Excelsis - Display Vote

Barska Blackhawk 15x70

I have the Sportsman's Guide version called Galileo. For $69.95, they can't be beat. They are bright, contrasty, and sharp over at least the middle 50% (by area) of the view. Eye relief is 20mm and apparent field of view is 65 degrees. Very comfortable to use with eyeglasses.

Mine arrived in perfect collimation and with a tripod adapter. Others have reported not getting a tripod adapter. It's not the best one in the world, but is better than nothing at all. The case and caps are very nice. The strap, while minimally functional, is a joke at only 1/4 inch wide.

They are perfect for large star clusters such as the Pleiades and the belt of Orion. The Orion nebula is quite evident and placed in context quite nicely. The field of view isn't big enough to take in the Hyades, though. Perseus is very nice to view.

15x is just not enough to do much with planets other than note moon alignments. I have yet to try them on the moon.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 01/24/2003 07:59:05 am PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.253.65)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=181273

I finally tried them out on the moon.  They are sharp in the central region, and they don't significantly distort the moon's shape as it is moved toward the edge of the field (though it gets a little blurry).

However, the amount of glare/scattered light/flaring going on is immense.  Even with the moon outside the field of view, the background goes much brighter.  By the time the moon is in the field of view, it is white on grey instead of white on black.  I don't know if this is due to poor baffling or poor coatings, but it is pronounced.

Still, this should not deter someone from getting one of these for $70 for general deep sky work.

Back