Celestron SkyMaster 12x60 Porro Prism Binoculars

Rating:

Very good just what I wanted

Rating:

Recommended

Rating:

I am afraid to say that these binoculars are a bit of a disappointment. I bought them to fill a gap in my lens ‘collection’. I knew they would not be high quality - price dictates many things with lenses and magnification. And next to my much higher quality 8x42 bins, I have to report I see more, and more clearly, with the 8x42s. The extra mag. of the 12x60s is cancelled out by the relative lack of clarity. But probably worse than that - the main focus wheel is very stiff. And it needs a lot of turning to find best focus, no immediately obvious ‘point perfect’ or moment when all becomes sharp. The right eye focus is no better, and as it is not stiff enough, you can easily knock the adjustment... And ‘cheap’ Porto prism bins usually suffer that ‘back and forth’ focus necessity as the focus arms are rarely slick enough to avoid some slack (probably the reason for the tight main focus wheel, to keep the arms in as ideal a plane as possible. You can’t have it all I guess!) However, if they were anyone’s first bins, I’m sure they would be delighted! Everything is relative... But I’m sure you could find bins of this type for less than these Celestrons - £50 would buy something as ‘good’. If these were to be your only bins, I might suggest the 10x50s for probably no loss of what you can actually see. Lastly - for all the negatives, they are well put together, feel tough, and ought to last for years. Just keep moisture away though, they won’t be nitrogen filled and sealed!

Rating:

Really pleased with our new binoculars, they are exactly what we need and they were described very well by pic stop prior to purchase. Pic Stop was an excellent place for me to buy as my purchase was good value in comparison to other retailers and it arrived the day after I bought them even though I only selected the free delivery option. Outstanding. Thank you.