![]() This feature enables more comfortable and immersive observing sessions, reducing neck and shoulder strain compared to bending over to look through binoculars on a too-short tripod aimed near the zenith or straight up in the sky. This mount allows users to adjust the binoculars’ height using a parallelogram-shaped linkage system, maintaining a constant distance between the eyepieces and the observer’s eyes, while also entirely maintaining the binoculars’ position in the sky to a high degree of accuracy. This is why many users opt for a parallelogram mount instead, despite the expense.Ī parallelogram mount is a specialized mount designed explicitly for astronomical binoculars. In this situation, any altitude tension control will need to be set near maximum to keep the binoculars on target, which, combined with the cantilevered weight of the binoculars, can make the setup challenging to use. This is the same problem that plagues many cheap tripod-mounted telescopes, which is why we recommend avoiding those products. When using large, heavy binoculars on a tripod or monopod, it’s crucial to consider that the binoculars’ center of mass is often some distance from the center of rotation of the tripod head itself, resulting in a significant turning moment at higher altitudes in the sky. The other hand can then control the monopod’s length, making the process intuitive, and allowing you to use larger and higher magnification binoculars atop a monopod more easily. While expensive, a trigger-grip ball head simplifies this process, allowing for easy tension adjustments even with cold or gloved fingers. Without a movable head, a monopod will also require significant adjustment when switching between objects. However, you can still have a good time with a good tripod and binoculars if you buy a good one and can get used to operating the system as a whole.Ī monopod provides plenty of portability and freedom of movement, and is cheap, but without an additional trigger grip head, it is often not steady or precise enough for binoculars with over 15x magnification or apertures above 70mm in most cases. Using photo tripods and heads from a seated position for high-altitude targets can range from frustrating to impossible, and standing use can be quite awkward as both your legs and the tripod’s tend to occupy the same space. A good tripod for binoculars needs to be sturdy enough to minimize vibration and tall enough for observing high-altitude objects from a standing position. There are essentially three types of mounting options available for astronomy binoculars: pan-tilt photo tripods, monopods, and parallelogram mounts.Ī photo tripod with heavy-duty metal legs, a smooth fluid pan head, and an easily adjusted center column for moving the eyepieces to a comfortable height is good for supporting big astronomy binoculars but may not give you the kind of freedom of movement desired and is inevitably annoying to aim high in the sky. Hand-holding even small binoculars for short periods can cause minimal shake on large celestial objects, but it becomes especially frustrating when observing fine details, splitting double stars, or during extended sessions as we’ve mentioned. Even if you are not using heavy or high-powered binoculars, a mount for them will greatly improve the viewing experience by providing a stable platform. With larger binoculars, usually those either above 12x magnification or over 60mm in aperture, a tripod, monopod, or mount of some sort is outright required to quell vibrations and provide a sharp and pleasing view of celestial objects at all. Moreover, observing with your binoculars aimed high overhead from a standing position will inevitably result in neck strain. After holding up a pair of 7x50s for even a few tens of minutes-or even less time with bigger and higher-power binoculars-they can feel so heavy that steadying them becomes challenging or outright impossible. While binoculars are enjoyable and easy to use, their simplicity comes with a downside. ![]() Almost every astronomy enthusiast has experienced the pleasure of using binoculars to scan the Milky Way, locate a comet, or just to familiarize themselves with the night sky before getting a telescope.
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