Celestron 20x80 Binoculars Ordered and Questions

[Refractordude]

My Zhumell 20x80 are broken. The left side eyepiece fell out. I can put the eyepiece back in, but focusing is extremely difficult. Some times I can not focus them at all. They have a two year warranty so I contacted Zhumell, and got Celestron on the phone. Looks like Celestron now owns what is left of Zhumell. Was told to ship them to California with a $15 check, and the repair team will send me another pair. Besides paying $15 bucks to Celestron and cost of shipping. I will have to wait until the end of the Coronavirus shutdown order before delivery. Due to my heavy addiction to the night sky, I can not wait that long. So I ordered the Celestron 20x80 binoculars.

I once owned the Celestron 20x80 binoculars for a short time. Day time light seemed to have a kinda yellow tint. However, while observing M78 I noticed the nebula brighter than when observing with my 120mm f/8 telescope. At the time the mount I was using was not sufficient, and I decided on a pair of 25x100 binoculars with a parallelogram mount. I purchased the parallelogram mount, but did not like any of the 25x100 binoculars I tested/could afford. Luckily Amazon and Walmart paid for the return shipping of the 25x100 binoculars. Thus, I ended up with the Zhumells, which were great until recently. When the Zhumells arrive I will sell them. The Celestron Skymasters should arrive before April 30th.

What has been your experience with the Celestron Skymaster 20x80 binoculars? Have you compared them to other binoculars, your telescope, mechanical issues, etc? Thanks to you all. Right click the images.

[Bigzmey]

I believe the main issue with SkyMasters is lack of collimation upon delivery.

[Refractordude]

I believe the main issue with SkyMasters is lack of collimation upon delivery.

Hopefully I will get a good pair.

[Buckethead 2.0]

My Zhumell 20x80 are broken. The left side eyepiece fell out. I can put the eyepiece back in, but focusing is extremely difficult. Some times I can not focus them at all. They have a two year warranty so I contacted Zhumell, and got Celestron on the phone. Looks like Celestron now owns what is left of Zhumell. Was told to ship them to California with a $15 check, and the repair team will send me another pair. Besides paying $15 bucks to Celestron and cost of shipping. I will have to wait until the end of the Coronavirus shutdown order before delivery. Due to my heavy addiction to the night sky, I can not wait that long. So I ordered the Celestron 20x80 binoculars.

I once owned the Celestron 20x80 binoculars for a short time. Day time light seemed to have a kinda yellow tint. However, while observing M78 I noticed the nebula brighter than when observing with my 120mm f/8 telescope. At the time the mount I was using was not sufficient, and I decided on a pair of 25x100 binoculars with a parallelogram mount. I purchased the parallelogram mount, but did not like any of the 25x100 binoculars I tested/could afford. Luckily Amazon and Walmart paid for the return shipping of the 25x100 binoculars. Thus, I ended up with the Zhumells, which were great until recently. When the Zhumells arrive I will sell them. The Celestron Skymasters should arrive before April 30th.

What has been your experience with the Celestron Skymaster 20x80 binoculars? Have you compared them to other binoculars, your telescope, mechanical issues, etc? Thanks to you all. Right click the images.

Congrats on the new binos, RD !

[pakarinen]

The 15x70s are notorious for bad collimation out of the box, but I don't know about the 20x80s. If you get a good pair though, the price is certainly appealing.

If the vendor has a good return policy, and if necessary, you could "lather-rinse-repeat" until you did get a good pair (or your patience wears out).

Good luck and keep us posted.

[helicon]

I found the 15x70's good. I saw the comet in Lepus with them about 5 or 6 years ago (can't recall exactly). Last year I got a pair of Oberwerk 25x100's which have been great. If you can afford to make the upgrade they are worth it. However, you can get the SkyMasters for around $70 including shipping, so they are highly economical and still probably worth it given the cost.

[Refractordude]

I have decided against buying the Skymaster 20x80. Hopefully the Zhumells will be sent to me before my next dark site trip. I was thinking about the Orion 16x80 ed binoculars. Has anyone looked/peek through these Orion ed binoculars?

https://www.telescope.com/Orion-GiantVi ... 130268.uts

[DeanD]

I haven't looked through them unfortunately, but if you are going to that spend level, what about the Oberwerk deluxe series? 20x80: https://oberwerk.com/product/oberwerk-2 ... eluxe-iii/

[Refractordude]

I haven't looked through them unfortunately, but if you are going to that spend level, what about the Oberwerk deluxe series? 20x80: https://oberwerk.com/product/oberwerk-2 ... eluxe-iii/

I was thinking about the Deluxe 20x80. However, decided that my first high end binoculars will have to have individual focus. I like the APM MS 20x100 binoculars maybe. Just have to research the best USA vendor. Should have them or a 6" aperture refractor telescope before the end of June.

https://www.apm-telescopes.de/en/binocu ... 0x100.html

[Refractordude]

The Skymasters came collimated. They are just as good as the Zhumells with better eye relief. My only beef is the center focus knob is kinda stiff. That could change with continued use. If not these Skymasters will be useless in the winter. I will be sending them back to Sam's Club, which has a great return policy. Hopefully the Zhumells will arrive before the end of May. Since I committed the money for the Skymasters to my astronomy hobby. I will use the refund to purchase a tripod and mount for my 7x50 binoculars.

[Bigzmey]

Congrats on the new binos RD! You should work the focuser for a few minutes, it should redistribute the lubricant and make the focuser less stiff.

[Refractordude]

The cost of sending the Zhumells back is close to $50. Half the price of the binoculars. If they send me another pair that is not functional, it will cost me another $50. I feel Celestron that now owns Zhumell should have sent me a return label. Instead Celestron wants me to mail them back with a $14.95 check/money order payable to Celestron. That is why I like Walmart, Amazon, and now Sam's club. All three pay for return shipping. For half the cost of shipping the Zhumells back to Celestron, I could have gotten a two year warranty. I may buy a Celestron product again, but it will be bought from Walmart, Amazon, or Sam's Club with a warranty. Still deciding what I am going to do.

[helicon]

I got my Skymasters from Amazon for $70. It was a good investment as I still use them. And fortunately they arrived collimated.