Telescope Reviews: Tips for the New Guy?

Vic, congratulations on your new binos, and welcome to the group. I, too, jumped right up to the huge 25X100s when I got intrigued by the idea of binocular astronomy (although I had been using hand-held 10X50s before then). I (later) bought a higher-quality 15X70 to fill the gap.

As I understand it, all of the individual focusing 25X100s are basically the same binoculars, although they can be ordered from the Chinese manufacturers with different options which can affect quality. Your Zhumell is basically the same as the Oberwerk, Orion and Garrett 25X100s, so for the most part, the comments that have been made about those binos in past discussions will probably also apply to yours. IF the Zhumells are close to the same quality specs as my Obies, and if Zhumell's quality control is close to the same standards, you are getting a very good value at $240. More likely, the quality is not quite as good, but it is still a lot of glass for the money.

You say that you are new to astronomy. I think, and many of the participants in this forum would probably agree, you made a good choice in going for big binos rather than a telescope. I have an apo refractor, and have had 8" and 10" dobs, but I still get more enjoyment from my binos. I was at a star party last weekend and hardly even looked through my scope. It is probably true that a 15X70 would have made for an easier learning curve, but you will see many wonderful sights with your big binos.

Don't let the collimation thing worry you. Think of it as being like routine maintenance, and be prepared to do it each time you set up to view. I can do it in the dark now. You can get similar sized binos that are more solidly built and are less likely to need collimation, but they would cost you more than twice as much. If (or more likely, when) collimation is needed you can readily do it yourself. And collimating, or more accurately, conditionally aligning) a bino is a lot easier than collimating a Newtonian telescope. The only tool needed is a jeweler's screwdriver. There are good instructions on the Oberwerk site:
http://www.oberwerk.com/support/collimate.htm

The flip side of the 25X power is that you only have a 2.5 degree field of view. That often makes it hard to figure out where the bino is pointing. I have found it useful to use a red-dot finder. They are inexpensive, and are easily attached to the barrel of the binos near the objectives (where the barrels are parallel to the axis of the binos). You can use the finder to point the bino to where the star charts tell you there is something interesting to see, or to tell you exactly where you are looking (so you can look it up on a star chart) after you have found something interesting when you are exploring.

You will need both a tripod and a mount (head) that are up to the task. With some luck or perseverance you might be able to find an inexpensive used video mount. The tripod has to be both robust and tall. My first tripod was just like the Zhumell model that you provided a link to, but mine has a different style mount. The tripod is strong enough, but I agree with Rich V's comment that you would be better off with a tripod that has a geared centre column that you can raise with one hand. That style requires two hands, and with a 10# bino, it has to be tightened pretty tight. In the world of astronomy it is not at all uncommon to spend more on the tripod and mount than on the optics, but this is a case where good gear is very important to an enjoyable experience and is a lifetime investment.

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Bill

Oberwerk 25X100IF; Garrett Signature 15X70
Captain's Helmsman 7X50; Minolta 10X50
Pentax Papilio 6.5X21
Couch Potato Binocular Mount
Manfrotto 503 mount / Acuter tripod (Gitzo clone)
Vixen fork mount / Manfroto 3246 tripod
William Optics Zenithstar 80