WO Binoviewers

[blindman]

I am thinking of buying binoviewers, would WO perform well?
Any thoughts?
How many of you using them?
Have feeling it will be a good fun, even for stars, not to mention Moon, planets and DSO.
Cheers all, Neven

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Hi Neven , I dont own a set of these , but for the price I have not heard or read a negative on these , I have viewed the moon thru a friends pair and the 3D effect is startling once the brain sorts the twin images . . heaps better than 1 eye .
Thats why I use , and enjoy my 25x100 Zhumhell's ..
For the price , and if you can afford a few more twin eyepiece purchese's , go for it .
Brian.

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Hi Neven

I can thoroughly recommend WO Binoviewers, there are better ( more expensive ) binos' on the market but the WOs' have given me great views of the moon and planets when mounted on my 5" and 6" refractors. Using 2 eyes instead of 1 , as we know from every day life , gives better depth perception and contrast, try driving with 1 eye closed for an interesting experience.
Even on bright dsos' such as the brighter globs and open clusters, they also work very well. The only downside is that you'll have to double up on a few eyepieces to give a range of magnifications and if you have a scope that will reach focus without using an optical corrector so you can get low to medium power views , then even bright nebula become great bino targets.
If you can try before you buy, all the better, but I'm sure you wont be dissapointed with the views.

Enjoy

Jeff

[Poita (Peter)]

They are a great unit for the price, come with a nosepiece barlow and a pair of good quality 20mm eyepieces.

Downsides:
1) All binoviewers are *heavy* this can be a problem with some focusers.
2) Not all scopes will achieve focus with them in, some may require extension tubes.
3) You need two eyepieces! I got a pair of zooms which works well.
For the Moon, they are bloody fantastic, never want to view the moon any other way.
For DSO's, well they are always faint and fuzzy, I don't use them much for those. Planets, great.
For everything it means much longer viewing as the eye relief and brain relief from not using just one eye is really palpable.

They regularly sell second hand for only about 20% less than the new price, so not much risk there if you don't like them.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

, as I say Peter, the origonal x 2 20mm eyepeces are eye , candy ,. good eyepieces .. the best choice . hmmmm? how's about a pair of 10mm's for high power ??? . or 7.5's ..? or both ??? .
Brian ,

[Poita (Peter)]

That is why I ended up with a pair of 8-24mm zooms I guess.

[loki78 (Jon)]

Originally Posted by Poita

That is why I ended up with a pair of 8-24mm zooms I guess.

Which ones are they? The baader hyperions?

[sopticals (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by blindman

I am thinking of buying binoviewers, would WO perform well?
Any thoughts?
How many of you using them?
Have feeling it will be a good fun, even for stars, not to mention Moon, planets and DSO.
Cheers all, Neven

I have been using the WO Binos for about 18 months now with my 14" f5.1 Dob. Absolutely amazing, on moon, planets, brighter globs, and nebulae,(M42 is fantastic).3-D views with both eyes engaged, and optical receptors in the brain firing, on both cylinders, gives space depth, and the moon looks like a globe, rather than a flat plate. I still go mono on most other stellar, and fainter, DSOs as some light is lost, due to the beam split, and extra glass, the photons have to negotiate.

The 20mm supplied WO (66deg) oculars, are up to the job, giving immersive views. I have tried GSO 15mm, and 25mm Plossls (52deg), but found no advantage with the 25s, as the AFOV gained nothing, on the supplied oculars. The 15s, I had trouble merging images, and FOV was tight. I have since aquired a pair of GSO 15mm Superviews (70deg), and these work really well, no merging of images problems, and nice wide field of view.

If you are using a Dob, the infocus issue has to be addressed. In my case, I had to reduce primary to secondary distance by around 1.75" to obtain focus with the supplied 1.6x corrector.

I highly recommend these units, (should have got mine a lot sooner). Real value for money. My best piece of kit.

Stephen.

[sopticals (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by blindman

I am thinking of buying binoviewers, would WO perform well?
Any thoughts?
How many of you using them?
Have feeling it will be a good fun, even for stars, not to mention Moon, planets and DSO.
Cheers all, Neven

I have been using the WO Binos for about 18 months now with my 14" f5.1 Dob. Absolutely amazing, on moon, planets, brighter globs, and nebulae,(M42 is fantastic).3-D views with both eyes engaged, and optical receptors in the brain firing, on both cylinders, gives space depth, and the moon looks like a globe, rather than a flat plate. I still go mono on most other stellar, and fainter, DSOs as some light is lost, due to the beam split, and extra glass, the photons have to negotiate.

The 20mm supplied WO (66deg) oculars, are up to the job, giving immersive views. I have tried GSO 15mm, and 25mm Plossls (52deg), but found no advantage with the 25s, as the AFOV gained nothing, on the supplied oculars. The 15s, I had trouble merging images, and FOV was tight. I have since aquired a pair of GSO 15mm Superviews (70deg), and these work really well, no merging of images problems, and nice wide field of view.

If you are using a Dob, the infocus issue has to be addressed. In my case, I had to reduce primary to secondary distance by around 1.75" to obtain focus with the supplied 1.6x corrector.

I highly recommend these units, (should have got mine a lot sooner). Real value for money. My best piece of kit.

Stephen.

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by loki78

Which ones are they? The baader hyperions?

The Vixens

[casstony]

The Vixen zooms are nice eyepieces but they're very soft at 8mm, unless more recent versions have been modified. The softness might not be noticed unless you compare to another eyepiece.

WO Online sells the WO bino's with eyepieces for about $200 shipped - well worth having even if you only use them on the moon.

[Stu Ward]

Another big thumbs up for the WO bino's. I love using them on the moon and planets.
Also suprisingly good for brighter DSO's.
I have a collapsible Dob and they won't achieve focus with the full extension, so I simply slip the secondary down approx 3" and its all good.

Just remember to collimate every time.

Stu

[jamiep (Jamie)]

I used to have a set that were very good quality for what you pay for them - no issues.

The only problem is doubling up the eyepieces for them!. Otherwise great quality at the price, nice views if you can get your eyes to adjust to them.

Jamie

[Poita (Peter)]

Originally Posted by casstony

The Vixen zooms are nice eyepieces but they're very soft at 8mm, unless more recent versions have been modified. The softness might not be noticed unless you compare to another eyepiece.

WO Online sells the WO bino's with eyepieces for about $200 shipped - well worth having even if you only use them on the moon.

Mine are as sharp as the TMB eyepiece I have, but I rarely use them at 8mm with the binoviewer unless I'm looking at Jupiter.

[Ausrock (Chris)]

Jamie,

Check your PM's about the binos I got from you.

Originally Posted by jamiep

I used to have a set that were very good quality for what you pay for them - no issues.

The only problem is doubling up the eyepieces for them!. Otherwise great quality at the price, nice views if you can get your eyes to adjust to them.

Jamie

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Another vote for the WOs.
I use mine mostly with an 8" Mak-Cass holding a pair of Televue 19mm Panoptics. Lunar views are startling!!!!!
I traded my Denkmeir IIs for the WOs (weight issues with the Mak) and have not been dissapointed beyond their inability to take 2" EPs.

[blindman]

Many thanks guys.
Just bought WO binoviewers today, and you are right - absolutely AMAZING
First impression was a bit disapointing - without barlow I couldn't get focus on WO Megrez, but with barlow nose 1.6 it was brilliant, and correct picture
(why I didn't think about it?). Without star diagonal I can focus even without barlow nose.
Will be probably really impressed when Moon will be on. Can't wait.

Hopefully will work as well on Solarmax.

Thank you for your enlightenment !
Now I have to catch Sylvain for another Baader 9mm