What Is A Good 10×50 Astronomical Binocular?

Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 7:41 am

A good mid-priced porro-prism binocular such as the Orion Vista will be good enough for most people. If you want the best, look into the Nikon Prostar or Fujinon Polaris binoculars. The Canon image-stabilized 15x50 is another good, premium astro binocular.
Many of the lower-priced models from Orion, Celestron, and others will do fine. You'll get a little more distortion towards the edges of the field, and maybe a little less light throughput in the cheaper bins. For astronomy, you can dispense with extras such as rubber armor, weatherproofing, online drugs and center focus. Porro-prisms are better for astronomy than roof prisms, because the roofs can show a bit of a spike on bright stars. Avoid models with polarizing or anti-haze filters or coating - fine for daytime use, but their light throughput is considerably reduced.