Quote:
Originally Posted by brian nordstrom
Man I wish I had a spare 1k to spend on a pair if Zeiss 7x50's  ..
Brian |
Hi Brian,
Unfortunately $1,000 won't do you much good in your quest for a pair of
Zeiss 7 x 50 B/GA T Classics $2,000 will get you to the mark.
Unfortunately quality doesn't come cheap.
Even the Zeiss
budget range which is called the
Conquest, in an excellent size for astronomy (10 x 56), are going to set you back well over $1,500. Even the smaller
Conquest models in sizes like 8 x 50 are still over $1,500. If you go to the Zeiss premium range which is the
Victory in 10 x56, you get very little change out of $3,000. Even the smaller models like the
Victory 10 x42 are over $2,500.
I have used two of the modern production Zeiss Binoculars and a few of the older ones, manufactured between about 1940 and 1980. The newer models I have used are the 10 x 42 Victory and the
15 x 60 BGA/T, which went out of production about 14 years ago, but stocks took another 4 or 5 years to run out. A friend of mine in the USA purchased a pair of these new in the USA in 2003. As it says on the Company 7 website, "if you need to ask the price you can't afford them." They sold for $US 2,295 in 1998.
The 15 x 60 BGA/T Zeiss binoculars are without question the finest **normal** astronomy binoculars I have ever used. You will rarely see these come up for sale second hand, apart from maybe a deceased estate, or someone in urgent need of money, as no one that owns them will ever sell them.
I would love to own a pair of Zeiss Binos myself but I can't remotely justify that amout of money for binoculars, which are something I don't use all that often.
**normal** We have a pair of
25 x 150 Fujinon MT-SX binoculars as part of our 3RF equipment. You can't IMO call these normal binoculars. These are superlative, but have a significant aperture advantage over anything remotely hand holdable. At about $US 7,000 they should be good.
Cheers,
John B