My Experiences in Buying a Binoviewer

Binoviewers may need no introduction to some of you but for those in the market for a binocular viewer for their telescope, I hope to discuss the reasons I chose the Tele Vue Bino Vue rather than some of the more inexpensive models.

The Tele Vue unit is more expensive than most of the units on the market. ($1030) In my opinion, it's worth the extra expense. I have been able to compare it with the Gary Russell Prism Binoviewer @$375 and side by side with the Gary Russell Mirror binoviewer @ $325, and with the Celestron 45degree Binoviewer @ $495

Although there are other binocular viewers out there, such as the Zeiss and Astrophysics units, that are, so I've read, on par with the Televue BV. I have not had the chance to try them out

The first introduction I had to Binocular viewing with a telescope was at the 1998 Deep South Regional Star Gaze (DSRSG). Pat Rochford of the Mobile Astronomical Society had his 12.5" f/6 Truss tube pointed at Saturn with a Tele Vue Bino Vue. I don't even remember what the eyepieces were but I was simply floored by the image of Saturn at what was probably between 300x and 400x and the image wasn't drifting away??? An equatorial platform….. Oooohhh I wanted one of these. It was so comfortable to view using both eyes! M13 was a sight to behold, it looked 3-D. I was hooked. I asked a lot of questions, but when I asked about the price, my shoulders drooped. Over $1000 for the Bino Vue, Whew, that was gonna be tough

Those images from that night stuck in my head. A year or so later I began to hear about these "LOMO" binocular viewers that were $250 or so. I really couldn't afford those at the time either. But as luck would have it I stumbled across Allister St Claire's Cloudy nights review Website and he was offering to send out a LOMO binoviewer to selected people for them to evaluate and review. I was accepted and I received the unit and tried it out on my 8"SCT. I wasn't too impressed. The views were nothing like I remembered from the Tele Vue Unit. You can read that review here at Cloudynights.

Gary Russell Optics (GRO) Binoviewers

These BV's are for all intents and purposes mechanically like a regular binocular. They have the same type of interpupillary adjustments and have a twist diopter adjustment on one of the eyepiece holders. Both units are straight through type. They fit in 1.25" focusers. The Mirror unit sold for $325 and the Prism type for $375.

Four or five months after I tried the 30 degree Lomo BV, I came across Gary Russels website. I spoke to Gary for 45 minutes or so and told him of my experience with the Televue BV and with the LOMO unit. He assured me that he had used the Straight through Mirror binoviewer he was selling for $325 extensively next to a Tele Vue BV in scopes from 8" to 28" and could see no difference in the two. I told him I had just gotten a 12.5" Dob and he said it would do well with the brighter Messier objects. So I ordered the $325 Mirror BV

All of the following observations were done with a 12.5" Meade Dobsonian telescope, the Gary Russell 2" Barlow interface and Celestron Ultima Plossl eyepieces. A Barlow is required to reach focus in this scope and most Newtonians with any binocular viewer Some refractors and most catadioptric scopes that focus by moving the primary mirror back and forth, do not.

Well… I think Gary must have had a bad TeleVue Bino Vue because I did *not* find the deep sky images in his mirror unit comparable. While the moon and the planets were O.K. it fell short of what Gary said it would do on deep sky. I contacted him and explained my thoughts on the comparison. He said he found the Lomo's to be similar in performance. (Since personal preference is such a subjective animal, I was willing to concede that point.) But he was willing to swap my mirror unit out with the Prism model that he sells for $50 more. So I swapped.

Enter the Gary Russell Prism Binoviewer. All of the things I didn't like about the Mirror were just as prevalent in the prism model. The Light throughput was my main complaint. I was able to try The Prism Lomo BV side by side with a friends Televue BV. To make a long story short, the Tele Vue Unit was like night and day in comparison. The first object was M13. The Tele Vue unit with the same barlow and eyepieces showed a nice bright image with a 3-d effect and the 12th magnitude Galaxy nearby was easily seen. The Prism was not in the same league. Not only was M13 dim and uncomfortable with the 30MM eyepieces vignetting quite a bit, but the 12th magnitude Galaxy wasn't even remotely possible.

I sold the Gary Russell Unit at a loss and ordered the Tele Vue Bino Vue the next day. Note: I really like Gary's 2" binoviewer barlow interface. I use it almost exclusively instead of the Tele Vue Barlow that comes with the Tele Vue Bino Vue. I think Gary makes good stuff and if all you want to do is look at the Moon and planets then his BV units are O.K. for that. But they do not compare to the Televue BV in light throughput, and are weak for deep sky viewing in my opinion.

The Celestron 45 degree Binocular viewer

This unit is a 45 degree type made for use in an SCT's, refractors or other types of scopes that usually use a star diagonal. You have to slide the eyepiece holders back and forth to adjust for interpupillary size. Fits in 1.25" focusers. It sells for $495

At the 2000 DSRSG I was able to do a quick comparison of my TV BV and a Celestron 45 degree BV that one of the vendors had. Both the Vendor and I agreed with each other about the results of the comparison below (I didn't get his permission to use his name, so I won't)

(it was a little tough to use a 45 degree unit in a Newtonian but it worked)

Once again I used the same Barlow and eyepieces in both units, in my 12.5" f/4.8 Newtonian.

The Celestron did a great job on the planets. I could detect no real difference in the view between the two except for the higher power in the Tele Vue unit, due to the longer light path. (The 45 degree unit was much shorter than the Tele Vue).

Both showed nice detail on Jupiter and Saturn On deep sky (M15) the Tele Vue won out because of its larger prisms, the Celestron unit was obviously vignetting with the 30mm Ultima Plossls, With the 18mm Ultimas it seemed both had very similar light throughput. (We did this comparison in about 10 minutes so this is by no means a complete test). My conclusion is that the Celestron BV does a pretty good job. considering the $500 price tag.

It's a pretty good choice for someone not willing to spend the $1000 for the Tele Vue. Providing they have a scope that will more easily accept a 45 degree device, such as a n SCT, MCT or Refractor. Considering the increased light throughput I would think it would do a better job in a smaller aperture scope than the Lomo units by Gary Russell.

The Tele Vue Bino Vue

This binocular viewer has oversized prisms that allow use of 40mm Plossl eyepieces. Interpupillary adjustment like regular binoculars. It comes with a 2x Barlow interface. And sells for $1030

The Tele Vue Bino Vue performed the best of any of the ones I tried. It allows use of my 30mm Ultima plossls without vignetting. It is also much lighter than the Lomo BV's. It did the best on Deep sky. It does wonderfully on M8 M17 M13 M15 M31 and the list of the brighter deep sky objects goes on. And the Planets, I can't describe the comfort of staring into the eyepiece for 5 or 10 minutes at a time with no eye strain. The planetary views were also extremely sharp. The most detail I have ever seen on Jupiter.

It works well with my 2" Gary Russell Barlow interface, which give about 1.5x-1.8x magnification. It works just as well with the supplied 2x Barlow which is right at 2x. And for planetary magnifications, it does really well with a pair of 21mm Pentax XL's or 30mm Ultima Plossl's and my 2x Celestron Ultima Barlow which gives 4x -4.5x magnification.

I also can gain magnification by sticking with the 2" Barlow interface or the 2x screw on Barlow and pairs of shorter focal length eyepieces. I have 4 pairs. 30mm Celestron Ultima Plossl's, 21mm Pentax XL's, 18mm Celestron Ultima Plossl's, and a pair of 12.5mm Celestron Plossl's. These eyepiece pairs combined with the three Barlow combinations I have a huge range of Magnifications. I have also recently gotten an equatorial platform from ET platforms. ]

The combination of a large aperture scope, a binocular viewer and a tracking system is very satisfying at the eyepiece. Now I can stare into the eyepiece at high power, low power, medium power, whatever, and the image stays right in the middle for as long as I care to look at it.

It has taken me 2 years to get the system that I wanted after that first look at Saturn and M13 in Pat Rochfords 12.5" with the binoviewer and the EQ platform…… So now I guess I need a bigger scope….. 8^)