Advice on purchasing Large Binoculars

I also forgot to mention -  If you are going for these or similar, Black friday weekend in November is the time to buy, Markus at APM usually will take 10-15% off the prices on the website

Keith..

Im currently consider  purchasing a Used   Celestron Echelon  16x70 Binoculars and Orion   Paragon Plus Parallelogram and  Tripod which is going for about  Half Price of  the New Kit.  The  cheapest Price I could find  new was  £500 + Shipping from Bristol Optics.

Astroshop.eu are quoting  €973 for these  Binoculars so theyre a lot more expensive  than the
Celestron SkyMaster Pro Series.    Add  in the  Pargon + Parallelogam for  €300 from  Orion.
The Monster Orion Parallelogram is  about  €500+

I think this would be an excellent setup and If i really take to Binocular Observing I could
consider adding a Larger Binocular with  facility to use my Double EyePiece sets in future.

Is there anyone in IFAS using these binoculars.  Reviews on Cloudy Nghts have been pretty good.
www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/binoc...on-16x70-binoculars/

Hi Keith
Thanks for the excellent review of your  APM / 120  Binoculars.     Id love to have a view through these special binoculars, hopefully  not too distant future.     I can only imaging the views through them as I think the views through my  Nikon  8x42s handheld binoculars   are pretty  impressive  for scanning the night sky.  What are you primary  observational Targets with these Binoculars,  and whats your favorite Eye Piece size to use with these.   If  your ever thinking about selling them   let us know, though i doubt youd part with these unless your looking  for a larger setup  where  the sky seems to be the limit.

They look particularly well on the berlebach Tripod and  APM  Fork Mount.  The  90Deg Viewing Eye Piece seem to be the most popular  from reviews on Cloudy Nights as  doesnt put so much strain on your neck looking down.  

regards
Stephen 

Could  i ask what the Field of View or rather what  objects fits into the field of view of these particular binoculars, or is there a way of me finding out what i would see say in  APM 100mm  Binoculars for example without trying them first.
Thank You. 

Hi Stephen, sorry for my late reply. I love using these for scanning milkyway fields plus looking at the planets, although the planets can seem small, as these are primarily designed to give a wide field of view. Starclusters and globulars are superb, mindblowing on a clear night. You could check out an app called 'Gasgiants' which will project a view of Jupiter and Saturn through you eyepiece in real time too showing where the moons are placed. To be honest the moon is too bright but beautifully pinsharp

I use the following eyepieces:
24mm - x28, 2.3 degree field of view
18mm (these are included with the purchase of these binos, I believe you will get these also with the 100mm and maybe the 82mm/70mm) x37 1.7 degree field of view
12.5mm - x53 1.2 degree field of view
9mm - x73 0.9 degree field of view
3-6mm zooms also

I would also certainly advocate getting the parrallogram mount, I have the Orion one since 2006 and reguarly use this with my 15x70mm's. These give me a 4 degree field of view. Their simplicity is their strength, set up time is about 5 minutes and very portable. If you are with someone else you don't even have to change the orientation of the mount as it can be brough up and down to suit anyone's height and still have the target in the field of view. Perfect for the likes of this week where the weather hasn't been great, and you have an hour or two of clear sky. Also they are much cheaper than the APM set up obviously, but hey check these out.

Keith..

Thanks for the advice.  I've just received a used Paragon Parallelogram Tripod and Celestron Echelon  16x70 Binoculars that I bought on Astrobuysell.com to go with my pair of Nikon 8x42 Binoculars.

I. also purchased a copy of Phillips  Stargazing with Binoculars and I also have an old copy of binocular Astronomy by Patrick Moore.

I know you could use Moon filters with your eyepieces but I read on Cloudy Nights that you can use a pair of Polaroid Sun glasses to do the same job reducing the moon's glare.

I'm going to do up an observation list from the books and keep a log of my observations.

I'd love.to have a view sometime through your APM binoculars, but that wont be for a while.  Just need a clear night now to get out and do some observing and thanks agsin for your help
regards
Stephen