20 x 80 binoculars

[pakarinen]

I had to peel off part of the rubber grips to collimate mine; that won't be appreciated if you try to return them. Dunno, maybe I just hamfisted it and peeling wasn't necessary.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose!

[kt4hx]

Many folks are tired of Celestron's poor QC and quite honestly one shouldn't have to go through the process of ordering, trying, returning, rinse and repeat. Celestron does not seem to be inclined to improve that deficiency either.

If you are wanting to work within a certain budget, I would consider the Oberwerks as you mentioned. They are decent quality with good customer support and reasonably priced. I have a pair of Garrett 20x80 LW binoculars which are basically the same as the Oberwerks, who actually bought Garrett out. They are very good and more economical. Do they compare head to head with some of the better (more expensive) brands? Of course they are not going to be as sharp nor as well controlled for aberrations. But many of us get by with slightly less expensive equipment that gives us 90 to 95% of the performance of the higher priced gear and think nothing of it.

As for mounting, I am a big advocate of mounting binoculars, even 10x50s. I will qualify that to state that for taking quick cursory looks at brighter objects one can get by with hand holding even larger binoculars. This provides flexibility to move about the sky quickly. But if you wish to do more substantive observing where you can ferret out more detail or even pick up dimmer objects, then mounting is the way to go.

Good luck with whatever way you go Eric, I am certain you will see a noticeable improvement moving from 10x50 to 20x80 (or even 15x70).

[Buckethead 2.0]

Many folks are tired of Celestron's poor QC and quite honestly one shouldn't have to go through the process of ordering, trying, returning, rinse and repeat. Celestron does not seem to be inclined to improve that deficiency either.

If you are wanting to work within a certain budget, I would consider the Oberwerks as you mentioned. They are decent quality with good customer support and reasonably priced. I have a pair of Garrett 20x80 LW binoculars which are basically the same as the Oberwerks, who actually bought Garrett out. They are very good and more economical. Do they compare head to head with some of the better (more expensive) brands? Of course they are not going to be as sharp nor as well controlled for aberrations. But many of us get by with slightly less expensive equipment that gives us 90 to 95% of the performance of the higher priced gear and think nothing of it.

As for mounting, I am a big advocate of mounting binoculars, even 10x50s. I will qualify that to state that for taking quick cursory looks at brighter objects one can get by with hand holding even larger binoculars. This provides flexibility to move about the sky quickly. But if you wish to do more substantive observing where you can ferret out more detail or even pick up dimmer objects, then mounting is the way to go.

Good luck with whatever way you go Eric, I am certain you will see a noticeable improvement moving from 10x50 to 20x80 (or even 15x70).

Thanks, Alan. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me some great tips.

[pakarinen]

I am certain you will see a noticeable improvement moving from 10x50 to 20x80 (or even 15x70).

Subjectively, I can say that I found the difference between 15x70s and my 10x50s to be huge. YMMV.

[kt4hx]

I am certain you will see a noticeable improvement moving from 10x50 to 20x80 (or even 15x70).

Subjectively, I can say that I found the difference between 15x70s and my 10x50s to be huge. YMMV.

Not sure why the YMMV - I think we agree. That said, to get the most out of the improvement, I do recommend mounting them as much as is convenient.

[DozerBolt]

Greetings,
What I find unusual and non-intuitive is that, almost without exception, really serious (read: huge) astronomy binoculars all hover around a 4mm exit pupil! Conventional wisdom is to shoot for a 7mm exit pupil, like 7x50 - but all/most big bins - 15x70, 20x80, 25x100 - all aim for a much smaller exit pupil.

Even given that, as one ages, the eye aperture shrinks to less than 7mm and the fact that really large astronomy bins are expensive and fall closer to an "elder wallet" profile, a 4mm exit pupil is historically the venue of birding binoculars!

I'm guessing there is something about the ease of eye placement for a 4mm exit pupil - but frankly, in thinking about it, I'm still surprised. I would guess that its would be closer to a 5mm or above exit pupil. Only a 10x50 seems closer to conventional wisdom. Thoughts?

[Buckethead 2.0]

Greetings,
What I find unusual and non-intuitive is that, almost without exception, really serious (read: huge) astronomy binoculars all hover around a 4mm exit pupil! Conventional wisdom is to shoot for a 7mm exit pupil, like 7x50 - but all/most big bins - 15x70, 20x80, 25x100 - all aim for a much smaller exit pupil.

Even given that, as one ages, the eye aperture shrinks to less than 7mm and the fact that really large astronomy bins are expensive and fall closer to an "elder wallet" profile, a 4mm exit pupil is historically the venue of birding binoculars!

I'm guessing there is something about the ease of eye placement for a 4mm exit pupil - but frankly, in thinking about it, I'm still surprised. I would guess that its would be closer to a 5mm or above exit pupil. Only a 10x50 seems closer to conventional wisdom. Thoughts?

Thanks, DozerBolt. I don't know much about exit pupil info, so I will certainly take your word for it. Several people here come to mind that do, are J.Gardavsky, Bigzmey, Lady Fraktor, and many others. I am 58, not far from 59. My eyes are in great shape considering. So I think 20x80 will work fine for me, even if I have to get use to the shorter exit pupil measurement. Sounds like I would have to not use the rubber eye cups, that's all.

[Buckethead 2.0]

So I have been looking for Oberwerk 20x80 binos, but a lot of links I go to say they are out of stock. Does anyone know where I can go to get the pair that is NOT the Deluxe III, which is waaaayyyy too expensive?

Update: I see that Oberwerk will have the LW model 20x80 available soon, but I would have to preorder. I may have to wait until October anyway. I'm determined though.

[Mandrew]

I prefer my Oberwerk 15x70 to other 20x80s. The FOV is a bit bigger,brighter. And more satisfying.

[helicon]

I have the Obie 25x100''s - you definitely need a sturdy mount, I have a parallelogram.