David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: junomike]
#5645057 - 01/26/13 08:17 PM
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Found a pair in Miami . Price seems a little steep?
Mike
IMHO, maybe not. Today a new pair of binocs in the $100 range probably would not be as nice as that Tasco. 
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GlennLeDrew
Postmaster
Reged: 06/18/08
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: Scott in NC]
#5645063 - 01/26/13 08:18 PM
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I wouldn't say $100 for a pair of these 7X50s is steep at all, if in good condition. They are fairly well built, with 24.5mm clear aperture prisms mounted on a separate, tiltable shelf. The somewhat wider field than the common 'standard' found in most 7X50s is a plus to me.
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David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: SMark]
#5645065 - 01/26/13 08:19 PM
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"Z" just means that it features the ZIP focus system. IMO that "feature" actually make the binocular worse off, but that's just my opinion.
Yes, the short travel of the focus knob does make nailing the focus a bit difficult.
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David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: Scott in NC]
#5645066 - 01/26/13 08:20 PM
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Very cool, David! And thanks for mentioning *Tri*Star*. I totally forgot about it last year until the weekend had already passed! 
I hope you can make it this year, Scott. I had a lot of fun last year.
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ScumotheUniverse
sage
Reged: 12/02/08
Loc: first dark primordial pool.
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: GlennLeDrew]
#5645206 - 01/26/13 10:19 PM
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I wouldn't say $100 for a pair of these 7X50s is steep at all, if in good condition. They are fairly well built, with 24.5mm clear aperture prisms mounted on a separate, tiltable shelf. The somewhat wider field than the common 'standard' found in most 7X50s is a plus to me.
I paid $100.00 30 years ago for Japanese manufactured 7X50 8 degree bins. With inflation in consideration a hundred dollars today is a deal. One did not have the Chinese option in those days. I believe they did not enter binocular manufacturing until the early 2000s. Imagine the excitement a pair of 15X70 bins would have generated during the Halley apparition.
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David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: ScumotheUniverse]
#5657659 - 02/02/13 07:40 AM
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I got my first good viewing session in last night. I must say that for astronomy these are really nice binoculars! The field curvature I noticed in daytime viewing was not much of a bother against the night sky. The stars were reasonably sharp mostly to the edge, with the brightest stars becoming the most distorted. Even with the slight distortion the stars still look like stars, not comets or cross hairs. With no rectilinear distortion it was really nice to pan across the sky. The TFOV I would say is right at 6º. I can easily get the belt and sword of Orion in the same field with plenty of room to spare. In Auriga, I could just squeeze in M36, M37, and M38 in the same field but it was really tight. The color correction is excellent, with Sirius glowing a bright white, but there is a bit of a warm tint, noticeable mostly on the Moon. Stars have good color saturation with red giants showing up nicely in their orange to red colors. My only complaint is the very short focusing distance of the focus wheel. It makes it a bit hard to nail the focus. Also, from my suburban skies I prefer something with a smaller exit pupil, the 7x50 gives a bit of a washed out sky. But overall, the quality of the optics, fit and finish, and comfortable grip make this one I would highly recommend if you happen to stumble across one.
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KennyJ
The British Flash
Reged: 04/27/03
Loc: Lancashire UK
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: David E]
#5657955 - 02/02/13 11:28 AM
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I hear an increasing number of observers complaining about 7mm exit-pupils providing washed--out images.It was almost unheard of 30 or 40 years ago, and I wonder if increased light pollution has played it's part in that.
It's useful to remember how easy it is to make objective masks and many may be surprised what a difference it makes to mask a 50mm bino down to 30mm or thereabouts.
Kenny
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GlennLeDrew
Postmaster
Reged: 06/18/08
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: KennyJ]
#5658018 - 02/02/13 12:07 PM
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Even under quite dark skies, where the Gegenschein is visible, I find those big exit pupils to deliver an almost distractingly bright sky. It's fine when my unaided eye is showing me such a bright sky, but through an instrument I generally like the darker view provided by a 4-5mm pupil, getting down to 3mm from the suburbs.
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Mr. Bill
Postmaster
Reged: 02/09/05
Loc: Northeastern Cal
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: GlennLeDrew]
#5658042 - 02/02/13 12:27 PM
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Likewise....
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David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: GlennLeDrew]
#5658260 - 02/02/13 02:23 PM
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Even under quite dark skies, where the Gegenschein is visible, I find those big exit pupils to deliver an almost distractingly bright sky. It's fine when my unaided eye is showing me such a bright sky, but through an instrument I generally like the darker view provided by a 4-5mm pupil, getting down to 3mm from the suburbs.
My favorite pair of deep space binoculars is my 12x36 Canon IS. 
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Rich V.
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/02/05
Loc: Lake Tahoe area, Nevada, USA
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: Mr. Bill]
#5658263 - 02/02/13 02:25 PM
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Even under mag. 6.5 skies, there's a huge difference in sky background brightness between 10x70s and 16x70s, for instance. For me, the 4.4mm exit pupils give a far more satisfying view than 7mm.
I'm actually quite happy with 3mm exit pupils... 
Rich
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David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: Rich V.]
#5658515 - 02/02/13 05:00 PM
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Even under mag. 6.5 skies, there's a huge difference in sky background brightness between 10x70s and 16x70s, for instance. For me, the 4.4mm exit pupils give a far more satisfying view than 7mm.
I'm actually quite happy with 3mm exit pupils...
Rich
Indeed, people routinely view deep space objects in telescopes at 3mm exit pupil or less, and then I often read how people think 3mm is too small for binoculars.
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Rich V.
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/02/05
Loc: Lake Tahoe area, Nevada, USA
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: David E]
#5658558 - 02/02/13 05:26 PM
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I take all the exit pupil talk with a grain of salt...two of my best astro binoculars have 3.3mm and 3mm exit pupils. Even 50x100mm is quite satisfactory. I guess Canon IS users are poor, deluded souls as well.
Rich
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Mark9473
Postmaster
Reged: 07/21/05
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: Rich V.]
#5658560 - 02/02/13 05:27 PM
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Even under mag. 6.5 skies, there's a huge difference in sky background brightness between 10x70s and 16x70s, for instance. For me, the 4.4mm exit pupils give a far more satisfying view than 7mm.
Or is it the 16x magnification? You should compare your 10x70 with a 10x44, or your 16x70 with a 16x112.
At a given magnification, from a purely aesthetical point of view, I would prefer the largest exit pupil. When I had a 7x50 I found the image bright! And colourful! "Washed out" to me is something different, it implies something is lost from the image. The opposite is true, it is the binocular having smaller exit pupil where something is lost, the image is "dimmed down".
That said, image aesthetics isn't everything, and I don't have those 7x50 anymore. My eyes don't give a nice sharp image when the entire pupil is illuminated.
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David E
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/25/06
Loc: North Carolina
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Re: Tasco Halley's Comet Binoculars
[Re: Mark9473]
#5658672 - 02/02/13 06:21 PM
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Mark, when I mentioned "washed out" I was refering to the background sky, although I probably wasn't clear about that. I'd say that star colors are definately well saturated, no washing out there.
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