Celestron - SkyMaster Giant 15x70 Binoculars - Top Rated Astronomy Binoculars - Binoculars

Product Description

Celestron’s SkyMaster series of large aperture binoculars are a phenomenal value for high performance binoculars ideal for astronomical viewing or for terrestrial (land) use - especially over long distances. Each SkyMaster model features high quality BaK-4 prisms and multi-coated optics for enhanced contrast. Celestron has designed and engineered the larger SkyMaster models to meet the special demands of extended astronomical or terrestrial viewing sessions.

Top Reviews

Celstron 25 x 70 vs 15 x 70
by Paul M. Ondra (5 out of 5 stars)
May 5, 2016

I own both the Celestron 15x70 and 25x70 binoculars. After comparing both here is WHAT I'VE COME UP WITH:

Both binoculars excel and have a clear crisp view. The optics are truly amazing at this price point! I did have to send back a set of the 25x70's due to interior dust being seen as I looked through them, but Amazon sent me a new pair no problem. Both binoculars use the same body. The 25x70's are a touch shorter (1/4 inch) in length due to shortening of the Ocular (eye) to the Objective lens distance. The 25x70's also have a larger Ocular lens due to the increased magnification. Both binoculars need a tripod (especially the 25x70's which are more effected by shaking). GET A 70" or greater TRIPOD! I have a 60" tripod and I'm a short5'5" but when something is near 90 degrees over your head the "60 height of the tripod won't cut it.

I posted an example of the magnification and the Field of View difference between the 15x70 (1st Pic) and the 25x70 (2nd Pic). As you can see the 25x70 gives you a greater MAGNIFICATION but the trade off is the FIELD OF VIEW which is greater with the 15x70's. The actual views through the bino's are sharper as the cellphone doesn't do it justice.

LOOKING AT OBJECTS: In looking a celestial objects the MOON totally fills the frame with the 25x70's. The 4 Galilean moons of JUPITER (yes you can seem) look great in both set of binos. Another thing I love to look at are AIRPLANES. With the use of a tripod I was able to see and follow JETS at 35,000 ft. IT IS A MARVEL! The 25x70's work well here as I can read the writing on the planes.

MY RECOMMENDATION: I would choose the 25x70's. The 25x70's are $3 more so why not go for more magnification. The wider field of view on the 15x70's does allow a better "hand-held" experience but you are still going to need a tripod for celestial viewing no matter which bino's you buy.

ALSO: Both the 25x70 and the 15x70 come with a tripod adapter but I'd upgrade to a METAL one as these binos are heavy. The Barska adapter is metal with a larger rubber tightening screw and is only $8 (see photo). I'd also get some Field Optics Research Binocular EyeShields ($14) to help keep out peripheral light in daytime viewing (see photo).
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A balanced view...
by Amazon Customer (4 out of 5 stars)
December 9, 2016

There are glowing reviews and terrible reviews, both i think are unfounded, so I thought I'd try and give a balanced review.

This is a great product overall. You will see spectacular views of the moon and larger deep sky objects like the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion nebula. These are a better entry to the world of astronomy than a telescope due to their portability and ease of use.

First, these binoculars are meant for astronomy.

These are heavy, and due to the 15x magnification need to be mounted on a monopod or tripod. I can't overemphasize that.

The focus is slow and stiff.

If sports, hunting, or birding is your primary use, look elsewhere at smaller, lighter binoculars.

If astronomy is you primary use, you may be able to live with these for occasional terrestrial viewing.

These binoculars are not a telescope. Sounds kind of simplistic,I know, but if you are seeking to see the bands on Jupiter or detail in Satrun's rings, these won't do that for you. But you will be able to see Jupiter's moons and the rings on Saturn - enough that you can tell what you're looking at.

The "very good":

Optically these binoculars are very good. The field is bright and flat and they focus sharp to the edges. False color (Chromatic aberration) is visible as red/blue fringing around bright objects. It is not at all severe, but it is there and visible on bright celestial and high contrast terrestrial objects. It is worse at the edges of the field than in the center. Views of large deep sky objects like the Orion nebula are really beautiful. The contrast is very good.

The "just ok"

Mechanically the focus is a little hard to adjust. There is some play in the mechanism that has to be accounted for, but it is very easy to focus out, then back in to the point of perfect focus. Once focused they stay that way for a long time.

The "totally unacceptable"

The plastic tripod adapter is totally and completely useless. The binoculars just rotate back and forth and it takes forever for them to settle down after you move them. That's a shame because at 15x magnification these need to be mounted on a sturdy tripod. Even in light wind the tripod adapter just causes the binoculars to wiggle back and forth.

I have ordered the Celestron 93524 Binocular Tripod Adapter and will see if it is good enough. Even with that adapter, the center of graviry of the binoculars won't be at the tripod's pivot point, so you have to keep the friction on and that makes it harder to move them. A better balanced tripod mounting scheme would be killer.

Summary:

An incredible value. Good optics, decent mechanics, and an unusable tripod adapter.

Celestron:
Throw a decent tripod adapter that is sturdy and fit for the purpose. Extra credit for centering the CG at the the tripod attachment point. Lose the useless strap, and raise the price
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Collimation info:
by User6183c (4 out of 5 stars)
December 21, 2015

Pros:

Relatively easy to hold steady with proper technique.

Easily make out craters and mountain ranges on the moon.

Fits inside a backpack.

Neck strap secures the eyepiece cap.

All moving parts work smoothly, neither too tight nor too loose.

Easy to adjust collimation. Simply remove one of the grips using a flathead screwdriver or other pry tool and adjust the prism tilt screws (the side screw controls vertical and the top screw contols horizontal adjustment) with a 3/32 or smaller flathead screwdriver until the images merge. Even if they arrive collimated for you, it's best to have a small screwdriver on hand as they can get knocked out of collimation from general use over time.

If you get a headache from looking through the binoculars, it means the collimation is still out, but your eyes are straining to merge the images. If this occurs, relax the eyes and focus on nothing in particular through the binoculars. The split image will become apparent.

Note: when collimating, make sure that the view in each ocular is perfectly round. If it takes on a gibbous shape when viewed in daylight (don't look at the sun) then the prisms are out of alignment and you need to start over.

Cons:

Arrived out of collimation.

The edges of the moon appear to be a rainbow of colors, likely due to low quality coatings.

If you're a beginner astronomer and willing to fiddle around with the collimation (it only takes a few minutes), these binoculars are a good buy. I'm sure that the professionals will find something to complain about, but for the average viewer it won't be noticeable.
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Enjoyable and Reasonably-priced Binoculars
by Mike G (4 out of 5 stars)
August 8, 2017

My interest in enjoying long-distance viewing, both terrestrial and celestial, had been on the rise as of late. So I decided to do some checking. The telescope that interested me looked to be well-suited to this activity, but I realized that I'd have to purchase a mount and tripod, at the least, and possibly some other accessories (lens, etc.). This, I figured, was going to run at least $500; not an amount I was ready to invest.

So as my research progressed, specifically in the direction of binoculars, I came across this Celestron SkyMaster 25 x 70mm binoculars. Touted as appropriate for both celestial and terrestrial viewing, especially given the less-than-$100 price tag, the binoculars seemed to me to be a good fit: not a huge investment and would also be a significant step up from my current binoculars. And the price was about 1/3rd that of the 25 x 100mm while still, in my opinion, providing a decent long-distance viewing experience.

I've had these binoculars for about a month now and I have to say that I really do enjoy them.

I should note that I ordered and use the "Barska Binocular Tripod Adapter" instead of the one that came with the binoculars. (Other reviewers recommended this upgrade due to the Barska seemingly being a bit sturdier than the one that came with the binoculars.)

In any event, I already had a modest tripod that is working well enough for me, although the little, almost imperceptible shake that occurs is quite obvious when looking at airplanes, satellites and other celestial objects. Still, I'm not disappointed with my setup.

Now, with these binoculars I can see Jupiter, and at least two of her moons, Saturn, including the "ring," and, of course, many stars. In fact, aiming the binoculars in an area that seems void of stars when viewed with the naked eye reveals even more stars and whatnot. And the view of the moon is spectacular.

Passing airplanes stand out with these binoculars. And while I've yet to actually read lettering on planes (they're usually at an altitude of 35,000-plus feet, moving at 500MPH or so, and miles downrange), I can clearly detect planes' colorations, engines, winglets, etc. What fun!

For terrestrial viewing, again these binoculars provide me a good look.

The only thing I could say that would be even remotely critical would be this: trying to accurately aim the binoculars without the aid of a "finding scope," especially at very distant objects, is challenging. Some times I actually get it right, but most times not. This is especially true of fast-moving objects (satellites, planes, etc.) But this isn't a "problem" with the binoculars, but rather one aspect to consider when using/purchasing such high-powered binoculars.

Overall I'm very pleased with this purchase. I find the binoculars came usable and in great shape right out of the box.
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Easy collimating
by Chris (5 out of 5 stars)
June 9, 2017

Great, especially for price. Easy diy trial and error collimating. I don't know why people tear off the right grip. I just cut a little piece off the right grip for the horizontal and vertical adjustment screws with the tiny scissors on my Swiss army keychain knife. Do yourself a favour and spend $3 on a tiny long flathead screwdriver.

Vertical prism adjustment screw is under the right grip inside the center towards the front. The horizontal prism adjustment screw is just below the 0 in "15x70" marking.

Also measure the distance between the center of your pupils so you can better adjust the binocular's IDP (interpupilary distance). Just match it up to the distance between the centres of the eye holes on binoculars.
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You get what you pay for.
by Heph333 (2 out of 5 stars)
March 11, 2017

Update: 2nd pair couldn't be collimated either. Was worse than the first. I'm done with Skymaster binocs.

Amazing price for the specs, but not without quality issues. Mine were very uncomfortable to look through and once I got them on a steady tripod in daylight I realized why. They were collimated to the very extremes of adjustment so that 1/2 of the field of view is out of focus. When looking at the eyepieces from 1' away, you could see they were cut down to football shapes. I tried for several hours to collimate correctly. I either can get a 100% field of view in clear focus. Or I can get them collimated with half in focus/half out of focus & that requires the scews to backed completely off (which leaves the prisms loose and very prone to going out of adjustment).

Sent back for an exchange. Hopefully I'll eventually get a good set. When adjusted individually, each side had a beautiful picture with little abberation. From what I've read, these are very prone to collimation issues. If they only needed periodic adjustment I'd give them 4 stars, but these were so far out of alignment that my first pair was useless.
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My first impressions are that these are great binos. I used for about 12 hours
by Jacob M. Kroon (5 out of 5 stars)
June 29, 2015

My first impressions are that these are great binos. I used for about 12 hours, some bird watching and daytime exploring and some nighttime stargazing with the kids. Wasn't too much for the day and worked well at night. Could make out two of Jupiter moons, could see that Venus was about half phase, and the moon looked great the kids loved it. Attempted to find some more distant objects, could make out that Saturn is not a circle but more oval. Couldn't make out the rings. Unsuccessfully looked for M13, wasn't best conditions at that point. Got my butt up to look for Mercury and M31 early as they both are visible about 3:50 am but it was cloudy a that point.

The tripod adapter is a weak link and i recommend a better one for serious viewing.

The best uses so far are to get a better look at the bright stars and there colors, fun to look at the planets and the moon looks great.

Getting a tripod as even tho I'm a big guy they still fatigued me a bit after a few minutes.

All in all they work as described and are enjoyable to use.
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Collimation Problems (Double Vision)
by Serendipity (1 out of 5 stars)
May 23, 2016

It's actually mind boggling that the collimation problems go back to 2007 in these reviews and they still come out of the factory with this problem in huge numbers. Mine has collimation problems (double vision) so now I have to decide whether I go through the hassle of an exchange or if I just keep them and try and fix it myself. It's best to teach the company a lesson and do an exchange instead of potentially breaking them yourself.

Update:

Just received my 2nd pair. Jupiter is double vision again. Even worse than the first pair. What a surprise.
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Not able to get sharp focus / collimation issue
by Casi Dougal (1 out of 5 stars)
December 2, 2018

I didn't know what collimation was until I started researching the problem I was having with these binoculars and discovered there was a name for it. The quality of the binoculars out of the box looks great. I took them out to the desert mountains to test with high expectations. I notice right away when trying to focus on distant objects that I was having a lot of difficulties getting objects in focus at any distance, even after repeated diopter adjustment. Coincidently, my difference in vision between my left and right eyes is mionor.

My first test of the binoculars on game was on a group of eight Mule deer at about 400 yards strolling across the side of a ridge. After continuing to mess with trying to bring the deer into focus sharply I finally gave up and pulled out the Bushnell PowerView 10 x 50mm I had purchased at the same time. The magnification of course was less, however, I was surprised at the difference in brightness, the sharp image, and the ease in adjusting focus with maintained image quality.

I should note too that I was viewing from my pickup and had firm rests for my elbows with the Celestrons.

I had purchased the Celestron's with the Bushnells with the intent to provide me a better option for long-distance viewing but I realized immediately after this side by side test that the quality image of the Bushnells even with less magnification was superior. So, for now, I'm going to stick with just the Bushnells and if I decide to get another higher powered set down the road I'll try for a bit more expensive brand.
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Do NOT buy these, over time the plastic parts break down, disolve and become sticky
by Ronald J. Flory (1 out of 5 stars)
February 24, 2019

Its a shame- initially these were a great pair of binocs, but after a year the plastic parts forward/behind the prism assemblies have become stick and slimy to the touch. They have begun to dissolve to the point where the case and neck-straps have left impressions in the parts. You cannot pick up or use the binocs without your hands getting sticky goo on them. The eye-cusions and end-caps are fine.
I'd consider buying another pair if Celestron could assure me the manufacturing defect has been corrected- but how can one know???

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