Celestron SkyMaster 25x100 Binoculars – Giant Aperture Binoculars for Deep-Sky Astronomy & Long-Distance Viewing – Multi-Coated Optics – Includes Tripod Adapter & Carrying Case

This thing is way better than telescopes in the same price range. The range and clarity is insane. The only downside is it's weight making the smallest movements with your hands translate to what you're seeing as very shaky and unstable. Laying down or leaning back with your elbows supported can negate the earthquake effects somewhat. I would recommend placing your hands further away from your face while holding the binoculars for more stability. It does have an option for a tripod holder but I've never used it. Another downside is the backpack thing it comes with is poorly made and can barely fit the binoculars. You don't really need it anyway. Just don't lose the rubber lens covers. I dropped it on concrete it's first night but it has virtually no damage. But I've really enjoyed the beauty of the stars through this incredibly well-made, clear, and versatile pair of Stargazing Binoculars. It's worth the price for sure.

For what ever reason I was delivered a used product with scratches, burred misaligned screws and missing parts! Contacted seller but no response( was saturday..responded on monday, the day replacement was already on the way). Return was swift and replacement arrived 2 days later. It was proper new one this time! These 25x100s are very sturdy good quality binos. Mine were in perfect focus as far as I can tell and collimated properly. The tripod attachment has a smaller screw size (1/4" instead of 3/8"). Screw has to be tightened very tight, afraid of damaging aluminum threads. I bought a ballhead boasting 31lbs capacity for the binos. It was supposed to have enuf capacity to hold the binos even tilted as it weighs roughly 9lbs. Yeah..really didn't. Wobbly and shake. Setup had a telescope tripod so definitely not lacking there. Ended up going all in with Oberwerk tripod. Perfect choice for the binos. With that setup I can easily look all over with steady view. I'm impressed with image quality and light gathering ability. There's a little bit of chromatic aberration visible looking at moon (clear green hue on light side). Stars (what ever visible from backyeard) look beautiful crisp light spots, chromatic aberration not noticeable. Why point out the tripod in review? These are totally useless by hand. I'm a big guy and can't hold these steady at all, magnification (*25) and weight make it literally impossible to enjoy the view. Sturdy support just is mandatory expense! You cannot avoid it. And preferably with adjustable center column, viewing towards zenith (if standing) requires at least eye level height (6"6' in my case). Else you'll just strain your neck or back ;) Along with binos comes a convenient carry case. Feels robust and good quality to me. Also there is no focus ring on this beast. If you need to focus, you focus each eye separately. Inconvenient if you have several viewers but awesome as you can ditch eyeglasses and still get perfect focus.

I purchased the SkyMaster 25x100 Binoculars. They are heavy, and you will need to use a very good tripod to support them. You may need to factor in at least another $100 to the cost of acquisition, and more if you're tall. I suppose you could sit in a lawn chair and use the binoculars with your arms resting on your chest, but even a strong person is going to tire quickly. The view you get through these binoculars is better than one would get from a telescope at the same price point, and the optics gather a lot of light. There is some chromatic aberration near the edges of the lenses, but it is slight, and doesn't interfere with the detail. Astronomical binoculars, like telescopes, require a little practice, patience, and care to provide the best views. These binoculars are easier to set up than a telescope, easier to put in your car and head out into the dark, easier to focus, and easier to look through, but they are still astronomical binoculars. I don't recommend these for most kids, as they are too heavy and require a non-trivial amount of strength to place and secure them on a tripod. I would only purchase these for someone who has an obvious serious interest in amateur astronomy. The other thing that kids, and some adults, do is grab onto the binoculars while viewing, and then complain that they can't see anything. I'm not a parent, and I can only stand about 9 seconds of some kid, or adult for that matter, whining about the view before I start seriously thinking about packing stuff up and going home. Ordinary field binoculars, mounted on a tripod, will provide extremely good views of many celestial objects, are much more kid-friendly, and generally make better gifts. Addendum: I purchased a heavy duty video pan-tilt head for the tripod, and mount the SkyMaster binocs on that. Here is the one I purchased: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017LEESA The binoculars are MUCH easier to manipulate with the pan head. But the pan head itself is heavy, so make sure your tripod. The Orion heavy duty parallelogram looks like it might be better, but you need to drop another $500 to get that. If you already have a decent tripod, the pan head is about half the price of the parallelogram. I purchased the Manfrotto 229 3D because the reviews from people with heavy equipment were very positive. The SkyMasters are a lot heavier than most consumer-grade high-def video cameras.

These overall are great binoculars. They have a ton of light-capturing ability. If you want to see galaxies, nebulae, and constellations, then get these. I don't recommend them for planets or for star clusters, as the 25x zoom is not large enough to see any details. If you want to see planets and star clusters, then purchase a telescope with an aperture of 5 inches or higher. The 100mm aperture is amazing when I look at the stars and constellations. If I see three stars with my naked eye, then look at the same group of stars through the binoculars, then I see up to 80 stars through the binoculars! You can see really faint objects. And occasionally, and airplane will pass by, and these binoculars pick out amazing detail on airplanes. I don't recommend these for bird-watching or wild-life watching, because they are almost 10 pounds, and carrying them would be a tedious haul. If you have a lakefront view or a really good view outside, then I recommend them for that spot. They pick out amazing details for sightseeing. If you want to do nature/bird watching, then a 50mm aperture will give you plenty of detail. There is one flaw, though, with the binoculars. That is the production. Celestron doesn't have 100% quality when it comes to manufacturing the actual product. They mass produce a lot of things, so it is hard for them to individually inspect all of their products. One of their flaws came through my binoculars. The tripod adapter was a little lop-sided, making it really hard to screw the binoculars onto the tripod. I wanted to get a really good view of the orion nebula, so I attempted to put them on my tripod, but it took me five minutes just to get them set up on my tripod. That is 4m 30s more than my 15x70s, which do not have a jacked up tripod adapter. There is one other small flaw: The design of the binocular case. The binoculars take a really long time to take out of the case. Unless you leave them out frequently (I sadly do because of the case), you will have a tough time setting them up for use. Same with putting them away. It is a very tedious task. Another flaw with the case is that is doesn't protect them from accidents. I think that Celestron should design a hard shell case that clips, rather than a baggy case that makes them really hard to set up. Another reason Celestron should make the hard shell case is because the binoculars are so expensive, and Celestron can give us some gratitude by providing the binoculars with better protection. Overall, you should get these. They are well worth the price. But on the other hand, you are taking a risk when it comes to production. You might get a jacked up pair (kinda like mine), or you could get a really fine tuned pair. And if you don't mind the extra time setting them up, or you don't mind leaving them out, then you should also get these. They are much better compared to other 100mm binoculars. Good Luck with your purchase!

Those binoculars are amazing . I was able to see star clusters unseeable with a 15*70 bino . Somehow I am living with constant fear that the threads holding this massive binocular might break over time . I am using it with a coman monopod and is doing the trick perfectly for me . You could probably hold these binoculars for short bursts of 15 seconds at time . Nebulas from the carina pop out so much and shook me off my feet . This time they seem to have improved the quality of the case as I recieved one with some padding on the back side . Message to Celestron : Kindly sell replacement spare parts for the central column stuff this is the weakest point and might break the tread over time due to its weight . I would recommend it if you like viewing deep sky objects , star clusters, nebulas and galaxies . Works well even at bortle 5 and 4 for southern constellations.

Oh dear… I really wanted to have a fantastic experience with this product. It was the first quite expensive optic I’d ever bought and I was hoping for good things. Alas, 1) the weight. As you consider this, it’s easy to discount the impact of the weight. Sure with a tripod and a strong gimbal head, it’s manageable but by no means a pleasure. The positioning and size of the barrels frequently interfere with the screw on the head, which makes this off and especially on in the dark is very difficult. It also makes it catastrophic if perhaps (as it happened, but I managed to painfully catch it with my foot) the connection wasn’t quite right and the hulking expensive sensitiveand precisely engineered mass hits the floor. You might be asking ‘why would you get it off in the dark?’ The binoculars have a way of loosening their connection to their head mount I think from the sheer weight requiring infield attention to fix. Only for the problem to happen again, probably in like 15 minutes after which you just try to live with the wobbling head. Honestly, they should ship with some kind of connection and or head that is made for this things. I use this every day to look at the stars and things during the day flying around in the sky. And every time I look at it I have a moment of pain as I realise I need to lug it around from inside to outside and moving it up and down on the tripod vertical height is such a pain because it’s just heavy. And I’m not a small guy. Overtime this really becomes quite wearing. And Lord help you if you forget to tighten any of the head mount position screws as the weight of the binoculars simply flopping to one side will potentially pull a high tripod all the way off balance. The rubber eye relief ring which folds on itself when you’re wearing eyeglasses (unbelievably at this price point) cracked at where the rubber is folded on a semi daily basis. This crack went through half the IP so now it flops around the eyepiece and will require a new fitting. Each barrel can be independently focused. Frankly, I really like this. On binoculars the size it’s actually a lot easier to adjust to focus at that point rather than kind of reach across while trying to maintain a steady hold and turn a very heavy dial that we’re all used to to adjust the focus. Typically the work of adjusting the focus that way pushes the binoculars themselves off whatever you’re looking at as referenced for focus. This doesn’t really happen with these binoculars. However, the connection they used to attach the focus ring on the eyepiece is with Gromit screws. I noticed one day that one of the pieces was kind of flopping around and and subsequently literally came off in my hand. It needed the four Gromit screws to be tightened, which are underneath the eye relief rubber. If this happened in the field it would be impossible to do in the dark as the screws are unbelievably small and there is no chance you could see them under anything less than a steady bright room lighting. These binoculars also should have some kind of red dot like telescopes have. They are far too powerful to simply aim at what you want to look at and hope that you’re going to see it without a good few seconds of rooting around. Celestron didn’t even bother to arrange to have some kind of place to mount a third-party RDS necessitating a custom 3-D designed and printed add-on which was completely different difficult to do given the slope and slickness of the barrels which obviously cannot be penetrated with screws. The image quality and brightness is excellent. When all the hard work of setting up the shot is completed, the enjoyment component is really quite good. A very bright large image is produced. I actually also think they might be more powerful than the advertise as it looks remarkably similar to an another 30 X binoculars I had. I had a pair of SKOKH (?) 30×80 no that cost one third of the price of these. Now sure the brightness of the image wasn’t quite as bright (but it would require you to have a literal side-by-side comparison to tell) but the weight made such a difference looking back. The cheaper pair of binoculars with so much lighter and easy to move around. I actually missed in comparison those binoculars (aside from even the price point). I couldn’t recommend that you buy this. I frankly grudgingly gave it a three star and for a second considered a two star. But at the core the image quality is very good. These will be especially suitable for you if you have a high-quality head mount (or you’re willing to design in 3-D print your own connection) and tripod that stays in one place and you don’t move it around to different parts of the house or different locations. This pair of binoculars gave me a lesson that paying three times the price can still end up buying you a worse experience. The fact that it is readily on sale for 2/3 of the original price used I think sums up the story well. Celestron, if you’re listening - make this half the weight, allow/supply a RDS or supply some kind of finder on it, fix the eyepiece issues. Improve the lens cover issues. Provide a better strap the idea of using the supplied neck strap is ridiculous -and you’re onto a winner! For those of you considering this to buy without these use for a tripod - absolutely forget it. Zero chance. An apt comparison would be trying to write a nicely handwritten note with a 10lb dumbbell attached to your hand.

BACKGROUND: I am an amateur astronomer and Vice President of the local Astronomy club. I own several pairs of large binoculars and have looked through many more. My needs were beautiful images of deep sky objects at a price I could justify. The Celestron 25x100 Skymaster Binoculars meet those needs. GENERAL COMMENTS: The binoculars arrived July 2004 and had a collimation error of about 1 degree (very bad collimation). Celestron support was contacted at the request of Amazon support and confirmed what I already knew, factory repair was required. I lacked the skills and equipment to collimate and refill with nitrogen. Amazon promptly picked up the broken pair and delivered a new pair in just a few days. What a difference a few days made. The new pair was packaged inside a secondary box and arrived in pristine condition. Daytime collimation was excellent. We tested the binoculars after astronomy club on a distant lighted sign and found them to be essentially flat to the edge of the field of view with a minor vignetting at the edge. Everyone was impressed and several members wanted a pair. During the club meeting I suggested that everyone who wanted a $500 pair of binoculars for $250 needed to go to Amazon and purchase one before the price went up. I sky tested the binoculars a few nights later and they performed very well. I had only about 20 minutes till the clouds took over. Due to the high humidity and generally poor observing conditions we were unable to use the binoculars for an extended time and get a really good test. A tripod is pretty much required for astronomical observing although you can lay on your back and observe the zenith. You have to hold your breath and squeeze up tight to get a steady image. I was able to hand hold the binoculars during daylight and look at distant trees, etc. It was very difficult to hold the binoculars with one hind while adjusting the focus with the other. Leaning the binoculars on a steady object such as a fence would probably work. Note that not just any tripod will work (read below), so if you used these in the field you will be packing a lot of weight. I recommend that they be used pretty close to home or car. CONCLUSION: But, based on what I have already seen, this is the best buy for the money I have made for astronomical equipment. CAVEATS I highly recommend purchasing these if: 1. you can handle the weight (these puppies are heavy) 2. you want to see bright images of distant objects 3. you can deal with lack of center focus (not good for moving objects) 4. you are very careful not to jar them out of collimation (big binoculars are easily knocked out of collimation 5. you want excellence, and also a bargain (better binoculars are available for an order of magnitude more money. 6. you have a sturdy tripod (I have a Bogen which cost over $100 25 years ago and it seems barely adequate). IRRITANTS: 1. First pair arrived in only the product box and I suspect that may have contributed to the collimation problem. You should be ready to send a pair back if they do not deliver a good image. 2. the "built in" 1/4-20 threaded adapter which attaches to the tripod head is undersized and has movement. There is a single screw which was not tight on both pairs which when tightened would slow the play of the center shaft. There is a plastic sleeve between the adapter and the shaft which had play and this could not be removed (again, same problem with both pairs). When the know was tightened to the max the binoculars were still not very snug. The result is that if there is any unbalance in the weight on the tripod then the adapter is unable to hold the weight of the binoculars and the binoculars will swing to a more balanced position. I believe that the solution to this problem is to build one of the "binocular holders" seen in "Sky & Telescope" or "Astronomy" magazines which will hold the binoculars steady while providing a counter balance. Otherwise, you will have to be extra careful. Also, the tightening know should be larger for people like me who do not have the strength of superman. 3. there is an old adage that the mount is half the price of the telescope. A mount which fully supports the binocular tubes at both ends would perform better than the inadequate mount provided. For those mechanically inclined, the solution is straight forward and inexpensive. It could take 10-15 hours of time (at least for me).

When I removed the last of the packing material from around the binoculars, I heard the faint sound of something clicking, or rattling. When I turned the binoculars so the eyepieces were pointing down, I heard it again. And I heard it again when I flipped then over so the eyepieces were pointing up. When I put them in better light, I found that there was a loose screw falling back and forth in the left optical tube of the binoculars. When I looked at the objective lens in sunlight, I could see that the coating on the inside of the lens had been scratched in several places. ... I am so disappointed. I purchased these to watch some once-in-a-lifetime astronomical events that will happen soon. Now I have to wait for the binoculars to be replaced. Will I receive replacements in time? Or will I miss the events and the next time they happen is after my death? Celestron - what has happened to your quality control? ... And why did they have to be shipped all the way from Great Britain? I purchased from Amazon because it was about $100 less. Maybe I should purchase directly from Celestron - it might be that Amazon is selling seconds or returned items, and getting rid of them from where ever they have them stashed away. (ADDITION) I ordered directly from Celestron, and it was shipped from a distribution center in California. It cost more, but the product was undamaged. The package from Celestron was also in better shape. The Celestron product box from Amazon looked like it had been opened, although the inside packing appeared untouched; the packing of the Celestron product box inside the Amazon shipping package from Great Britain was poor, allowing damage to the shipping package. When I tried to return the binoculars with free shipping, one outlet of the shipping store would not take it because it was going to Great Britain, which required driving to another outlet on the other side of town. Couldn't Amazon had warned of this possibility? And again, why Great Britain? Was there no source for Amazon in the United States? I found a review on the Celestron website that described the same problem as mine. The pictures included with the review showed damage nearly identical to mine, specifically the screw on the inside edge of the objective lens and the pattern of scratches on the inside of the lens. The likeness was uncanny, reinforcing my suspicion that Amazon acquired a defective product and shipped it to another location to sell it at a lower price. Still, it does suggest that Celestron should do something about the quality control in the Chinese factory that is building its products.