High power binocular recommendations

kathnrich · Guest

I am simply looking for a good pair of binocs, 70 - 100mm. Not sure where to go with the power magnification part. Something that is fairly clear, tripod mount not an issue. Stargazing, long range, earth bound tripod mounted uses. I had an Orion 80mm pair and was totally disappointed. What can you recommend? Up to $500.

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 5171

Hi

Where to go on the magnification is realtively easy. If you go over 10x, you will generally need a tripod for the sake of steadiness and if you go over 70mm, you should also use a tripod to support the weight.

As far as maximum magnification, the same thing applies to a binocular as to a spotting scope. Daytime observing conditions - mirage, air currents, dust, smog and so on limit useful magnification to about 60x, tops, though high and dry locations can sometimes use more, effectively. On the other hand, humid, wet locations may find that 60x is too much on most days. Point is, zoom binos which advertize ridiculous magnifications are to be avoided, not just for providing useless magnification, but also for optical and mechanical reasons. A good, average and very useful magnification for day work is between 20x and 40x on an observation binocular.

For astronomy, you will never get enough magnification in a typical astronomy binocular to effectively observe planets. Astronomy binoculars are about star clusters, nebulae, some galaxies, some double stars and so on. I typically use anything from 7x to about 25x.

Nearly everything at this price is made in China, including Orion, but price is still a good indicator of quality and performance in an astronomy binocular, just as with any binocular. At this price, I like the Oberwerk 20x90 or the Oberwerk 25x100. Be careful, though, to budget enough for a truly heavy duty tripod, especially for the 100mm. A minimum would be the Zhumell Heavy Duty tripod.
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