Minolta Activa 10 X 50W Binoculars

Rating:
Summary: Good for Beginning Astronomers
Review: Being interested in amateur astronomy, I wanted a good pair of binocs that would have enough light gathering ability (as well as clarity and focus) to enable me to gain a greater familiarity with the night sky. Although most astronomy info sources warn you to stay away from Wide Angle binoculars due to the lack of clarity near the image's edge, the Minolta's do a very good job of keeping everything easy to see. I'm able to get stunning detail of the lunar surface as well as the ability to pick out hidden stars that are more difficult to see with the naked eye.

I also use these binocs for general daytime use like bird-watching. The 10X magnification allows me to get up close and personal with the local wildlife at my bird feeder without scaring them away.

With all the marvelous things you can do with these binoculars, be warned that their size (10 X 50) is usually at the hand-holding limit for most people. They aren't heavy by any means but if you are going to use them for astronomy or long-time viewing (or anything else where you're looking at something small) you will get a little bit of shaking. As the lenses magnify the image, they also magnify your hand motions--nothing very severe or incredibly annoying and nothing that a tripod and tripod adapter can't fix. (And for those reading the tech aspects of these binocs, fear not! Contrary to information posted about them, these binocs DO have the threading hole for a tripod adapter!)

Rating:
Summary: Good for the price
Review: I wish Amazon[.com] had a 1-10 rating system because I would give the binos (price taken into consideration) a 9. However, I have to give it a four star rating because a five star rating is deceptive (making it appear to be perfect). The binos have slight chromatic aberration, visible on bright reflections and stars. On terrestrial objects, for my eyes at least, the binos gave a nice, comforatble 3-d effect with a nice wide angle of view. I preferred it over other binos with a higher price tag (about 130 dollars more) as I felt the images were nearly identical, but the binos gave a nice wide view. At 10x the magnification is just on the verge of being too high to handhold, so I had to lower the binos every ten minutes or so to give my arms a break. The binos aren't the lightest I have seen for its class, but on the other hand, they feel very durable.
On astronomical objects, the wide view makes it a perfect set to go crusing around Orion. The Orion nebula is very evident. When just coasting around the night sky for the first time, I looked for Orion's belt and came across the nebula, even though I didn't know it. I kept wondering why the optics had fogged up so quickly, or why the optics seemed so bad, when I realized my mistake. On some binos of nearly the same apeture, I had to really search for the nebula, now it's so obvious, I couldn't believe my eyes.With Sirius in the view, I noticed a slight blue ring around the bright star, but it was pretty faint. Only on the brightest stars did I notice false color.

Based on apeture, and price class

Optics: 9
Weight: 8
Construction: 9
Easy of handling (to keept object in view steady without tripod): 8
Value: 9.9

All that averages out to around 9 out of 10.