. Lunt Engineering 100 mm ED APO binocular (1 Viewer)

. In Sky and Telescope magazine, September 2015, there is a very positive test of this binocular.
It is considered very good for both birdwatching and astronomy.

Also tested are Tele Vue's new De Lite eyepieces, which are rated very highly, and also fit binocular viewers and binoculars that take 1.25 inch eyepieces. The 47 mm barrel diameter means that they will fit, whereas many modern wide-angle eyepieces won't.

This large binocular seems to be the one to get, although I think that some Vixen binoculars are also very good.

Binastro said:

.
Also tested are Tele Vue's new De Lite eyepieces, which are rated very highly, and also fit binocular viewers and binoculars that take 1.25 inch eyepieces..

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I assume they are a De Lite to use?

HN

They are De Lovely.


(Song).
Cole Porter, 1936.

these clearly are the top rated binoculars for astronomy-NOW
alternatives are the Vixens, Highlanders, Doctor 80mms

I think 100mms are too big/heavy for birding,
unless from a fixed position
the Vixens even bigger, heavier

for astronomy I would go with the Lunts
for birding I would go with the smaller, more expensive Highlanders
for both-??

edj

Binastro said:

.

This large binocular seems to be the one to get, although I think that some Vixen binoculars are also very good.

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What's the advantage of using such binoculars over say, an equivalent quality APO ED refractor with 90 degree mirror diagonal and binoviewer?

HN

. Hi HighNorth,
This was discussed a little while ago on another thread, but I can't remember where it was.
Perhaps somebody else can direct you to this topic.

Binastro said:

. Hi HighNorth,
This was discussed a little while ago on another thread, but I can't remember where it was.
Perhaps somebody else can direct you to this topic.

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Binastro, was it this thread?

HN

HighNorth said:

Binastro, was it this thread?

HN

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Yes it was JerryLogan's recommendation...I'm still considering my options regarding a high powered bino for terrestrial use. I'll be looking more carefully at these Lunt binos.

I should have snapped up the Takahashi fluorite 22x60 years ago - now they're very difficult to get.

HighNorth said:

What's the advantage of using such binoculars over say, an equivalent quality APO ED refractor with 90 degree mirror diagonal and binoviewer?

HN

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depends on wanting to see the forest or the trees

forest-the binoculars give a wide angle, up is up, right is right view
trees-the scope/binoviewer give a higher mag reversed view

edj

. Hi HighNorth,
Yes, it was that thread, but there was also another post, I think by an American user, where he gave a very long detailed description of using binocular viewers with a largish telescope and compared it with binoculars up to about 70 mm aperture.
Basically he found that, by using high-quality eyepieces and a high quality binocular viewer the telescope viewer was better than the binoculars.

What he did not do was to compare large, say 100 mm binoculars of top quality, with a top quality 100 mm telescope with a binocular viewer.

My feeling is that a top quality 100 mm binocular would be equivalent to a top quality 125 mm telescope with a binocular viewer. The proviso is that the binocular must be well collimated at 100 times magnification and the binocular viewer capable of 100 times or 150 times magnification.
With a binocular viewer, even the best ones, there is some light loss and of course you are splitting the light into two in addition.
But even a 125 mm telescope and a binocular viewer may weigh less than the 100 mm binocular.
The costs might be similar.

What I would recommend, though, is very good quality eyepieces by Pentax, Tele Vue etc. And the new De Lite eyepieces seem ideal for binocular viewers or binoculars that take 1.25 inch astronomical eyepieces.

In the Sky and Telescope test of the Lunt 100 mm binocular, the tester was using the 11 mm De Lite eyepieces giving 50 times. I was surprised that he could see shadow transits of Jupiter's moons and also the actual moon in front of Jupiter's disc. He also saw the great red spot at 50 times. So this is obviously a high quality set up and in addition I think the tester must have good eyes.

Rathaus said:

Yes it was JerryLogan's recommendation...I'm still considering my options regarding a high powered bino for terrestrial use. I'll be looking more carefully at these Lunt binos.

I should have snapped up the Takahashi fluorite 22x60 years ago - now they're very difficult to get.

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It's not too late 0646 hours PDT :>)
http://www.cloudynights.com/classif...i-22x60-fluorite-binoculars-pristine-wextras/

Best,
Jerry

JerryLogan said:

It's not too late 0646 hours PDT :>)
http://www.cloudynights.com/classif...i-22x60-fluorite-binoculars-pristine-wextras/

Best,
Jerry

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$2400 seems high for binoculars that sold for $1200,
but when compared to current alphas in the same price range,
may not be so bad for the quality-still only 60mms

edj

edwincjones said:

$2400 seems high for binoculars that sold for $1200,
but when compared to current alphas in the same price range,
may not be so bad for the quality-still only 60mms

edj

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You're right. My only thought is they'll be $3600 by 2020