CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: Kalinka Optics / Yukon 30x50 Newtonian Reflectors

You Get What You Pay For...
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During the last few months I've started to get the itch to acquire a "few" bino's in order to start looking skyward again. Years have gone by since I pointed any optical glass toward the heavens and as my days of satellite tracking by radio are largely over... I thought that binoculars would be an ideal way to rekindle any lingering interest in both chasing visible satellites as well as looking at a few planetary objects. (DSO's will have to wait a tad...)

Thanks to some reviews found here and elsewhere, I have unwittingly become a Pentax fan due to their relatively low cost and high performance. Presently in the stable are 8x42 DCF WP's, 16x60 & 20x60 PCF's and a couple of Burgess Optical units @ 8x42 and 11x50. But presently, the big Pentax boys generally are in use most often, albeit atop a Helix Manuf. Bino Platform. I do like the Pentax 8x42's and the Burgess 11x50's (dirt cheap) for quick satellite obs.

This weekend however, a pair of Yukon 30x60 Newtonian Reflectors from Kalinka Optics appeared in the mailbox and are what prompted this post.

I've bought a number of items from Kalinka, who fronts items produced in various factories from the former USSR, and this was the first time I received an instruction booklet that actually had an English translation (including other languages as well), an L-bracket and an over-all respectable consumer-grade appeal to it.

For about $100, these are the highest mag. binoculars I've held. Lightweight, broad-shouldered and sporting a sultry deep-violet coating on the objectives, I was favorably impressed. Initially at least. Under use, the coatings impart a prominent off-blue cast to most images which is not always a pretty sight when viewing terrestrially. They are rather easy to hold sufficiently steady due to their light weight. However, I found that establishing any sort of solid grasp on the focusing wheel was difficult at best without hand repositioning. And no doubt this task would prove to be doubly difficult in colder weather with gloves in use.

In regards to FOV... well, I ask you: "What Field of View?!" I had to be pretty precise in even targeting the moon, but man, a bino at 30x does indeed fill up your vision in fine style! Partial black outs became a bit of a nuisance as I am so used to pressing into the oculars and finding a comfy resting place, especially with the Burgess 11x50's. No such luck with the Yukons. Further, there is no index mark on the right ocular for referencing dioptic correction.

But putting these nits aside... I am still left with TERRIBLE collimation. I used to wonder what this alignment talk was all about and even what the "C"-word really meant, as I apparently hadn't experienced any problems along that line.

That is until I met up with this pair. Youza!!

Frankly, I would probably kill off this pair of bino's with a well-intentioned collimation (surgery) session on the kitchen table if I actually tried. But hey, a $100 is $100! I would rather ask if any of you know of someone who might be able to attempt a collimation correction, while minimizing potential damage as I most most likely would inflict if yours truly attempted it.

Any takers... for a reasonable price?

They are after all my first and only pair of Newtonian Reflector bino's... and love is blind, don't ya know?!

Tom Mishler
Lapeer County MI