[JonS]

Hi,

I'm a novice birder on a tight budget.
Encouraged by Dr. Holger Merlitz's review of the TS 10x42 Triplet, I had a look at the Teleskop-Service website. Has anyone tried the TS 8x42 Triplet and/or the 10x42 Nevada ? It just seems so unlikely to me that such highly praised binoculars can sell so cheaply, that I may be expecting too much for their similar models to perform as well. Can anyone comment on how they compare to the 10x42 Triplets or an old pair of Zeiss Jena 10x50 Jenoptems/Dekarems?

I would also be very interested in advice on whether the 8x or 10x models would be most suitable for me. I live quite near the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere, so will be using these from a hide a lot. They will be my general purpose (only! ) binoculars though, so should be suitable for a variety of situations. I already have a small telescope - an old Soviet era 20x50 Turist-3, which I am very pleased with. What particularly concerns me is the field of view versus magnification (if the different models are equal in optical quality). From my limited understanding it seems that the 10x50 Jenoptems would allow me to have my cake and eat it, while I need to make a choice if I go for one of the Teleskop Service models.
Thanks for your advice!

Jon

[Leif]

Originally Posted by JonS

Hi,

I'm a novice birder on a tight budget.
Encouraged by Dr. Holger Merlitz's review of the TS 10x42 Triplet, I had a look at the Teleskop-Service website. Has anyone tried the TS 8x42 Triplet and/or the 10x42 Nevada ? It just seems so unlikely to me that such highly praised binoculars can sell so cheaply, that I may be expecting too much for their similar models to perform as well. Can anyone comment on how they compare to the 10x42 Triplets or an old pair of Zeiss Jena 10x50 Jenoptems/Dekarems?

I would also be very interested in advice on whether the 8x or 10x models would be most suitable for me. I live quite near the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere, so will be using these from a hide a lot. They will be my general purpose (only! ) binoculars though, so should be suitable for a variety of situations. I already have a small telescope - an old Soviet era 20x50 Turist-3, which I am very pleased with. What particularly concerns me is the field of view versus magnification (if the different models are equal in optical quality). From my limited understanding it seems that the 10x50 Jenoptems would allow me to have my cake and eat it, while I need to make a choice if I go for one of the Teleskop Service models.
Thanks for your advice!

Jon

Jon: Even if they are decent, I would enquire about the shipping. I would hope at least for a large box filled with foam 'peanuts'. I had a binocular sent to me for testing, and it was knocked out of collimation in transit. I received a monitor from Dell, in a packed box, and it arrived broken. The second arrived 2 weeks later, and the van driver literally threw it onto the pavement in front of my house. Leif

[Swedpat]

Originally Posted by JonS

Hi,

I'm a novice birder on a tight budget.
Encouraged by Dr. Holger Merlitz's review of the TS 10x42 Triplet, I had a look at the Teleskop-Service website. Has anyone tried the TS 8x42 Triplet and/or the 10x42 Nevada ? It just seems so unlikely to me that such highly praised binoculars can sell so cheaply, that I may be expecting too much for their similar models to perform as well. Can anyone comment on how they compare to the 10x42 Triplets or an old pair of Zeiss Jena 10x50 Jenoptems/Dekarems?

I would also be very interested in advice on whether the 8x or 10x models would be most suitable for me. I live quite near the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere, so will be using these from a hide a lot. They will be my general purpose (only! ) binoculars though, so should be suitable for a variety of situations. I already have a small telescope - an old Soviet era 20x50 Turist-3, which I am very pleased with. What particularly concerns me is the field of view versus magnification (if the different models are equal in optical quality). From my limited understanding it seems that the 10x50 Jenoptems would allow me to have my cake and eat it, while I need to make a choice if I go for one of the Teleskop Service models.
Thanks for your advice!

Jon

Jon!

I ordered the Triplet 8x42 from a dealer in Sweden. Before I got it the retailer telled me this now is in an updated version, both shorter and about 200 gram less weight than the binocular TS sells. I ordered it under condition to send it back if I,m not satisfied.
This version was a big disappointment, and without any doubt not near in the optical class as the 10x42 one Holger reviewed. I own both a Minolta 8x25 D WP XL, and an Oberwerk 11x70, and both of them are complete superior to the Triplet 8x42 I tried. Actually I also have the russian 20x50 Turist 3 as you have. That is a tremendous value for the money and have good sharpness, but a very bad coating. I didn't compare the 20x50 to the Triplet 8x42 but dare to claim that even the Turist 3 is superior to the Triplet 8x42 when it comes to sharpness.

Likely the version Holger tried is much better even in the 8x42 model, but don't get the new version.

I had a Jenoptem 7x50 for about 10 years ago, and that one is also without doubt superior to the Triplet 8x42 I tried, yet not superior to the Minolta 8x25 D WP XL or Oberwerk 11x70.

Patric

[JonS]

Thank you for your replies!

I will certainly bare your advice in mind if I do order from Teleskop-Service or over the net Leif.

Your observations are extremely useful Patric! I do hope that they haven't "updated" the 10x42 version. Teleskop-Service do have a 14 day return clause, so if I did order I wouldn't be stuck with them, but I'll try and find out if they have been updated too first.

I bought the Turist 3 for £15, and for that price I think that it is remarkable! Of course I've never tried a Swarovski spotting scope, or anything else in that league, but this Russian telescope cost me a tiny fraction of the price of those models anyway!

Perhaps I will go for an old Zeiss Jena after all, or save my pennies a little longer.

Jon

[ranburr]

Chinese optics are always a roll of the dice.

ranburr

[JonS]

I bought a 10x50 Jenoptem in the end. I didn't pursue the Teleskop-Service binoculars much, as the English speaking partner was ill when I made my enquiries. Another thread here did inform me that most of the binoculars offered by Teleskop-Service in Germany, Strathspey in the UK and Oberwerk in North America are made by Kunming Optical Instruments Co., Ltd - perhaps if you are near a supplier of one of these brands it might be worth looking through their stock for a good pair. The manufacturers page does list two generations of the "Triplets", though they list the older version as being lighter

I'm happy with the Jenoptems, the combination of the field of view and magnification is great - they have the same field of view as my girlfriend's old 7x50 Nikons (7.3 degrees, 128m at 1000m) but due to the higher magnification the image is much larger. They are nice and sharp in the centre, and while this does drop off a little towards the edges it is not as much as I expected from reviews I had read. My pair are multicoated, made in 1985. I took Leif's excellent advice and asked for them to be very well packed, they arrived perfectly collimated.

I ran into a little more information regarding the Russian Turist-3 telescope as well. Here is a Word document that shows the construction of the telescope, I think that the accompanying text is in Polish (which I don't understand), but the diagram is informative. There are some comments on it's quality and availability at Robin Scagell's website (under the heading "Page 23" on the linked page). For UK birders looking for a cheap but sharp terrestrial telescope - Warehouse Express list their current price on this page under "Helios Terrestrial Telescopes & Accessories", towards the bottom of the page. Availability may be better elsewhere, but it appears that nobody is currently importing these telescopes into the UK.

Jon

[henry link]

I also have an old Tourist-3 scope. It is surprisingly good. I take mine along sometimes when I don't want the burden of a "real" scope and tripod. I just brace it on a tree limb (or my wife's shoulder ;-)). I paid a whopping $59 for mine and that was in 1989.

[JonS]

I can imagine my girlfriend's response if I asked her to act as my tripod - it's not worth asking, believe me! ;-)

I did initially try carrying a tripod with my Tourist 3 - but it seemed too much trouble for such a compact little scope. I now use it with a monopod (I already had both the monopod and tripod for photography). It's very quick to set up, and I can use it sitting down in a hide, with the closed monopod resting on my knee.

Jon