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Any opinions on these new binoculars from Celestron? They don't have mention of them yet on their homepage, but I saw an ad in one of the recent Astronomy's, and they are popping out all over store sites. My local astro store hostess seems to think the 15x70's will be "low" end binos, probably not fully multi-coated. I was thinking of purchasing a pair and modding the lens caps into solar filters. I'm thinking 15x should do pretty well on the sun, and for night viewing as well. I currently have a pair of Bushnell 10x50's, and want to upgrade to something better.
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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 26893
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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I have a feeling that they are pretty much the same chinese binoculars that you see everwhere else. I haven't seen any yet, so <shrug>
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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KennyJ
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 10031
Loc: Lancashire UK
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Having followed discussions on the topic recently on other sites I think I can safely advise that NOT all Chinese 15 x 70s are of the same quality nor from the same factory . The 2003 Oberwerk version as mentioned in Edz s post sounds like VERY good value for money , even if it costs a little more than some of the others . It is probably well worth the difference.
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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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Tom Trusock
Reged: 02/26/02
Posts: 26893
Loc: Alternate Reality (TM)
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Ed's post talks about improvements in quality and quality control, not necessairly about different production lines or factories. Sounds like the chinese are getting better. This can only be a good thing for the cheap bino market.
And I'd agree, the new ones are a good value for the money. (For that matter, so are the old ones, when you consider what big bino's used to cost.) One of the largest differences I've run into has to do with the quality of coatings. As Ed alluded to, there are differences from year to year, and often more frequently than that, one thing about the chinese, it certainly seems like they are improving their product rapidly. Someday I wouldn't be surprised if made in China is a mark of optical excellence. I wonder where we will get our cheap astro gear from 20 years from now?
Somehow I have a feeling that the Celestron's will probably be slightly below the barska's on the quality scale - given their price point. But hey - I'm just guessing here.
I also wouldn't doubt the chinese have several factories, but I honestly have no idea. For all I know, they could just have multiple lines at the same factory.
Incidentally, hendric, I have a pair of the "el-cheapo" chinese bino's and am amazed at how good they are for the money. I'm quite happy with them.
Tom T.
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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 38944
Loc: Phx, AZ
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I belive I own one of the early Oberwerk 70's and its' optical quality (coatings mainly) is superior to a newer model Barska - although I believe they came from the same factory.
While quality is improving, it appears you can buy whatever level quality you are willing to pay for - as an importer.
Need a cheap price point? Choose from these parts bins.
Need better quality? Move over to these parts bins.
Want something different? You got the bucks, we'll make it for you.
I agree with Tom, China is on the verge of being an optical power house. You have many outside factors (e.g. Bush, SARS, politics & population) that could make it or break it for China so it's hard to say for sure. It's going to be interesting in the future!
Ron
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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jr_
sage
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 209
Loc: Valencia, Spain
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Recently I've purchased these binos. The first time I used them I didn't like them so much. They were difficult to focus accurately, and I couldn't get good images; but I think that the problem was mainly due to they need an unusual long time for temperature re-equilibration, and I had no experience working with binos without central focuser. However, last weekend I had time to test them from a very good place, 2000 m above the sea level and about 150 Km away from my city. During two nights I have been observing and comparing images with my 25cm LX200 and other binoculars (20x80). Well, I found the images more than acceptable, by far better than those with 20x80. I was able to locate quite hard objects for binos. Particularly, I remember NGC 6749 and NGC 6804 in Aquila, or NGC 6535 in Ophiuchus, which I had never observed before with binoculars. The contrast is very good. When they are well focused, stars are quite sharp and you can easily split "close" (for binos, naturally) double stars (<15"). Some small planetary nebula (NGC 7009 or NGC 6572) are easily differentiated from stars. The views of M33 (spiral structure), the Helix (unusually well defined) or the double cluster (full of stars, impressive) were wonderful. I enjoyed these two nights as when I just started to introduce myself in astronomy, and everything was new. Last week I installed a 8x50 finder and adapted the binos to a small altazimutal tripod with slow motions from an old telescope. The apparent field, 3º, makes them hard to point (identifying the field you want in regions like Cygnus or Scutum is a nightmare without finder), so I decided to install the finder and I must confess that I have used it more times than I really need it. It is a good help. Well, this weekend I hope to use them again...
Edited by EdZ (04/30/04 01:21 PM)
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I PURCHASED THE 15X70 SIMPLY BECAUSE I WANTED A LARGER PAIR[and fov] FOR DAY USE. At $80 these were cheap and i didn't expect much......SUUUPRISE....SUUUPRISE......large fov plus VERY SHARP till the last 10% of the field....ONLY THE VERY EDGE WAS SOFT !!!!! i'll use these for day use only but they are great astro binos with a great FOV!!!!
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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FYI......THE COATINGS ON THE APOGEE'S......CELESTRON'S .....AND MY STELLARVUE AT1010'S ARE IDENTICAL !!!!!!!.......GREENISH TINT COATING AND EVENLY APPLYED.
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