Scope
Views’ Best Buys 2022
Here are my best buys for 2022, sifted from many
recent reviews, some ongoing. I update this from time to time to reflect recent
product releases and new reviews.
Note: Click on the image for any bino/scope to go
to the full review.
Table
of Contents
Best Buy Premium Birding / Nature Viewing Binoculars
Best Buy Mid-Price Birding / Nature Viewing Binoculars
Best Buy Budget Birding /
Nature Viewing Binoculars
Best Buy Conventional High-Power Astronomy Binoculars
Best Buy Travel ‘Scope for Eclipses
Best Buy Premium Birding / Nature Viewing
Binoculars
Swarovski NL Pure
Swarovski’s new top-line NL Pure range have their
made-in-Austria quality with a super wide, flat, bright detailed view, a really
superb focuser, lots of eye relief and a comfy hold with their contoured body.
Their only ‘fault’ is a touch of veiling flare under some conditions; and they
weigh a little more than I’d like.
So
the SW NL Pure is the best birding binocular I’ve reviewed. I’ve only tested
the 8x42 and 12x42 models, but you can safely assume the 10x42s will be
excellent if you prefer a 10x binocular.
Between the 8x42 and the 12x42, I actually prefer
the 12x model. Its view and handling and eyepiece comfort are the same, but the
12x42s take you closer and have a slightly flatter and wider apparent field.
But... Zeiss’ SFs are now a much closer runner-up
than they were. Yes,
a few design tweaks have improved them, but now that Zeiss have fixed their
early quality issues their innate abilities shine through. The SFs are light,
super comfortable to use (perhaps even more so than the Swarovski’s) and have a
great view that’s just a little narrower and less perfectly flat than the NL
Pure’s.
Best Buy Mid-Price Birding / Nature Viewing
Binoculars
Leica Trinovid
HD 10x42 or Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42
The newer Leica
Trinovids do almost everything well. They have a great view from HD optics,
comfortable eyepieces with plenty of relief for glasses wearers and a comfy
hold. They are light too, focus close and have an excellent focuser. The only
downsides are a bit more field-edge softening and false colour than some.
Their European build
quality (made in Portugal) is almost embarrassingly good – just like Leica’s
premium models in fact. The icing on the cake is a very reasonable price –
typically lower than the Zeiss Conquests or Nikon Monarch HGs.
If only things were that
simple. My recent review of Zeiss’ 10x42 Conquest HDs found them every bit as
recommendable overall, but for different reasons. With the Conquests, it’s all
about the view – wide, bright, sharp, well corrected and immersive with a
little less false colour than the Leicas. But in terms of build and mechanical
quality and handling, I still just prefer the Trinovids. Which you choose will
depend on your preferences (and more
prosaically maybe current deals) – try both!
Best Buy Budget Birding / Nature Viewing Binoculars
Nikon Monarch 5 10x42
These binoculars seem to be a bit of an exception
to the rule that you get what you pay for. Online you can get them for as
little as £250, yet the view is very comparable with the next price bracket up
which includes budget models from premium brands at over twice the price.
On the upside, these are very light weight, well
made and give a bright, sharp view. The Monarchs use ED glass to kill false
colour and do it as effectively as almost any binocular I have tested. They
handle well, have good eye relief for specs-wearers and a smooth focuser too.
They work well for birding, but very acceptably for casual astronomy as well.
The only downsides to the Nikon Monarch 5 10x42s
are that they have a narrow field of view and a bit of astigmatism at the
edges; but overall, they are an excellent binocular from a quality brand for a
modest outlay.
Best Buy Astronomy Binoculars
Canon 12x36 ISIII
You want high-power binoculars for finding and
enjoying brighter DSOs and for quick looks at Luna or keeping track of
Jupiter’s Galilean moons, but you don’t want to pay thousands. What do you buy?
Well, I can tell you what I’ve bought - Canon’s 12x36 IS IIIs (not the
older ISIIs, yes it makes a difference).
The Canon 12x36s have truly excellent optics, a
smooth accurate focuser, decent eye relief for glasses wearers (unlike the
14x32 and 15x50 models) and a very light weight of about 700g with batteries.
All those things alone would make them good value,
but the killer feature is of course image stabilisation. In this latest version (IS III) it just works ...
and then some. Not only does this give you amazingly detailed views of the
Moon, but wonderful deep sky performance too, despite the modest aperture.
They may be just 36mm aperture, but the
stabilisation allows them to outperform good 12x50s for astronomy in many ways.
Their main downside is too much false colour for
some terrestrial uses (birds on the wing, or nature viewing over bright water
or snow), but that’s not an issue for astronomy at this magnification.
Yes, I know they’re a piece of consumer
electronics, but if you want outstanding astronomy performance for a sensible
price, these are my top pick.
Best Buy Conventional High-Power Astronomy
Binoculars
Swarovski 15x56 SLC HD or Vortex Razor 18x56 UHD
These two models share my recommendation for the
best hand-held non-stabilised astronomy binoculars. But in both cases, only if you can handle their weight and high-power
shakes – try before you buy. Both do work well on a tripod too, but the
adapter is extra in both cases and there are cheaper good bino’s for use
mounted.
Swarovski’s 15x56 SLC HDs
were my once my absolute favourites for astronomy. Technically, the 15x56 SLC
HDs are some of the best binoculars I have ever tested, period, with a wide
flat field and outstanding correction for false colour as well as very sharp
optics and good eye relief. Their
astronomy performance is astoundingly good if you can hold them steady – they
will find things 10x50s just won’t and they cut through sky glow better too.
The Vortex Razor 18x56
UHDs were launched more recently. They are slightly less perfect than the SLCs:
they have a bit more field edge softening and quite a lot more
false colour. However, their view is otherwise every bit as brilliant
and detailed, whilst that extra power does give them even more reach for deep
sky. On the Moon they offer detail to rival a small telescope. What’s more,
their unusual flared-barrel design makes them very easy to hold steady.
Runner up is Zeiss’ 15x56
Conquest HD. The Zeiss remain a great binocular, but the Swaros
are smaller, better made and have a better corrected field and a brighter view,
whilst the Vortex offer more power and are slightly lighter and comfier to
hold. If you want the high magnification but not the shakes, Canon’s venerable
18x50 image stabilising binoculars are worth trying too.
Best Buy Travel Binoculars
Zeiss 8x25 Victory Pocket
When
I travel, I take the smallest, lightest option (well, unless it’s a specific
observing trip). That’s been 8x20s or 10x25s, but they’ve always been a bit
compromised. Small, yes, but also tight of view and dim and short of eye
relief. That’s why I’ve previously recommended 8x30s or 8x32s for travel. Well
not any more.
The
Victory Pockets are large for folding binoculars, but still much smaller and
lighter than last year’s best buy, Swarovski’s CL Companions. But now, the view
runs a good pair of 8x30s far closer than any folding binocular ever has –
wide, bright, sharp and detailed. Eyepiece comfort if you wear glasses is good
too.
So
the Victory Pockets are that rare thing – small bino’ size but big bino’ view.
Perfect for that wildlife holiday, arctic cruise or trek.
However,
if you’re looking to do some casual astronomy around the camp fire, I’d pick a
pair of lightweight 8x30s instead.
Runners up? My old pick, Swarovski’s CL Companions
are still easy to recommend. For a classic look, light weight and surprisingly
great view, I really like Leica’s 7x35 Trinovids. Nikon’s 8x30 EIIs are another
great traditional choice.
Best Buy Travel ‘Scope for Eclipses
Takahashi FS-60Q or Questar Standard 3.5
Lunar eclipse through Takahashi FS-60Q.
The FS-60Q is a tiny portable quadruplet refractor.
It is basically an FS-60 (an F6 fluorite doublet) with a special doublet 1.7x
extender called the ‘CQ Module’ threaded into the OTA.
The result is superb small apochromat with a very
well corrected and flat field covering a 44mm image circle (in other words you
get a flat, well-illuminated field across a full-frame sensor). The extender
also removes most residual aberrations, so the FS-60Q works at very high
magnifications and image scales for its size.
All that makes the FS-60Q a super-sharp 600mm
telephoto lens for fantastic photos of the Moon that belie its small size; it
works brilliantly as a visual instrument too. It packs up into a tiny carry-on
bag and will fit on the smallest mount. So it’s ideal for
travelling to eclipses – both Solar and Lunar.
You can either buy the FS-60Q as a complete scope
(see above), or just get the thread-in CQ module to upgrade an existing FS-60.
I love Tak’s other 60mm
‘Q’ , the FOA-60Q, but it is significantly longer, heavier,
more expensive and slower at F15. It’s also got a lens design that may not be
as rugged.
Questar
The reason this category has two best buys is that
the FS-60Q is just a telescope, whilst Questar is a complete package in a way
nothing else is: a tiny carry on case that contains
‘scope, finder, mount, drive, star and Moon maps, eyepiece, barlow
lens and a white-light solar filter. No, it’s not cheap, but nothing else comes
close to its functionality as a travel scope. That case contains everything you
need (except maybe for a camera adapter).
Optically, Questar is a long-focus Maksutov, so it’s not nearly as flexible as the FS-60Q for
imaging, though perfect for eclipses.
Best Buy 3” Refractor
Takahashi FC-76DCU
The FC-76 replaced
Takahashi’s superb-but-big FS-78. It is lightweight, very well corrected and
good for high power visual use as well as imaging (the field is surprisingly
flat, even without a reducer/flattener). If you want a basic flattener, Tak’ make a cheap-but-good multi-flattener that will cover
full frame and work with any other Tak’s you might
own.
The FC-76 now comes in
two versions; optics are the same:
·
The FC-76DS weighs about 3kg and has a sliding
dew-shield for maximum compactness; it looks like a Sky-90 and shares its 95mm
O.D. tube and focuser
·
The FC-76DCU is cheaper, has a fixed dew-shield and
80mm O.D. tube and the smaller FS-60 focuser. It is longer than the DS, but
only weighs a paltry 1.8 Kg
The DCU is cheaper,
lighter and splits in half for easy carry-on portability and gets the nod from
me. For serious imaging, still buy the DCU and just upgrade the focuser.
Best Buy 4” Refractor
Takahashi FC-100DC
Takahashi’s 100mm equivalent of the FC-76 is
another excellent Tak’. The FC-100D is a fluorite
doublet and though it’s not quite as well corrected as the discontinued TSA-102
triplet, it is pretty good, with low false colour, a flat field and good
coverage (hence the ‘D’ for Digital tag). So the
FC-100D is great for imaging, with various reducers available but still good
without. Surprisingly, it also works very well for high powered visual use too.
There are now four versions of the FC-100D,
but unless you need the DF’s imaging focuser or the DZ’s perfect correction,
get the FC-100DC – it is light, cheapish, portable and great.
Best Buy Budget Refractor
Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED
This is easy. The Sky-Watcher 100ED Pro has
excellent optics with minimal CA and a smooth dual-speed focuser. It is a
proper 4” apochromat, so shows a lot more than smaller scopes, even premium
ones. Yet it’s available for a very modest price, much less than the 120ED.
It’s light-weight too, so you can mount it on an EQ5. And you can get a cheap
reducer for imaging.
The main downsides are its length, compared with
say an FC-100DC, and slightly lower performance at high magnifications.