Celestron 20x80 Skymaster Binoculars

This is the first pair of binoculars I’ve ever bought. I’ve only ever used my dads old pair of Miranda 10x50’s and just assumed all binoculars were roughly the same. I wanted a pair with higher magnification to view the moon.I was blown away by how much better these are and how crisp and clear the view is.They are very heavy and with this magnification they do suffer with image shake so I will be investing in a decent tripod.My only criticism is the bag they come with is very flimsy with very little padding. I would have happily paid extra for a much better quality and more protective bag.

At the time of writing this I have just acquired a pair of Celestron 20x80 binoculars at a very reasonable price. I had been observing a comet (C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy) with very good 7x50 binoculars, a 90mm f10 refractor and some other equipment. The comet was a circular blob about 20 of arc in diameter, somewhat centrally condensed and livid grass green and opal blue (in DSLR images), the same but very pale visually in the refractor, and a grayish version of same in the 7x50 binoculars... Using the Celestron 20x80 binoculars (which had arrived in the mail at 9am that morning longest day ever!), on a good solid tripod, the comet, now three times larger and much brighter, showed the colours clearly. Even the base of the tiny (purely gas) tail from this least dusty comet ... MoreAt the time of writing this I have just acquired a pair of Celestron 20x80 binoculars at a very reasonable price. I had been observing a comet (C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy) with very good 7x50 binoculars, a 90mm f10 refractor and some other equipment. The comet was a circular blob about 20 of arc in diameter, somewhat centrally condensed and livid grass green and opal blue (in DSLR images), the same but very pale visually in the refractor, and a grayish version of same in the 7x50 binoculars... Using the Celestron 20x80 binoculars (which had arrived in the mail at 9am that morning longest day ever!), on a good solid tripod, the comet, now three times larger and much brighter, showed the colours clearly. Even the base of the tiny (purely gas) tail from this least dusty comet was just visible to averted vision. The comet being in the Taurus-Aries region, I looked at the Pleiades they were superb! The field of view neither too large nor too small. So I looked for the usual suspects. The Jewel box in Crux and 47 Tucanae were breathtaking. The relaxed viewing with both eyes wide open and actively looking was great. I cannot recommend these monsters enthusiastically enough! But you need a good tripod. The 20x80s were , at less than NZD250.00, no more expensive than a good 3 refractor! I have always told students to get a good pair of binoculars and use them to see if astronomy is their thing, then move on to the 3 refractor, or a 6 reflector, etc. to do some useful work. But these binoculars - for a price no higher than good 7x50 binoculars when I last bought them may be changing the hobby at its very beginning.The student still needs the refractor (say)for the high magnification, but I can't see these binocs being "put aside". No astronomer at any level should be without a pair.

5 stars for value for the money, Celestron takes a page from a popular phone/tablet maker’s playbook by setting the stage via product presentation. The high-end and highly functional (product protection) packaging exudes the sense that Celestron is a mature company that knows what it’s doing. The binoculars themselves did not disappoint. Solidly built, we selected this model over the higher magnification 25x70 because of the included/integrated and much needed tripod mount. These binos are very large so get a tripod that can handle them. We use our job-site laser level tripod which is just sturdy enough. Did not notice any issues with optics as per some other reviews.