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majestic
Age: 54
Joined: 16 Dec 2009
Posts: 41
Location: Bukit Timah
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| If anyone's interested, Amazon is doing these for USD 60 at the moment (they're normally USD 100) with free delivery within the US. I just ordered a pair via vPost - too cheap to resist!
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orly_andico
Age: 34
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 383
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My experience with these has been dismal. Arrived mis-collimated and too cheap to send back to the US.
BTW anybody has experience with Grand Eye HK?
http://www.grandeye.com.hk/7yearsale.htm
I was in HK the past few days but didn't go to his store. Are the prices on his site up-to-date? the 20x80 triplet is listed at HK$ 900 (which is like $165 SGD).
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majestic
Age: 54
Joined: 16 Dec 2009
Posts: 41
Location: Bukit Timah
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| orly_andico wrote:
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My experience with these has been dismal.
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 That probably explains why they're so cheap...
That's definitely the issue with buying directly from the US though. I think I may end up paying the extra dollars and buying my scope via the Science Centre shop so I have a local warranty...
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croys
Age: 33
Joined: 30 Dec 2008
Posts: 503
Location: River Valley, Singapore
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The Chinese made binoculars seem to be a bit hit'n'miss. As far as I understand it, they are made to the reseller's specs, so if Celestron want to sell binos cheaply, then you'll get cheap ones. Astrophysics and others offer Chinese made binos at a higher (but still good) price, but made to a better spec.
I have a pair of rubberised, waterproof 10x50s made by Kunming Optical (I think) from Strathspey. They are basically the same as the Oberwerks. They are very good - all surfaces, including the prisms are multicoated, and the prisms are not under-sized. They were reasonably priced (about US$150, I think) and overall great value.
I also bought a pair of 20x90s and just couldn't get them collimated to my satisfaction - the alignment was out so much, the only way to get an image you could use was to move the prisms so far you had to cut into the light path. Moving the prisms also adjusted the focus point, reducing the available diopter adjustment. Despite this, they still gave decent, bright images. In the end I decided I didn't like big binos on a tripod and sold them on.
If the 15x70s have adjustment screws, you could always try collimating them. But at that price, they might have cut corners that reduce light throughput, image quality, quality control, etc..
Coincidentally, I just ordered a pair of Kowa 8x32s. I have Fujinon 7x50s and the Strathspey 10x50s. The Fujis are fantastic, but heavy (nice big prisms) and pointless in the city - my eyes never dark adapt enough to get anywhere near a 7mm exit pupil. The 10x50s are slightly better in the city, but they are still heavy, and the shaking annoys me. I generally just use binos to check the conditions and get context if I'm star-hopping, so a smaller pair will be fine. They're also much more portable and I can use them for non-astro uses.
Personally I don't see the point of binoculars that need a tripod, I enjoy the ability to just quickly point them and pan around. But binoculars are probably a more personal choice than anything else, so to each their own.
Cheers,
Stuart
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orly_andico
Age: 34
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 383
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I did try to adjust the 15x70s. But I could never get them "quite" right, they still were headache inducers.
I think the A-P (if still available) is the best buy in the 70mm class. The Fujinon FMT-SX has been my object of desire :-) but haven't gotten the justification to spring for $600 US...
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croys
Age: 33
Joined: 30 Dec 2008
Posts: 503
Location: River Valley, Singapore
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Yeah, I've found collimating binoculars much more difficult than scopes so far, but that's probably because the only time I've had to do it is with binos that seem to have pretty major problems . I could get the images in the 20x90s to overlap, but only at the cost of focus and one side being dimmer.
My Fujis and the 10x50s haven't been touched. I paid less than 600USD for my Fujis, but still, they are not cheap. However, they're not as expensive as Pentax, Zeiss, Swarovski, etc..
It's good to see competition and better quality binos available at lower prices. Still, you can't expect much quality for 15x70s at 100USD. IMHO better quality 60s or 50s would be better overall.
Cheers,
Stuart
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crandf
Age: 32
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 26
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| I ordered them from amazon too. So far quite good, no problems that a newbie like me could notice. Can see moon craters, and venus is a yellow circle, and previously dark parts of the sky actually has so many stars
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majestic
Age: 54
Joined: 16 Dec 2009
Posts: 41
Location: Bukit Timah
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| crandf wrote:
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Can see moon craters, and venus is a yellow circle, and previously dark parts of the sky actually has so many stars
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Haha - mine arrived today and my daughter and I were amazed at how many stars are suddenly visible through them. We were lucky to have a nice night tonight for viewing - the craters of the moon were just…wow!!!…and I was surprised to get a really good look at M42. They're tiring to use for more than a few minutes (they're quite heavy after a while) but easy to keep reasonably steady if you just lie on your back. They will be fantastic for taking on trips away - we always seem to be in dark sky places near the water with zillions of stars.
This has really nailed it for me - it's totally clear now that we have to get a scope!
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crandf
Age: 32
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 26
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| Yah lor yah loh! I'm planning to use them for trips too! I dun need tripods so long as I can get into a good lying down position.
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acc
Administrator
Age: 36
Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Posts: 2115
Location: R.Valley
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| Mine arrived two days ago and I am very happy with it. The bino seems fairly well-built and has a nice rubber coating on its body. Generous eye-relief even for those wearing specs. No collimation issues on mine, though when viewing bright objects at an angle, some faint internal reflections are visible. In any case for only US$60, this is a great buy! Thanks Majestic for the alert
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_________________
We do it in the dark...
Portaball 12.5"
WO 80FD 10th Annv
...and all night long!
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