Celestron SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars with Tripod Adapter
by Celestron
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars with Tripod Adapter
Customer Review: A valued night sky companion
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had my Skymaster 15x70 for about a year and a half now, and I continue to be extremely pleased.
I'm a big fan of binocular stargazing in general. Binoculars are portable, intuitive to use, and easy to set up. Even at low magnification, they allow you to see more than your naked eye can reveal, and some objects are better seen with a wide field of view anyway.
In that regard, I find the Skymaster 15x70 an excellent choice. The 70mm objectives collect enough light to make the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion nebula crystal clear, even among the backyard lights of town. The magnification is just right: strong enough to reveal lunar craters, but not so strong that the natural jitters of holding the binoculars in your hand become distracting. The field of view is about 4.4 degrees, easily enough to contain the entire Pleiades cluster or the full moon. I appreciate the simplicity of the center focus knob, and I find viewing is comfortable either with or without my eyeglasses.
Other reviewers have remarked on the weight, and there's no denying that it's a little exhausting to hold the binoculars for long periods. However, I don't find them much more difficult to hold than my 7x30 birding glasses -- the size of the binoculars is less of a factor than you might expect. The included tripod adapter can help relieve this problem, but the solution is only as good as the quality of your tripod, and most of the time I'd rather sacrifice some stability to avoid the hassle of using a mount.
Like some other reviewers, I did experience collimation problems and had to return the first item I received. The left and right images were very badly out of alignment, and there's no mechanism for correcting it yourself. Your only choice is to exchange it, and Amazon handled the exchange easily and quickly.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this purchase. It's very good quality for the price.
Customer Review: Everyone who is interested in the stars should own these.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always been interested in astronomy, so recently I decided to take the plunge and purchase a telescope. I spent a few days perusing reviews and researching beginner amateur astronomy telescopes and found that a good 'starter' telescope costs roughly 300 bucks. I also found, however, that most people suggest you start out with a good pair of binoculars. After researching binocs for a few days I finally settled on these.
These binoculars come in a nice padded case, and include rubber caps for all the lenses. They are almost hilariously large to those who are not familiar with binoculars designed for astronomy. They have good eye relief, and eyepieces that fold down for people who wear glasses (like myself). Focus can be adjusted for each eye independently, the middle knob controlling both eyes, and the right eyepiece turning to adjust just the right side. They also come with a tripod mount, but imho the best way to use them is to lay in a partially inflated inflatable raft, a common method when using binoculars for astronomy - the pressure of your legs allows you to adjust the level of your head, and you have something to rest your arms on, works great!
The images they produce are incredible to someone with little experience in advanced optics. I have used them to observe stars, globular clusters, galaxies (which admittedly, look like nothing more than cloudy spots among the stars), satellites, the moon, as well as Jupiter and it's four moons. The magnification is only 15x, which is high for binoculars, but low when you get in to telescope ranges. I have not been able to make out the color bands of Jupiter, for instance. However anything higher, and you get too much arm shaking for them to be useful without a tripod. One final tip... hold them down near the ends and they will be a lot more steady.
In short... great buy! I absolutely love mine.
Customer Review: Not Bad!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got into amateur astronomy about 6 weeks ago, and based on the many positive reviews I read here, I decided to give these a whirl since they are reasonably priced. Just got them today.
It is overcast right now, so, I only got to view the moon in between darks clouds and saw Venus. I will make it my business to either update or post again, but the few comments I want to make: They are MUCH lighter than I thought. Yes, I had the shakes, but not much different than my 10x50s. My hands did not get tired after 15 minutes. I was more annoyed that the clouds were in the way of my view than I was with the so called awkwardness of the binos. My only complaint about Celestron (I have two other sets of binos by them) is that their straps and bag are FLIMSY! I see that I have to purchase them elsewhere for optimal protection. I am not as in a rush as I thought I would be to purchase a tripod. They may not even been necessary with a bit of patience and positioning.
I plan to look at Jupiter Saturday morning and review the planets I have previously saw and will definitely post back. For now, I say get them. Celestron is the company that seems to deal with enthusiasts with limited funds, but seem to come through with decent optics.
***Update 11/12/10*** I have even more appreciation of these binoculars as I gain more experience. Pleiades is phenomenal to see. Ditto for the Orion Nebula! If you hold the binos at the front, that may decrease the shakes a bit-or I lean on my gate or a car to steady them. I have purchased a tripod since my last posting, which is even better, but I don't carry it around. You can see Jupiter's 4 moons, more details on the moon, clusters, and just for the heck of looking and identifying it later is equally as fun! You don't have to spend a great deal of money to view celestial treats!
Customer Review: Celestron 15X70 binoculars are a Fantastic value!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the Celestron binoculars to round out our options for my wife and I to view the night sky. We also have four telescopes ranging from a high end 70mm Televue Pronto refractor to 12" Meade Lightbridge Dobsonian. I also have a pair of Nikon 7X50 mm binoculars that we have used for about 10 years.
There are many nights that taking out the new binoculars are my first choice for scans of the night sky due to less than perfect "seeing" conditions. I have the binoculars mounted on a lightweight camera tripod using the adapter that came with the Celestron 15X70 binoculars and this combo makes for great views of the heavens above or just looking at the many birds that abound around my lakefront home here on the edge of the Ozarks of Missouri. If you do not own a tripod, I strongly suggest you invest in one to get the full benefit of these binoculars for steady views. On clear summer nights with low humidity I have great views of the Milky Way. Binoculars are a great way to view the night skies and see the Andromeda Galaxy, star clusters, and views of the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula (my personal favorites).
I was amazed at the quality of the Celestron binoculars and the views they provide. The focuser is velvet smooth in operation and the individual focus adjustment for the right eye was easy to adjust. The eyecups were very comfortable for viewing and fold down easily. The attached cover for the eyepieces is a very nice design and is easy to attach. The individual lens caps fit snugly and can be dropped into the binocular bag that came with the binoculars for safekeeping. The tripod attachment bracket can be affixed to the binoculars with the single bolt by removing the cap on the front of the binoculars just in front of the center focus mechanism.
Did I mention I love these binoculars!!!
Customer Review: Incredible Value!
Summary: 5 Stars
I rated these a 5-star even though the first pair came out of the box with a slight collimation problem. (Double images when viewing a single star, for example) I initiated a return which Amazon was extremely prompt and shipped out a replacement set. In the two day interim, one of my "astro friends" said we could make a simple adjustment to collimate the first pair. He was right. We mounted the faulty binos on a tripod at dusk and quickly reset the collimation using the little set screws on each objective. It was really a very simple fix. I tried to stop the replacement shipment but Amazon was too quick. I returned the 2nd pair. Thanks Amazon!
With the first pair now working perfectly I began to enjoy a new level of fun with backyard astronomy. I had built a "couch potato bino chair" (do a google search), and mounted the Skymasters on the chair. You really can't do these justice by hand-holding. I have a pair of Meade 10 x 42mm's for hand-held viewing and the Skymasters blow them away. At a recent star party experienced viewers were impressed. The double cluster in Perseus was just like the popular description; diamonds on black velvet. Beautiful... Very crisp images out to about 85% of the field of view. Just a slight fuzziness at the extreme edges.
I've looked through $$$ binos that were absolutely clear that were very nice, but at 3-5 times the cost I'll stick with these Skymasters. There is so much info on the web concerning excellent Chinese optics so I guess the SM's are a good example.
The only downside was the collimation issue early on. But with Amazon's return policy and great service that initial doubt became a positive.
Another plus was that I opened an Amazon credit card which gave me an additional $30 off my purchase. So $55 was my net cost.
Incredible value!