Steiner 80X20 bino Opinions ?

Started by onaxis, 11/04/2002 02:40PM
Posted 11/04/2002 02:40PM Opening Post
Does anyone have any thoughts / opinions regarding Steiner 80X20 binos?
Posted 11/04/2002 05:02PM #1
Joe:

Did you mean Steiner 20X80mm? 80X20 give you 1/4 mm exit pupil. Not very useful for day or night viewing.

If you are wondering about the 20X80mm Steiners there is a review on www.cloudynight.com. Click on 80mm binos. The revew was NOT favorable.

I am not sure about the price for the 20X80 Steiner but the 15X80mm Steiner Senator is about $825 mail order. You can get good quality Japanese 20X80mm for less than 1/2 the price.

Erik D

Posted 11/05/2002 12:56PM #2
Hi Joe, I have read the cloudy nights review and went ahead and bought the steiner 20x80's! I originally was going to buy a set of cheap japanese binos. I intended to get hold of the 'Helios' range. The only review of these on excelsis was pretty poor, very much accepting low quality along with the price. I managed to get the steiner at a great price, it worked out at about $350. I can tell you that they perform very well. I observed saturn last night and it pulled to a razor sharp image, albiet small, and tethys its 10th magnitude moon, was pin sharp. I agree with Erik though, if you have to pay over $850 I'd seriously look at cheaper alternatives. The other point I'd make is that one review of a product can be arbitary. If you search any review site you can get widely differing scores for the same item. Sadly it would seem you have to take a less informed descision with big binos.
Posted 11/06/2002 05:23PM #3
For whatever it's worth you might like to know that SWFA's sister site thesamplelist.com has refurbished, supposedly like new Steiner 20x80 Ralleyes starting at $400, 20x80 Senators starting at $700 and 15x80 Senators starting at $600.

Personally, I've been really excited about the Burgess Optical line of Chinese imported big binos and am waiting for them to come out with scheduled interchangeable eyepiece versions of their 20x80 and 25x100's that will feature broadband coated triplet objectives. They are relative unknowns at this point, but they've got my curiousity peaked enough to wait several months to see what they come up with. Good luck with whatever choice you make.

Just some thoughts,
Mike Swaim