kayheem wrote:Check with Starfinder (Gavin). He may have a couple of good deals for you.
Kay Heem
Hi hi. I don't have any binos for sale now. The one which I have just sold to Jeremy was one which I got from China a few years back. Its a good one.
As a first optical instrument, I would suggest getting a small portable bino such as a 7x50 or 10x50, or 8x42 or 10x42. I think you can get one of these in ordinary Singapore shops for about $200, e.g. Nikon, Pentax, Minolta, etc.
Small binos are hand-holdable, carry-anywhere, wide field instruments that can show a lot, especially if held steadily.
For a 2nd bino (to complement the 50mm bino) with more resolving power (aperture) and magnification, a good budget choice would be the 20x80 multicoated triplet bino now sold by Grand Eye Scientific Company in Hong Kong for about S$220 inclusive of shipping by courier to Singapore:
http://www.grandeye.com.hk/pc_bino.htm
(I'm not sure if they have stock. They also sell 42mm, 50mm, 70mm and 100mm binos. Payment is by bank draft or wire transfer.)
At that price, I think the 20x80 is very good value for money. It's essentially a twin 3-inch triplet refractor with 2 eyepieces and 4 prisms thrown in, all in a nice case. However, as it weighs 5 pounds, you will need a solid alta-azimuth mount for it, such as the Manfrotto/Bogen 410 geared head, and a good tripod. (The key to using big binos is to have a good steady mount, just like telescopes).
I have looked at the Southern Cross region with it in town in Singapore: could resolve most of the individual stars of the Jewel Box and many in the superb open cluster NGC3532. Not too bad.
Some of my most enjoyable experiences at dark sky sites was through large binoculars: the Milky Way clouds and dust lanes, and the star fields near the Milky Way, e.g at Puppis, Carina, Orion, Cygnus.
However, almost all binos have a limitation in that
the maximum magnification of even "giant" binos is usually about 25 or 40x, with apertures of at most 4 to 6 inches.
For galaxies and globular clusters and planets, the bigger the aperture the better, and you will want a magnification of at least 80x (200x at least for the planets). For example, from my experience at Mersing, the great globular cluster Omega Centauri as seen in an 8 inch scope is a quantum leap over that seen in a 4 or 5 inch scope.
So, like footwear, one optical instrument alone is not enough for everything. Different objects and different times require different instruments. However, a small hand-holdable 42 or 50mm bino is a good start.