William Optics binoviewer giving me merge issues / headaches

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:22 pm

I succumbed to Gary's enthusiastic reviews of the W-O binoviewer (he told me he'll never go back to cyclops mode again) so I got my own.

Problem.. merging is a bit difficult, my eyes can't relax. But then I am very sensitive to miscollimation, as well.

I can see the problem with the single setscrew design, by putting the moon at the very edge of the field I can see that the two images aren't completely congruent, but I can't fix it due to the single setscrew.

Would it be worth the effort to drill two more holes on each focuser, tap the holes, and add more setscrews? so that each ep holder becomes a three-setscrew setup?

Or should I keep "training" my eyes?

BTW to my great annoyance even with the supplied 1.6X OCA, the BV doesn't come to focus with my Z70ED. I had to get the optical unit of my Meade 140 barlow to use with it.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:57 pm

I have seen that on a WO binoviewer before. It seems that some of the cheaper binoviewers doesn't hold collimation that well, or get miscollimated more easily. Good ones can hold sharp images up to 400x.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:05 am

rlow, the denkmeiers cost $1800 usd! :-P

i'll stick with these and see if they can be remedied..

wucheeyiun · Post by **wucheeyiun** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:39 am

You can consider the Baader Maxbright binoviewer .
I pair it with 2 nagler 7mm t6 and it collimated very well

and sharp.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:48 am

Orly, the Denk II system is $1295usd. And I find the Denk's Big Easy is really optically very good and value-for-money, much better than the WOs.

Did you get the WO new or used?

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:48 am

i'm not willing to spend that much on BV's :-) i would certainly expect them to be better considering the 6X price differential... you don't get something for nothing, so i don't expect these W-O's to be excellent. got them from a dealer in the US, used (come to think of it maybe they were miscollimated hence returned, but the problem with these Norinco BV's isn't the prisms, but the ep holders).

according to Ed Zarenski (Mister Binoculars) i need to train my eyes to look "through" the BV's instead of "into" them. so maybe it's just my eyes. i must admit, i don't see double images. there's just something a bit "off" about the view. but then i also get headaches from my computer monitor, so...

cloud_cover · Post by **cloud_cover** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:03 pm

Denk II for sale

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/de ... _id=719963

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:13 pm

still $1K!

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:54 pm

Orly, if you like, i could help you take a look thru your WO binoviewer, or if you like, compare it with mine.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:32 pm

it seems the baader maxbright is exactly the same chinese norinco BV as the william-optics, celestron, burgess, etc. etc. etc.

richard, i was planning to have Gary have a look through them with his C8 as he already has experience with BV's. but the weather is looking really bad today!

as an aside, my Orion 100ED sale fell through (i failed to notice some tiny fungus on the lens -- which i have since then removed) so I'm thinking of cutting the tube so it will work with the BV, without an OCA.