Reviews & Ratings for Celestron SkyMaster 20x80mm Porro Prism Binoculars — 23 reviews — Page 1

I absolutely love these binoculars. Being a novice they are exactly what I was looking for, without a large investment. Tripod is required, (I'm not as strong and steady as I thought)! LOL Had to call for help and they were the best. Offering multiple options and solutions.

I lived with a Celestron 11x80 back in the early days. Then, reading how 20-power would appreciably aid in galaxy hunting (my special interest), I finally got a pair recently and, indeed, they do. Never could quite dig up Barnard's Galaxy before, but now success! A little averted vision, a good dark sky; no visible structure, an irregular little blob--but who's to complain? These 20x80s are not unparalleled by any means, but bang-for-buck they stand completely unmatched...

I own all the Skymasters now, except for the 8x56 DX, which would be redundant in my collection. I will attest that, contrary to all the on-line complaints about collimation, esp. for the 15x70s, none of mine ever arrived with anything but undetectable double-image. For my money, all the shopping one can do will not provide a better large-aperture unit much better than the Celestron Series. One can spent multiple of dollars for the same configurations, and I have direct experience peering through even the best. The difference is real, but not to the tune of over a grand or more! Unless you have a bulging fat wallet, why bother?

The 20x80s in a dark sky will reveal the spiral arms of M33 rather strikingly. I have marveled through these excellent optics at wisps of nebulosity in a handful of HII regions including the Pleiades!--you can't expect colors as our eyes are not able to detect those wavelengths--but you will be in awe of the wonders no 10x50 can show!

These binoculars are nice, but the tripod that was paired up with them are not right for this application. The tripod is too short for terrestrial viewing, and not practical for astronomy with binoculars. A waste of money for the tripod.

These are great binoculars for terrestrial viewing or sky watching. You really need a tripod for celestial viewing. For the price, I think you can't beat them. I use them for terrestrial viewing, as a spotting scope, and for sky watching.
Pros: clear optics, easy tripod mount
Cons: none

there nice for a beginner.but seems celestron is not good at quality contro.just about every pair needs to be collminated.better with a good pair of binos that work than ith something new thay doesnt work.displeased
Pros: good binos
Cons: company cant get collimination right

I am going to buy another pair for my son-in-law. We love them.

Stick it on a tripod and check out the terminator; also great for staring at the snowfields and fracture zones on the peaks from our deck.
Pros: Great moon and stargazing

good bang for the buck
Pros: Moon shots

I had read numerous reviews of these binos being out of collimation but took a chance. They seemed well made and gave me outstanding views of the moon but once I started looking a stars I was getting doubles, I was very disappointed and sent them back. Now I'm afraid to order giant binos and went back to using my Nikon 10x50's.
It's a nice product so why doesn't Celestron address this issue?
Pros: good value
Cons: arrived out of collimation