58 replies to this topic

[bigj4708]

Hi guys and gals,

 

I have some Orion Giantview ED 16x80's on the way from Orion. I have not seen any reviews anywhere on them and wanted to give them a try. If they are terrible I can send them back but this sounds like a nice price to performance ratio if they really use low dispersion glass. I'll make sure and update this after I get first light out of them. 

[SMark]

And center focus too, with long eye relief. Sounds promising...

[Erik Bakker]

Look forward to your first light report with these new bins. Hope you will enjoy them!

[MartinPond]

4 degrees by 16x .... 64apparent.   Nice.

With an 80mm objective, the ED should help at the field edges.

[jrbarnett]

Hi guys and gals,

 

I have some Orion Giantview ED 16x80's on the way from Orion. I have not seen any reviews anywhere on them and wanted to give them a try. If they are terrible I can send them back but this sounds like a nice price to performance ratio if they really use low dispersion glass. I'll make sure and update this after I get first light out of them. 

The prisms look a little undersized for 80mm binoculars.  They may not operate at a full 80mm.  This reminds me of the objective:prism proportions of the Oberwerk 15x70 LWs.  Those, likewise, operate at a bit less than stated aperture due to the undersized prisms. 

 

Best,

 

Jim

[bigj4708]

I'll make sure and do a clear aperture test with one of my lasers after they come in. Hopefully they are at least 14 x 72 or so? We shall see.

[jrbarnett]

I'll make sure and do a clear aperture test with one of my lasers after they come in. Hopefully they are at least 14 x 72 or so? We shall see.

My guess is that they'll be less vignetted than that.  Very interested in your assessment.  Thanks for being an early adopter for the rest of us!

 

- Jim

[Prescott702]

350$ ED and CF? ... good price and mechanics to try a eyepiece modification ...

[Nightfly]

These should surpass my Vixens in every way.  Tempting to try them.  Will be interested in your report .

[bigj4708]

Well I did call Orion today to find out the dimensions of the product and to double check what type of case/carrier they came with. Agent on the phone verified that they came is a soft carrying case which I'm OK with. I'd rather they spend the extra 20 bucks or whatever on optics. He did also verify that they were O-ring sealed and Nitrogen purged. Woohoo! I did send an email to support with several questions:

 

 

Hello,

 

I have a few questions about this new binocular. I am having a hard time finding some detailed information about the construction of the binoculars.

 

What is the total light transmission through the binocular?

 

What is the clear aperture of the objective?

 

What type of glass is used to make up the objectives?

 

Is it purged with nitrogen or argon and / or O ring sealed?

 

What eyepiece design is used in to binocular e.g. erfle, plossl etc and what is it's field stop and diameter.

 

Thank you so much for any info you can give me!

 

 

We shall see what information if any they are willing to release to me.

[bigj4708]

Dimensions: 12 x 8.5 x 4 inches.

 

Looks like I may have to invest in a pelican case for these. (or a comparable competitor)

[bigj4708]

First update on the binoculars was done during the day. It looks like it may clear up here around 1:00 am so I'm hoping to get them out tonight and take a look at a couple clusters, the moon and planets. Overall first impressions were excellent. The only obvious thing I noticed right away was the sharpness falling off starting at about 2/3 the way to the edge and getting fairly blurry the last 15% or so. At this price point I'm not expecting sharpness to the edge. Eye cups are click stop and I find I like to use them rolled all the way down. If I click them up one setting I don't get any vignetting but I like to "hover" over the eyepiece so I don't rock the boat. Lens caps are nice and tight and I don't feel like they will fall off.

 

 

As far as chromatic aberration these are very well corrected. I am surprised. Looking at the picture of the bridge I am struggling to find any except for at the very edge of the field itself. The white supports holding up the bridge have none. The top edge of the building at the bottom of the field with the white roof only shows a touch of CA with purple on top and yellow on the bottom. If I zoom all the way on on the image where the sky meets the bridge I see a super faint line of purple. The left pillar of the bridge shows a touch of red on the left and green on the right. Overall very nice. The bridge is approximately one mile away.

 

 

 

 

There are some reflections in the eyepiece as you can see below. Maybe those are called false pupils? Not sure. Some of the edges could have been blacked out better for sure.

 

 

You can be the judge but I'm seeing about 83mm of clear aperture here which is pretty awesome. I have the binocular focused to infinity and am about a foot away from the eyepiece. I can move the flashlight back but it doesn't change the size of the circle. I'm using a flashlight with an XHP70 led. The false pupils are not visible when I am looking through the binocular but they may contribute to some lost contrast. It's nitrogen purged so I don't see myself taking these apart anytime soon.

 

 

I'll update with some nighttime impressions as soon as I can.

[AxelB]

These may make my Orion Resolux 15x70 obsolete... The Resolux are flat field but not ED and are more expensive.

I would like to see a comparative review of the two.

Edited by AxelB, 18 July 2018 - 10:10 PM.

[bigj4708]

These may make my Orion Resolux 15x70 obsolete... The Resolux are flat field but not ED and are more expensive.

I would like to see a comparative review of the two.

I almost bought those but they seemed a bit too expensive for me without using low dispersion glass. I have a pair of Kaibab HD from Vortex. Those are astonishing during the day but a bit spiky at night and I really wanted something with a 5mm exit pupil for when I'm in the true dark. Didn't want anything over 5mm exit because I just turned 40 and my pupils are not getting any bigger. 

[bigj4708]

By the way that exit pupil showing the false pupils where it looks squared off at the bottom it doesn't really do that. That was because my light source is a square monitor.

[bigj4708]

Well no luck tonight. Weather says scattered thunderstorms for 14 days straight and humidity at least 75% every day.

[Prescott702]

Is real a ED or one of those called ED? 

Edited by Prescott702, 19 July 2018 - 02:44 PM.

[bigj4708]

Is real a ED or one of those called ED? 

I emailed Orion to ask what type of glass they used in the objective lenses. I do believe it is extra-low dispersion glass because I'm not getting a purple fringe like I was getting from my Skymaster 15 x 70's. So yes, I believe it is real.

[Mr. Bill]

Good luck with a knowledgeable answer from Orion.....

[Rich V.]

Typically, I'd think the ED glass would be FK-61 or other FPL-51 equivalent.  That's what other "ED" bino offerings generally use.  For the price, don't expect you'll get a more exotic glass...

 

Rich

[bigj4708]

After raining for most of the day today I had an opportunity to view the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Butterfly cluster. The moon was almost completely CA free. Absolutely breathtaking view. Very sharp craters where the shadows begin and ink black along the limb with a very, very, slight green tinge on the bottom right edge of the moon. The view is better than my Omni XLT 102 at 26 power with my agena super wide 38mm. It helps too that I'm not searing off my retina from the 102mm objective but still.

 

Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter are all too bright to show any surface features. Mars resolves to a nice disk with a beautiful red hue. There is some spiking in the field of view probably due to it's brightness and it seems more prominent in my right eye. Could be my eyes. Saturn's rings are distinguishable from the planet's disk if I look at the moon and shift back over to the planet. I can just make out the black between the rings and the planet. Not bad for only 16x.

 

The Butterfly cluster was gorgeous with tons of stars visible and showed an almost 3D like view. Stars had a blue hue to them sparkling like diamonds. These observations were made from Bortle 7-8 skies. I will take these out to Stephen C. Foster State Park eventually and look through them with a class 2 Bortle sky to take advantage of the 5mm exit pupil.

[SandyHouTex]

You sure are making it tough on me not to buy a pair of these, but I already have the Obie 20X80 Deluxe III and a Fuji 16X70 and Fuji 10X70.

[AxelB]

Spiking in your right eye is probably astigmatism in your eye. Try using your right eye with the left side ocular. If it still spikes, it’s your eye.

[Prescott702]

Bigj what would you think ... is the eyepieces holder barrel diameter bigger or smaller than 1.25? Do you have a caliber tool? 

[bigj4708]

Bigj what would you think ... is the eyepieces holder barrel diameter bigger or smaller than 1.25? Do you have a caliber tool? 

I don't have a caliper tool but I can take a look at it this weekend.