Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"

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Brand and Model:Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
Price ($USD):$1000.00
Type:Binoviewer
Description:High Quility two inch Bino-Viewer. Light weight. Made from Stainless Steel and Aluminum. 1.7x Barlow included.

Vote Highlights Vote
Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
It takes alot of fiddling to get the two eyepieces to focus together. Everytime you change EP's, you again have to go through this routine.

In comparison to DM's, this binoviewer loses alot of contrast, and suffers greatly from light-reduction.

Definitely the "low end" of binoviewers. I found them very frustrating to use.

-UPDATE -

I see that Harry himself is trying to discredit me here. The above comments represent my personal asessment of his 2" units - I have used several models of binoviewers, and Harry's were far from the top of the list. I stand by my assessment that these required lots of fiddling, lose contrast, and were frustrating to use - as always, YMMV.

Since Harry is the manufacturer of this product, he is definitely going to offer biased opinions of his products. I think it is quite unscrupulous of him to offer reviews of his own products on this forum - they should definitely be taken with a grain of salt. I don't see any other manufacturers of astronomy products offering reviews on this site, save for Harry.

Personally, I would hope that the criticisms here would trigger Harry to consider design changes to his units, instead of triggering defensive comments.

As for the claim that I work for Denkmeyer, that is ridiculous.

Overall Rating: 3
Performance:4 Value:2
Weight: 11 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=183872 

I have been using Siebert's Black Night Binoviewers, 24mm ultras, 12.5 standard eyepieces, barlows, adapters, and the 36mm "Observatory" 2" eyepiece.  I've bought all of these gradually over the course of the last year, because of the consistant optical quality and excellent service Harry Siebert delivers.  
     So, unless this last review was some type of joke, I have to ask myself, "what was this guy smoking?"
>Cheaply made out of copper plumbing parts...

Err... excuse me... I would like to know when you purchased these. I have never seen Siebert's 2" binoviewer, however the Siebert Optics website indicates these are made from aluminum alloy, not copper. Even has a photo, which suggests a pretty rugged unit. Don Regan's review of these units makes no mention of your problems. FWIW, I have Siebert's  Black Nights binoviewer which are very neat and well-made units.

I clicked on the link in Excelsis to try and find your name, in case i recognized it, but all it had was initials. Whatever...
Bob Bennett, Maple Vly, WA
Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
(Revised) 12/28/03

Mr. Scope fan keeps updating his bashing of my unit regularly to keep pace with my clarification of his less then truthful statements. He originally said these units were made out of copper plumbing parts until I had the picture above put on. Then he realized that he was being shown up to to be a complete Liar (which obviously was too embarrasing even for someone who didn't use his real name.) One last thing. The name in Scopefan's profile was "Dick Head" at the start of all this. When I pointed it out to the moderator, he changed it to "DH". But now I pointed this out to all, I'm sure he will change the DH as well.

To demonstrate the fair way my friends and I deal with competitor products I have given a fair rating to the Denkmeier Binoviewers. See my review. We will never resort to underhanded methods to hurt our competitors' company. - Harry Siebert

Amended on 11/2/03 and added the following:

All I will say is that others in the binoviewer community should consider themselves fortunate that only a few unscrupulous people have resorted to taking illegitimate potshots about products they have never seen. I have reviewed Denkmeiers products and it still maintains a strong 9.4. Illegitimate and anonymous slams are not our style. It is a shame that not all astronomers are honest, well manored individuals. The hobby is usually represented better then the comments above. See my web site for the facts about the 2" binos. A photograph of the 2" units internal skeleton is posted. These have always been constructed of all aluminum alloy. A photograph of the finished unit and the internal structure will be submitted to excelsis to be presented above. This will stand as a permanent testimony to what a manifest liar the people who have misrepresented this product are.

Harry Siebert

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=184744 

Mr. Siebert:

I once had a truck that was going to be used for a long trip. I brought it to the local garage and asked them to check it over. They charged me over $1,000 for brakes, etc., but said it was ready for a long trip. Five miles down the road a hose burst. When the car was repaired (somewhere different) they pointed out that all of the hoses were old & cracked. When I went back to the garage to ask why they hadn't caught something so obvious, the owner got mad at ME, actually chasing me off the property with him swinging a huge wrench over his head.

Your response to criticism reminds me of that garage owner. Like him, his reaction is more important than the original problem. I wouldn't use him ever again, and I won't buy telescope equipment from you. If this is how you take criticism, reviling the critic with ad hominem attacks, I don't want to have anything to do with you.

Ed Isenberg

>(Revised) 12/28/03
>
>Mr. Scope fan keeps updating his bashing of my unit regularly to keep pace with my clarification of his less then truthful statements. He originally said these units were made out of copper plumbing parts until I had the picture above put on. Then he realized that he was being shown up to to be a complete Liar (which obviously was too embarrasing even for someone who didn't use his real name.) One last thing. The name in Scopefan's profile was "Dick Head" at the start of all this. When I pointed it out to the moderator, he changed it to "DH". But now I pointed this out to all,  I'm sure he will change the DH as well. 
>
>To demonstrate the fair way my friends and I deal with competitor products I have given a fair rating to the Denkmeier Binoviewers. See my review. We will never resort to underhanded methods to hurt our competitors' company. - Harry Siebert 
>
>Amended on 11/2/03 and added the following:
>
>All I will say is that others in the binoviewer community should consider themselves fortunate that only a few unscrupulous people have resorted to taking illegitimate potshots about products they have never seen. I have reviewed Denkmeiers products and it still maintains a strong 9.4. Illegitimate and anonymous slams are not our style. It is a shame that not all astronomers are honest, well manored individuals. The hobby is usually represented better then the comments above. See my web site for the facts about the 2" binos. A photograph of the 2" units internal skeleton is posted. These have always been constructed of all aluminum alloy. A photograph of the finished unit and the internal structure will be submitted to excelsis to be presented above. This will stand as a permanent testimony to what a manifest liar the people who have misrepresented this product are.
>
>Harry Siebert
Wow!  I will never buy anything from you, Mr. Siebert.  You seem like a very nasty fellow.  I agree that it is a bit shady for you to even be posting here about your own products.  Even more shady is your character asassination of the people who give your products less than favorable reviews.

You have turned me off, I don't like to do business with people like you.

-Mark Johanssen


>(Revised) 12/28/03
>
>Mr. Scope fan keeps updating his bashing of my unit regularly to keep pace with my clarification of his less then truthful statements. He originally said these units were made out of copper plumbing parts until I had the picture above put on. Then he realized that he was being shown up to to be a complete Liar (which obviously was too embarrasing even for someone who didn't use his real name.) One last thing. The name in Scopefan's profile was "Dick Head" at the start of all this. When I pointed it out to the moderator, he changed it to "DH". But now I pointed this out to all,  I'm sure he will change the DH as well. 
>
>To demonstrate the fair way my friends and I deal with competitor products I have given a fair rating to the Denkmeier Binoviewers. See my review. We will never resort to underhanded methods to hurt our competitors' company. - Harry Siebert 
>
>Amended on 11/2/03 and added the following:
>
>All I will say is that others in the binoviewer community should consider themselves fortunate that only a few unscrupulous people have resorted to taking illegitimate potshots about products they have never seen. I have reviewed Denkmeiers products and it still maintains a strong 9.4. Illegitimate and anonymous slams are not our style. It is a shame that not all astronomers are honest, well manored individuals. The hobby is usually represented better then the comments above. See my web site for the facts about the 2" binos. A photograph of the 2" units internal skeleton is posted. These have always been constructed of all aluminum alloy. A photograph of the finished unit and the internal structure will be submitted to excelsis to be presented above. This will stand as a permanent testimony to what a manifest liar the people who have misrepresented this product are.
>
>Harry Siebert
Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
Being the first to person get this two inch Bino-Viewer, all I can say is ammazing views. The views on the double cluster were out standing, but I'm still lost for words. M13 last night in the 9" APO was like I've never seen before. The flat field of view and seeing M13 with both eyes was WOW!!. Using this bino-viewer I've noticed that M2 and M13 resolved at lower powers than when using a single eyepice. The outer region's of M2 were resolved using the Siebert 32mm Ultra Pluse two inchers at a power of 88x in the 9" APO. At 201x the view was just mind shattering. M13 at high power ( 320x ) was resolved like I've never see in my 30+ years of observing globular clusters. The dark lanes that I've seen before in the resolved core was seen more easily and in more contrast. The chain star that run up through the core to the outer regions, stood out in 3D form. The view of M8 was jaw dropping. Nebulosity regions were seen easily and had more contrast than with a single eyepiece. I only hope that Bino-Viewer #2 that Todd Gross will get to review is as good as mine.
note: Two inch Bino-Viewers are a big step up from 1 1/4" ones, that mainly work great on the planets. These two inch bino-viewers so far have worked flawlessly on everything from Neb's, Open Clusters and Globular Clusters. As soon as the gas gaints are up all night, I'll be getting no sleep at all.

Overall Rating: 10
Performance:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=133882 

>Being the first to person get this two inch Bino-Viewer, all I can say is ammazing views. The views on the double cluster were out standing, but I'm still lost for words. M13 last night in the 9" APO was like I've never seen before. The flat field of view and seeing M13 with both eyes was WOW!!. Using this bino-viewer I've noticed that M2 and M13 resolved at lower powers than when using a single eyepice. The outer region's of M2 were resolved using the Siebert 32mm Ultra Pluse two inchers at a power of 88x in the 9" APO. At 201x the view was just mind shattering. M13 at high power ( 320x ) was resolved like I've never see in my 30+ years of observing globular clusters. The dark lanes that I've seen before in the resolved core was seen more easily and in more contrast. The chain star that run up through the core to the outer regions, stood out in 3D form. The view of M8 was jaw dropping. Nebulosity regions were seen easily and had more contrast than with a single eyepiece. I only hope that Bino-Viewer #2 that Todd Gross will get to review is as good as mine.
>  note: Two inch Bino-Viewers are a big step up from 1 1/4" ones, that mainly work great on the planets. These two inch bino-viewers so far have worked flawlessly on everything from Neb's, Open Clusters and Globular Clusters. As soon as the gas gaints are up all night, I'll be getting no sleep at all.


I would like to make some remarks to my post above. I do not want anyone to feel that I'm trying to say that 1 1/4" bino-viewers are only good for planetary observing. I have tried my Tele Vue units on deep sky objects, and find that they do good on brighter deep sky objects. But they have only 26mm optics, where as, the Siebert two inch Bino-Viewer unit has 40mm optics. Because of the 40mm optics I see much brighter objects and more sharper images with more contrast, on objects of 8th mag. and fainter. A more indepth review well be posted soon. I've used the two inch unit in a 9"APO, 6"APO, 6" Archromat, 10" SCT, 8" SCT, and a 16" SCT. I only put up this short review to let everyone know how the unit is working so far.
Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
[webmaster note: the vote that this vote refers to has been scrubbed]

The review below, which calls these binoviewers astounding, and "better than the Hubble telescope" is utterly rediculous.

I have used a set of these, as well as the 1.25" version, and can honestly say that Siebert's binoviewer products are not very good quality items. The only reason that they look nice is because they are covered with a leather "sack". Take off the leather sack and you will see that they are made of cheap copper plumbing. They are extremely difficult to get to focus together - this is really a pain when you finally have done this, and then need to change magnification, and the diopter slips. They also drastically darken the objects you are viewing - much more than a TV Binovue.

Siebert likes to compare his products on his website to Televue products. Anyone who has ever used any of the TV products in question can easily surmise that there is absolutely no comparison.

Another big annoyance with these binoviewers is that they put the image the wrong way - as opposed to normal binoviewers. This takes quite a bit of adjustment when you are trying to move the scope while looking through.

Take these "reviews" which state that these binoviewers are "Incredible" with a few grains of salt. Harry is notorious for "stuffing the ballot box" with favorable reviews that he himself writes under various aliases. If you think that the "Better than the Hubble Telescope" review sounds alot like an advertisement, you are most likely correct. I would much prefer getting a quality pair of 1.25" binoviewers over these junky, optically mediocre Siebert ones.

Overall Rating: 1
Performance:1 Value:1
Weight: 7 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=183938

Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
The review below characterizing this binoviewer as "absolute and utter junk" is highly unfair. While not of the best materials, the Siebert BV is not junk. Its performance is acceptable, especially if you must have a binoviewer with 2" eyepieces. Be prepared to do some tweaking, and don't expect a smoothly finished, top shelf product. If that's what you're looking for, go with the Zeiss/Baader binoviewer.
Rex

Overall Rating: 5
Performance:4 Value:5
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=183877

Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
Outstanding evolutionary step for visual astronomy. The Siebert 2" binoviewer performs exactly as one would hope, providing clear, crisp, bright, pseudo 3D wide field views of the heavens. Worked very well on a 16" dob ( with barlow and extension tube ), 8" Nexstar, and 12" UHTC GPS. The last was capable of handling the bino with the weight of a pair of Nagler 26mm Type 4's, delivering the most incredible views imaginable. The Siebert 32mm Ultras also performed very, very well, and, because they are so much lighter, were easier to use on the Dob and smaller SCT.

Contrast and color appears much improved over single eyepiece viewing. Details in Saturn/Nebula can be seen that are not visible using the single eyepiece. Albireo and other binary colors appear far brighter and more distinct over a single eyepiece. Binary separation seemed easier with binos. Clusters resolve deeper, with a wonderful 3D feel. The moon (and planets) takes on a spherical shape, and tiny craters become visible within larger craters.

Mechanically, the binoviewers performed very well. Nice interocular spread, smooth movement, nice self centering eyepiece holders. Wonderful baffling, and the bino is threaded for filters. Thoughtful inclusion of a spare parts kit. Leatherlike exterior may look a little different, but serves its purpose well and is warmer to the touch than hard plastic.

Customer service and care is first rate.

Some patience may be required to initially merge images in one's brain. Suggest clusters or daytime objects before trying on planets or binaries. Merging becomes instantaneous after a short time.

A binoviewer enhances the viewing experience.
2" eyepieces enhance the viewing experience.
The combination provides a killer combination well worth the cost IMHO.

Overall Rating: 10
Performance:10 Value:9
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=163528 

>Outstanding evolutionary step for visual astronomy. The Siebert 2" binoviewer performs exactly as one would hope, providing clear, crisp, bright, pseudo 3D wide field views of the heavens. ----

Hmmm - 

Methinks that the vote by kkirksea sounds more like an advertisement.  Interesting if you click on his voting record and see that he has owned several of Siebert's products, as well as the same scopes Harry uses.  

Somehow I don't think that Denkmeyer is the one playing dirty tricks here.
Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
I personally like Harry Siebert's Black night binoviewers as well as most of his other products.They have worked out very well for me and the optical quality appears excellent when used with my 2 apo refractors and the CG-14.A friend of mine uses these also with his 15'' Obsession and we are both in agreement that his products really are alot of bang for the buck.The guy will bend over backwards to please you and thats no shit either.He has stood behind his sales to me and totally helped me with any questions that I've had.I nor any of my astronomy buddies have had any of the problems that some of these other individuals have had and quite frankly,I question the credibility of some of these folks as well.I'm sure that there are disatisfied customers out there,but hey ,you can't please everybody right?He was up front and honest with me from the start about binoviewing in general.I also purchased the power mag wheel and it works absolutely fabulous with my binoviewers.Mars was just nuts as was Saturn with my TOA-130 the other nite.If the equipment was junk,they would be the weak link in an otherwise very strong chain.I do not use junk and demand the very best out of my astro stuff.
I have over 25k invested into astronomy equipment and don't get me wrong,I absolutely love my Pentax and Televue big $$ stuff but I also love my Seibert optics equipment as well.It has consistently worked out for me and I have no complaints.If there will be any issues in the future,I have full confidence that Mr.Seibert will correct the situation if need be.
Just my 2 cents worth,Jason Sevene

Overall Rating: 10
Performance:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=575040

Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
I agree with the earlier comments. If you are going to spend this much on binoviewers, buy a real pair instead of these junkers. They aren't worth $50.

Overall Rating: 1
Performance:1 Value:1
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=341659

Harry Siebert BinoViewer 2"
The Siebert 2" Binoviewers present an interesting dilema for me. Although they work O.K. (some problems with eyerelief, merging images, collamation) my biggest problem with the Sieberts was the quality of the fit and finish. It seems strange to put a pair of $500.00 eyepieces that have superb fit and finish into a Binoviewer that looks like it was made in my basement by my 7 year old son with parts he salvaged out of my plumbing supply box. Other than that, I suppose they fill a niche for those how don't really care about pride of ownership, and are willing to put up with their quirks.
Rob

Overall Rating: 2
Performance:3 Value:2
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=184039 

>The Siebert 2" Binoviewers present an interesting dilema for me. Although they work O.K. (some problems with eyerelief, merging images, collamation) my biggest problem with the Sieberts was the quality of the fit and finish. It seems strange to put a pair of $500.00 eyepieces that have superb fit and finish into a Binoviewer that looks like it was made in my basement by my 7 year old son with parts he salvaged out of my plumbing supply box. Other than that, I suppose they fill a niche for those how don't really care about pride of ownership, and are willing to put up with their quirks.
>           Rob

Are you sure you can tell the truth. Sounds to me like you should be teaching your 7 year old how to tell the truth.
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