Sky at Night Magazine

[engo]

I'm just starting out - which of these binos would you recommend? It's for handheld use, novice just starting out. Happy to spend £100-250.

old pair of Zeiss Jena 10x50; Zeiss BGAT 10x40; Helios Naturel Sport Plus 10x50; Celstron Skymaster 12x60 (or15x70 - heavy i know); Nikon 10x42 Aculon A211; Olympus DPS-1 10x50; Barr & Stroud Sahara 10x50

[dave.b]

If the "old pair zies Jena" are very cheap then it might be worth starring with them. Otherwise, go for the ones designed for night time use as they should be better collimated and have better coatings on the optical surfaces. Watch out for marketing weasle words, such as "coated optics" does not imply "fully coated optics", which means both sides of the lenses and prisms.

BTW, I strongly suggest you get a metal tripod mounting bracket, as hand held viewing is both hard work and unsatisfactory.

Saved B.