http://www.sportsmansguide.com Sportsmans Guide has 2 ecconomy binos suitable for astronomy currently listed: JC Optics 11x70mm w/L bracket WX2-80792 $49.97 Slightly lower power than the popular 15x70mm, use these only if your pupil opens nearly 7mm. Barska 10x50mm WX2-78167 $19.97 Excellent entry-level bino, the most-recommended "mid" size bino. S&H must be added to the above prices. Spring is just around the corner! C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
For what it's worth, I purchased a pair of Barskas as a gift for my brother last year. These were 15x70's (maybe 16x--don't remember for sure) which cost somewhere in the range of $75-$80. I put them up alongside my Orion 20x80's and the comparison was instructive. My Orions are about 4 years old, Japanese-made and weight about 5 1/2 pounds. They're built like a tank. I returned 2 pair because I thought the chromatic aberration was too great. The folks at Orion cherry-picked the last pair for me and they're very sweet--probably as good a $400 pair of binos as you could get. They require a mount unless you're a linebacker. The Barskas were pretty light--light enough that you could do brief observing sessions by hand. The build was solid enough, considering the price. The place where they fall down is the prisms. Some Barskas use BAK-4 glass, but others use BAK-5 (which is inferior). To confuse matters, these differences can be within the same model number, so you have to be careful. I'm pretty sure the pair I bought used BAK-5. The Barskas had a narrower true field-of-view (should have been wider) and a pretty narrow apparent field-of-view. They were a little like looking through soda straws compared to the Orions. And the sights were not real sharp off-axis. I've seen some people (not on this list) who've been excited about owning quality binoculars at a low price. Weeeeelll, you do get what you pay for. I don't think anyone would feel cheated at what they got from Barskas. But compared to a more expensive pair, you can still see what you're missing. Michael On Jan 28, 2004, at 11:11 AM, Chuck Hards wrote:
http://www.sportsmansguide.com
Sportsmans Guide has 2 ecconomy binos suitable for astronomy currently listed:
JC Optics 11x70mm w/L bracket WX2-80792 $49.97 Slightly lower power than the popular 15x70mm, use these only if your pupil opens nearly 7mm.
Barska 10x50mm WX2-78167 $19.97 Excellent entry-level bino, the most-recommended "mid" size bino.
S&H must be added to the above prices.
Spring is just around the corner!
C.
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--- Michael Carnes <moogiebird@earthlink.net> wrote:
But compared to a more expensive pair, you can still see what you're missing.
Mostly correct, but expense alone is not foolproof; I recently had the chance to use a pair of 7x50mm Steiners that were no better than $100 binos, and the FOV was very narrow. They were also heavy and bulky. I got a pair of the Barska 15x70mm last year but haven't used them yet, now that you say there's a difference in prism glass I'll be sure to compare them with the Galileos of the same size. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
Sad, but true.
Mostly correct, but expense alone is not foolproof; I recently had the chance to use a pair of 7x50mm Steiners that were no better than $100 binos, and the FOV was very narrow. They were also heavy and bulky.
Probably sounded like I was knocking the Barskas, which wasn't my goal. I just wanted to show some of the differences, since I'd had a chance to compare. I should have probably mentioned that the prisms were on the small side. That's the reason for the narrow FOV. All the same, I'm glad they're available--both for the budget conscious and whoever needs a knockaround pair. Michael
I got a pair of the Barska 15x70mm last year but haven't used them yet, now that you say there's a difference in prism glass I'll be sure to compare them with the Galileos of the same size.
C.
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--- Michael Carnes <moogiebird@earthlink.net> wrote:
I just wanted to show some of the differences,
I've had the chance to look at many examples of the new generation of Chinese binoculars, and found that there can be quality variations even between identical copies of the same make & model. Overall, the quality is good but there is always the chance you'll get a lemon. I now have two pair of 15x70mm, the Galileos & a pair of untested Barskas, but I went through the Bear & Oberwerk versions also. The Japanese binos tend to be heavier due to materials used; most Japanese binos I've seen are aluminum whereas the Chinese are mostly plastic. The good news here is that thermoplastic is more resilient to dings and knocks than aluminum, but less stable in the long run. The big advantage, as you pointed out, is price. I would never have spent the money for a large pair of Japanese binos, but thanks to the Apogee imports, I have reasonably nice large binoculars up to and including 100mm. I think price is what motivated most of us when these big, inexpensive binos first started appearing a few years ago; I'm glad they did. C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
participants (2)
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Chuck Hards -
Michael Carnes