orlyaa's Full Review: Celestron SkyMaster 71009 Binocular
These are the cheapest 15x70 binoculars out there. The Celestron 15x70 Skymaster is the same Chinese-manufactured binocular sold under the Bear, Barska, Galileo, and Oberwerk brands. Although the Oberwerks have better multicoatings and better quality control.
70mm binoculars should be really good to look through, particularly for wide-field sweeping of the Milky Way and star clouds. But a Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX costs in excess of $500. That's the price of perfection. Obviously, at $85-odd, the Celestron falls far short of perfection.
Problem #1: my pair arrived out of collimation. This is common with these cheap Chinese binoculars (exception: Oberwerk does some extra QA when they import). Mis-collimation is so common that there are instructions all over the 'net on how to adjust the binoculars yourself (try a search for "bear binocular collimation" on Google). If you're handy with jeweler's screwdrivers and you have a sturdy mount, you can collimate these yourself. But prepare for headaches.
Problem #2: the included tripod mount is a flimsy plastic joke. It holds the (heavy, 3-pound) binoculars up, but they sway in the slightest breeze. Binoculars this size are not designed to be hand-held (unless you bench-press 300 pounds). I was able to remedy the flimsy tripod mount by filling all the empty spaces with epoxy putty. Ugly, but effective.
Problem #3: even after you've collimated successfully (difficult, because you need a sturdy mount, see #2 above, and a sturdy tripod, and you have to collimate on a star) there are tremendous distortions in the field of view. These are cheap binos, and the bowed straight lines will drive you crazy.
Take the name "Skymaster" for what it is -- these binos are NOT suitable for daytime use, because the astigmatism, distortion, and non-straight lines will drive you mad. For night-time use, though, they are acceptable, AFTER you've collimated them (otherwise, you'll be seeing double). M31 the Andromeda Galaxy and M45 the Pleiades are framed quite nicely in the 4.4-degree field of view. Stars near the edge are not points, due to the astigmatic optics, but the view can be lived with.
You'll be needing a suitable bino mount before long though, unless you enjoy getting a strained neck. the Sky Window from www.tricomachine.com is one good possibility, at $250. Another is the Unistar Light mount from www.universal-astronomics.com, for $170. Both of these mounts cost way more than the Celestron 15x70 Skymaster.
You're better off buying the Oberwerks for $125. They are the same binos, but with better quality control. That, or save up for the Fujinon's, which are the best in this size range (at sane prices). You could also check out the Miyauchi 22x60's (all of these at www.bigbinoculars.com) although the $800+ price will probably appall you.
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