Customer Reviews

Celestron 71020 SkyMaster 25-125x80 Zoom Binoculars

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'm happy with my purchase of these binoculars. The optics are fine and I've enjoyed looking through them. You must have a heavy duty tripod or they are useless - don't expect to hold them in your hands and get a steady view. As you zoom in the focus changes slightly and the field of view narrows considerably. I also have trouble using binoculars in general and often use a single eye. I think I might have been happier spending the same money on a decent spotting scope. But I don't regret this purchase and am enjoying having something so portable for nights I don't want to set up my telescope, or when I want to view larger phenomenon.

I am honestly confused as to why these binoculars have gotten such low user reviews (aside from the few who apparently received defective pairs). Granted, I am new to the world of binoculars, but with a little adjustment (which I assume must be done for any pair of binoculars) my pair show crystal clear images, never "cross-eyed". The only issue I have encountered is when the looking at full zoom, where the image tends to double up. If I back the zoom off just a little that seems to clear it up. As for the weight and size of the binos, I think it is obvious that they are not meant to be hand-held, otherwise they would not come equipped with a tripod mount. If you are looking for a relatively normal-size pair for casual observation or observation of quickly moving objects, these aren't the way to go. But if you prefer magnification over maneuverability, these binoculars are great! Just remember to use a tripod and you will get excellent results. Mine are used for amateur astronomy. I have used them for four nights in a row looking at stars and planets. Jupiter is clearly visible, as well as a few of its moons. I have also viewed the Andromeda galaxy and a few nebulae. For the price, it can't be beat!

1.5 stars...I own a few nice sets of binocs.(Leicas) Those are in a class of their own. The Celestrons at 25 power are kind of OK in terms of clarity and magnification. Not remotely close in quality to the finer optics found in Leicas etc..The price point makes these a reasonable investment for a set you wouldn't be distraught over losing but only in a fixed magnification set..skip the variable magnification binocs.At around 25%+ to 125 power,the image quality is worthless. A waste of money. Mine went back to Amazon thank goodness for their good return policy. Distorted and diplopic-at least this set. Stay away.

I was shocked how tall (long) these are, 14", with the eye cups up! No where in the specs is this mentioned. I purchased a monopod from walmart for $20 and it works as well or better than a tripod. They weigh just 4oz short of 5 pounds so,no, you won't be holding these without support for too long. The optics and construction are top notch, what I would expect from Celestron.The field of view is small to begin with and it narrows as you zoom in. The zoom is best used for a closer look at a stationary object once you've located it. Large objective lens makes it good for low light situations. If you are resting your elbows on something and girpping the binoculars as close to the objective lens as possible you can hold them steady enough for viewing a few minutes at a time. I haven't tried these for celestial viewing yet.

I bought a pair of Celestron 20-100x70 zoom astronomical binocs to send to a school in Honduras, and they were OK (not great, but worth the price). It seems there is a slight issue with the alignment of the two sides, but my eyes adjusted OK (I would have rated those 4 stars).

When I sent them south with my missionary friend, I wanted another pair to use here, so I ordered the 25-125x80 zoom version, hoping for a better pair. Again, however, there seemed a minor alignment issue, AND the left side would never quite focus on infinity, making stars more than a bit fuzzy at best. I could force the right to focus, with the additional adjustment band, but not the left. In all other respects, these seem well built with good materials.

It was a sad day, but I sent them back. Perhaps Celestron does better on non-zoom versions. Seems the major issues are not the lenses themselves, but the barrel alignment, and focus limits. These should be minor problems for a manufacturer to take care of, but until they are addressed, I would advise - if you can afford better quality than I can - to pay a bit more, and/or forgo the zoom.

This is a sweet set of bino's. I don't care for the zoom on it,so I just use it at its lowest magnification. I use it for astronomical viewing. The zoom may work better for terrestrial viewing during daylight hours. A tripod is a must.

I bought these binoculars to use on a tripod and view wildlife. Unfortunately, I was disappointed when I took my first look through them. The alignment was off and the result was that the binoculars were "cross-eyed". I had read some reviews that sometimes this was a problem with these binoculars. The quality control was lacking, at least on this pair. I returned them to Amazon for a refund. While I was disappointed with the binoculars, kudos go to Amazon for their smooth and effortless return policy.

Looking at the moon has never been more exciting. You can see all the craters and rough surfaces. Star Gazing at its best!

After many attempts to find a binocular that my husband could use to check the surf from our mountain top home, this one did the job!! He is very happy with it. I bought it for him for Christmas.

OK, you either get a good pair out of the factory or you don't. Bad quality control of the product seems to be the norm for this model. At 25 power, collimation was excellent, and the view of Orion's Nebula was beautiful, but as soon as I started to zoom, collimation quickly went out, like at 30 power and on. and as other people have already mentioned, Focus does not hold throughout the zoom range. So I am left with the choice of sending them back to Celestron, Returning them to Amazon, or re-collimating them myself. One reviewer on another sight said he has gotten no satisfaction from Celestron after sending them back 3 times. So I took option 3, re-collimating them myself. They really do a fine job at seeing, and I really did not want to send them back. If you are patient and take it slow with minor adjustments, you can re-collimate them yourself. You can look up how on the internet, there are many sites and videos on the subject, and if you own more than one pair of binoculars, you should learn how to do this anyway, since most of them go out over time. It's really not hard. As for the rating of only 2 stars, Celestron should take more pride in their products, and if this is third party manufacturing, as I suspect, they should be doing more quality inspections of incoming products. It seems that more than 50% of the customers of this product are dis-satisfied. That's bad for business. I own several Celestron products and for the most part, they make quality stuff, but this one has bad quality control.