Cheap Binoculars for Astronomy

There are two problems with stars and planets for people who want to look at them:

1. They are very, very far away
2. You generally can only see them at night

Telescopes are designed for this purpose, but tend to be much more expensive than binoculars, much larger making them difficult to carry around with you and they are not as versatile: you can use binoculars for other uses other than astronomy.

So a good astronomical binocular needs to have a high magnification and be able to let in enough light in order for them to work at night. In general, "giant" binoculars work well when used as binoculars for looking at the stars and are defined as those that magnify the view at least 10 times and have 70-mm or larger front (objective) lenses.

The problem with this is that to let in enough light, the binoculars need to have large objective lenses this means that suitable binoculars tend to be really expensive as large good quality objective lenses are expensive to make.

For example one of the best binoculars fro astronomy, the Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX have a list price of over $1200 and are currently listed on Amazon for $699 (>> Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX), which whilst is a great price for what are a fantastic set of binoculars, it is probably a little to much for the casual star gazer.

Cheap Astronomical Binoculars?
So is there a cheaper option, a set of binoculars for astronomy of good quality that don't cost the earth?

Recently, the market has seen a flood of giant binoculars and this increase competition has brought down the prices. It used to be that the least expensive giant binoculars cost in excess of $150, even $200, now several companies offer giant binoculars that sell for half that, or less. You just have to be sure that the quality is still there.

Celestron's 15x70 SkyMaster binoculars are one of the leaders in the low-price giant binocular arena. They certainly sound good on paper costing just over $80 on Amazon (>> Celestron's 15x70 SkyMaster binoculars on Amazon).

The SkyMasters include multicoated optics and BaK-4 internal prisms, two features that promise brighter, better images, and key points to look for when judging a pair of binoculars. They also come with an adapter for attaching them to a photo tripod, which is a must in order to get a steady view, and a soft carrying case.

So are these cheap binoculars for astronomy good enough and would it be better to save up for a more expensive pair? To find out, Phil Harrington(author of Star Watch: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Finding, Observing, and Learning About over 125 Celestial Objects and Star Ware: The Amateur Astronomer's Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Buying, & Using Telescopes and Accessories) recently had the opportunity to judge the Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 binoculars against the Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX binoculars and this is what he had to say:

"Like the SkyMasters, the Fujinons feature BaK-4 prisms, but also have fully multicoated optics. As a general rule, superior coatings mean superior image sharpness and contrast. But then, that should be expected, given that the Fujinons cost many times more than the Celestrons.

While the Fujinons were clearly the better performer, the Celestron SkyMasters held up admirably. Image brightness, quality, and contrast were all remarkable considering their bargain price. Although images were a little soft across the outer 25% of the Celestron's field, the overall view was impressive nonetheless.

Some inexpensive binoculars have very sloppy focusing, causing the eyepieces to tilt and shift. Not so with the SkyMasters. I found that their center-focusing mechanism worked smoothly, with no apparently backlash or wobble. Eye relief (the distance you hold your eyes away from the eyepieces to see the full field) is stated to be 18 mm, a good distance for higher power binoculars and an important consideration if you must wear glasses when viewing. The SkyMasters are also light enough to support by hand for short periods of time, although buyers would be well advised to mount them on a sturdy photo tripod.

The bottom line is, if you are considering a pair of giant binoculars, whether for bird watching, stargazing, or another recreational use, and have a limited budget, Celestron's giant 15x70 SkyMasters represent excellent value."

Below are the Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 and Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX as well as some other recommended Binoculars for Astronomy that are available on Amazon: