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Mr Q
sage
Reged: 02/25/08
Posts: 351
Loc: N Central New Mexico
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Often, when the weather/sky conditions are changing quickly, I don't set up my scope but use binoculars for those "quickie" sessions. How many of you do the same? So here's a mini poll on the subject:
What % of your observing do you do with binos?
Are they hand-held or mounted?
What type of objects do you most observe with them?
Myself, about 50%; hand-held;open clusters.
Mr Q
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What goes around, comes around, eventually.
Meade DS-10(10" newt)
10x50, 10x70 binos
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Mark9473
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/21/05
Posts: 2699
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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I do about 75% of my viewing with binoculars; 90% of that is hand-held. Mostly open clusters.
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Mark
Leica 8x20; Vixen 8x42; Swift 8.5x44, 10x50 and 20x80; TS 7x50; Orion 15x63
WO Megrez II 80 FD + Baader 90° T2 Amici
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GlenM
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/20/07
Posts: 1059
Loc: 53° 36'N 2° 06'W
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Since I got 'into' binoculars last year I would now say 90% viewing with them. Handheld about 70% of that.
I view everything except the planets(use my scopes for that) with binoculars.
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Glen
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F.Meiresonne
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 2957
Loc: Eeklo,Belgium
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I don't use bino's often because until now i did not have a good pair except my 20X80.
But now that i have 2 good pairs if use them every evening. That's is due to the weather now..;sometimes is clear for a short period of time so i have the chance to get a quick peek.
But if it is really clear it's telescope time....no bino observing then...
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Freddy Meiresonne
Obsession 18 inch #1638
Orion Optics 8 inch F/4.5 -1/8 wave optics -Vixen GP-E
20x80 Helios Stellar Binos
10x60 Helios Quantum 4(= Obie Mariner)
10x50 Helios Nature sport plus
8x40 Helios Nature sport plus
Eyepieces in use :Pan 35,24,19, N13T6, Pentax 10 XW, N9T6, Ultrascopic 7.5, TV2, baader ortho 12.5 and 9 mm
Edited by F.Meiresonne (08/08/08 04:22 PM)
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Tony Flanders
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/18/06
Posts: 2098
Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA
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Quote:
What % of your observing do you do with binos?
Hard to say. Probably about 10%. Much higher than that as measured by percentage of sessions when I use them. Possibly lower than that measured as percentage of total time at the eyepiece. Most sessions I use both binoculars and a telescope.
Quote:
Are they hand-held or mounted?
Both. But for most purposes, I prefer hand-holding.
Quote:
What type of objects do you most observe with them?
No particular type -- I use them to browse the sky. For zeroing in on particular objects, I almost always prefer a telescope.
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Tony Flanders
eyeglasses
6x15 and 8x32 monoculars
8x25, 7x35, 10x30 IS, 10x50, and 15x70 binoculars
70mm and 100mm achromatic refractors
4.5", 7", and 12.5" Dobs
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werewolf6977
Lord High Smasher
Reged: 12/15/03
Posts: 7444
Loc: Hanover, Ohio
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About 25% of the time. Mounted? Depends on which I'm using. What? Anything at all, but mostly Milky way, and other asterisms...
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Pete
6" Apogee/LXD55 - "The Beast"
Starhopper 6" Dob - "Shiva"
Spaceprobe 130 EQ - "Spacey"
Bushnell Fatboy
The Abomination
Sun Pak Pro 7500 Platinum Edition
10X25 Bushnell Camo Roofies
7X35 Tasco Classic Plastic (good views though)
7X42 Tasco Rare Bird
10X50 Nikon Actions (Type 7)
15X70 Skymasters - "DroolMeisters"
One ratty old IBM 600E LapTop
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Mr Q
sage
Reged: 02/25/08
Posts: 351
Loc: N Central New Mexico
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Quote:
Quote:
What % of your observing do you do with binos?
Hard to say. Probably about 10%. Much higher than that as measured by percentage of sessions when I use them. Possibly lower than that measured as percentage of total time at the eyepiece. Most sessions I use both binoculars and a telescope.
Quote:
Are they hand-held or mounted?
Both. But for most purposes, I prefer hand-holding.
Quote:
What type of objects do you most observe with them?
No particular type -- I use them to browse the sky. For zeroing in on particular objects, I almost always prefer a telescope.
Not to hyjack my own thread but hi Tony from a former neighbor from Stoughton, MA, south of you (I miss going to the MIT flea markets!) Mr Q
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What goes around, comes around, eventually.
Meade DS-10(10" newt)
10x50, 10x70 binos
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Fiske
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/14/04
Posts: 2057
Loc: Missouri / United States
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% of time observing with binos: This varies for me. I never observe without binos at my side, and do some observing with them every time I use a telescope. OTOH, I finished building a 22-inch Dob last year and that has, uh, sort of reduced my time with binos. 
That is a temporary thing, though, and I see my bino observing percentage increasing. I would say, maybe 15% over the past year. Typically, it is more like 30-40%.
60% hand held, 40% tripod.
Mostly DSOs but not one particular type. I rarely use binos for the moon or planets. Of course, binos are superb for wide field views and Milkyway cruising.
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Fiske Miles
Nikon 8x42 LX / 12x50 SE Binos
Mini Borg 60ED, TV-101, AT80Ach, XT-8, C11/CI-700, 22-Inch Dob
Way too many Nagler eyepieces
http://www.fiskemiles.blogspot.com/
www.fiskemiles.com
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Bruce MacDonald
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/12/06
Posts: 1019
Loc: Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
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Nearly all of my current observing is with binoculars, and always handheld, but sitting in a sun lounger. This is easily my favourite way of observing the night sky. I am involved in nova patrolling and observing long period variable stars.
I am also interested in observing Earth satellites with my 80mm Short Tube and 24mm Panoptic combo, but I have not been active in that since Christmas.
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Bruce MacDonald
Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
Per Mare Per Terras
Viz Top Tip: Don't waste money buying expensive binoculars. Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.
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GlennLeDrew
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 624
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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99%, with 80% of that hand-held.
Milky Way Structure,
Dark Nebulae,
Open clusters,
OB associations,
Emission and reflection nebulae,
Carbon stars, and
Doubles (especially color contrast pairs).
Of late, my interest in space dust has heightened. So dark and reflection nebulae are targets I'll try to ferret out on the really good nights.
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Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
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Ben Mullin
member
Reged: 08/26/05
Posts: 97
Loc: Lindstrom, MN
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A year ago I would say that 80% of my observing was binocular, all hand held.
Now it is probably about 30-40% again all hand held.
The shift is due to moving to a house with a garage and decent skies where rolling the scope out is easy to do.
As others have mentioned, I do not go out observing without my binoculars and use them as an aid to finding things with the telescope when I'm not using them as the primary instrument.
When dedicated binocular observing, I am mostly looking at variable stars. I have done some deep sky observing with them but not much. In fact last weekend was the first time I had found the Veil on my own and I did it with my binoculars.
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John F
sage
Reged: 02/16/04
Posts: 308
Loc: Washington State
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During the winter months - 90% Telescope, 10% binoculars and within that 10%, 90% hand held and 10 % Mounted.
During the Summer months, 40% binocular use and 60% telescope use. And with that 40% binocular use, 20% hand held and 80% mounted. Also, within that 60% telescope use, 65% in binoview mode and 35% in mononview mode. However, I expect that percentage to tip back to around 50/50 because the new Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece series is making monoviewing very rewarding again.
For terrestrial use, 98% binocular use and 2% telescope. And within that 98%, 75% hand held and 25% mounted.
John Finnan
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Leica 7x42 Ultravid
Nikon 7x50 Prostar
Swarovski 8.5x42 EL
Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe
Leica 12x50 Ultravid
Zeiss 15x60 B/GAT
Takahashi 22x60 Astronomer
NP-127 w/Bino Vue
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danm
sage
Reged: 04/27/08
Posts: 231
Loc: Northern California
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About 25%. I enjoy them immensely, these Chinese 15x70's are superb. I mostly handhold, I have a great scientific grade dumpster dive mount, but I haven't got a setup I'm totally happy with yet.
I love viewing open clusters and big nebula (oh and globs too). I remember my first sight of the Beehive was breathtaking.
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TV Ethos 13mm
Oberwerk Ultra 15x70
Celestron C6 f/10 & AT Voyager Alt/Az mount
8" f/6.3 Newtonian (Dad's ATM) & AT66 red tube
12.5" f/4.1 Telekit (Dad's ATM Mirror)
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Tom Andrews
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/25/07
Posts: 607
Loc: Homebase - Albuquerque, NM; c...
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Quote:
What % of your observing do you do with binos?
Are they hand-held or mounted?
What type of objects do you most observe with them?
Myself, about 50%; hand-held;open clusters.
Mr Q
Percentage: ~ 40.
Mounted: homemade parallelogram
Objects: Milky Way, open clusters, brighter nebulae, double stars, locating globular clusters, moon, Saturn, Jupiter.
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Tom
The Secret To Life:
Focus on what you have, not on what you don't;
Focus on what you can do, not on what you can't.
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OpalescentNebula
member
Reged: 01/11/07
Posts: 55
Loc: Calgary, Alberta
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I observe 90% of the time with binoculars. The other 10% just foolishly looking up at the sky, thinking is it getting any darker, should I get my binoculars.
I hand hold 40% of the time and mount the other 60%.
Open clusters, planets (just to watch them moving in the sky), doubles, red also other coloured stars, the ISS and earth satellites, Messier objects.
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Yours truly,
Bill
"Good friends are like stars...you don't always see them, but you know that they are always there" - unknown
Binos : Zeiss 10x42 FL, Garrett Optical 20x110
telescope: WO Megrez 110 ED
Eyepieces: 13mm Ethos, 5mm Pentax, 28mm WO
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Protheus
Vaguely offended
Reged: 09/01/07
Posts: 4657
Loc: Illinois, US
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Hmm, ok, as with Tony, it depends on how you measure it. Best guess is that roughly 90% of my observing sessions see some binocular use. Only perhaps 50% of actual observing time is spent with the binoculars, though. This represents rather frequent shorter sessions with only binoculars, and less (but some) binocular use during the longer sessions when I actually drag a telescope out.
I usually use a few different sets depending on my mood. Anything smaller than the 15x70s has a better than average chance of being hand-held, but I might mount them occasionally.
Any sort of star cluster is good for binoculars. Also brighter large DSOs like the Andromeda galaxy work. The larger planets are also a frequent choice for me.
Chris
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"To tread the sharp edge of a sword;
to run on smooth-frozen ice,
one needs no footsteps to follow..."
"Well, people sometimes ask me 'how did you get involved in astronomy?' I said 'I got born, what's your problem?'" -- John Dobson
"In discussing the large-scale structure of the cosmos, astronomers sometimes say that space is curved, or that the universe is finite but unbounded. Whatever are they talking about?" -- Carl Sagan
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Denis
sage
Reged: 12/24/05
Posts: 225
Loc: Rennes, France
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I would say my observation sessions are one third with naked eyes, one third with binoculars and one third with the telescope.
Binoculars are stabilised so hand hold in a garden relax chair. I like the doubles and colored and carbon stars but any object is a nice target. If I cannot find an object, I learn the way to find it with the telescope 
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Canon 10x42 IS binoculars.
Meade sc 4" on homemade fork equatorial mount.
homemade 10" an 14" dobsonian
Nikon photogear.
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edwincjones
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/10/04
Posts: 4423
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not counting solar observing with telescope
90% binoculars
50/50 handheld/tripod
comets, milkyway, brighter DSOs, moon
over the past 1-2 years, I am using smaller and smaller optics and naked eyes
edj
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n w arkansas
Binocular, Solar, General Amateur Astronomy
Edited by edwincjones (08/11/08 07:39 PM)
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bemusabord
super member
Reged: 06/03/08
Posts: 100
Loc: western NY
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I'm about 50/50 between the binos and scope, though with my scope being able to produce a 5.2* FOV I'd have to say about 65% of the time I'm observing FOV's over 4.5* (which is the same FOV as my 15x45 IS's).
What do I look at? For the most part: open star clusters, nebulae (bright and dark), star chains and object groupings.
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Thom B. - Stargaze Cherry Springs
Happily Infected With Anti-Aperture Fever!
Orion Eon 80ED w/ AstroTech Voyager
PICHELOUP Couch Potato Telescope
Celestron Ultima 8x42
Canon IS 15x45
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