Astronomy Binoculars
Budget · under ~$200
Best for Beginners
Celestron SkyMaster 25x70 Binoculars
The 'before you buy a telescope, buy these' pick — astronomy binoculars that overdeliver.
Specifications
- Aperture
- 70 mm objectives
- Magnification
- 25x
- Optical design
- Porro prism, multi-coated
- Mount
- Tripod adapter included (needed at 25x)
- Weight
- ~3 lb / 1.4 kg
What's good
- +Huge light grasp for the price
- +Shows the Moon, star fields, and the Milky Way beautifully
- +No setup — grab and look up
What to watch
- –25x is too much to hand-hold — needs a tripod
- –Heavy for binoculars
- –Edge softness typical at this price
Our verdict
The most repeated advice to new stargazers is 'buy binoculars first', and these are the binoculars they mean. Sweeping the Milky Way, the Pleiades, and the Moon through 70mm of glass is genuinely jaw-dropping and requires zero learning curve. At 25x you'll want a tripod, but as the cheapest way to start actually seeing things tonight, they're unbeatable.