Need Advice on Large Binoculars

[erick (Eric)]

One trick for hand-holding is to hold the binoculars out near the ends of the barrels. There should be somewhat less movement as your hands shake the same amount. It helps for me, but took a bit of practice to get used to.

[Davekyn (David)]

My order is going in at the end of the week . I am awaiting a reply email, so far they have been really great to deal with

As for the focusing...I too was not happy about such a change...BUT...like most things...I am sure that It will gell with me after using them for a short while. I find I do more scenic than wild life, so scanning is more the go for me. I did not find the section on them being water proof...but hey...I wont be complaining about that!

Thanks for the update on why the extra cost...IMO,I think it's worth it..
Just spotted ya there Erick...Hi & thanks for the tip
Dave

[Chippy (Nick)]

Sounds like good choices. Look forward to hearing your experiences with them down the track. I agree with Eric on holding them near the objectives - that can help to stabilise. Resting on a fence is also a good tip, and tucking your elbows in nice and tight to act as a brace. An outdoor reclining chair is also good if you have one.

The individual focusing is less convenient IMO. I believe they do this primarily to make them more water proof. It's not a deal breaker though.

The only comment I will make is that I don't expect these 20x80 triplets will really be useable hand held much at all. Perhaps for very short scans, but the standard doublet 20x80's are much lighter and can be hand held.

WRT to the tests you performed Dave - I can vouch for the fact that managing the 25x100's is much more difficult than the test you performed with the additional weights. Yes the extra magnification plays a big part - but these are huge, and very long (read awkward). Absolutely unusable hand held in any form. I originally thought I would be able to use them resting the objective end on a railing and swivelling around. Nup! The 20x80TIF will be much easier than these though. A good choice I think.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by redsquash

I will try out a pair of Fujinon 25 x 150-EDMT-SX, Water Proof Porro Prism Binocular Telescope with 2.7 Degree Angle of View next week end.

We have a pair of these as part of the equipment inventory at 3RF Australia. We take them to Coonabarabran every year for the visiting US Astronomers to use.

Costing well west of $10K, plus another $5k for a suitable mount, you would expect them to be superb, which they are.

However, they are not really relevant for discussion in a thread on budget Chinese Binoculars. They have no similarities in any respect, other than the fact they are both called "binoculars".

Cheers,
John B

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Hi Dave,

If you wanted to consider something slightly smaller in Aperture but better in quality, the 20X60 Pentax PCF WP II are very good. They are hand holdable and offer excellent optical performance. They are fully multicoated, use back 4 prisms, Nitrogen filled, waterproof and fogproof. They are very light for their aperture and magnification and very comfortable to use with 20mm of eye relief. The field of view is slightly narrow at 2.2 degrees but they offer tack sharp views right across the full FOV. They are a fair step ahead of the larger generic Chinese Binoculars in optical quality in just about every respect.

Here is a link to some information on them

http://shop.centre.net.au/index.html...5NN&it=product

That dealer is no longer trading but they can be purchased from several Australian Dealers for about $300 including Frontier Optics and BINTEL.

Cheers,
John B