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edwardmatt83
member
Reged: 11/13/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Salt Lake City
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Hi, I'm looking at getting some binoculars- and heard this would be a good place to ask for opinions. I'm looking at getting my first set of binos. I'm looking at Orion scenix 10x50, or the Orion mini giants- 8x56 or the 9x63. I've been looking at Oberwerk models as well and noticed that they are much cheaper. The 8x56 and 9x60 models are about 1/2 the price of the orions- will I be able to tell a difference between them? What models do you guys recommend? Thanks!
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Orion XT8i dob w/o COL (search in progress)
Garret Optical 11x56 binoculars
Orion Paragon Plus Bino Mount
Rexburg, Idaho
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cota_scope
sage
Reged: 05/16/04
Posts: 356
Loc: sioux city ia
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i've had both models of the orions and oberwerks and prefer the oberwerk 11x56, sweet and sharp and bright,big bang for the buck . regards john
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Bill
super member
Reged: 11/27/04
Posts: 140
Loc: Oklahoma
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Have you looked at the offerings from Garrett Optical? They have a nice product at a fair price range. As you research your purchase you will find that several dealers carry what appears to be the same or similar product.
I recently purchased a pair of the Garrett Optical Signature Series 15x70s and have been very pleased with them. Garrett Optical will have several pair that are in your price range and they will do a full check of the optics before they ship them your direction.
PS. The real trick to star gazing with your wife is to always remember there are more stars in her eyes than in all of the heavens.
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8" f6 Celestron Starhopper Dob
80mm WO Zenithstar
10x42 Leupold Windriver Cascades
Swift 8.5x44
2 Celestron 8x32 Bins (Japan)
Garrett Optical 15x70 Signature Series Bins
LXD55 Goto
TeleVue Telepod
CG4 on Vixen Tripod
Paragon Plus Bino mount
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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 1811
Loc: Morganton, GA, USA
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If you have only one pair of binoculars and intend to use them handheld, I would generally go for 10-12x as the higher magnification is really worthwhile. However, as you go to 12x and above, holding them steady becomes a big issue, and while there are people who say they can handhold 15-20x binoculars, they'll dance around so much that it's not clear it's worth it unless they are mounted. If you have unsually shaky hands, then that's a factor that might drive you back down towards 8x rather than 10x binoculars if you are always going to be handholding them.
50mm aperture is enough to see a surprising number of deep sky objects if you have dark skies. The 8x56 and 9x63 both have a 7mm exit pupil - that's a lot unless you are young and really have eyes that can dilate that much. If you're an ahem....more mature person.....  your eyes may not dilate past 5mm in which case the extra aperture will be lost on you anyway.
So if you are young and have eyes that can dilate to 7mm, then the 9x63 will go deeper than the 10x50's, although I doubt the difference would be that noticeable, since magnification helps go deeper too...
I see the Orion Scenix 10x50's on Amazon.com at $99.95, while the Oberwerks 11x56's are the same price, as are the 9x60's (at least on the sites I looked at) - so I'm not sure where the "1/2 the price of the Orions" is coming from. The Oberwerks 11x56's are a very popular low cost binoculars and are a good size for handholding and all-around viewing. However, they are 2.25lbs, vs. the Orion Scenix's 1.75 pounds, and when handholding that 1/2 lb is not to be ignored. The Orion's also have a 7° field of view, vs. 6° for the Oberwerks - again not a huge difference, but a wider FOV is definitely a plus when viewing. The Orion's have 12mm of eye-relief - not a lot if you wear glasses - not sure of the eye relief on the Oberwerks, but that's another issue to consider if you wear glasses.
Personally? I would probably opt for the 10x50 Orions - it gets generally good reviews and I don't think you'll go wrong on them.
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evan_s
member
Reged: 01/02/06
Posts: 11
Loc: san fernando valley, CA
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I see oberwerk has some new premium-grade 10x50s
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KennyJ
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 10142
Loc: Lancashire UK
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edward ,
Welcome to the forum .
The comments expressed above with regard to the Orion SCENIX seemed to conflict with the information I had of the model stored in what remains of my memory bank .
I hasten to add that I've never actually tried this model in person .
However , when checking our mini - review section ( which I hope you've managed to find and read ), I came across a 4 - way review , which includes a 8 x 40 version of the Orion Scenix .
Granted , there COULD be differences in quality / performance between 8 x 40 and 10 x 50 versions , and indeed between different smaples of the same model at this price level , but upon re - reading the review , by Stephen Saber , I soon found where my " stored information " had come from .
My advice is thus :
1. Go to the MINI - REVIEWS section , and check out the information under the 4 - way Orion 8 x 40 review .
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php/Cat/1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10/Number/456087/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all
2. Consider Oberwerk or Garrett 10 x 50s .
Regards , Kenny
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Two eyes and a preference to use both
Zeiss 7 x 42 BGAT
Captain's Helmsman 7 x 50
Nikon 10 x 42 Superior E
Swift Audubon Kestrel 10 x 50
Helios 15 x 70 Observation
Strathspey 20 x 90
Televue 76 APO
Zeiss 85 Diascope
Helios 102 f5 refractor
Various eyepieces barlows tripods mounts etc.
Panasonic Lumix DMC - TZ5 digital camera
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