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Having only had two nights out so far, under poor seeing to boot, I'm not making any judgements about collimation at 150x. I haven't experimented L vs. R orientation yet but any leeway toward alignment will be welcome.

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The 33x eyepieces (22.8mm) are ideal for me with 2° FOV and 3mm exit pupil. The view through them has similar characteristics to the 16x70s but with much more eye releif (and a lot more stars!) The eye relief is almost too much, similar to Nikon SEs. These will see a lot of use; they're just what I was looking for.

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The 501HDV is a bit wimpy for these 13# bins but it will do until I come up with a mount decision.

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The 501HDV head is actually working very well; the 5.5# overcenter spring (like the old non-HDV 503) overcomes the backwards tilt easily by just sliding the QR plate a bit forward on the head. The length of the binocular is a help in keeping balance. I'm not a fan of the new Bogen/Manfrotto head's viscous/teflon combination clutch surfaces; the teflon makes the motion a bit jerky compared to my older heads. The plus side over the older viscous only designs is less stiffness in cold weather.

Still waiting for better seeing and smokeless skies. It's looking like a tough order for a while.

Rich V

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Binoculars:
33-150x100 Saturn III, 16x70FMT-SX, 10x50 PCF-V, 10x43 DCF-SP, 10x35 E2, 7x35 E, 8x30 E2, 7x26 Custom, 8x23AS Diplomat, 8x23 Travelite
Scopes:
C9.25, 6" f8 reflector, SV80S

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