Bin session 4th August

[Tweedledee]

Had a very pleasant time with the bins last night for a bit over an hour around midnight. It was pretty clear over Mansfield with the Milky Way nicely visible and it was lovely and warm outside. I took three pairs out trying to decide which I wanted to sell. Had the Vixen 2.1x42s, Spacewalker 3D 8x42s and Celestron 15x70s and by the end of the hour I was once again smitten by the lovely vista's from all three. So not selling any. The three pairs are a nice complement for each other with fields of view ranging through 25, 7.5 and 4.4 degrees. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sky in a variety of scales.

The heavyweight 15x70's showed the detailed views. The lightweight 8x42s showed a nice easy view with the exciting 3D effect. The 2.1x42s showed my light polluted sky like it should be with naked eye from a dark site, with whole constellations visible in one field. The Vixens were great on the Milky Way showing the dark Cygnus rift and coal sack nicely. They make the sky look like the star maps show it, with a magnitude or two better than naked eye.

 

Had a some nice views of the following...
Galaxies - M31, M33, M81 and M82.
Nebulae - Lagoon, Trifid, Omega and Eagle.
Clusters - Double, Mel 20, M34, Pazmino's, Caldwell 10, M39, Coathanger, M11, M26, M23, IC4665, IC4756, NGC6633 and Taurus Poniatovii.
Globs - M15, M2, M22, M13, and M92.

 

The above objects were nicely visible in the 15x70s apart from M33 which barely showed itself. The 8x42s showed them all smaller but not M33, 82 or the Eagle nebula. The 2.1x42 ultra lightweight goggles showed the brighter, larger clusters and surprisingly got the Lagoon and Trifid which were very low down.

 

I'm so pleased with the views in these three binoculars that I couldn't bring myself to sell any of them. The 15x70's are by far the cheapest of the three, and certainly give a lot of bang for the buck. 

Edited August 5, 2016 by Tweedledee

[Smithysteve]

That was a great session and you pulled in a lot in an hour ??

All three pairs obviously have their uses, it must have been interesting to determine each bins strengths and weaknesses.

 

if you could only take one set on hols, which would choose?

[Tweedledee]

7 minutes ago, Smithysteve said:

That was a great session and you pulled in a lot in an hour ??

All three pairs obviously have their uses, it must have been interesting to determine each bins strengths and weaknesses.

 

if you could only take one set on hols, which would choose?

Cheers Steve.

 

Before getting the 3D bins, I would always take the 2.1x42s and 15x70s. Now I'm tempted to take all three pairs including the 8x42 3Ds.

 

In answer to your question, if I could only take one pair, it would have to be the 8x42 3D.

 

Small, lightweight, they give the in between view of the other two and with the bonus of 3D. I'd miss the others though.

[BAZ]

Pete, selling his binoculars, I thought you had suffered a brain fart there Pete. The Universe would not approve!

A great read Pete.

[Johnnyaardvark]

Nice read... had a similar evening but with less objects viewed. Decided to sit out... with my 15x70s... Same as yours... and use the sky guide and find my way around a bit. Quite alot of satisfaction in finding objects without goto and seeing what the bins are capable of.

Had a slight issue with mine at Belper last week though as the left eyepiece dropped out. It appears to have only one grub screw (hole for 3) but little to no access to tighten them.

Have tightened the one a bit and there is just about enough resistance so I can use them but it's not ideal.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.