Welcome to the forums. I can't give you any advice on which is better but I'm sure you'll get some good advice shortly. We even have a guy who hangs out here who is one of the top binocular experts on the planet. His name is Phil Harrington.
You might want to consider a tripod. The higher you get in magnification abover 10, the harder binoculars are to hold steady. 15 isn't too bad if you have a very steady hand but it might be a challenge. You're buying them at a great time. The band of stars known as the milky way (Which is part of our Milky Way Galaxy) is at it's best now. Let us know which one you get. We always love updates. Roger
"Why is there something rather than nothing?"
Hi. I have not tried the Astralis but I have looked through two 15x70 Skymasters. The first one was mediocre in resolution and lost its collimation (the parallelism of the two optical axes) after several weeks. The second one was impeccable with great clarity as if the glass was absent, comparable to my Fujinon 16x70 that costed 894€. That is in the central third of the field because the outer portion of the image had more aberrations like astigmatism and field curvature of course. Very cheap (like my 20€ Bresser 10x50) optics can be good but they are not consistent: you must put several models through their paces to find a good one. The somewhat more expensive Astralis should avoid this uncertainty. Both the Celestron and the Bushnell are waterproof but the Bushnell weighs 907 grams against 1360 grams for the Skymaster. It probably means the Bushnell has a plastic shell but even Nikon makes plastic-frame binos, that's not a weakness.
TS 8x40 Wildlife - TS 10x50 Marine - Fujinon 16x70 - TS 80mm f6 triplet & Sky-Watcher EQ-3 mount - TS 2" 99% diagonal - Celestron C5+ on homemade tripod - 5" homemade Bahtinov - Sky-Watcher 6x30 right-reading finders - Baader Hyperion 24,13,10mm 68° - TS Expanse 17mm 70° - Celestron Ultima 2x barlow - Astronomik UHC-E nebula filter - Baader Astro Solar 5" filter - Sky Atlas 2000 - Rükl's Moon atlas - Canon 400D - 5mW green laser
mufc4ever,
Inexpensive giant binoculars coming out of China are generally suffering in three areas:
1. Collimation issues
2. Quality Control issues
3. Very short term warranties
If you can afford to spend alittle extra, I would suggest that you start out with something like the Nikon Action Extreme ATB 16x50mm, where there are fewer complaints, overall, when it comes to Quality Control and collimation problems. Nikon offers a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Action-16x50-ATB-Binocular/dp/B0001EFIG6
You can also save a few dollars by purchasing one used.
Stan
Nikon7x35GoldSentinel 9.3*+Pentax8x40PCFWPII+MinoxBD10x44BP+FujinonFMTRSX7x50
Nikon10x50GoldSentinel+Pentax12x50 5.5*Japan+Pentax12x50PCFWPII+Vixen8x56Geoma
Fujinon12x60HB+Pentax16x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWPII
Tento20x60USSR+Orion12x63MiniGiant+Spectrum I 20x65+Orion15x70LittleGiant II
Orion20x70LittleGiant II+Orion16x80Giant+Orion30x80MEGAView+Barska30x80X-Trail
BurgessOptical20x90Series II STAN
I have a pair of the Celestron 15 X 70 Skymaster binoculars and have no complaints at all with them. I've used them frequently for 4 years. Celestron offers a lifetime, no-fault warranty on the Skymasters. I think they are one of the best values is astronomy.
Terry's Law of Cosmology: "Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak."
18" Obsession Classic dob #1665
10" Orion Skyquest Classic dob
120mm Orion ST achromat
15 X 70 celestron Skymaster binoculars
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3977114/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1/vc/1
The Oberwerk 15x70 binoculars are supposedly very good if you can pay $150 for them.
Zhumell 8 inch Dob GSO Superview 30mm Celestron X-Cel 18mm University Optics 7mm Orthoscopic Oberwerk 20x80 lightweight binoculars [stolen :-( ] Orion Paragon-Plus binocular mount Pentax 10x50 PCF WP II binoculars
http://www.bigbinoculars.com/1570.htm
http://www.binoculars.com/binoculars/astronomy-binoculars/celestronskymaster15x70binocularandtripodpackage.cfm
I have the Celestron 15x70 Skymasters and I'm very pleased with them.
They were $68.00 from Amazon.com and came with the tripod adapter included.
That ought to fit your budget pretty well.
---Poppa Chris---
"Second star to the right - Then straight on until morning!" - Peter Pan
Celestron CPC1100GPS (XLT) - 279mm aperature, 2800mm Focal length. (f10) Celestron Ultima LX (70deg AFOV) Eyepieces 32mm thru 5mm, Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR, Backyard EOS imaging software, Orion Star Shoot Planetary Imager IV, Celestron Skymaster 15x70 binoculars
mufc4everI'm Afraid my budget is 110$
If I were you, I'd go with the Skymasters. I have a pair myself and swear by them. I use them for airshows, hunting, practicing at the rifle range and astronomy. I couldn't be happier. Mine are a perfect pair. As was mentioned earlier, Celestron backs their binos with a phenominal lifetime warranty.
I too have "heard" about complaints with collimation, but, last time I checked on Amazon.com, there were 245 reviews and 158 rated them 5 stars. Another 52 ppl rated them as 4 out of 5 stars.
Don't take my word on it, here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-SkyMaster-Binoculars-Tripod-Adapter/product-reviews/B00008Y0VN/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Right now Celestron is having a sale. They are as low as $58. With the money you save you could get an L-adaptor or a tripod. It's a sweet deal.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." - Plato ~Starwolf~ http://www.joecaggiano.com
For the price, they are excellent and good at starting out in Astronomy
along with a 10x50. If you decide the hobby is not for you, then you
wouldn't lose out much. In my marvellous dark sky, they are well worth it.
Rhonda.
SkyQuest XX14i..Tasco Luminova 40-114675.. Meade My Sky Guide..Strathspey 25x100mm..Pentax 20x60..Celestron 15x70 Bushnell 10x50..Strathspey 10x50..Bushnell 8x42..Yashica 6x30..Exp.Scientific Eyepieces 9mm.14mm.20mm..Orion10mm.35m Sirius Plossl 4mm. 25mm.. Televue Big Barlow.. Hotech Laser Collimator
I myself am a an ametuer gazer but one place you might find valuable info for Celestron here and Bushnell here
I am new to astronomy, I have 7x50 binoculars I would like to mount on my tripod. The binoculars have an 'adaptor' in the center between the lenses, so I am looking for a U-shaped mounting bracket I cannot find anywhere. Does anybody know where I can find those simple U-shaped brackets? I found one at Dicks Sporting Goods, but it came with the binoculars.
I read the article about mounting binoculars on a tripod, which made my head spin, I just want to start out with a simple mounting bracket on a tripod, because I cannot keep the binoculars steady.
Thanks,
Bob