Viewing Thingy

[TyBreaker]

Hi and greetings to all. I hope my subject doesn't slam home my level of expertise too strongly!

I have just moved into a new home with a balcony offering a lovely view of the valley and immediately drew up plans in my mind to get a telescope. I've been doing some reading and now am not sure a telescope is the best thing for the job. While I am interested in aiming it at the sky my balcony doesn't facilitate 360 degree viewing and I'm not interested in climbing up onto the roof. But primarily I am thinking terrestrial viewing is what I would use it for the most. However I would still like to do some occasional astronomy eg the moon etc.

So I began looking at www.saxon.com.au after being referred by the Camera House here in Canberra. They seem to have large aperture zoom binoculars as well as zoom spotting scopes. I don't know how to choose between them as the site is fairly brief as to what each is good for although I have learned a bit from the info they do have. No prices on the site also makes it hard to know what they might cost. I like the idea of zoom as I want to be able to use it like a zoom lens on a camera to change my field of view. I like the SED100A spotting scope as it has a large aperture lens and zoom but that's about the limit of my knowledge so far.

I'd value your thoughts on brands and models for what would be best for me please.

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Welcome to IIS.

Not much to give you but a look at Andrews for some idea of the costs involved. Larger binos may be the way to go for your present needs but remember anything larger than 10x50 will need some sort of tripod or you will get a really wobbly view.

Good luck

[GrahamL]

Might be your balcony can still give you a decent view of the night sky .

What direction does it face ?... Any light domes /towns in your line of sight ?...remember whats behind the roof and out of sight at sunset will likely be overhead in a few hours.

cheers graham

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi TB and to IIS,

my recommendation would be, if price is the driver, get a pair of 20x90 or 20x100 giant binocs from www.aoe.com.au together with the stand at the bottom of that page. That will cost about $500 all up inc freight. I bought this combination first of all before any scopes.

However, if you can spend more, get the BT100-45 from www.andrewscom.com.au under binoculars/andrews. These are fabulous and have come down by about $500 in the past three or four months, - and are a great set. The only thing wrong with this last item is that the binocs should really be on a height-adjustable stand. The stand supplied is great quality, - just not height adjustable. So I went and bought a separate stand from optcorp in the USA for about a grand extra. A lot of money, but the combination is without equal in the binocular world imho.

Hope this helps