Astrofest deal too good to be true?

[Ian]

OK, I had a splurge at Astrofest. One binoviewer + four eyepieces, £80.

Surely too good to be true? Well I've sort of not mentioned it before actually going out and trying them before admitting I may have been something of a sucker. Well this weekend I got all the kit out, and actually had a look through the binoviewer at a couple of targets.

First off, M3. Well to be honest, I couldn't really tell if it was in focus or not. This might have been due to M3 actually being a fuzzy ball in the sky, but I admit, it was not a good initial target. However, the high point of that particular observation was that I was seeing *one* fuzzy ball, not two. That means the images was merging nicely. That was one qualified thumbs up.

Secondly, Saturn. OK, nice bright target and it should show the sharpness nicely. Well this time things went a little better. I didn't focus on M3 properly and a quick twist of the focusser proved. But once Saturn had come into focus. Weyhey!! I can honestly say that the views I had of Saturn were the best I've ever had. I could clearly see the cassini division, the little bit of planetary disc under the rings and the disk itself was clearly banded. For me the best bit was that I have problems with floaters, and they completely disappeared using the binoviewer.

On a bit of a roll, I thought lets push things and try a faint fuzzy so I tried M51. What was I expecting, a miracle? Well not exactly. Bearing in mind, the whirlpool galaxy is right on the absolute limit using a monocular I would have been happy just to continue to see a hint of the galaxy centres. And thats pretty much what I got. However, I was still impressed by this too, the binos work by supplying less than half the light to available to each eye.

I did go on to try my UHC filter on it at the same time, but that didn't really help, but that review is for another posting...

So to say I am chuffed with my binoviewer is an understatement. I am now looking forward to doing more planetary stuff, as on the whole I found planetary observing less impressive than I though it would be, mostly due to floaters (thats why I went pretty much straight to imaging). Would I recommend them? Yes. For the price of one premium eyepiece I got four cheapos and a binoviewer (it was a show special price, they are usually £119) that has improved my planetary observing experience. I'm now looking foward to take another look at the moon. I hoping for another epiphany then too!

By the way, they are available from BC+F although I bought mine from Scopes and Skies

[JohnP]

Hi Ian,

Can't say I understood all your review - 'floaters' must mean something else in your vocabulary....

Sounds like you are enjoying your new toys.....

John.

[Ian]

I sort of thought about that after I pressed submit. They have nothing to do with the toilet, honest

Here's a definition on the web, they often afflict people who are short sighted and can really spoil the view, particularly with bright objects.

Floater: These are black or opaque objects that float across the line of vision. People describe them as spiders, flies, hairs or nets. They change position with eye movements, and are seen most clearly against a white or bright background.

[Rocket Pooch]

Not poo then!  Wow thats made the review read differently.