OpticsBlog – Thoughts and reviews of binoculars, telescopes, scopes, sights, and much more - birdwatching, astronomy, target shooting - pretty much anything related to optics, nature, and life!

I'm getting tired of big telescopes and heavy equipment. By the time I get home at night and get a chance to eat and catch my breath, I simply don't have the energy or time to deal with lengthy setup and cool down that comes with the big stuff. That's why I've been thinking about the Vixen Porta-Mount. I like the slow motion controls and since I don't need or care for computers on my telescopes, it is everything I need in a visual platform. Now my only decision is what to put on it for a telescope.

I can get a great deal on a closeout Meade ETX-125 spotting scope and that would certainly work. On the other hand, it's the Televue 76 that keeps haunting my dreams. Of course, I'll have to sell my car, but walking the 8 miles to work everyday might do me good. (Yeah, right.)

Living as I have in the Chicago area these last two years, it sometimes seems hard to believe I've spent much of my life in more open and remote locations out West. In Nebraska, where I lived and did my birding for so many years, there are counties that would swallow a city the size of Chicago and all its suburbs and yet you could barely make it to 5000 people if you were to take a census.

In that wide open country, a spotting scope was as essential birding tool and on many outings, I spent more time looking through my spotting scope than my binocular. On the other hand, here in Cook County, a birder carrying a spotting scope is a relatively rare thing, especially in the local Forest Preserves. Chances are, if you see a gal with a funny hat, carrying a little Kowa 663 spotting scope and tripod, having a blast counting feathers in a 20x wide angle eyepiece, it will be me. You Easterners may have doubts about using a spotting scope in the timber, but if you see me out there on the trail, stop and chat and I'll let you see for yourself.

OpticsPlanet.net was lucky enough to buy some closeout ETX spotting scopes from Meade, who also owns Weaver. This version of the ETX is called the Weaver ETX-90 and it differs from the Meade ETX-90 spotting scope only in the tube color and number of eyepieces provided. You get two eyepieces with the Weaver, instead of three with the Meade. Other than that, I could detect no difference. When you consider the price, this surely has to be one of the best buys on the spotting scope market. If I didn't already have all I need in spotting scopes, I would buy one, myself.

I had a great time pulling needles out of haystacks with my search for migrating warblers this weekend. Yes, "needles in haystacks" is a good description of spotting and identifying warblers this time of year. Trees are still in full leaf and it takes a ton of searching to even detect a bird and once located, it takes an equal amount of patience to wait for the bird to expose itself long enough for an identification. Guess that's what makes it fun for me. Once you do see a Black-throated Blue after a mornings work, it makes it all the sweeter. You quickly forget about the heat and humidity, sore neck and pesky mosquitoes. Time just slips away as you make your way down those forest trails. If they don't have warblers in heaven, I don't want to go. Just be sure to bury me with my Leica 10x25 Ultravid. (I'd take my Nikon 8x32 Premier SE, too, if I could senak it in.) Could be a long trip and I don't want to be weighted down.

PS That's me in the pic if you've been wanting to put words and a face together.

When asked to pick my favorite $300 class bino, I never hesitate to pick the Swift Audubon 8.5x44 828HHS. Why? Well, quite simply, it is the best thing I have tested for resolution at this price and it handles like a dream. I've sold many of these locally to my fellow birders and have yet to hear a negative. It's no secret that I am a binocular connoisseur (okay, snob), but I would be perfectly content to go birding all day with this classic. It passes Joanie's "Can't put it down" test with flying colors. If Swift ever dares to drop this binocular from its line, I will … well, I'll probably cry.

I've been challenging myself lately to find some famous binocular astronomy objects, not because I don't know them (I can see them in my sleep), but because I need a challenge now and then. How could something like M27 in Vulpecula be a challenge with binoculars, you say? Well, if you live in a light polluted location like the northwest suburbs of Chicago, even seeing a 3rd magnitude star with the naked eye is a challenge. Seeing a magnitude 7 object like M27 from a brightly lit apartment complex is therefore a worthy challenge.

Last night, we had a night of excellent transparency and M27 was also ideally placed, nearly directly overhead. I know because my upstairs neighbor's deck kept getting in the way. Since I just happened to have checked out a Nikon 8x32 Premier SE, I started scanning. At first, M27 escaped, but since I already knew what to look for, I finally spotted the small dim, fuzzy. Yeah! Oh, did I mention? Stars seen through the Nikon premier SE were as crisp and pinpoint as it gets. I love that binocular. What a sweetie!

It was a beautiful autumn like morning here in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, but, unfortunately, I was spending it stuck in traffic like everyone else. As I glanced over to some trees along the shoulder, though, I happened to spot some birds flitting from branch to branch. Their movements announced they were warblers, but which ones?

Most people would have to let it go at that, but not an optics nut like me. I reached in my purse and pulled out my handy Nikon 5x15 HG monocular, and turned it toward the birds. As I suspected, they were warblers and my guess of Yellow-rumped warblers was even verified. I had seen many of them over the weekend.

Maybe I should think about taking a day off to catch up on my birding. After all, many of these species won't be back until spring.

I went birding on Saturday to catch some of the migrating fall warblers coming through the area and am happy to report some action. I didn't see a lot of different species, but I saw great numbers of Yellow-rumped and Redstarts, with an occasional Black and White and Palm to keep things interesting. What I didn't see were other birders, but then the hot, muggy weather and plague of mosquitoes might account for that.

I use a Leica 10x25 Ultravid for nearly all my birding and normally it's all I need, but picking those little birds out of the heavy, dense canopy of leaves was a lot of work with the relatively narrow field of view of the compact Ultravid. I've been meaning to add a wider field 8x, such as the Leica 8x32 Ultravid, or the Nikon Premier LX8x32, but somehow I can't squeeze one into the budget right now. Maybe by spring, if I have been a very good girl ...

My first Swarovski binocular was a Swarovski SLC7x42. That was over ten years ago, so when Swarovski announced a new version of the SLC, my curiosity was piqued. How would the new SLC hold up against Swaorovski's flagship EL? After all, the asking price for the Swarovski 10x42 EL is more than $500 over the already hefty price of the current Swarovski SLC 10x42.

Yesterday, I pulled both premium roof prism binoculars off the shelf and put them through their paces in a side by side comparison. I walked away impressed with both binoculars, but not surprisingly, the EL was the winner.

In terms of handling, the Swarovski EL has always been famous and in my test, this reputation is deserved. I much preferred the EL to the SLC. The Swarovski EL molds itself to your hands, perfectly balanced, and leaves you with the impression that Swarovski made it just for you. The SLC was simply not in the same class here.

I'm an optics nut, though. Looking good and feeling good are important, but my dreams are about crystal clear images and exquisite resolution (okay, some movie stars, too). On this basis, I have to say the Swarovski EL 10x42 optically rates as a dream. It scored one of the highest marks for a 10x42 binocular I have tested yet for resolution and was two resolution grids sharper than the SLC 10x42. Is it worth the extra $500 over the SLC?

Sweet dreams!

Why, you might ask, would a telescope need a GPS? Is it lost? Well, my friend bought an older version of the LX90 telescope, the Meade LX90LNT and her telescope would occasionally get lost, at least as far as the computer alignment went. It was not unusual for her to have to realign in the middle of an observing session and on some nights, the scope would wander forever, trying to align itself when we turned it on - annoying to say the least. It was also a pain to have to enter a position every time we moved the telescope to a new location, which is a common strategy for us city bound observers to escape light pollution.

If the Meade LX90 GPS telescope had been available, she would have bought it in a second. The GPS unit now tells the scope exactly where it is, so alignment is now quicker and more reliable. It is a welcome addition to an already great telescope.

I've always been a fan of compact binoculars even though I am more than cognizant of their shortcomings. Maybe it's because compact binoculars have been such a constant companion while the big stuff got left behind due to size and weight. Maybe it's because I have never really missed the performance of large binoculars, even at my fussiest. Maybe it's because I have identified more birds with compact binoculars simply because they were there and some bird made an unexpected appearance. And, yes, maybe it's because compact binoculars are … just plain cute. How could you not love them?

My first love in a compact binocular was the older Bausch&Lomb Custom Compact 7x26 which survives to this day as the Bushnell Custom Compact 7x26. If there is a better compact out there for the price, I don't know what it is. Only shortcoming for the Custom Compact is that it is not waterproof. Okay, not your best choice for that rain forest expedition, but this is a great choice to get anyone over their disdain for compact binoculars.

My next love was the classic Swarovski 8x20 Pocket, but though I drooled over the Swarovski mystique and elegance, I could not get along with the eye relief. Like the fickle lover I am, I moved on.

Next stop was the Leica Trinovid 8x20 and here I stopped for many years. During that time I had short flings with the Zeiss Victory 8x20 and a Zeiss Classic 10x25, but those were mere infatuations. The Leica Trinovid had my heart and we had many years wonderful together.

The one day I heard about an upstart Japanese compact in the form of the Nikon Premier LX 10x25. It was waterproof, whereas my Trinovid was not, so I thought it would make a nice rough weather backup. One look, though, and I began to drool. Was it possible? Could it be that good, optically, even as good (or sssh! Maybe better) than my Leica?

It was. Now I had two binoculars after my heart and I was torn emotionally. What to do?

The solution came with the arrival of the Leica Ultravid 10x25BL, my current love. It offered the waterproofing of the Nikon with the rear placed center wheel of the Trinovid with design improvements to boot. I have become so enamored of this binocular, that I have sold my large binos and cannot honestly say I miss any of them. I am a Leica girl to the end.

Maybe.