I think McGill has the Vixen Ascot at pretty decent prices. You may want to check them out. They have slightly bigger lenses than the Nikon ones, but the Nikon 8x40 Action Ex is very good too. I'm getting a Vixen Ascot 8x42 from McGill because it's a better (cheaper) deal. (:
Oh yeah about dryboxes, I need some advice too. Where can I usually find a drybox and silicagels? I need to get them asap for my binoculars too. Any help would be appreciated. ^_^
What will it look like thru a Bino?
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codenamejag
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codenamejag
- Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:51 am
- Location: Bishan
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Clifford60
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Any size below 100 litres uses 5W of power. Even at full power all the time, it uses < 4kWh (5x24x31) a month, which is about $1 of electricity. However, it doesn't use full power all the time, so the bill will be lower.codenamejag wrote:Well....do electric dry-boxes consume alot of electricity? anyone using DigiCabi can give feed back on this please?? cos most probably gonna get an electric one...thank you all...
Nope, I haven't got it wrong. Their 8x42 isn't located at the Vixen category, instead it's located at their McGill category as a student package.codenamejag wrote:Zephyrus....anyway the Vixen Ascot, McGill have is a 10x50 not 8x42..... only the Vixen Apex Pro they have is a 8x42.... maybe a typo by u.....dunno...just tot of letting u know in case u got it mixed up...
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codenamejag
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Okay, I got my Vixen Ascot ZR 8x42 binoculars earlier this (well, Friday's) afternoon. Got it from Jim (McGill) at $170 student offer for the binoculars only at Bedok area (McGill's warehouse is there). Other than that, he also sold me "The Night Sky" Planisphere (Cardboard Edition) for $5 when it's usually retailing at McGill for $18. After that I proceed to get my lenspen and blower from MS Color at AMK Hub (took MRT there, haha). Lenspen costed me $12, the blower was an A*F Switzerland one, blue in color for $18. A total of $30 spent on that.
After that, just a few hours ago, I went downstairs to take a look at the stars. Being a noob, I couldn't identify anything and the light pollution around my area was also in the way. But, I did saw Jupiter (recognize it because it was the brightest and most noticable in the skies already, and I saw it before on the 5th July NUS ob session). I did managed to find some stars that looked like Vega, Altair and Deneb (thanks to the Planisphere), although I wasn't able to identify them.
Well, lol after telling you all these crap, I'm going to finally tell you how I'll store my binoculars. If you're going to use your binoculars every now and then, you don't have to keep placing it in your drybox. Fungus need time and air to grow, as long as you keep using it, fungus won't have a chance to grow at all. But if you're not going to use it for weeks, it's better to store in your drybox.
As for the cleaning part, you don't have to keep dusting it off because dust is everywhere. An advice from Jim earlier today was that clean it only when you notice your view is blurred due to dirt. As for normal maintenance and care, if you bring it to the beach for stargazing, make sure you blow off all the sand that got into your lens before you use a cloth or lenspen to clean it. Cause if you don't use a blower to blow off all the sand, you could risk scratching your lenses while wiping it with a cloth or lenspen cause the sand is a hard particle. Basically that's about it, how often to clean and wipe is up to you. For me, I'm quite a fussy person, so I think I'll take my binoculars out once in while, check and check for fingerprints/smudges and clean it off then cap it and keep.
Alright, after my long-winded post, I hope I've helped. (:
After that, just a few hours ago, I went downstairs to take a look at the stars. Being a noob, I couldn't identify anything and the light pollution around my area was also in the way. But, I did saw Jupiter (recognize it because it was the brightest and most noticable in the skies already, and I saw it before on the 5th July NUS ob session). I did managed to find some stars that looked like Vega, Altair and Deneb (thanks to the Planisphere), although I wasn't able to identify them.
Well, lol after telling you all these crap, I'm going to finally tell you how I'll store my binoculars. If you're going to use your binoculars every now and then, you don't have to keep placing it in your drybox. Fungus need time and air to grow, as long as you keep using it, fungus won't have a chance to grow at all. But if you're not going to use it for weeks, it's better to store in your drybox.
As for the cleaning part, you don't have to keep dusting it off because dust is everywhere. An advice from Jim earlier today was that clean it only when you notice your view is blurred due to dirt. As for normal maintenance and care, if you bring it to the beach for stargazing, make sure you blow off all the sand that got into your lens before you use a cloth or lenspen to clean it. Cause if you don't use a blower to blow off all the sand, you could risk scratching your lenses while wiping it with a cloth or lenspen cause the sand is a hard particle. Basically that's about it, how often to clean and wipe is up to you. For me, I'm quite a fussy person, so I think I'll take my binoculars out once in while, check and check for fingerprints/smudges and clean it off then cap it and keep.
Alright, after my long-winded post, I hope I've helped. (:
Last edited by Zephyrus on Sat Aug 02, 2008 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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codenamejag
- Posts: 38
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Glad that I could be of help. I also edited my previous post to include minor details about the planisphere I've got.
By the way, the prices I stated is McGill's student price, and I think most of the stocks are out already (you can email Jim to confirm), so I don't think you'll get such a subsidised price anywhere else. My beginner equipment so far only adds up to $240 with everything including drybox, lenspen, dust blower, planisphere, vixen rx25 (a night reader with 3x magnifying glass) as well as the binoculars. I believe a pair of Nikon 8x40 Action EX binoculars already cost around $240 or more. So overall, I think I got a pretty good deal and decent equipment to start my observations.
I guess you'll get your equipment soon and I hope to see you in future ob sessions so that we can learn more about the stars together with the other experienced astronomers here in Singastro. ^_^
By the way, the prices I stated is McGill's student price, and I think most of the stocks are out already (you can email Jim to confirm), so I don't think you'll get such a subsidised price anywhere else. My beginner equipment so far only adds up to $240 with everything including drybox, lenspen, dust blower, planisphere, vixen rx25 (a night reader with 3x magnifying glass) as well as the binoculars. I believe a pair of Nikon 8x40 Action EX binoculars already cost around $240 or more. So overall, I think I got a pretty good deal and decent equipment to start my observations.
I guess you'll get your equipment soon and I hope to see you in future ob sessions so that we can learn more about the stars together with the other experienced astronomers here in Singastro. ^_^