Cameras and Lenses
Is anyone familiar with Garrett Optical?
Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some bins for a bit of astronomy. I've been looking around and have noticed brands such as Orion, Oberwerk, Celestron, Zhumell, Garrett Optical, among others.
I've read some relatively dismal reviews on some of them (mainly Zhumell)...many of the bins look mighty similar...but of course, that's only from looking at the exteriors...I don't know about the interior components.
Garrett Optical's website uses some decent marketing, stressing customer service and their 14 point inspection, etc....
My question is, has anyone used any of their bins? (and if you have used the 15x70 or larger sizes, that's a plus) and are they actually any good? Did they show up properly collimated, are the optics decent, was the customer service, if needed, actually pretty good?
Thanks! 
Garrett Optical is a respected provider of astronomical binoculars. Many of the optics you've seen do look exactly alike, since most of the distributors are ordering stock from just a limited number of manufaturers in Kunming China. However, not all dealers order to the same quality level from the factory. For instance the exact same binocular can be ordered FMC or just coated.
Like most dealers, Garrett offers several different quality level lines of binoculars. The Gemini TWP models are better than the LW models. The Signature models are a significant step up above the others. On the Cloudy Nights Binocular forum and CN Rreviews you will find dozens of reviews of Garrett optics and the same optics from similar vendors.
Like I've found with all vendors, Garrett provides some products that I would recommend and some that I would steer you away from.
edz