoculars I have ever used, as they are built like everything German made (think Tank) and weigh almost 3kg. You could drive nails in with them and not break them, but the downside is that Arnold Schwarzenegger could not hand hold them for more than 20 seconds and he would struggle to keep them still for 5 seconds.
There are a couple of techniques to hand holding binoculars. I've found the best method is hold your elbows together, under the binoculars and pulled back into your belly. This reduces the leverage that the binoculars have on the stable part of your body by half. In addition, don't hold them by the prism housings, which is usually the first place everyone tries to hold them. Hold them toward the end of the lens barrel housing, just behind the lenses. This works for me. One of my long time friends and noted author on binocular astronomy, Phil Harrington recommended this to me many years ago and it works very well for me. It may not work for everyone. There's a couple of other methods which include wrapping the strap up and using that for stability and also using both hands on the one lens barrel, one under and one over.
Experiment with some different techniques before you dump those 11 x 56 binos. With a change of technique they may well be suitable. As an aside, for many years I used a pair of 10 x 50's as my "spotter" binos when out with the telescope, but in recent years I have downsized to pair of Japanese made 10 x 42 Leupold's, which I really love.
Cheers
John B
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