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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kabsetz" data-source="post: 3654474" data-attributes="member: 10167">To OP,Getting back to the original topic (as an aside, I enjoy Binastro's and Jring's posts on unusual telescope designs tremendously, but perhaps there should be a dedicated thread for rare and unusual scopes - admin could make one and move some of the posts from here to it).If your primary intention is to view through a window, there will be little to no point in getting a premium telescope, since no window glass on the market is good enough not to markedly degrade the image quality at magnifications much over 15-20x, and most look pretty bad even through 10x binoculars. However, if you can have the scope on a terrace or balcony, with no glass in front of the view, then high optical quality becomes desirable.Ease of use will also be important since most of your guests are not accustomed to using scopes, and for the same reason, angled 45 degree spotting scope will work much better than a straight scope or an astro scope with a 90 degree diagonal.If cost is not a barrier, a good option would be Swarovski's BTX 35x95 binocular telescope, as most people will find viewing with two eyes much easier than with one. For one-eyed viewing (normal spotting scopes), any high-quality model such as Swaro ATX or ATS, Kowa 883, Zeiss Harpia, Nikon Monarch Fieldscopes or Meopta S2 would be fine. A good stable (preferably carbon fibre or Berlebach ash wood) tripod is a must, with either a good fluid head or a fluid damped gimbal head.Another very worthwhile option for views over the bay would be Canon's 15x50 or 18x50 image stabilised binoculars.Kimmo</blockquote>

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