Hi Bill: I am not familiar with that particular brand of binocular, but can mention a few things about zoom binos in general. Typically, the apparent field is noticeably smaller at the low power extreme, and widens as the magnification is increased. This is true of all zoom eyepiece systems. At low power, the effect is somewhat like looking through a long tube. Most off-brand binoculars are all made by the same Chinese manufacturers, and labeled for their various customers. "Bear", "Brunton", "Galileo", etc., are probably made side-by-side on the same assembly line. Even the Japanese brands now sell re-labeled Chinese-made binos for their ecconomy models. Pentax does this, and I believe Nikon has begun this practice also. About half of the binos sold by Orion are Chinese made by the same manufacturer. Eye relief can suffer with zoom systems. One of the nice features of the Bear 15 x 70's is the large-diameter eye lens on the eyepieces, and very long eye relief. This is one of the very few binos I have ever used that allow me to keep my eyeglasses on and still see the entire field of view. Zoom can be a very nice feature, however, allowing you to tailor the magnification to the particular object under study. An acquaintance uses a 60mm zoom binocular that he absolutely loves, but he is the astronomical exception. The zoom bino is used more by security and law-enforcement, and hunters, than astronomers. 45X is much too high to hand-hold, so be prepared to use them on a tripod or other binocular mount. I find that anything over about 12x is too much to hand-hold. I have to use my 15x on a tripod for anything more than a quick glance. And the bigger the bino, the heavier the bino. Sportsman's Guide sells overstocks and cosmetic blems almost exclusively, and if they have only small quantities, sometimes will not list them on-line. Or they just may have not updated the on-line catalog yet. If you can get return privelidges if you don't like them, then there's nothing to lose by placing your order. The Grampus zoom may turn out to be a binocular much to your liking. Perhaps a post to sci-astro.am will bring a more informed report on that particular brand of binoculars. Please post any other info you find back here if possible. If you do buy them, bring them to the April SLAS meeting. The topic is "binocular astronomy" this month. Hope this helped at least a little. Chuck --- "William H. Fenton" <William.H.Fenton@Dartmouth.EDU> wrote:

A pair of 15-45X70mm zoom binoculars by Grampus Inc. are listed in a recent sportsmansguide catalog. Does anyone have any experience with this item or manufacturer? I'd give a link but I can't find them in their online catalog.

Thanks -Bill

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Bill et al: The 15-45x70mm zoom binos are in fact on the Sportsman's Guide on-line catalog, but the brand name is not mentioned in the ad. By using the catalog search, and typing in "binoculars", you get a list of their entire stock of all sizes. Item # WX2-57916 15-45x70mm Zoom Binoculars, Black/Green Funny thing, the entire listing printed out except the price. I'm pretty sure it was either $97 or $99 and some change.

From the picture, they are made by the same factory as the Bear brand. The hardware and major components are exactly the same except for the zoom lever, which is not on the fixed-power Bears.

For this price, I would say these would be hard to beat unless the apparent field of view is aesthetically small, and the eye relief too short. These are personal preference issues only. They come with a tripod adapter, I assume the same plastic one that came with the Bears. Also neck strap, soft case, and "Fully coated" optics. Patrick, they also have a 10x50mm pair for only $19 and change. We could get 5 pair for the observatory for only $100 plus shipping. Item # WX2-59237 10x50mm Binoculars, Black Come with neck strap, lens covers and carrying case. www.sportsmansguide.com Hope this helps. Chuck --- "William H. Fenton" <William.H.Fenton@Dartmouth.EDU> wrote:

A pair of 15-45X70mm zoom binoculars by Grampus Inc. are listed in a recent sportsmansguide catalog. Does anyone have any experience with this item or manufacturer? I'd give a link but I can't find them in their online catalog.

Thanks -Bill

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