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Burgess BV 1st light Report from PSSG (sorta long)

Started by mielejr, 11/10/2005 08:17PM
Posted 11/10/2005 08:17PM Opening Post
I just tried out my brand new pair of Burgess Binoviewers at the recent PSSG and would like to share my experiences in using them. I ordered the BB’s a week before the stargaze and explained to Burgess that I really wanted to use them there. Burgess got in a shipment the next day. The day after that, I had a fedex box on my front porch! The unit arrived well packed and undamaged. I waited until the first night of the stargaze to try them out in my Nexstar C11. The nosepiece was a good snug fit in the diagonal. I had quite a range of people view with me. One guy had eyes almost on the side of his head 8O whereas my eyes are very close set (57.5mm apart). But the Binoviewer accomodated everyone. So the inter-occular adjustment is good. I tried out some 24mm Pans, the supplied 20mm Burgess EPs, some 12.5mm Ultimas, and some 9mm UO Orthos. All these EPs reached focus. I also had no problems merging any of the images, although a little EP jiggling was required some of the time. The images were great. As others have noted, I found that fainter objects were usually better seen with monovision. But brighter globular and open clusters and Mars were outstanding in the binoviewer. I was disappointed when the 24mm Pans vignetted badly and I would not recommend them. But the 20mm Burgess EPs were surprisingly good and had no vignetting. The 12.5mm ultimas were perfect for Mars and showed a lot of detail when it steadied up. But the 9mm UO Orthos were pushing the seeing limit for Mars that night. In general, EPs with undercut barrels are awkward but usable. The set screws never seem to catch the undercut in the right spot. I tried an Orion Stratus EP but the body was so wide it “sat” on top of the set screws. I would not recommend the Stratus line to use with BB’s. All in all I thought the Burgess unit was an excellent buy and I plan to perform most of my mid to high power planet viewing with the binoviewer. I have to note one view that stood out from the rest. The skies were very dark and the Milky Way was magnificent the first night at PSSG. I was viewing M42 in the binoviewers. It was well past midnight and Orion was pretty high in the sky. I slowly panned across the brightest portion of the nebula towards M43. The contrast between the bright nebula and the dark regions between the two objects was incredible. The pseudo 3D effect was in full swing. I was totally immersed in the view, and for just a moment, I had an almost overwhelming sensation of vertigo, as if I were about to tumble off my seat into the void. It was very very cool. I have never had that experience with monovision.
Posted 11/10/2005 08:54PM | Edited 11/10/2005 08:54PM #1
Thanks for the review John, sounds like a good time. My WO Binos are in the mail. They are the same thing with different EP holding methods, they use compression rings. I hope to get to try them soon if the weather cooperates.
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