Stepping up from 15x70

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Bigzmey United States of America
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Stepping up from 15x70

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Post by Bigzmey »


I have a pair of good quality 15x70 binos, which are light enough to do brief sessions handheld, and for longer sessions work nicely on a monopod.

If I am to step up in aperture, are there any advantages of getting 20x80 over 25x100? It looks like 20x80 pushing 5lb - already too heavy for handheld. If I am to get a mount would I be better off stepping up to 25x100?

For those of you who have 20x80 and 25x100, or 15x70 and 20x80 do you end up using one over another?
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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helicon United States of America
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Re: Stepping up from 15x70

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Post by helicon »


I use my 15x70's as a grab-n-go for quick sessions or for general spotting of items I'm having trouble seeing in the 50mm RACI. The extra 20mm makes quite a difference. If I want a long bino session I use 25x100's since they have much better light grasp and magnification necessary to spot faint objects. By faint, I mean objects like M65 and M66, Leo galaxies which I can't see in 15x70's at home but can using the 25x100's. Need a parallelogram mount or equivalent to handle the extra weight. I have a dark sky trip scheduled for next week so finally I will be able to use the 25x100's under dark skies. Hope this helps Andrey. I have the Oberwerks.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Stepping up from 15x70

#3

Post by Bigzmey »


Thanks Michael! 25x100 under dark skies should be quite an experience.

I was not shopping for larger binos but older Celestron (made by Vixen) 20x80 came out for sale today. After some (rather short) consideration I decided that I can't simply pass on a good deal like that. :lol: So, soon I will be able to tell you if it is worth to have 20x80 in addition to 15x70. :D
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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