Pentax PCF 20x60

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Pentax PCF 20x60
These are superb astro binoculars. On a night of average seeing I could see cloud bands on Jupiter and the separation between the body and rings of Saturn!!! Never thought I'd see that kind of detail at 20x. The Pleiades were gorgeous - every star was pinpoint sharp from edge to edge. Tried them during the day and they provided extremely sharp and contrasty images of flora, fauna, and distant mountains. Could easily be used in place of a spotting scope. These must be used with a tripod or a parallelogram mount - you just can't hold 20x still no matter how hard you try. The Pentax tripod adapter is one of the best I have seen - much more substantial than the typical "L" shaped adapter. Compared them to a pair of Celestron 20x80 deluxe giants. The Pentax left the Celestrons in the cosmic dust. Truly a 'best buy' for the $240 I paid for them at Eagle Optics. Get yours today!

Overall Rating: 10
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Wonderful binos!. Perfectly sharp from center to borders with an amazing flat field of view. I would say they provide a view almost so sharp as a Televue Ranger at 20x, but in a 3D environment.

While deep-sky observing is first-class (M45 or the Double-cluster in Perseo are unforgettable), there is a plenty of room for enjoying double-star observing with this fine optical instrument. I'm the director of an Internet-based double star observing group of amateur astronomers and the Pentax are without doubt a "best-buy" for Binocular spliting. As an example, and based on my experience, I think the Trapezium in Orion can be splitable into 4 components under "10 class" skies mounting the Pentax over a good tripod.

Luis Arguelles
http://whuyss.tripod.com/33.html
7, December, 2000
Spain, EU

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Excellent optics and construction and relatively inexpensive. The best price I found is at Camera Land in New York City. The salesperson (Joel) is very friendly, patient and helpful; not the negative stereotype of a New York City sales person.

I doubt that you will find a pair of binoculars that excel the quality of the PENTAX 20x60, regardless of price.

Alden Peterson
Madison, Wisconsin

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Optically, these binoculars are nearly perfect. I've seen banding on Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. They perform very well on brighter deep-sky objects as well. M33 was easy with these. Their FOV is wonderfully flat and sharp to the edge. There is some very very minor colour. I've seen this on the limb of the moon and also during the day. Their is plenty of eye-relief too. Glasses are no problem with these binoculars.

There are a couple of problems with these binoculars. Their magnification is a bit high for my liking. This makes a tripod absolutely necessary. The resulting FOV of 2.2 degrees is a bit tight. The apparent FOV is also a little small at about 40 degrees. Lastly, eye placement is tricky with these binoculars. This is probably due to the long eye-relief.

Basically, if you own a telescope with a nice low-power wide-field eye-piece, you really don't need these, but I would highly recommend the lower power binoculars in the PCF series (all of which have a larger AFOV). However, if you favour binoculars over telescopes, these are an outstanding investment. Just make sure you can buy/build a proper binocular mount.

Mark

Overall Rating: 9
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Pentax PCF 20x60
At around $200.00 US, these glasses are just too good to be true. The high power and flat field allow the variable star observer all the imaging capablities he/she would need. The light weight makes these very hand-holdable, but it is not really recommended at 20x. The contrast is good due to the nice coatings and Bak4 prisms.
I wouldn't make a trip out without these.

Overall Rating: 10
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Pentax PCF 20x60
These Binocs are AMAZING!! Wow, the optical quality is truly incredable. Also they possess supurb fit and finish as well as impressive balance. Every control works with glass smoothness and you can't do any better than a massive 60mm. objective lens. The moon is really incredable, with very fine detail in the craters. I am truly very impressed.

Andrew Donald

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
For the price they are good. They don't hold a candle to european glass but they are a thousand or more less. Great binoculars to start with I would recommend them to the beginner.

Overall Rating: 4
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
As stated in the previous reviews, these binoculars offer excellent sharpness and clarity right to the edge of the field, which is extremely flat, thanks to the built-in field-flattener lenses. The only shortcoming is the very narrow field of view. Some will find this troubling, others will not. I find the views similar to those through a small refractor. Try them before buying if possible. Only you can decide whether the 2.2 degree field is a problem for you.

Overall Rating: 8
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Very sharp to the edge optics, although the left shows slight flares on brighter stars and planets. Brightness extraordinary for the power. You can indeed see the gap between the rings and planet on Saturn and many Messier objects jump out sharp and clear. The downside is the narrow field of view which leaves me wondering if I would have been better off with the 16 x 60s which must also be easier to hand hold. Lying on a relaxer garden chair and bracing against my chest, these 20 x 60s can be hand held for quite long periods. The narrow FOV means it takes a long time to aim and you really need to team these up with a pair of 7 or 10 x 50s. Otherwise you'll be wishing you'd bought something in between! Tripod mounted they act like a small telescope but without a finder and sighting along the bent tubes is difficult! Classy optics for the price.

Overall Rating: 8
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Pentax PCF 20x60
I knew I wanted a pair of binoculars to supplement the larger scope, and I did a fair amount of "shopping around" and research before settling on the Pentax PCF V 20X60.

I have not been disappointed. I purchased them from Adorama for about $180. I would recommend that others remember to order the tripod attachment bracket as, for whatever reason, they are not included by default. On a tripod, these binocs really perform! With their light weight, my Slik photo tripod dampens in less than 2 seconds. I can't wait to give them a try with Jupiter and Saturn. Mars shows as a rather tiny disk of orange, but sharp and distinct.

Quality optics throughout with only just a hint of color at the edges when viewing the Moon or other bright objects (like street lights about a mile away!). The power and the lens diameter is unbeatable at this price. Worthy of deep consideration by anyone wanting a high power binocular.

Overall Rating: 10
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Surprisingly easy to hand hold for moderate power binoculars. Very flat field despite the small price tag. A bit of color, but not distracting. Very bright due to good coatings. Nice eyepiece cup feature, as well as locking focus which is essential for astronomy. I am very happy after 6 months ownership. I carry them with me wherever I go, and have yet to notice any degradation due to premature wear. Excellent value.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Value:10
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Pentax PCF 20x60
I love these bino's.Used them for Messier Marathon (March-2002) and got 87 objects including all galaxies except M74(let it get too low).Only got 2 objects in Sagittarius befire daylight(could have seen all).Best used on tripod or parallelogram mount.Outstanding optics which are sharp to edge of field and incredibly bright for 3mm exit pupil.Mounted Daisy electronic point sight(walmart) on top with velcro(works fine with minor tweaking).Outstanding astro binos at a great price!Can clearly make out rings of Saturn.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
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Pentax PCF 20x60
I just compared the Pentax 20x60 with the new Orion 20x80 Megaview's at a dark sky site. The Pentax held up very nice. They are alot sharper then the Orion's, with much better edge sharpness. I would also say that the contrast is much better in the Pentax with a darker sky than the Orion's. You could see deeper in the Orion's with a much wider field, but the overall pleasing view favored the Pentax in terms of sharpness and contrast and the telescopic effect. It makes me wonder what the Tak 22x60 could do?

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Super sharp and a great value!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
I have reviewed many of the available binocs in this price range and power. I am impressed with the clarity of this particular binoc. I enjoyed excellent viewing while in the joshua tree desert of M42, saturn and others. DSO and planets alike were sharp and overwhelming. I give these a thumbs up except for the fact tha it is imperative that a tripod be used in such instances.
ciao.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
I've owned PCF V 20x60's for 4 months now, and am a little ambivalent.

The optics are super sharp. I routinely see all 4 trapezium stars and the rings of (tiny) Saturn (I have high desert good seeing). The field is sharp and flat to the edge. I can evaluate the seeing with these to decide if I'll get out my telescope. Eye relief is great (I wear glasses).

However, the field of view is narrow, they need a tripod, and the view is just not quite as comfortable as my cheap 15x70's (which cost 1/2 as much).

They are great for someone who demands perfect images above all else. However, I get more use and pleasure out of my other binoculars.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:9 Value:7
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Pentax PCF 20x60
Excellent quality, very sharp optics to the edge of the field of view.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
These are one pair of suberb binoculars. These are the newer 20x60 PCF WP model. Excellent coatings,sharp to the edge views with the 5 element field flattener eye lenses and very good construction. Very comforable eye relief {21mm} for eyeglass wearers like myself. I keep the adjustable eyeguards in the down position and get a very sharp full field of view. Suprisingly I find them not to be to heavy to handhold for short stints. Will tripod mount most of the time. I purchased these for high power astro viewing and they do not disappoint. I don't mind the narrow field {2.2 degrees} because I have other binoculars for widefield applications .
Only reason I didn't give the optics a 10 is because they show a slight amount of ca on bright objects. Having said that I still find the level of ca very exceptable for a high power achromatic doublet binocular .
For the price I paid {300.00 Can} they deliver a very impressive level of performance for a 20x60 binocular. Can't wait to get these out to the country under truly dark skies this Summer.


Stan Taylor Vancouver B.C.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
I absolutely love these binos. The 2.2 deg FOV is somewhat discerning to some, but the views of M44 and the moon blew me away. I paid 240 used and am blown away by the optics.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Pentax PCF 20x60
sharp

flat field

Great ergonomics

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=578062

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