Oberwerk Heavy-duty L Adapter

Based on the 100% satisfaction ratings, I ordered up the L Adapter made by Oberwerk. The good news, outstanding quality appearance, and a perfect fit on my tripod.But, the bad news. My LB Naval military grade 20 X 70 killer bios needs a smaller attaching female insert for the 1/4" bolt at the top of the adapter.A call to Oberwerk resulted in outstanding customer service response. Although Kevin did not know my brand, he suggested a screw-in brass insert to step-down the female size on my binoculars, and the insert is in the mail as I write this.The 4-star rating stands on the customer service and unit quality appearance alone. Potential 5-star awaits the brass insert. I will report back either way.RossiUPDATE 2-10-2014Drats AgainThe step-down brass adapter arrived in good shape, But.... it didn't fit. I called Kevin, but we are out of options.This adapter will have to go back, and I'll probably go with the fabric/Velcro style.But let me advise.... Oberwerk earns a 4.9 out of 5-Star for customer service. Real nice folks.Rossi

I should have noticed this from the side view before purchase, but this "L Adapter" has a design flaw. The flaw is in the fact that the arm on the mating end protrudes forward of the mating face, (see picture for where it binds. It should be obvious as to why) precluding the adjustment to the narrowest inter-pupilary distance (IPD) on the only two binoculars that I tried it on (Vortex 8x42 Razor HD and vintage Bushnell RangeMaster 7x35). If you were to make it work, you would need a spacer (shim) of ~1/4 inch to put between the binocular's hinge mating surface and the adapter to allow the bins to fully close. As it is, depending on the bins, when you try to reduce the IPD, the binocular's hinge faces bind on the arm and it physically keeps the bins from being able to be fully closed (or, in the case of the Bushnells, being closed to the point of having an IPD that fits a "normal" person, whoever that is :-) ). My mistake for not picking up on this. Their mistake for not having the clearance to allow for bins to close. Not sure what bins these have been used on to justify 100% 5 and 4 star reviews, but it failed on my small sample size of 2. Looking at the rest of my bins, I can see that they would not work with those as well.

This little adapter has made a huge difference in my astronomical viewing. I have a pair of Celestron 15X70 Skymaster binoculars that I mount on an Orion Paragon HD-F2 Heavy Duty Tripod. Before I was just using the plastic L Adapter that came with the binoculars, but even during windless nights on a steady surface the binoculars would shake when mounted to the tripod. I read recommendations that said to get a metal L-adapter, which led me to Oberwerk's Heavy-duty L Adapter. Now there is no shaking when I mount my binocs to the tripod; it even keeps them steady in a light breeze. I cannot recommend this adapter highly enough. If you are into binocular astronomy, make sure you get this adapter.

This is the absolute best binocular adapter available for heavy binoculars available on Amazon. I purchased it for use with my  Celestron SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars with Tripod Adapter  that I also purchased on Amazon. The Oberwerk Adapter is sincerely heavy duty. Using the thumbscrew, it is very easy secure my binoculars in place with little to no movement. The Oberwerk Heavy-duty L Adapter easily out performed the  Celestron 93524 Binocular Tripod Adapter (Black) , which required tool-tightening to get a reasonable fit. The metal is very thick and I don't see a scenario where it will break.If you are in need of a sturdy and dependable binocular adapter for use for birding or amateur astronomy, this is the best choice.

This is a great adapter! Very sturdy. I attached it to my tripod and set up the binoculars without any difficulty. Provides a very stable platform with which to view through the binoculars. Does everything I hoped it would and it doesn't have any 'shake' to it when the binoculars - which are quite heavy - are attached.

My 80x20 are easily support on a standard tripod with this mount. It's very study, a must to hold the 80's, and well constructed. The tripod tap and screw support are standard size. And it looks groovy. I have no problem giving this a 5 star rating and recommend this as a good replacement, if like me, you lost the one that came with your big binocs.

My Celestron 15x70 binoculars came with a cheap plastic mount. Got this Amazon warehouse Item solid metal and not wobbly.If I had one criticism it would be that I wish it had a hole in the bottom for the tripod locator pin. I may drill one and add pics later.

The bracket is specifically designed to secure your optical device to a 1/4" x 20 turn-per-inch tripod shoe. It is constructed with the sturdy materials necessary to minimize the vibration that one might associate with high-magnification imagery. One could not have desire for a functionally better bracket than the Oberwerk heavy-duty bracket.