CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: Re: Minireview: Barska X-Trail 20x80 vs Obie & GO

My neighbor bought the Barska X-Trail 20x80s and brought them over last night. We were able to do some (very unscientific) side by side comparisons with my my Obie 15x70s and GO 25x100s.

The Barskas felt almost as light and easy to handle as the Obies despite being much larger. I was able to comfortably free hand both for a few minutes. The Barska objectives showed very thick walls at the business end (see photos below) so I suspect they were made of a lightweight material - perhaps a plastic - but, subjectively, they felt solid.

Mechanically, the Obies and Barskas appeared to have identical prism housings with just different size objectives. That being said, there were clear differences in the focusers. I recently sent my Obies back to Kevin for service and the focuser was replaced with a new one that is much more rigid and less sensitive to movement from "brow bumping". The "bridge" (don't know the real term) that holds the oculars and moves them in and out for focusing had much more flex in the Barskas. They were also harder to focus - any longitudinal pressure on the right eyelens while focusing would cause it too lose focus once released. Once you've figured that out, it's easy to compensate for, but it is noticeable.

I really like the Barska center post design. It's not as robust as the one on the GO 25x100s but it has a knurled wheel where it connects to the tripod mounting plate making it easier and more convenient to tighten it down. The rubber padding on the bottom of the wheel provided the best grip on the tripod plate. On the other hand, the forward hinge was not nearly as well executed as on the all metal Garretts - it seemed to be an extension of the lightweight material used for the end tubes of the objectives.

I tried the Barskas on both my monopod (that I use for the Obies almost all the time) and the larger tripod setup I have for the GO 25x100s. I'm a fan of monopod viewing and the Barskas, with their lightweight, were very easy to handle on the monopod. The pistol grip needed a bit of tightening to hold it steady at higher elevations, but overall it felt much like the Obies. On the larger tripod setup (Amvona 6907) it was stable as a rock.

In doing some very informal viewing comparisons, the Barskas were definitely closer to the 15x70s than the 25x100s. There was slightly more resolution on open clusters like M36 but not a major improvement. Saturn looked a bit bigger and there was a hint of ring separation that I don't get in the Obies. But overall, I was surprised that there wasn't a bigger step up in light gathering. It wasn't close to what the 25x100s provide.

Finally, with all the discussion around coatings - Multi-Coated vs FMC - I thought I'd have a look down the barrel. There was definitely more reflection on the Barskas than on either the Obies or Garretts and the coloring was different - more blue than green (whatever that means). I don't think that proves anything, but I did take a couple of photos of reflections taken from an angle as shown below. In the first one you can see the Barskas vs the Obies. Note the increased transparency of the reflection in the Obies. In the second photo you can see the same thing comparing the Barskas to the Garretts. Note how "hard" the reflection looks in the Barskas. To me this is an indication of the quality of the coating on the first surface only (the photos don't look through all the glass) and may indicate that the Barska use a less advanced coating even if they are FMC.

Bottom line - these are pretty good binocs for $100 with shipping. They're a bit finicky on focus, a bit light on construction and the overall light transmission may not be as great as the Obies or Garretts but at the price point, they're pretty good value.

- Art

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2006 "Bagging on a Budget" Award for Excellence in Binocular Astronomy
Garrett 25x100 IF, Oberwerk 15x70, Celestron Noble 10x50, Meade 10x50 and 8x42 Travelviews
William Optics Zenithstar II 80mm APO
Teleport 10" - an incredible all-in-one Planetary/DSO/"Grab and Go"

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