Excelsis - Display Vote

Takahashi Fluorite APO 22x60

Great optics! The phrase "pin point stars" takes on a whole new meaning. These fluorite binos are "extremely" sharp to about 15-20% of the edge of field. The field of view is very flat, and stars at the edges are "almost" pin-points. Chromatic aberration is virtually non-existent to my amateur eyes. The limb of the full Moon showed no false color on-axis. However, if you move your head slightly (off-axis viewing), you might see hints of false color. And I mean just hints.

Aimed at Vega, I noticed no color fringing or violet halos around the star. Vega appeared so bright that a very faint whitish-blue glow can be seen, likely produced by the coatings. The image is so clear, that you can see faint stars extremely close to brilliant Vega. I never seen faint and bright stars so closely spaced in the same field of view in my 20-years of observing. There is just no color bleeding (flaring) or other abberation in the image to tarnish the view.

On to bright Venus...no flare-up, glare or chromatic aberration noted! You can actually see the phases of this planet very cleanly. Very, very nice!

The optics are so good that the image never feels like its being magnified at a whooping 22x (given the small aperture.) No comparison to the strained and dim images seen in Celestron 20x80's or the curvature of field and severe coma of the Swift 11x80's. The Taks produce clean and bright images.

Compared to the Fujinon 10x70's, I now see a much darker sky (essentially black) from my moderately sky polluted suburban location. The amazing contrast of the Taks results in "seeing" more nebulosity than the Fujinons, even though the aperture is 10 mm less. What were soft hints of glow in the Fujinons are now moderately bright patches of nebulosity in the Taks. I will not discuss my experience regarding magnification between the two, as I'd be unfairly comparing apples to oranges. It's amazing to look at open-star clusters to see hundreds of uniquely colored stars in the Taks. The same clusters in the Fujinons yield less than a dozen distinguishable star colors. The color purity inherent to the fluorite elements is absolutely stunning!

I loved Fujinons - and still do. However, the Fujinons are not as sharp as the Taks. They do show flaring on bright planets and stars, contain a notable amount of false color and show slight amounts of coma.

The Taks do not have the larger eyepieces like the Fujinons (this is unfortunate given their price.) They are pricey and may look like $600 binos at first glance. However, look through a pair and you'll be addicted to the optics! Then you'll understand why they are worth an extra $500 over the venerable Fujinon FMT-SX's.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:9
Weight: 20 (Notable Vote)
Date: 11/18/2002 02:50:40 am PST
By: szoruba
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=131451

>Great optics!  The phrase "pin point stars" takes on a whole new meaning.  These fluorite binos are "extremely" sharp to about 15-20% of the edge of field.  The field of view is very flat, and stars at the edges are "almost" pin-points.  Chromatic aberration is non-existent to my amateur eyes.  The limb of the moon and Vega showed absolutely no secondary color.  No flare-up or chromatic aberration on bright Venus!  You can actually see the phases of this planet very cleanly.  Very, very nice!
>
>The optics are so good that the image never feels like its being magnified at a whooping 22x (given the small aperature.)  No comparison to the strained and dim images seen in Celestron 20x80's or the curvature of field and severe coma of the Swift 11x80's.  The Taks produce clean and bright images.
>
>Compared to the Fujinon 10x70's, I now see a much darker sky (essentially black) from my moderately sky polluted suburban location.  The amazing contrast of the Taks results in "seeing" more nebulosity than the Fujinons, even though the aperature is 10 mm less.  What were soft hints of glow in the Fijinons are now moderately bright patches of nebulosity in the Taks.  I will not discuss my experience regarding magnification between the two, as I'd be unfairly comparing apples to oranges.  It's amazing to look at open-star clusters to see dozens upon dozens of uniquely colored stars in the Taks.  The same clusters in the Fujinons yield less than a dozen distinguishable star colors.  The color purity inherent to the fluorite elements is stunning.
> 
>I loved Fujinons - and still do.  However, the Fujinons are not as sharp as the Taks.  They show some flaring on bright planets and stars, secondary color, and have a slight amount of coma.
>
>The Taks  do not have the larger eyepieces like the Fujinons (this is unfortunate given their price.)  They are pricey and may look like $600 binos at first glance.  However, look through a pair and you'll be addicted to the optics!  Then you'll understand why they are worth an extra $500 over the venerable Fujinon SX-FMT's.


Good afternoon! I love your reviews, and it seems like you're an experienced bino-observer. I moved your votes' weights (I'm the section moderator) to 10, since it seems you are very trustworthy, and you log on to this site regularly. I'll ask the webmaster if I could raise your user level to 20 since you seem like a pro.

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