Decent 8x32 Roof Prism (1 Viewer)

Binastro said:

Amred,
I carried small ball bearings placed across the street to do star tests using the Sun's reflection.

One needs lots of spare time, a good eye, and self control to get bargains.

Click to expand...

Can you describe a star test? I'm intrigued.

Spare Time
I'm retired plus every other week my wife does a complete housecleaning for her 94 yr old mother. This gives me time to drive around the area. It just so happens there are many pawn shows in that area.
Good Eye
I'm older so my eyesight is not what it used to be. But I'm quite mechanical. A few months ago a old Bushnell we have in our hunting shack went out of collimation and I realigned it.
Self Control
I do have self control. I've been lurking on Ebay for years waiting for a Outland LX to appear. Finally now I'm ready to find something else. Plus you guys have suggested some pretty temping Binoculars and I have not yet succumb to temptation.

This Pawn shop idea might be quite the adventure. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what I can find. But now I have to cram and learn more about older binoculars and how to evaluate them.

I think finding a Fujinon FMTR-SX for ~$100 in a thrift store or pawn shop would be akin to winning the lottery. When I go in these places I always look at any binoculars they have and I have never seen anything worth buying. I think you would have to be very lucky to find anything good because not too many people donate or pawn good binoculars. They sell them on Ebay or somewhere else. I think you might spend 10 years trying to find a decent binocular so consider how old you are.

Too tired to describe a star test. I only slept 3 hours last night.

I used to find about one gem a year from the local charity shops.
And as many other useful binoculars as I wanted.

Another friend only buys his binoculars from boot fairs.
He rarely spends more than £10.
He is an engineer and astronomer.

As long as everybody wants NEW, NEW, NEW there will always be gems waiting for folks like us.

The boot fair £5 Nikon may be the Nikon S3M that sold for £125,000.
I think it was as new unused, complete with box and paperwork.
It was found under a pile of crockery. The crockery was £5. The Nikon nothing really.

A boot fair £10 costume jewellery piece was actually a diamond ring that sold at Sotheby's for £656,750.

One of the local charity shops found £2,000 in a donated jacket. They didn't know who donated the jacket, so they kept the money.
What upsets me is the vast amount of useful stuff they just throw in the skip.
We are a truly wasteful society.

P.S.
I did actually win the Lottery recently.

The letter announced that I had 'A life changing event'.
'Your dreams have come true'.

The amount won was £25.

You probably have a lot better chance at finding a nice binocular in the pawn shop or thrift store in England. Here in the States everybody uses stuff like binoculars until it's junk and then they throw it away. The binoculars I have seen in the thrift stores and pawn shops you would not want to own.

When I went to a well known secondhand dealer from Shutterbugs in the late 1980s, it turned out to be like Fort Knox.
It was in Brooklyn.
I told my cousin that I would go on the subway. She said I would not return alive.
She drove me there and waited outside.

Eventually, a tiny window in this prison like facility opened and I explained why I had come to visit.
They let me in.

They had a vast amount of stuff.
The condition of most was so bad that we wouldn't bother to take it for recycling here in Britain. It would just be buried in landfill.

I did buy a few rare items.

Yes, in the U.S.A. there really is junk being sold as wonderful camera items.

Nice story of your experience in a glimpse of time. Was it Charles Bronson who did a series of movies such as Death Wish where the scene is in Brooklyn, when the crime was higher in the 80s. Binastro, you brought back some memories from that period.

A.W.

Binastro said:

When I went to a well known secondhand dealer from Shutterbugs in the late 1980s, it turned out to be like Fort Knox.
It was in Brooklyn.
I told my cousin that I would go on the subway. She said I would not return alive.
She drove me there and waited outside.

Eventually, a tiny window in this prison like facility opened and I explained why I had come to visit.
They let me in.

They had a vast amount of stuff.
The condition of most was so bad that we wouldn't bother to take it for recycling here in Britain. It would just be buried in landfill.

I did buy a few rare items.

Yes, in the U.S.A. there really is junk being sold as wonderful camera items.

Click to expand...

P.T. Barnum DID NOT say "THERE'S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE!" However, somebody did ... and he was right. See the Pix, below.

There's a "120x120" binocular that's really a 7x50. There's a binocular with prism housings which hold no prisms. Then there's the "field collimatable" binocular for those silly enough to believe everything they read, and finally there's the tiny "Hi-Power" paperweight that will let you "see up to 18 miles." Heck, I can see 4 times that far by driving to the edge of town and opening my eyes!

Once Americans lived in a world of reality, with many of those who could not do so being institutionalized. But, today, for many Americans, the search for Utopia is a favorite pastime.

We are all ignorant on many different levels. And that can be cured. However, when it metastasizes into WILLFUL stupidity (caused by refusing to attempt basic thinking) ... it's terminal! :cat:

Bill

I think I'll get myself one of those Olympia 120x120 binoculars.
An AFOV of around 1320 degrees can't be bad.

Those Olympians really had it good.

Binastro said:

I think I'll get myself one of those Olympia 120x120 binoculars.
An AFOV of around 1320 degrees can't be bad.

Those Olympians really had it good.

Click to expand...

Just add water! :cat:

BC

I had a pair of these when I was a kid. I remember them as working pretty good. But my memory is probably bad.

Fun diversion, the super-junkers.

Anyway, looking at the OP, and considering field trips to well-stocked sporting stores,
and lumping 8x30 and 8x32:

--At first glance, something like the Barska Crossover 8x30 WP (~$60) seems
to offer the right things, the coatings, the field, the glass...
And even when you look through them, the view is excellent.
However, peeking under the IPD cover on the hinge, the assembly will go 'flappy' in a few years.
Mahybe just a few weeks....they simply jam the focuser arms down with a screw that skids.
There are parts missing. Already, the diopter adjustment won't hold for 5 cycles.

---Moving up just a little, the Bushnell 8x32 Trophy (~$70) had a much more durable contruction.
Although it was roof (harder to see the works), cycling focuser 30 times still kept the L-R diopter setting
( problem years ago). Buying at a store is key; buying the one you inspected.
The 'push-discs' in the focuser can slip sometimes, and you don't want to fudge around inside.

---Then we hit the Leupold Yosemite 8x30 and the cousin Kowa YF 8x30 ... ~90
Yes, they are Porro, but quite compact. Really great view.
This is like the Barka Crossover, but with radically better mechanics. Well worth it.

----Things get a little better at $110 ... the Vangard Oros and a few excellent Opticrons...

The big jump in quality and durability seems to happen at $70-80.
Around $100 is really good.

I got some Bushnells on clearance and some Barska Crossovers for $40,
but they both required a mechanical overhaul/upgrades to be good.
At the low end, they have QC 'soft patches' from China sometimes.

For many decades, it seems the mechanical details are the most critical
things to come along with price. A tilted eyepiece, even a little, smudges the field edges.
Misalignment....headaches and uncomfortable viewing.