Re: ATM Binoculars-Pawn... junk vs: quality?

["Alan Levin" <ailevin@ix.netcom.com>]

Tom,

Check out Alan MacRobert's instructions for choosing and testing binoculars at the 
S&T website.   I think it is http://www.skypub.com.

There were a very good set of reviews of binoculars for birding done
by Dana Bunner in rec.birds.  You can probably find it using
Dejanews.  Dana reviewed binoculars from $49 to over $1000 and
compared models in each price range. 

The night sky is a severe test of binoculars, so don't assume that
daytime quality is  a night time luxury.  Most optical quality tests
(transmittance, sharpness across the field, contrast, distortion,
etc) are relevant to astronomy, though mild field distortion is less
important. Very wide field of view, depth of focus and close focus
are of little value for astronomy. We generally want larger
apertures and larger exit pupils than birders.  

Good Observing,
Alan