A I binocular set

As a beginner about to start observing the night sky could any one offer advice as to whether this particular set is useful/any good. Having followed many posts on whether A.I. is what it proports to be, your opinions would be most helpful. I have been, what some refer to as a lurker, but I hope to become more actively involved.

From the A&S Ltd. Site:

EUR: 196.81
10 x 50 Ultra Wide Angle made exclusively for A&S.
Outperforms all others in its price range.

* 10 x 50
* 7° Field of View
* Tall Tripod
* Binocular clamp
* Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars
-Book by Patrick Moore.

Postage & packing €15 for the Binocular Pack.

The idea of the package is good. Not sure about the binoculars since they don't state the manufacturer and so you cant get a non-biased review.

I would imagine that some other dealers would give you a better deal on principle

Cheers,
~Al

hi Peter,

welcome to the group! I agree with what Al is saying about the manufacturer not being known though it's unlikely A.I. will sell junk binocs. The price sounds ok too -- probably if you went and bought all the gear separately you would save maybe 40 euro or so.

ask someone in the shop there to check out the binocs for you as well; occasionally, the alignment of binoc prisms can be knocked out and you would then get a "flaring" of star images.

Patrick Moore's book is good but I always bemoan the poor star charts. For about 7 or 8 euro, you'll pick up the "Stars" pocket-sized book in the Collins GEM Guide series (Ian Ridpath is the author). The Wil Tirion drawn charts make it THE best value star atlas you can get.

each constellation chart is faced with a page about objects for binoculars and small telescopes with a handful of areas charted in more detail (Pleiades, Orion Nebula region, etc). Go to www.skymaps.com too and you can download an Adobe Acrobat readable star chart for the month which also highlights interesting binocular objects.

Wintertime too is ideal to start your binocular explorations as there are many star clusters, etc. on view. The 10x50s will let you explore the Moon, spot the moons of Jupiter tight in to the planet, the phase of Venus later in the year (around May) when it narrows to a thin crescent but swells in apparent size, and do eyepiece projection of the Sun.

don't forget to check out the back issues of the IFAS magazine ARCTURUS in the RESOURCES section of the board -- there's some binocular tours highlighted in some of the archived files.

gotta fly . . . best of luck with your binocular explorations!

John Flannery
SDAS

Hi Peter,

Welcome aboard, I'm just starting out too and am also going down the binocular path. I have a pair of 10x50 (not from A.I.) and Patrick Moore's book. It's a good book, but as John said, The Collins GEM Guide "Stars" is exactly that, a little gem!

Since you're going out buying binoculars, heres a shortcut to an article on the Sky & Telescope web-site that I found invaluable when I was buying mine. You'd be suprised how many misaligned binoculars there are out there. The article is well worth a read:
skyandtelescope.com/printable/howto/scopes/article_259.asp

Hi Peter,

Me again, I just forgot to mention a freeware program I downloaded from the web that I find quite good. It's very clear and easy to use (us beginners need that!) and it's a great help in getting to know the sky. It can be downloaded from:

www.winstars.net/english/index2.html

If any one else has tried/used this program, I'd be greatful for your thoughts on it.

THANK YOU ALL FOR INFO. ASUSUAL IT VERY INTERESTING AND WILL GIVE ME FOOD FOR THOUGHT AND PROBABLY SOME EXERCISE DOING MORE RESEARCH. I WILL LET U KNOW HOW I GET ON AS THE RESULTS MAY BE USEFUL TO SOMONE ELSE.