Chuck, that's extremely helpful information. What's the link to your gallery page? Thanks, Seth -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+sjarvis=slco.org@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 1:33 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] 25x100mm binos Hi Seth (et al): I've never seen a commercial parallelogram that I liked, therefore I build my own. I think I still have a photo of my latest "heavy-duty" unit on my Gallery page, if you care to look it up. It's an in-progress shot but you can get the idea. Designed specifically for the 25x100mm heavy monsters. Utilizes Dobsonian technology. The other shots on my Gallery page show my standard parallelogram which holds up to 80mm units comfortably. The maple unit is my favorite for mid-size binoculars. My biggest gripes on commercial units are those with too-short arms, so they can't be used sitting or reclining unless the tripod is shortened first, and units that only pan by rotating the entire arm assembly around the central tripod pivot. One does a lot of walking in circles with these designs. My designs address both of these shortcomings. The longer arms I use also allow a huge range for height differeces in observers- a great star-party advantage when you may have folks that are 6'-4" alongside some kids that may only be just over 3' tall. Having designed and built both metal and wood parallelograms, I now prefer wood for it's vibration-damping qualities and less icy touch in winter. I am unaware of a commercial parallelogram executed in wood. A "pair of binoculars" is one of those incorrect terms that just made it into the common parlance. I try to use the word "binocular" when talking about a single unit, "binoculars" when talking about the devices as a class of optical instruments, but being not of a highly-practiced accademic demeanor, can sometimes slip. Having troubles with Yahoo today, sorry if this reply is incomplete but it represents multiple attempts to send. Grrr... --- Seth Jarvis <SJarvis@slco.org> wrote:

I own a pair of Celestron 25x100's but I never use the silly things because not even my heaviest-duty camera tripod can keep them steady.

I've seen parallelogram-type mounts, but they all have maximum weight capacities that are less than the weight of the 25x100 monsters.

How do you guys manage these things?

Why is just one of them called a "pair of binoculars" and I'm forced to speak of them in the plural? Wouldn't it make more sense to call them a "pair of monoculars?"

Just grousing. I really do want to know how big-bino owners manage to use theirs.

$170 sounds like a screamin' deal. Maybe the money you save on them can go towards a monster tripod & mount.

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