Tripod mounted telescope/binos

tom52

tom52

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I am very fortunate to live in a house with spectacular views over Torbay.
The viewing position is about 30 metres from the waters edge and 25 metres above sea level
With a budget of about £200 what would you recommend for a tripod mounted telescope or binos. It will be in the lounge, so reasonably compact and unobtrusive.

It will be used to view shipping and boating activity from a range of 50 metres to the horizon

Would the kind of thing used by birdwatchers be suitable like this........

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olivon-T64-16-48x64-Spotting-Scope/dp/B004ETEBDU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_3
or are there more suitable options.

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received
 
I would go with a spotting scope with a wide ranging zoom eye-piece like that.

Perhaps google for "spotting scope reviews"

The longer end of your range is more likely to be affected by atmospherics so you want something that handles near to mid-range and controls flare well and leave the distance to luck.

Just my opinion.
 
Aldi have their 20-60x200mm spotter scopes with table top tripod for 25 squid at the moment. It ain't on a par with Opticron, but it doesn't cost 800 quid either.

It is a little grainy on 60x & there is some distortion around the edge of teh lens, but for the money it is amazingly good. If you use it as much as you think you will, then maybe it will be worth upgrading to a grand's worth of quality optics, but if it trns out it is just left on the table gathering dust most of teh time you've only "wasted" 25 squid.

I use mine in the motorhome for birdwatching, deer & seal etc. I had hoped I would use it on the boat but there is too much movement on a boat unless it is hard aground. It would be fine on a solid table & I have used mine on light tables & desks in B&B's with good views.
 
Binoculars every time. Millions of years of evolution resulting in binocular vision and a powerful brain to process the images - why on earth would you choose to use only one eye to see the world?

Got lots of telescopes and lots of binoculars - from 7x45 to 15x125 and 30x100 - but I use a pair of 20x80 from Teleskop Service in Germany as a portable pair on a light tripod.

I find binoculars so much better to watch whales, dolphins and shipping - telescopes are OK but regardless of the quality it's still only monocular vision.

Here is a link

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...s---mit-einschwenkbaren-UHC-Nebelfiltern.html

These 20x80 Triplet Semi Apo binoculars are really good and very inexpensive for such excellent optics - about 300 Euros.
 
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For £25 the Aldi spotter would be a no risk try out of the spotter type whilst I could research and see if something better was needed or binocular was the way to go.

In fact I was just on my way out to Aldi when SWMBO pointed out the date of the special was June not July.

Doh !!
 
I have just found this which seems to give me the advantages disadvantages of the options

http://www.monkoptics.co.uk/observationbins.html


So I now know that big binos are called observation binoculars.
It sounds as though I should consider 25X100 or 20X80 observation binoculars as well as spotters.
For around £200 or so there does appear to be some choice e.g
Celastron Skymaster 25X100, Helios Quantum3 25X100

Anyone any recommendations as to which make/model or what tripod
 
Spotting Scopes can be quite difficult to target and uncomfortable to use. I have Luminar 7 x 50 Binoculars and a BSA 15-45 x 50 Spotting Scope. It's my experience that using the binoculars at nearly 6 times less magnification on the moon doesn't really diminish detail that much compared to the spotting scope. The spotting scope is quiet awkward to target being very sensitive to movement or slackness in any try-pod mount. For some reason my eye lashes are always in the way!

Good binoculars are far easier to use and more rewarding than difficult to target Spotting Scopes. Of course this is just my experience of the two optical devices mentioned; try them out before buying.
 
Don't fret about the date

tom52 said:
For £25 the Aldi spotter would be a no risk try out of the spotter type whilst I could research and see if something better was needed or binocular was the way to go.

In fact I was just on my way out to Aldi when SWMBO pointed out the date of the special was June not July.

Doh !!
Click to expand...

They're still in stock at our branch...May be worth a trip anyway.

Re: the comment about target acquisition, the Aldi ones zoom from 20x to 60x, so you can acquire with a wide view, then tighten up.

The tripod attachment is a camera mount, so you can bin the tabletop tripod & put them on a decent set.
 
tom52 said:
For £25 the Aldi spotter would be a no risk try out of the spotter type whilst I could research and see if something better was needed or binocular was the way to go.

In fact I was just on my way out to Aldi when SWMBO pointed out the date of the special was June not July.

Doh !!
Click to expand...

Still plenty left in my branch - pick a place with relatively poor economy & there will be loads of them. If you like I will get one & post it to you next week.
 
Searush said:
Still plenty left in my branch - pick a place with relatively poor economy & there will be loads of them. If you like I will get one & post it to you next week.
Click to expand...

Thats very kind Searush, thanks, you are a good man ; but I think my daughter may have tracked one down at Exeter.

I'll play with the cheap spotter whilst investigating observation binos and better quality spotters.

If I feel the need to upgrade to something better, then the one, two and four year old grandaughters can play with the Aldi spotter when they visit without making PapPap anxious.
 
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