A week in the company of APM 100 ED APO and Luca Mazzoleni.

The arrival at the Shelter of Luca, “Debby” and Lea, their cute and restless four-legged friend, is always a particularly exciting moment.

Luca Mazzoleni has been a close friend for many years: we immediately developed a great rapport, perhaps because, a bit like myself, he's a straightforward guy who cares more about substance than appearance.
Luca, in fact, is not very fond of bows but gets straight to the point and is what is usually defined as: "A man of integrity".

Of course, our shared passion for optics, his great expertise and practicality in intervening and solving the problems that, especially with older optics, can present, have increased my esteem for him, year after year.

 

I, who have had many a disaster in the past when trying to repair binoculars or telescopes, know how difficult Luca's work/passion is, and there are very few technicians here in Italy capable of working on optics so effectively and precisely.

Luca had no respite throughout the entire week: always ready to use his trusty collimator to check the alignment of my binoculars, especially the Fujinon 25x150 which was significantly out of alignment.

Even the brand new APM 100 ED APO needed a small adjustment, as did other low-power binoculars that were misaligned in my eyes. His response confirmed my obsession, which has now become a veritable obsession, of checking for even the slightest misalignment in my instruments during practical observation.

The APM 100 ED APO binoculars: Chinese construction, high quality.

 

Another characteristic we share is objectivity; when we try and test tools, we try not to be influenced by the aura of notoriety typical of more renowned brands. We strive, each time, to judge what we believe to be the best product.

As was obvious, we gave most of our attention to the brand new APM 100 ED APO binoculars, sent by the German distributor (hence the acronym) for the official presentation in Italy, which took place on 5/6/7 September at the Rifugio della Corte, thanks of course to Piergiovanni.
The most interesting comparison was achieved using the 90 mm binocular owned by amateur astronomer Enrico Rossi. This interesting and expensive instrument is composed of two Takahashi Sky-90 optical tubes (fluorite doublets with a focal length of 500 mm) supported by the reliable Matsumoto system. We had already partially performed a comparison during the event, however, with the peace of mind afforded by our personal "six days," we were able to more closely examine the performance differences between the two optical instruments.

 

The alleged supremacy of the Takahashi binocular has not been confirmed, demonstrating, instead, even at high magnifications (140/150x) the extraordinary work done by the Chinese manufacturers who created the APM 100 ED APO.
Many will have noticed how the designers of these binoculars were influenced by the legendary Kowa Highlander Prominar, a reference and a dream purchase for every serious enthusiast. Nevertheless, even in this case, the APM 100 ED APO has won the challenge.

During both daytime and twilight observations, it provided greater brightness, confirming its improved ability to withstand high magnifications. To be fair, we could only use the Kowa Highlander Prominar at magnifications above fifty times with modified eyepieces, not the original accessories. This requirement arises because, unfortunately, it is not possible to use standard 31.8 mm diameter astronomical eyepieces.

Checking collimation with the Zeiss 4X

 

The APM 100 ED APO, on the other hand, was used with Pentax XW eyepieces, which proved to work very well with the "German" binoculars. We used a pair of 20mm, a 14mm, a 7mm, a 5mm and finally the interesting 3.5mm pair. Magnifications ranged from 27.5X up to a whopping 157X.
Even at higher magnifications, these binoculars revealed excellent definition and excellent correction of chromatic aberrations. This is performance we had never seen before in short focal length binoculars (550 mm).

The APM 100 ED APO has also been used with other types of eyepieces, but the ones that showed the best results were the Pentax XW series. Piergiovanni Salimbeni and Raffaello Braga are currently investigating which eyepieces would work best with this optical design. For this reason, we hope to be able to conduct further tests with this new gem.

The Pentax 3.5mm eyepieces: really well supported by the APM 100 ED APO.

Another pair of eyepieces that have proven to be a wonderful fit for the APM are the Kowa TE9-WH (61X), but again, quality would come at a high price.
During the collimation phase, Luca immediately identified a potential problem if the eyepieces were not inserted accurately: all eyepieces, designed for astronomical use, have a safety groove on the barrel. This feature does not optimally fit the collar closure of the APM eyepiece holder.

It is therefore essential, to avoid misalignments or false collimations, to insert them precisely, taking care, while closing the locking ring, to press them onto the bottom of the binocular eyepiece holder.

 

It would be interesting to find some quality 31.8mm eyepieces with a smooth barrel, which would eliminate the drawback just highlighted.

In any case, a great job has been done on the new APM. Both Luca and I consider them the best binoculars of their kind available, without taking anything away from the Kowa and Docter Aspectem, which are certainly more compact and portable and still "top-notch optics.".

For us terrestrial observation enthusiasts, the greater quality of the APM 100 ED APO is evident, especially in terms of brightness, since when observing fauna at high magnifications and at twilight, both the Kowa and the Docter are penalised by their smaller diameter.
As far as astronomical observations are concerned, it will be up to the amateur astronomers who will participate in the our event on 24-25-26 to take stock of the situation, given that both Luca and I, as we often say: “GLooking at all those little dots of light doesn't give us any emotion.”

It is quite obvious to confirm that when an optic is good it is good and, moreover, it seems rather absurd to assert that optics which are terrible for daytime observations magically become excellent under a starry sky.

The APM 100 ED APO has perhaps also dispelled another taboo: that of 80 mm being the optimal diameter for daytime observing. In fact, these binoculars from APM-Telescopes have repeatedly demonstrated their superiority, even in broad daylight, over rivals of undoubted quality but smaller diameters.

Obviously, everyone is free to think what they want, since the choice of a lens is very subjective, even if honestly both Luca Mazzoleni and I can't stand those who are often tied to a single brand, denying the evidence and continuing undaunted to support its superiority only out of a very subjective feeling of affection.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the sweet Debby, who took over the management of the Refuge for me during their stay, allowing me to enjoy a truly "full binocular immersion" with Luca. My gratitude also goes to Luca, who, once again, perfectly aligned all my newly purchased binoculars.
I am also grateful to Piergiovanni, thanks to whom I had the opportunity to try and then purchase the APM 100 ED APO.

It's clear that without his extensive commitment, it would be very difficult to test the latest innovations in the sports optics sector without first purchasing them. His work is truly important because it's undeniable that in recent years he has given many enthusiasts the opportunity to try, test, and compare countless optics, often world premieres.