Celestron Skymaster 15x70

[astrowolf67]

I've been looking for an upgrade to my cheapo 10x50 bino's, and, even with possible collimation issues, are the Celestron 15x70's worth a buy at $40.....new?

[astrowolf67]

Hmmm, I might hold off, even at that price point. The seller on Amazon, only has a 9% positive rating over the last 12 months. I almost overlooked that when I saw the price. With that, I don't really think it's worth the headache.

[Gabby76]

I would stay away from those as that is considerably less than what they normally sell for.
I have a set and they are fairly good, not Nikon or Oberwerks but they get the job done.

[craigwithers]

I had them and they we a pain, always out of focus. Beware these Binoculars come under different names / companies. Mine we from Orion, gave to my brothers children to play with.

[DeanD]

I agree: from what I have heard you really need to buy these from a reputable dealer so you can easily exchange them if the collimation is no good.

I had a look on Amazon Aust. just for interest: you could always get them from this mob! (NOT!) https://www.amazon.com.au/Celestron-...elestron+15x70 - and only $619 ($US430)!!! And for that price you get free delivery too!

- Dean

[Ozman13]

I've looked through several of these Celestron 15x70s (because I've been asked to collimate several pair!) and have always found the optics to be OK. If you're prepared to collimate them (which is EASY to do), they usually (at least from my experience) perform fairly well. You can get a brand new pair on ebay shipped to you for less than $55. That being said, all of my astronomy binoculars are from Oberwerk (except the Kasai constellation binoculars).

[Bigzmey]

The market is flooded with those, so getting one for ~$50 or a bit less is possible. I would only do it though if you are prepared to collimate them yourself, or the seller allows easy returns.

I just checked and Amazon Warehouse has one for $47.41. This is a safe deal, since if you have Prime the returns are free.

[helicon64]

I have a pair that cost $68 I think. Mine arrived collimated (from amazon) and I have not dropped them so they are still collimated. The perform pretty well but as Oz says they are not as good as the Oberwerks. When I upgrade to 25x100's, and eventually I will then i will get a pair of Oberwerks.

[RAR]

Mind were $about $60 from Amazon. Came out of collimation. Collimating these is a 1 minute job, and you do not have to remove the grips or damage them in any way as many suggest. The screws are accessible right near the edge of the rubber grips. A small jewelers screwdriver for the screws and a finger nail to lift the very edge of the rubber grips (not glued at the edge) on topside is all that is needed. I am quite happy with these binocs.

[jcj380]

Agree with RAR. First pair broken on arrival (from Amazon), second pair badly out of collimation out of the box. I almost gave them to GoodWill, but figured I had nothing to lose by trying to collimate them. I don't think I perfectly collimated them and I did cut away a portion of one grip, but they give pretty good handheld views now, better on my monopod with a ballhead.

Don't remember the price at the time, but I used a gift card so I wasn't out much. (And the case makes a great lunch bag.)

If I do buy another pair of binos, I'm pretty sure I'll go with Oberwerks.