Gift Binoculars!

[UncleDave]

My friend and boss has a place on the ridge of a canyon and on the beach in Maui and is a big fan of fine optics as well as being able to enjoy them in his home enviro.
A fan as well, from the time I was a kid, I have a few nice pieces a Kowa spotting scope and a Leica 10x25 trinovid that are a beautiful compact pair.

Last holiday I went tote to his place for dinner and he pulled out a few pair of cannon stabilized " red line" binocs - i was blown away how far this tech had come and after a while of back to back check viewings came away impressed and in eth market for a set of stabilized binocs.

My phone rings last week and he asks me for my address, I've got something for you he says.
A week later these beauties show up. I'm supremely impressed with this pair.
Almost like a hand held telescope.

As a "box keeper" I'm bummed the box was slightly damaged though.

 

[JRay’07]

Nice. What do you like to look at?

 

[UncleDave]

Nice. What do you like to look at?

Mainly a bird feeder across the yard.
I live in the foothills of the Sierra mountains and enjoy an enormous number of species.
I occasionally hunt but more frequently need a spot scope at outdoor firing ranges- I can leave the tripod at home with these.
My office is on a ridge with a wide field of view.
These are so stable they work for light astronomy (moon)

 

[Kira]

i was blown away how far this tech had come

Akin to what I felt after my first look through a night vision scope.

I have never held a image stabilized scope....looking forward to it.

 

[UncleDave]

Akin to what I felt after my first look through a night vision scope.

I have never held a image stabilized scope....looking forward to it.

It's expensive..

..as in once you get your hands on a good pair you want one.

 

[researcher]

just looked up some of them on amazon... yup not cheap!!

here's link to what @UncleDave got as a gift.. I need to start saving my spare change I need a pair of these.. nice!!

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-F...n-SOZ6WP20/dp/B0CC5RM5L9?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

 

[Kira]

Ha...At first I thought, "Hmmm, $1,200? ..better make it $1,600".
First hunch wasn't too far over...but like they say, "The Price is Right" rules apply.

 

[Danno]

Have a look at Jupiter, you will see planet detail and its moons. Saturn will show you the rings at 20x power.
Orion's Belt and its nebula, good targets as well. Pleidies is a good cluster at this time of year to view.
A couple more of my favourites, Alberio, the binary star color differences are amazing. You might want to try for the Ring Nebula.
All with reach at 20x.

 

[UncleDave]

Have a look at Jupiter, you will see planet detail and its moons. Saturn will show you the rings at 20x power.
Orion's Belt and its nebula, good targets as well. Pleidies is a good cluster at this time of year to view.
A couple more of my favourites, Alberio, the binary star color differences are amazing. You might want to try for the Ring Nebula.
All with reach at 20x.

Super interesting to know I can reach all that with 20.

 

[UncleDave]

Have a look at Jupiter, you will see planet detail and its moons. Saturn will show you the rings at 20x power.
Orion's Belt and its nebula, good targets as well. Pleidies is a good cluster at this time of year to view.
A couple more of my favourites, Alberio, the binary star color differences are amazing. You might want to try for the Ring Nebula.
All with reach at 20x.

Remote observation of "stuff" started on vacation at 7 (in 73) with a pair of plastic binoculars I carried everywhere with me, Mt Rushmore, The black hills, badlands, prairie dog, buffalo watching - they were barely better than nothing.

Then I got my first glass at around 7 It was an expanding telescope (like captain hook) with a rudimentary tripod. the glass was actually fairly nice and a big upgrade.

Then I got the bushnell refractor with the various eyepieces and realized for the first time.
I couldn't use it for terrestrial observation because the image was flipped.

Then I got the binocs I spent most of the rest of my life with in about 79/80 a pair of Montgomery Wards Zoom binoculars that went from 7-15 x 35.
These were actually pretty nice pair of binocs made in Japan sold by Wards.
I had these till I moved out at 18. (image lifted from eBay)

 

[Kira]

I had a remote neighbor who's name I knew.....and what he looked like.
I was asked to deliver a package and found him in his back yard.
He had an 8 foot long reflecting telescope in a shed. The roof rolled off onto an extended sill..
ALL MY LIFE I noticed the assembly against the shed and NEVER knew what they did.

He showed me his rig and I liked it.
Later, I brought by a pal who loved astronomy and introduced them.
OMG, did they ever hit it off.
I let them to it as '3's company'.

NOTE:
My neighbor was an elderly man who had a picture of his younger self flanked by 2 horses...his favorite team.
He said, "Anyone can drive a tractor, it takes skill to work a team".
I grew up where people farmed small.

 

[UncleDave]

I had a remote neighbor who's name I knew.....and what he looked like.
I was asked to deliver to him a package and found him in his back yard.
He had an 8 foot long reflecting telescope in a shed. The roof slid off onto braces.
ALL MY LIFE I noticed the braces against the shed and NEVER knew what they did.

He showed me his rig and I liked it.
Later, I brought by a pal who loved astronomy and introduced them.
OMG, did they ever hit it off.
I let them to it as '3's company'.

NOTE:
My neighbor was an elderly man who had a picture of his younger self flanked by 2 horses...his favorite team.
He said, "Anyone can drive a tractor, it takes skill to work a team".
I grew up where people farmed small.

From about 3rd to 7th grade the coolest guy on the face of the earth moved in across the street from me, he never paid me much attention, but was always pretty nice and showed me his stuff.

Prob about 19 and they were a rich family. All I remember is that he sold some kind of control mechanism to caterpillar corp - of which there were 3 factories within 10 miles of us.

He had radio controlled fleet of stuff - twin engine planes, mini fan jet, cars, a helicopter on a multi channel futaba. they had all kinds of motorcycles, boats, and for about a summer the drag car called the little red wagon stayed there.


They also had a telescope and was highly influential in kickstarting the desire - he had a high end unit and equatorial mount from a company called astro physic and set it up on the sidewalk one night for the neighborhood to bask in its awesomeness taking turns looking at this and that.
It was breathtakingly clear and bright even as a kid it elicited wow's.
His set up looked similar to a they offer for about 40K today between scope and mount.

 

[Danno]

They also had a telescope and was highly influential in kickstarting the desire - he had a high end unit and equatorial mount from a company called astro physic and set it up on the sidewalk one night for the neighborhood to bask in its awesomeness taking turns looking at this and that.
It was breathtakingly clear and bright even as a kid it elicited wow's.
His set up looked similar to a they offer for about 40K today between scope and mount.

Local astronomy club Astro physics 6" refractor with a binoviewer looking at Mars during a public viewing session got me hooked. The clarity and detail was unreal. I have a 14" SCT on a Losmandy G11.

 

[UncleDave]

Local astronomy club Astro physics 6" refractor with a binoviewer looking at Mars during a public viewing session got me hooked. The clarity and detail was unreal. I have a 14" SCT on a Losmandy G11.

I dont even know what those are, (Schmidt Cassegrain?) but I can guess and a 14" anything glass is impressive.

 

[Danno]

I dont even know what those are, (Schmidt Cassegrain?) but I can guess and a 14" anything glass is impressive.

This is it. Description is accurate on its capabilities. I've seen all of that.
2 of the coolest is the 4 star Trapezium in Orion Nebula and storm clouds on the surface of Saturn.