Quote:
Originally Posted by Brycepj
G'day everyone I would like your opinions.
I have a set of 10 X 50 binocs that I have been looking at stars planets etc. for the past 6 months. It has been really enjoyable. My question is "is it worth upgrading to 20 x 80 Binoculars or do I buy a Telescope."
The scope would need to be portable so I was thinking of a refractor.
My budget would be about $300 I alreaduy own a tripod so larger Binoculars would be ok. some idea of brands would also be helpful.
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Hi Peter,
Binoculars with powers over 10x usually require a tripod, unless you are exceptionally steady, or you have some form of stabilisation. Stabilised binoculars are quite expensive and are not really suited to astronomy, from my experience, as the stabilisation doesn't work well above certain angles and when pointing directly up. I have used Fujinon gyro-stabilised binoculars for astronomy and although very good, the police use them from helicopters, they weren't really suitable for astronomy, besides, they cost around 8k, and around 20k
, with night vision tubes. The other form of stabilisation is electro-stabilised, whilst much cheaper, aren't as good as gyro-stabilised, although, they are much lighter.
If you enjoy the wide field that binocular views provide, you would be better off getting a good quality 60-70mm wide field scope. I use an Astro-Tech 65EDQ myself for this sort of work, which cost me $579, plus the star diagonal and eyepieces. However, a tripod, or mount, is definitely required. Of course, there are better telescopes available, but they come at a price.
In any case, a small scope will give much more comfortable viewing angles, if used with a star diagonal, as looking through, tripod mounted, binoculars can be a real pain in the neck.
Alternatively, you can get 45 degree, or 90 degree eyepiece binoculars in larger powers, however, these are usually quite expensive, and in some case, very expensive, for the high quality models.
Another option, is getting a good quality spotting scope, which you can use on a normal photographic tripod. See the April 2014 edition of Sky and Telescope, as that has a good article on using a spotting scope for astronomy. A 'good' spotting scope, mostly used by sports shooters and birdwatchers, can be quite expensive.
If price is a major factor, be aware that it is best to steer clear of cheap scopes, as some can be very disappointing, as is discussed elsewhere on IIS.
Anyway, my recommendation would be to get a scope, as you will be able to, readily, change eyepieces to vary the power. A word of caution here though, high power isn't important, resolution is a much more important aspect in a telescope.
Ask members opinions before buying anything and you won't go too far wrong.
Cheers Pete
