Handheld Binos: 8x or 10x, 42mm or 50mm

For general pan and scan, moon, and occassional non astro (travel) use.
opinions:
8x or 10x?
42mm or 50mm?

thanks.

My personal preference in binoculars for general purposes and astronomy is something close to 8x42's are optimal. I find that 10x50's are in-betweeners: too shaky to hand hold, and do not have a wide enough field of view to show an adequate area of the sky to relate objects to the surrounding bright stars.

I have gravitated toward a collection of 8x42-ish for the pure binocular experience of quickly grabbing something with which to step outside and scan the sky for my favorite targets for closer observation.

If I want a more magnified binocular view, I mount my 15x70's or my 20x80's. But more recently, they have been replaced by an Astroscan telescope which sets up in seconds and can be pointed just as fast as binoculars with a green laser pointer finder.

At best, the field of view in the 10x50's is 6.5°; whereas my 8x42's, 8x43's and 8.4x44's all have an 8.2° field of view. Doing the math, that is at least 60% more of the sky that you are seeing, and that much greater chance of a bright star being in the same field of view as the deep sky object you are trying to find.

Other's mileage may vary... but that's the way I see it.

Tom Lacovik said:

For general pan and scan, moon, and occassional non astro (travel) use.
opinions:
8x or 10x?
42mm or 50mm?

thanks.

I picked 7x42s for my general purpose binocular. It provides an 8 degree field, and the 7x is agreeable in my hands. The 8x42s are also nice. For me, 10x is simply wasted because they can not be held steadily enough in my hands.

Clear skies, Alan

7 or 8 x42's. I use my 7x42's on a regular basis, nice wide field and easy to hand hold.

I have three: Minolta 7x35, Pentax 8x40, Nikon 10x42. Nowadays I find the 7x35 with 9.3 TFOV very nice for starhopping and general use. Its also light and quite compact.