Celestron71009 SkyMaster 15x70mm Porro Prism Binoculars with Multi-Coated Lens and BaK-4 Prism Glass, Black

Great for stargazing! The binos arrived a few days ago, well-packaged and perfectly collimated. It took less than 2 minutes to adjust them to my preference. And then they opened up the stars! They are definitely heavy, so if you have no intention of getting a tripod and you aren't unusually strong OR steady-handed, you will either want a tripod (more on that at the end) OR to get a smaller, less heavy pair. I wanted that extra bit of power, so I'm happy I chose these, and I added a tripod and adaptor to my order.In my about-30% light-polluted, mostly-rural sky, I was able to clearly separate the 2 "fried eggs" of the Orion Nebula, pick out the double and triple stars in the Sword, and even find an intriguing fourth stick-figure star group right on top of the Sword that nobody online seems to ever mention. The hilt?In fact, the Sword and Belt of Orion were so spectacular in these binos that I had trouble taking my eyes off of them. I could NOT separate the double-stars in the Belt, nor did I get any hint of the Nebulas that are supposed to be right near the last star in the Belt, but I was able to pick out quite a few star clusters. The Pleiades looks wonderful as you can just capture all of them in one shot, as with most star clusters. I could easily pick out two planets in the sky (update: the second "planet" turned out to be the star Sirius), but no good detail. I'm not sure if the really bright one was Saturn or Jupiter (update: it was Jupiter), but the Binos helped me pick out a sparkling belt of (moons?) around it, and it was stunning. I guess NO Binocular in this weight class is going to give you any detail on the planets, nebula, or allow you to do much more than get a faint, fuzzy glimpse of a galaxy. But if you are happy just knowing you found something even if it's not like the pictures, this is a really good option. I did NOT get the moon yet, so I don't know how that will look, but I suspect it will be amazing.As far as quality, it seems pretty good for the money. It comes with easy-on/off caps to protect the front and back ends, and as noted above, adjusting them is very easy. And they stay adjusted, too! That surprised me given how easy they are to adjust in the first place. Optics are about what you'd expect at this price point, but I'll say that I was very impressed with how sharp and clear the stars were, and how much detail I was able to get out of them. The outside has a rubber coating on it, which would provide a little protection if they were banged or dropped (UPDATE: and so they did). They do have some plastic on them, but it doesn't really come off as cheaply-made. My set came with a nice little carrying bag (that I will totally use), a cleaning cloth, and the aforementioned caps.These will be used regularly, even if I end up with an actual telescope. They are strong enough to scan the sky and pick out interesting areas, but have a wide-enough field of vision to use for spotting. After my first star party, I confirmed that some sky sights are actually better in these binoculars than in a telescope! I had a few telescope owners oohing at the sights from my binos (which I oohed over the extra detail available in their scopes!).Important note: Do NOT buy the Davis Vista tripod suggested by Amazon without doing some research first! The low $25 price, if it's the same one they recommended to me, also means that it's not actually built to support the weight of these binos - that tripod is not built for astronomy use. It's very hard to get these binos to hold still with the $25 tripod Amazon wants you to buy, and trying to look upwards is very difficult. If your budget allows, look for a heavier tripod that can support more weight and can be solidly locked even when the binos are on a tilt or tilted back. I think you should look for (if you can afford it):The TALLEST tripod you can get your hands on. You'd have to be, like, 5' tall to find 60" acceptable for stargazing.A tripod that can handle at least 10 pounds of weight with no problem (so you can lock the binos in place).A tripod with good support - you'll be tilting the binoculars constantly up, down, and sideways, and picking up the tripod frequently and moving it all around, so support really matters.The lightest tripod you can find that meets the above qualities. Again, you'll probably be picking it up a LOT and moving it around.I don't unfortunately have any suggestions yet - I will be asking the Astronomy Club I just joined as soon as I can for ideas. However, I'm pretty certain that you'll drop at least $75 into an appropriate tripod for these Celestron 15 x 70s, so... if your budget is tight, the cheaper tripod might be low-cost enough to be worth the irritation, as they will nevertheless steady up the binos at least enough to improve your view of the stars.**UPDATE a week later! My beautiful new binoculars FACE-PLANTED from the above-mentioned tripod right onto the concrete at my first star party, a fall of about six feet total, with time to accelerate. Thunk, omg, yikes.THEY SURVIVED THE FALL. I picked them up and was able to see fine out of them. It's possible the collimation is now slightly off, but I couldn't notice a difference.I can't give the SkyMasters another star as I'm already at 5/5, but I would if I could. All they got was a few scratches. WOW. I don't recommend dropping them on solid concrete as a rule, mind you - and I might have just gotten lucky - but it's a huge comfort to know that they CAN survive that sort of thing. I won't always have the luxury of using these on soft ground.(I also found a Ravelli APGL heavy-duty tripod at about $70 that should be able to handle a lot more weight, and will discontinue use of this "lightweight" tripod once it arrives. Lesson learned, and I'm only out about $25 from it, and these wonderful binos lived, so it could all be worse.)

Love these, very affordable and the quality is great. Really powerful, we use them for star gazing and for bird watching. Too heavy to walk with, but we keep them in the kitchen to see back yard birds. Bought second pair for my condo in Florida to watch the dolphins.

Love the binoculars but the tripod adapter was missing. If that had been in the box I'd given five stars. Great quality and great price. Brings a whole new dimension to the night sky.

The SkyMasters arrived carefully packed and collimated. One negative I noted is the narrow neckstrap included. It's much too small for a pair of binos this size, and I'm sure it would leave a "rope burn" on the back of my neck if I use it. To correct this, I removed the MUCH BEEFIER strap from my old Jason 10 x 50s and attached it to the new SkyMasters. Problem solved.The other negative is the flimsy, nylon carrying case. I would prefer to have a hard carrying case to help prevent the binos from being bumped out of collimation during storage and transit. For this reason alone, I considered giving the SkyMasters four out of five stars, but this issue isn't related to the performance of the product itself.Many reviewers have commented on the weight of the SkyMasters. Yes, they are definitely heavier than my 10 x 50s, but I expected them to be much heavier. They are surprisingly easy to hand-hold. Those folks who have difficulty with the weight, may find it easier to hold the barrels near the objective lens to distribute the weight evenly.My first night using them outside was a real treat as I did a quick star test to determine star color accuracy and brightness. I looked at three of my favorite stars - Deneb, Sadr and Mirfak. I swing the binos up to the northwest and check out first-magnitude Deneb (1,425 light years away), in the constellation Cygnus. It's a rare, A2Ia (white-hot supergiant) star about 108 - 114 times the size of our sun, shining with an astounding luminosity of 54,400 suns!!! It marks the top of the Northern Cross in Cygnus. If Deneb was put in place of our sun right this moment, earth would be roasted instantly!! Through the SkyMasters, Deneb appears as a brilliantly-bright, sharply-focused, white point of light! Magnificent!Just below Deneb, in the same constellation, I scan down to mid-second-magnitude Sadr (1,830 light years distant), an F8Iab (yellow-white-hot supergiant) star nearly the same color and temperature as our sun, but an enormous 183 times larger, shining with a fierce luminosity of 60,000 suns!!! The SkyMasters reveal Sadr's beautiful, light yellow hue. Stunning!Now, I swing over to the northeast and up to check out second-magnitude Mirfak (590 light years away), the brightest star in the constellation Perseus. It's an F5Ib (yellow-white-hot supergiant), 62 times the size of our sun and 5,000 times brighter. Mirfak appears similar in brightness and color to the yellowish-white light of a car headlight seen about 1/2 mile in the distance by the unaided eye. Impressive!Since the bright, first-magnitude star, Capella, is nearby in the constellation Auriga, I pan over a short distance to the left. Actually, Capella is a binary star system consisting of a G8III (yellow-orange-hot giant) and G0III (yellow-hot giant) star in very close mutual orbit around each other. The combined light of both stars is similar in brightness to the yellowish-white light of a car headlight seen about 1/4 mile in the distance by the unaided eye. Very bright, indeed!To really appreciate the light-gathering ability of the Celestrons, first look at your favorite stars with your old binos. Then, view them through the SkyMasters. The star brightness from 50mm to 70mm aperture is substantial, and is enhanced by the SkyMaster's BAK-4 prisms. What I once thought was bright with my Jason 10 x 50s with lower-quality BK-7 prisms, now is dim compared to the SkyMasters!The SkyMaster's 4.4-degree field of view can make it a bit challenging to locate a star, unless you're familiar with the constellations, and know the location of the star and its color. I found that aiming the SkyMasters in the general direction of the star, placing them to your eyes and raising them up a little higher will place the star in the field of view.The center focus dial and right diopter eyepiece rotate smoothly through their full range of motion, and are easy to turn, even with winter gloves on. I didn't detect any tightness or looseness in either dial.Because of their weight and higher magnification, there is a considerable amount of "star dancing" when viewing a star with the SkyMasters. This annoyance is much more pronounced than it is with my 10 x 50s. Previous reviewers have touched upon this as well, and have remedied the problem with a tripod. I'm still trying to find other ways (if there are any) of steadying the SkyMasters, short of purchasing a tripod. I want to maximize the SkyMaster's "ultimate portability," by swinging them from one area of the sky to another rapidly, to compare star colors and brightness, without having to move and re-station a tripod over and over again.There you have it, the biggest advantage of the SkyMasters - ultimate portability! I've had two telscopes in the past, but got rid of them both. Wasting time setting up the scope, fishing around trying to locate a star, then seeing a fuzzy "blob" with one eye closed once I did find the star, wasn't fun. Let's not forget having to tear down the scope and store it away! More time wasted.Now, if I want to check out a few of my favorite stars after supper on a winter night - no problem! Just throw on a parka, hat and gloves, grab the Skymasters and step out in the back yard for a quick view. Ahh, Wezen sure looks beautiful tonight!