Celestron - Cometron 7x50 Binoculars - Beginner Astronomy Binoculars - Large 50mm Objective Lenses - Wide Field of View 7X Magnification

K got these for my dad for Christmas and he is extremely happy. He had a very old pair of Bushnell (like 40 years old) that he would use on occasion to look at deer or an eagle since we live in the country. His Bushnell still worked but he wanted a pair to keep out in his shop, well these now stay beside his recliner in the living room :) I seen these and figured they would be just ok for what he wanted and the price was great since I couldn't afford a new pair of bushnells. I thought they would be of cheaper quality, but i hoped was wrong and I was. These are much sturdier and sound then I expected, they feel very solid. They are lighter in weight so your arms don't tire, which is nice. Things are crisp and clear when viewing them even at a distance (about 3 or 4 telephone polls, here in the country thats about 600 to 1000 feet) Very easy to focus also. Another awesome thing is the clarity in lower light. Deer like to come out at dusk and we can see them pretty good (I don't mean these work in the dark, but when the sun has about set and the worlds light is a yellowish gray, these work well). We just had a super moon and seeing it through these binoculars was absolutely breathtaking. I could really make out the markings on the moon. My dad was even wowed! I plan on grabbing another pair of these since he has forgotten his old pair and only uses these. I really do recommend these to anyone who wants a nice binocular. These are NOT cheaply made and I have no doubt you will be happy with this purchase. I gave it 5 stars because my dad and I are really truly impressed with Celestrons. I don't have anything negative to say! For once I got much much more then what I paid for, in a very good way! Thank you so much!

7x50 is the sweet spot for binoculars intended mainly for stargazing. 7x magnification is enough to resolve a lot of double stars, give you easy views of Jupiter's 4 largest moons, to see the major features of our own moon, and (with solar filters) to see sunspots. Anything less and you might not see enough detail to feel satisfied, anything more and you're going to have a hard time holding the binoculars steady enough to enjoy the detail being provided by the magnification. 50mm objective lenses bring in enough light to allow you to get truly grand views of the milky way (if you can get to a dark sky location) and clear resolution of images; of course larger is better but also a lot more expensive and often manufacturers pair the larger objectives with higher magnification which is NOT helpful. The specific optics of these Celestron "Cometron" binoculars have a good field of view so they're great on nights with peak meteor activity or for looking at wide swaths of sky at one time for other reasons. The quality of the optics is quite good with little aberration, decently dark backgrounds, and the two elements are well collimated – very important and not always the case for inexpensive binoculars.For the price these are hard to beat. I bought a pair of Meade binoculars also and while they were pretty good the two optical paths were not collimated at all; which means it was almost impossible to "merge" the two images because the two optical arrays weren't parallel to each other and therefore weren't pointing in exactly the same direction. They're OK for casual terrestrial viewing or as toys for kids but otherwise worthless. These Celestron models, only slightly more expensive, are not only a fantastic value they are among the best low-end hand-held binoculars available, you'd have to pay a hundred dollars more for a significant increase in quality. This isn't a knock on Meade in general, they make great scopes, but the low-end binoculars I've bought from them have some quality-control issues and aren't in any special way better than these Celestron binoculars.These binoculars are easily adjusted for people with different pupillary distance (spacing between the eyes) by just squeezing the scopes together or pulling them apart around the central hinge. Focus is done with a center adjuster and is smooth in both directions. There is a diopter adjustment on one eyepiece (allowing the user to fine-tune the focus should their eyes require different correction). The eyepieces have foldable eyecups so they're easy to use with or without eyeglasses – note that unless you have significant astigmatism it is better to use a telescope or binoculars without your glasses.

I bought these for both terrestrial and sky use. I would say that the quality is pretty good overall and great for the price. Optics is something that has a very steep price to quality curve and these seems to be good enough for the amateur (no noticeable chromatic aberration that causes small bright white objects to smear into a rainbow of colors as in poor quality binoculars).In reading the reviews, I noticed some people are unfamiliar with using binoculars. Binoculars are hinged in the middle to allow you to adjust the span between the two lenses to merge the two images into one image. At night look at the moon or a distant street lamp which is a single object (as opposed to a star field) and adjust the hinge as you look to merge the images to create one distinct image. Each person will have a slightly different adjustment for this. Then once you have set this you can look at the stars. The other adjustment is to close your right eye and focus on some distant object using the main focus adjustment in the center. Then open your right eye and adjust the individual diopter adjustment to focus the right eye's image. Each person will have a different setting for this that depends on their eyes. Also note that hand held binoculars are not a replacement for a telescope on a tripod. It is impossible to hold the binoculars by hand steady enough to prevent shaking of the image even at relatively low magnifications, though if you can rest your elbows on something firm that helps. On the other hand, binoculars like these are far easier to carry with you than a telescope.The good:The optical quality is pretty good and I would say very good for the price point.They are reasonably light while still giving a good image.Great for looking at the moon and terrestrial use.Could use improvement:If as the result of lasik or cataract surgery you have "mono vision" where one eye is focused on distance and one eye is focused for reading and close-up, the range of the individual eye diopter adjustment on the binoculars is right up against the limit the diopter adjustment on the binoculars will go. It would be better if there were more range of the binocular diopter adjustment.