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My Weird Binocular Purchase - Komodo 25X70s
Last week, out of idle curiosity, I bought a pair of 10-15X70 Komodo Binoculars off Ebay from Kogan. Cost was $62.
The package arrived a few days later, and it instead contained the more expensive 25x75 Komodo binoculars (which cost around $96 on Ebay). I didn't really want it as I already have Celestron 25X70s, but I decided to check the pair out anyway. I used them looking a trees and neighbours' places from my backyard, and the view seemed pretty sharp, had nice contrast and were in collimation......but I realised something wasn't right - the image wasn't shaking as it should have been at 25X. I checked the exit pupil and it was obviously much bigger than the near 3mm it shoud have been.
So I compared the 25X70s to my Celestron 12x60s, by merging the image from each binocular's tube. It was an exact match, so that what I was really holding was a pair of Komodo 12x70 binoculars, marked as being 25x70s.
Later, I used the new 12x70s on assorted DSOs, and was very pleased. I then compared that Komodo pair to the more expensive Celestron 12x60s on the Orion Nebula area. With it's 5.3 degree field, the Celestron's field of view was slightly bigger than that of the Komodo pair - which I thus estimate to have a 5 degree field.
As I kept alternating between the pairs, I concluded that plainly the cheap Komodo pair was giving me a better view of the stars and nebula than the more expensive Celestron 12x60 pair was, as its stars were brighter. And the build quality of the Komodo pair looked the same as that of my Celestron 15X70 pair.
So - how can it be that a manufacturer can build a pretty darn good pair of binoculars for the price, and not get the specified magnification right?
My idle curiosity is still not satisfied, and I ordered the 10-17x70 Komodo pair from Dick Smith, as I'm still determined to check it out.
Cheers,
Renato
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