Choosing Hand Held Binoculars for Astronomy - Avoid the Trap!

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[RobertEWaters]

People older than 25 or so may not have pupils that dilate enough to take advantage of 7mm exit pupils. Something to bear in mind. 7x50 binoculars may effectively be very heavy 7x35s for older folks!

[peternicholls]

One of the best & simply explained vid's I have seen to date on (hand held) binoculars. I was looking (window shopping) into buying a pair of (not hand held :) Pentax SP 20x60 WP Binoculars well before I saw this vid, so was not surprised to see the choice you made in buying from this brand . In the end, it's all about the quality of the glass. For a beginner into Astro binoculars, as you say, Fully Multi Coated & BAK 4 Prism's are a must from a starting point, which should be the standard to go from. The less glass, the better the image quality, don't buy zoom! :) More glass!. :)

[AstroGuy]

I had a 15x70 binoculars for a year and so far, my binoculars are really good for the night sky and nature etc 😀
I've seen a lot of cool things through my binoculars like deep space objects, Jupiter's moons and more! :)
Also great video 😁

[davewebster]

You must also take into consideration the amount of inter pupillary distance adjustability of the binoculars as the distance between ones pupils is different in each person. Mine happen to be fairly close together so many binoculars I looked at wouldnt allow me to see easily through each eyepiece simultaneously 👍. This is where trying them out before purchase is definitely reccomended.

[MountainFisher]

I don't gaze with my binoculars, 7x50 to use for finding my objective in Bortle 5-6 sky and I'm 70+ years old. I look for targets like M13 that is not visible at Bortle 6, but I can see it with the binos then it makes aiming my 8x finder scope easier.

[CJFromGroveStreet]

Hey man . Love your videos . How good will be the 10-90x80 binoculars . It zooms from 10-90x and have 60mm or aperture

[tomtransport]

I ordered a cheap pair of 10/50 binoculars on line. Upon looking at a tower that carries electric wires across a very high hill about 8/10 miles away the tower was doubled with two images looking to be about an inch or so apart. At night stars/planets were doubled also. I figured if I returned them for another pair at this price range the problem would persist. What did I do to fix this? I loosened the Left large barrel where it is screwed onto the binoculars where the prism is. I rotated it while looking at the tower and at about a half turn loose the towers became one perfect tower, I could even make out the wire connections to the insulators. Not wanting to leave it loose I turned it about 2 more turns. I put a medium size rubber band in the loose area forming a gasket. I tightened the barrel, the rubber band, forming a gasket held the barrel one half turn wide but very tight. The binoculars are perfect.

[k.h.]

Coatings are for light transmission not internal reflections. I have a 101 yr old zeiss 6x30 with uncoated optics, and it does not suffer from internal reflections because it is nicely baffled and blackened inside.

It is a bit dimmer than my 1970s era japanese 7x35 with the same 5mm exit pupil, but the single coated lenses still let more light through than uncoated optics. The ziess are way better during the day of course, fully distortion free when panning, and sharp stars to the edge at night. My 7x35 which is extra wide field, have lots of distortion while panning, and the typical edge astigmatism. The ziess are only 50deg apparent field.

I miss my 8x40 nikon action EX, and 8x56 unbranded japanese FMC waterproof bak4 manufacturer sample binoculars, they had the best contrast and no scatter or internal reflections when using at night and looking at a scene with brjght lights in it. For astronomy they were amazing. I damaged them in an act of compromised state stupidity, but I would have lost them anyway because they got stolen along with almost everything else I owned when my storage was broken into. The zeiss survived becuase the theives didnt notice them in the side pocket of the the bag that had my 20x80, 15x70 and 8x56.

I also have barska 15x70, which are also the same as the barska 15x70 that was my first astronomical purchase 20 years ago, though not the same pair as those got sold off long ago when I got the 20x80.

Of course I dont hand hold the giant binoculars, and sometimes even put the 8x56 on a tripod. In dark skies the 7mm pupil 8x56 was amazing, and for night time terrestrial use, they were like night vision

[smalloptics]

Great info Chris, you Know me, I love bino's. So true though, you do get what you pay for, my cheap bino's are great, work well and optically they are fine, but if you compare the build quality to my vintage zeiss there not in the same league. Congrats on the 100th video pal..Here's to the next 100.... *Raises mug of tea* :)

[pilot]

Is viewing the moon possible with astronomical binoculars. The brightness seems like it would be murder on the eyes. Are moon filters needed?

[OlliesSpace]

I have a set of Bushnell 10x50, gonna have to check them now🤯 I don't use them often but it is nice to have that big field of view sometimes. Cheers Chris nice video. Astro La Vista ! Congrats on 100 and sometimes I think a simple video is just fine mate.

[vampolascott]

I use 10x70 Fujis and while there is no perfect solution for stabilization of such massive binoculars, an inexpensive compromise for me has been a monopod.

[rodfrancis]

Helpful Video...Never quite sure which Binos is best for myself so I have 20x80 Bresser, 10x60 and Celestron 8x42 Roof prism Outland as Telescopes are to big for my apartment and the garden is a jungle.👀

[constantinef]

Good afternoon! Thanks for the review! Can you recommend buying Pentax binoculars? I want to buy Pentax SP 8x40 WP and 10x50 as in your review. Will the quality be on par with Nikon binoculars? How do they behave in cloudy weather and at night? Thank you)

[jobrodie]

Do they have a tripod bush? You never showed the underside and some of us oldies really can't hand hold any more.

[avt_astro]

Great Depth Video Chris!! I love Binocular Astronomy, I have a Celestron 10x50 which performs Solid!! hope your new job is Going Well, Clear Skies!👍👍🔭

[ihategoogle]

Thanks. You should do a vid on what to look out for when buying new and used binoculars, how to spot things like defects and misalignment and such.

[davepastern]

Excellent video Chris - I can highly recommend the Nikon Aculon A211 10*50 binoculars - very sharp, very bright and super contrast. BaK4 poro prisms, but eye relief is around 12mm. not an issue for me as I don't use glasses for observing. A bit more pricier than the Pentax units in your video.

[gerryroush]

For the money I love my Orion Resolux 7x50
Should I feel guilty about my made in USA milspec Fujinon that I bought off of a doper tweaker for forty dollars 🤔

[noah]

Hey, I am looking for a good pair of bins mostly for astronomy, but also for some allround use. I am noy going to use a tripod. Which one would you recommend: the Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50, or the Pentax SP 10x50 (non WP)? Or any other suggestion? Looking for one under €120 (£100).