Posts Made By: Brian Goodman

I have been using the 22X100 Oberwerk's for about a year now,and I love em. They really have gotten me away from my scopes and into Binocular's. I'm now thinking of getting the BT 80's. I've heard mixed reactions to these from narrow FOV to limited eyepiece selection to miscollimation. Any opinion's from owners of these would be great. I'm wondering if I should just save up for the Miyauchi's. Would Miyauchi quality be that much better? Thank's Brian

About a year ago I got a pair of 22X100 Oberwerks and put them on a Heavy duty UniMount, and fell in love with Binocular viewing. I,ve been considering a Binoscope now; something like a Vixen BT-80 or maybe one of the larger Oberwerks even though weight and cost is a facter. I have some nice scopes, from a Tak FS-78 to nice 6 inch F8 Newt to a 8 inch SCT. I have never looked through a Binoviewer and I really don't have access to one. Would it be more effective cost wise and performance wise just to to look into getting something like a Denkmeier Binoviewer with a star sweeper and putting it on the scopes I have now? Has anyone compared these two instruments? Thanks.

Hi guy's.Finally had a chance to use my recently purchased Denk standard refracter package with my Tak 78 and a Orion 120 f.8. Up here in Steamboat the powder has been falling, so my snowboard has been out alot more than my binoviewer, but I've had a couple night's of quick views. I compared my Fujinon 16 x 70 with my FS-78 with the Denks and 32mm plossls (22x?) They totally complimented each other,with the Fuji's being alittle bit sharper on the moon.I was hoping that the Binoviewer would'nt dim the Takahashi to much, but it does. Don't get me wrong; the performance was still awesome on Jupiter and the moon, but my quick peeks at the brighter open clusters show that this setup is going to suffer more than I wanted. I guess that this should be expected with such a small aperture instrument to begin with.The peformance on the Orion is very pleasing.The question I have has probably been asked before, but i'm going to get the appropriate OCS for my 6 and 8 inch reflectors plus a star sweeper for my 8 inch SCT. It seem's that everyone recommend's the 2 inch upgrade over the 1.25. I really don,t understand what benefit that would be with a 1.25 format Binoviewer. Plus I would have to upgrade my 1.25 Everbrite diagonal to a two inch for my SCT. Is it worth it?. Just alittle confused. Thanks

Hi guy's. I,ve been fooling around with my 1.25 inch Refractor OCS trying to determine my lowest power. I,ve compared my Binoviewer and refractors with various Binoculars and i've concluded that i'm getting higher powers than I should following the 1.2x rule. I figure that 1.4x or even higher is closer to what i'm seeing . Has anyone else sensed this or am I messing up somewhere in my calculations?

Do you think that Binoviewing is really going to make an impact on amateur Astronomy in the years to come?. From reading the post's here , and on other forums ,it seems to be really taking off. I wonder if someday soon Celestron and Meade will develop Binoviewers specifically designed for their SCT's that can be added as an option at the time of purchase, or can be built in with no added corrector's. Something that has no added magnification. Something that is not just an accessary, but built into the scope. But , then again, their input could be a bad thing. Two eyes are certainly better than one, and I think it's going to be the future of amateur telescopes to come if all the little problems can be worked out. Did'nt TeleVue have a built in Binoviewer once on one of their Refractors?. Five years from now; who knows.

Rumor has it that the new 10" and 12" StarHoppers (Guan Sheng), will start shipping soon. I will be most interested in hearing how these latest big dob offerings from Celestron perform. It looks like these latest offerings have some good upgrades to a Guan Sheng
line that already has a good rep for good optics on a budget. I for one am a Binoviewing fanatic, but a Starmaster or a pricey truss Dob is out of my budget at this time. Could be some good Binoviewing on a budget!. I've heard that UPS and FEDEX were refusing to ship the 12" Dobs for simply being to big. I have noticed that the shipping on the 12" from various dealers is reasonable. I wonder if Celestron resolved this issue without requiring special truck freighting. Anyway, this hobby just gets better and better for those of us who want good performance ,but just can not swing for a Zambuto mirror with a 31 Nagler. Clear skies!!!!!

Had a chance to really see what my Denk standards had to offer last night with my 8" Newt. I live at 9300 ft in the mountains in northern Colorado, and last night was one of the first nights where everything was perfect since I got my Denks. 30 degrees,very clear and Dark! I put a Pentax 28XL mono mode in my scope and looked at M51 to compare with two eye views with 25 Ultrascopics. The Pentax showed the two bright cores with subtle circular misting around the cores, with slight structure obvious. Very nice. With the Binoviewer with the 25mm, the image was quite larger; slightly dimmer with subtle structure. Very impressive for a 8" scope. At times I felt I could detect the bridge, but it was hard to say. The comfort level with the binoviewer cannot be described. Its one of those things everybody just has to try for themselves. After reading Floyds post recently I thought to myself; how can you say binoviewing is not helpful!. I know this crazy out of control forum is sometimes a negative outlook on Binoviewing, but man,they are missing so much! I also cruised over to M81 and M82 and M64(the "black eye" was Slightly detected);M3 and M13 rising in the NE. (Awesome). The only bad thing that has happend with Binoviewing is that I've concluded that my Little Tak 78 is to small with a binoviewer, and it has to go. I'm now serously looking at the new computerized 10" Dob from Orion, but I'll wait for reviews to come out. All and all, an awesome night!!!

Hey guy's. Is anybody out there Binoviewing with a 152mm Apogee Widestar or an AR6 type tube?. Any comments on binoviewing potential on that?..... thanks

I just drilled Russ for all the info on the power switch. It is designed for both 1.25" and 2" OCS. I will just have to send my Part O on my Newt 1.25" OCS in for a refit. He stated that web page will be updated in "one week" with all the instructions and info. Very relieved. I really did'nt want to go to "THE OTHER SIDE"...LOL*((

Did anybody happen to check out the double transit on Jupiter last night? Stunning!