ESSLNB Astronomy Binoculars 15X70mm Binoculars for Adults with Phone Adapter Tripod Adapter and Case FMC Prism for Terrestrial Viewing Hunting

First time I've given an Amazon product 5 stars for all aspects as far as I remember and straight after delivery yesterday. Naturally these are made in China, for this price they'd have to be! Optical instruments of any quality by default should be more expensive. Therefore the low price was my first 'red flag'. But I thought as there is a UK distributor behind it with some favourable reviews I'd take a risk. Well, what a surprise! Nicely boxed, fortunately my delivery man seemed to understand that this is a fragile item despite any protective packaging and was 'gentle' with delivery. Good, Cheap optics usually have cheap internal, less secure, optical mounts for the prisms and lenses inside. So that was a good start. I won't spend long on the instructions, the basics on how to adjust the dioptre and focus. There are plenty of resources online with greater detail if required, but just to say the instructions are clear and sufficient to get up and running with these large binoculars. There is a nice bag for them, a strap (a bit narrow & I've replaced this with a padded shoulder strap, but then they'll perform better on a tripod, but for convenience in movement, the supplied strap is ok, no frayed ends for example). A cleaning cloth... well, I wouldn't wipe any cheap optics anyway and it may well do it's job, but unless you've been near a cement works recently, then I wouldn't wipe anything with anything, unless there's a real need for cleaning I'd say leave those front objective lenses alone! The rear eye lens will always look a bit greasy from natural eye contact, but again, I believe unless it significantly degrades viewing you're better off not physically wiping it, you're more likely to remove delicate coatings or introduce micro scratches. Ok, just my view, but I've had many years spent cleaning camera lenses when really they probably didn't need cleaning. A swift blow removes most dust, a fly etc. without physical pressure from a cloth. Obviously anyone is free to disagree. The body is extremely light for such large optics, I was surprised and they can be held freely (do get the SUPPLIED STRAP (or a strap) ON FIRST - you don't WANT TO DROP THESE!); but if off the tripod it does help leaning on a support, a tree or door frame etc. for a steadier image. The image is bright, given my first views were of a cloudy rainy sky about 5pm today, but I did not detect any huge loss of light given all things in consideration. I found all the dioptre controls, centre focus and central pivot adjustments to move freely, but nicely stiff too, to avoid 'droop' on the tripod. Ok, these kind of unlockable dioptre eye piece adjustments (unlike my hugely more expensive Opticron bino's) do move around a bit simply from eye/face pressure on the eyepieces, but the fact that they can be easily and minutely adjusted while in use is not annoying I think (remember, these are sub-£100 optics). In fact it's quite nice to have individually adjusted eyepiece dioptres at this price. A point I will mention in relation to this I found though is; twist both eyepiece dioptres to an equal 'centre' position, e.g. turn both fully in and out (do not force at the extremes) a little. Then count the turns, say 2 full turns to centre both eyepieces and then do the closed right eye, centre focus using main focussing knob until you've a clear view on a distant chimney say and then shut left eye and twist the right eyepiece dioptre to get a clear image too. Then you're pretty much set up to go. I say this as I found the left dioptre to be fully screwed in, most probably the default factory setting and this did not allow much movement in the right dioptre adjustment after using the central focussing knob to focus on a distant object. I do not wear glasses and the rubber eyecups fold down easily. They do help folded up in the normal position for daytime viewing but I found, to avoid tripod/bino' vibration viewing the Moon for example that they were better folded down, as your eyes do not have to make contact with them to get a good view of the Moon. At these magnifications any vibration easily wobbles the image, even my cat rubbing around the tripod! Hence for the best results I'd always stick these on a good tripod, something stiff and metal. This applies to the supplied tripod mount too, yes, it does it's job, but I quickly found a metal tripod adaptor really calmed down the vibrations. Looking at the Moon through a murky cloudy sky last night I can say, yes, the magnification does bring you a more detailed image and moving your eye around the image (with the eyepiece rubber cups folded down) gets some surprisingly sharp details. I do not have a smartphone so cannot upload any images. The wide field of view does help and I only detected slight yellow and magenta fringing on some local roof tops at sunset, even my more expensive Opticron's show fringing. This is just part of viewed angle of light wavelength, contrast and environmental conditions all coming together. So I cannot complain about that this price. I did not come across any great barrel or pin-cushion distortion, obviously the image is less sharp at the edges of the field of view, it's going to be at this price. I think more overall is the image does not seem to exhibit false colour and the contrast is quite good. I don't think you'll be disappointed for the price. Close focus is expectedly quite far, I was looking at Starlings bathing at about 50m, but the magnification still brings in good clear views. The Moon is always more dramatic at first or last quarter with the Sun's shadows upon it's surface highlighting the craters and 'seas' better. I am looking forward to viewing the Orion nebula and the Andromeda galaxy later in the year. A quick handheld viewing of Jupiter last night clearly showed at least 4 of the larger moons. Their relative lightweight really does help with the quick convenience of use off the tripod. Have attached some images to hopefully give a sense of size and the nicely tactile less slippy rubberised finish. Overall, very nice, a good buy I think.

Brilliant binoculars well worth the money

Best present ever brought.. such good value my daughter loves them

These are a great buy for the price, they look well made and solid proberly a bit heavy to hold for a long time but due to the magnification best yo use a tripod for a steady image. The accories that come with it a good but as for the phone adaptor is more or less useless if you have a modern mobile with more than 1 lense on the back as it cannot seal correctly on the phone and is very fiddly but if you have just 1 lense on your phone this should not be an issue.Overall a great piece of kit and we'll worth the money. Would recomend these.

Returned eyepiece mechanism fell off on first used not good build quality.

Bought these for stargazing. Optics are high quality, field of view was exceptional. Sturdy as well. Very pleased I bought these.

Last week I brought some binoculars that cost £119.00 pounds. ALOT OF MONEY . When they arrived they were SOSO BAD IVE RETURNED THEM. Then I brought this pair as a replacement and a LOT CHEAPER. IM ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY by these binoculars. They really can and do allow you to.see the stars and moon. Really clear views and perfect for what ever you need them for. To be able to see.the stars and the moon in such close proximity and see all aeroplanes clearly flying over. The distance range of these binoculars are incredible. I live a 10.6 miles from Heathrow airport. I can see all the flights coming in and going. SERIOUSLY. I cant reccomend these binoculars enough and for the amount they were I am very happy. GO BUY THEM.

Bought as a present for my husband. Really clear but are quite heavy and chunky.