508 replies to this topic

[HoundDog]

Somebody’s gotta do it so it might as well be me. I confess, I do have two binoculars and both are 8x. I have a 12 year old Oberwerk LW 8x56 porro and a new Meopta Optika HD 8x42 roof. My steadily getting older shaky hands can handle 8x so that’s what I’m using.
Don’t be ashamed. Let’s give 8x some love. What do you have in your 8x lineup?

[Stevenkelby]

I've got a Pentax Papilio 8x21. Does that count? 

 

Anyway, I'm waiting for team 5-7x That's where I'm happiest! 

[HoundDog]

I am going to bust out the zero gravity recliner and blanket this weekend and give my Meopta 8x42 roof a stargazing spin.

[Fiske]

I guess the topic could be revised to Team 5-8X. 

[ascii]

Hear, hear!

 

I have some inexpensive Orion 7x50 porro and Nikon PROSTAFF 3S roof prism 8x42's.  The Nikons are reportedly on the dim side for lack of phase coatings, but hey, they both work well enough and didn't break the bank.  You won't catch me going any higher.  At 10x my hands shake way too much.

[HoundDog]

If I want to go deep space, I’ll get off my lazy behind and use my 8 inch dob. Wait a second… 8x binoculars, 8 inch dob.
That’s freaky. Maybe I should get 8 lottery tickets.

[Fiske]

Here is my 8x lineup, not counting possible BTBNL instruments. (Binoculars To Be Named Later -- because I forgot about them when making this list.) 

 

Nikon 8x32 LX Premier

Nikon 8x42 Monarch HG

Steiner 8x56 ShadowQuest.

 

6x (ish)

 

Kowa 6x30 -- YFII30-6

Kowa 6.5x32 -- BDII32-6.5XD

 

7x

 

Nikon 7x35 AE

APM 7x50 ED MS

Nikon 7x50 SP

 

Admittedly, team 10x gets way more sky time than the 6-8x range from my suburban Bortle-7 skies, especially considering that I prefer mounted binoculars to hand held. BUT, I am challenging myself to devote some time in each session to 6-8x observation going forward. 

 

Thanks for starting the topic, HoundDog. 

Edited by Fiske, 27 January 2022 - 01:26 PM.

[Fiske]

aka The Lollipop Guild?

 

[HoundDog]

I get it, this is an astronomy centric site and it’s natural to go big to go deep. I look forward to seeing what my new 8x42 roof bino can do for casual stargazing. I also look forward to doing comparisons between my 8x56 vs that 8x42.
There was no way I was going to use my 8x56 for birding walks through the woods.

[Astronoob76]

Ah, didn't have the time to start the thread as I've been building a sauna in the basement for a few days.
I need to take a few pics of the compete team 8x line-up.
So far it's the following:
Kite Cervus HD 8x56 - probably the best bino in my collection apart from the Canon 18x50IS. Super bright, decent FoV (7.3), sharp across the whole FoV and AK prisms.
One of my favourites - "Luna Super" 8x30 with 10° FoV, vintage but the coatings are amazing - very bright image. Only was able to test it through holes in the clouds but that was very impressive already. True spacewalk feeling.
My vintage "Bergwacht" 8x40 with 9° FoV is also rather impressive. Very sharp with only slight curvature (edges can be refocused).
Russian vintage 8x30 - slightly narrower FoV but equally sharp. It does have the yellow tint but that doesn't matter much at night.
The "wildcard" and rather unexpected was the Chinese "Baigish" 8x30 Komz clone. Really bright, very sharp and well made. It does have some stray light problems or rather light escaping from the prisms at places it shouldn't. Still for 25 € - impressive.
Steiner 8x30 "Marine". I'd rather not say how bad it is. I do like Steiner and have fond memories of the 10x50 I once had but this one is just awful.
Steiner 8x25 "UltraSharp". Probably good for hiking as it's very light. Not very good for astronomy.
Oberwerk Mariner 8x40 with 8.4 FoV. Great optics, razor sharp and built like a tank. Should I ever go on a long boat trip - this is what I'd take.
There are a few more but I'm writing on the phone. To be continued...

[Blue72]

Nikon

7x20

7x35

7x50 oceanpro……Freaking amazing!!!

 

kowa 

6.5x32….Love those wide field star views (10 degrees)

Edited by Blue72, 27 January 2022 - 02:20 PM.

[Echolight]

I got 8x!
Minolta 8x21 reverse porro, Pentax DCF WP 8x42, Sears 2515 8x50 8 degrees, 
 

....aaaannnd,,Vortex Vulture HD 8x56 (really 8.6x55.1 ) 

Edited by Echolight, 27 January 2022 - 02:48 PM.

[theskywatcher]

Hey HoundDog -

 

Glad you got a new set of binos! 

 

My 8x bino

lineup -

Oberwerk 8x42 Sport ED

Nikon 8x23 Venturer II

 

and 4 of my 5 monoculars are 8x - listed in my signature lines below.

[Mark9473]

To some of the previous posters, OP asked for 8x. Be a bit respectful..

[Echolight]

Hey HoundDog -

 

Glad you got a new set of binos! 

 

My 8x bino

lineup -

Oberwerk 8x42 Sport ED

Nikon 8x23 Venturer II

 

and 4 of my 5 monoculars are 8x - listed in my signature lines below.

FIVE MONOCULARS?!?!

 

How many hands and eyes do you have?

[Milos1977]

I can't get enough of my Nikon 8x30 EII !! Every day I work on improving the comfort of modified eye cups. I think last night, after many evenings, and eye cups swiching I finally got it to perfection! 

 

Thank you ihf for suggesting Nikon EII  ! 

 

I keep switching between 8x30 EII and Monarch 7. It would be so hard to decide which one to keep if I had to eliminate one. 

Here are few impressions so far. 

 

EII 8x30 with noticeably wider field of view. More immersive! Amazing. Image quality on par with Monarch 7 in almost every way. I'd say 95% to 99% same. 

 

Monarch 7 8x30 lighter, warmer to hold in winter, and stars somehow look more solid. Not that stars don't look right with EII :-) Far from that ! 

Also, seeing is horrible lately, and things change every few seconds so it's very hard to compare the two. 

 

Color balance, image sharpness outside the center 60% ... so very similar. 

 

Although Monarch 7 8x30 is lighter and has warmer less slippery feel, the EII 8x30 is just amazing to hold. It fits so perfectly in one hand. I wanna pick it up over and over even when there is nothing to look at :-) 

 

 

 

Do I need 7x35 super wide ? (like 12.5°+) 

Edited by Milos1977, 27 January 2022 - 02:57 PM.

[hallelujah]

I can't get enough of my Nikon 8x30 EII !!

 

Although Monarch 7 8x30 is lighter and has warmer less slippery feel, the EII 8x30 is just amazing to hold.

It fits so perfectly in one hand.

I wanna pick it up over and over even when there is nothing to look at :-)

 

[McGarnicle]

I’ve been reasonably happy with my 8x32 Celestron Nature DX. I’m somewhat new to binoculars and haven’t used many to compare, and I don’t have an appetite to spend a lot of money on them. Based on all the great reviews, I recently picked up a pair of Svbony SV202 10x42 and they’re amazing, especially for the price. I’m tempted to grab the 8x32 version. 

[DrJ1]

I was going to start this topic but was waiting for Fiske  Thanks HoundDog

Here goes:

 

Bushnell Legend M 8x42

Eschenbach Trophy D 8x42 B ED

Bausch & Lomb Discoverer 8x40

Sightron SII WP 8x42 wide

Eschenbach Trophy D 8x32 B ED

Bausch & Lomb 8x36 Custom (2 specimens)

Bushnell H2O Waterproof 8x42

Sans & Streiffe model 904  8x40

Minolta Standard Mk 8x40

Pentax PCF 8x42

Canon 8x30

Bell & Howell Extra Wide 8x40 (I have 6 specimens; I'm so bad)

 

Others, including many 8x compacts.

 

Why do I have so many B&H 8x40s?  I blame pat, publin, Ant1 and others on this forum for mentoring me on how to fix my first Bell & Howell 8x40.

 

DrJ1

[DrJ1]

I guess the topic could be revised to Team 5-8X. 

Please wait until I buy more 6x bins.  I only have 1! 

[HoundDog]

To some of the previous posters, OP asked for 8x. Be a bit respectful..

[HoundDog]

I did briefly have an Oberwerk 8x42 Sport ED but couldn’t eliminate kidney bean blackouts on the inside edges of both eyepieces. Otherwise, I would have been very happy with them. Just needed a tiny bit more inward IPD adjustment.

[Fiske]

To some of the previous posters, OP asked for 8x. Be a bit respectful..

Hey, I led with 8x. I consider the 6-7x binoculars critical for evaluating the 8x instruments. 

 

Particularly the Nikon 7x50 SP...

 

 

(And seems more efficient than Team 5x, Team 6x, Team 6.5x, Team 7x.  )

Edited by Fiske, 27 January 2022 - 03:40 PM.

[Ozark Sky]

I purchased a pair of 8x42 Vortex Vipers this Christmas - love them!  I think 8x42 is an ideal multipurpose bino, small enough to take along to a ball game or out hunting or hiking.  Enough magnification and aperture to get the job done for any daytime viewing.

 

This said, I've been surprised how nice the views are at night.  These have become my favorite binos for the gravity chair, very relaxing, not too heavy to hold, easy to hand off to my wife or anyone else who wants a casual peek.  Checking with Stellarium running on a tablet, I can pull in stars to mag 9 - 9.5 on a clear night in Bortle 3+ skies at my home.

 

-Daniel

[Astronoob76]

I think it would make more sense to keep it at 8. Not 5-8 or something as that would make the thread more or less useless. We could just call it, "which binos do you own" then.

8x binos are something special in my book. They deliver decent magnification and some ultra wide angle models. I think an 8x30 with 10° is probably the closest one can get to a "poor man's WX".

So I think it would be better to keep it separate or the "Team 8x"-title wouldn't even make sense at all. Why not open up a "Team 5", "Team 6.5", "Team 7", too? Has the internet run out of space?