Celestron 25x70 sky watchers binoculars

[Scorpion50]

Can you advise if these binoculars are worth buying?

[John]

Hello

I think the 15x70 ones are better and easier to use for astronomy. You can just about hand hold the 15x70's for very short periods, although a tripod mounting is needed to get the best from them. With the 25x70's hand holding will be totally impractical plus the narrower field of view sort of defeats the purpose of binoculars a bit.

[JamesM]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You might want to take at this review of the above binoculars. Like any binocular this size, weight might be a problem if you intend to use them for longer observation sessions and for that reason a tripod might help you, though many argue that the weight can help steady the view more than traditional smaller sized models.

You don't mention any budget that you might help inform your considerations but if this size of binocular is what you're after then you might want to consider these which have been designated a award for outstanding quality etc. First Light Optics who sponsor this forum recently produced a thread on these awards here of which the Celestron Echelon 20x70's got a mention in post no.2. The actual review for these appears here towards the bottom of the web page. Now I will admit to there being a very large price difference BUT it is not the sort of purchase that will lead to you wanting to upgrade in a hurry and in fact once bought, would represent a purchase that could be used for a very long time. In addition they are both fully waterproof and nitrogen-purged (unlike your suggested choice) and the latter will help prevent them fogging up when you are viewing in colder weather.

Hope my suggested reading helps take you further down the line of consideration. At the end of the day the skywatchers are still good binoculars both in build quality and in value for money but there are those that cost more because they have better quality features built into them.

Clear skies

[glowjet]

Because of health problems, I use binoculars now more than I used to do. This is limited to a pair of rather expensive Japanese 10x50 and the ever popular Celestron 15x70, the views through the 10x50 are without doubt excellent, both for clarity and field of view. They are easy to hold by hand, never the less, perfectly stable vision is only obtainable from them being tripod mounted, if you want to get the best out of the subject under review. 

The 15x70 are still quite good with the extra weight, although pinpoint focusing can sometimes be a little difficult. Hand holding, for just a short period of time, is just about doable, but, as you would expect, better results are achieved with them being tripod mounted. The optics although still very acceptable, are not in the same league as the 10x50, probably down to the multi coatings of the optics.

The Celestron 25x70, the person who reviewed these has gone to some considerable lengths and great detail to describe them. When it comes to Astronomical use, I was quite surprised to learn that in better conditions, it seems some have been able discern basins in the red areas of Mars and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, is also observable. I am in no position to dispute this, but would doubt the observations were made from the UK, all I will say, Mars is a difficult subject to observe with a telescope of decent aperture at any time, let alone 25x70 binoculars, the same goes for the GRS of Jupiter. However, on the up side, Jupiter's Moons are plainly visible in most reasonably powered binoculars, from the UK.

In my opinion 25x70 binoculars, for general Astronomical use, have too small a field of view, I don`t doubt some may disagree, but for general purpose the best binoculars you can afford, in the 10x50 class,  should serve you well. If you want to go larger, then the 15x70, to be eventually tripod mounted, should fit the bill.