Letter to the Editor

Big Praise for Big Binos
Sky & Telescope's review of JMI's 6-inch Reverse Binoculars (September 2005, page 96) complimented the views but complained about the mechanical adjustments.  My wife, Daphne, and I have been using the 10-inch model for some time.  In our experience, collimating the individual telescopes and aligning them for comfortable two-eyed viewing is simple.  Once you've done it a couple of times, it takes only seconds to prepare the instrument for a night under the stars.
   And the views!  When fitted with matching Tele Vue Panoptic eyepieces, which have generous 68º apparent fields, the binoculars deliver pinpoint stars across magnificently wide fields.  When we look at the Andromeda galaxy, we feel as if we are seeing it through the window of an intergalactic spacecraft.  The normally elusive Merope Nebula in the Pleiades is plainly obvious, as are many faint galaxies in the bowl of he Big dipper.
   Daphne and I have observed these and many other deep-sky objects many times over the years using conventional telescopes, including very big ones.  Neither of us ever wants to go back to monocular observing.  Looking with both eyes through twin scopes with fast optical systems enables the brain to absorb so much more information — it's utterly breathtaking.
   I'm not sure why more amateurs haven't embraced JMI's giant binoculars.  If you get a chance to look through a set at a star party, especially the 10- or 16-inch versions, step right up.  They'll open your eyes — both of them! — to a whole new universe.
   Tonny Hallas
   Foresthill, CA
   tonyhallas@ftcnet.net