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Celestron Echelon 20x70 (1 Viewer)

gonz33

Well-known member
Hi, I'm considering buying some powerful for use over long distances binoculars, I have seen several forums and see great binoculars for long distances and also for astronomical use, but very low cost, this makes me doubt the quality of these binoculars, but I have seen a new model that is the Celestron 20x70 Echelon someone to use? can someone give me a comment on these binoculars, thanks.

Jose.
 
I can't tell you about the Celestrons in particular, but I think big binoculars with approximately f/4 achromatic objectives (like the Echelons) make rather poor daylight terrestrial instruments. In bright light the eye is just too sensitive to the high levels of chromatic and spherical aberration inherent in the designs.

I have what most people consider a good example of the type (Nikon 18x70 Astroluxe). It's great for dim object astronomy, but pretty awful in daylight. Any decent spotting scope is much better.
 
. I have had many Revelation 15×70 binoculars, which are similar to the Celestron 15×70, perhaps better because of better coatings, often multicoated throughout, including the prisms.

However, these low price binoculars have a terrible reputation for bad collimation even when brand-new. If you choose carefully, and never knock them they can give very good results, even though they are reputedly only 63 mm to aperture because of internal vignetting. I actually like them because of their relatively low weight, and wide field of view, about 4.4°. There is a better Chinese 15×70 which is really good but is quite a bit heavier and more expensive.

So when the 25×70 Celestron came out, I was desperate to buy it.
It was a terrible disappointment, with excessive chromatic aberration and generally poor performance.

I did not know that they had a 20×70, but if you do want to buy one I suggest that you buy from a shop and test it very carefully before buying it. And if you do buy it choose the one you test and not an identical boxed one that you have not tested. And don' knock it and get a good case.

There are many old Japanese 20×70 binoculars that give very good performance even if they don't have the best coatings.
An early Soviet 20×60 binocular can be very good and has a wide field of view. But the later Russian ones are generally mediocre.
Also I don't particularly like the Pentax 20×60, which in my experience performs poorly and has a very narrow field of view.

If you can afford the Nikon 18×70 and can manage the weight it should be spectacular, unfortunately I have never used one.
 
. Forgive me gonz33,
I jumped the gun without looking at what the Celestron 20×70 Echelon actually was.

I thought that it must be a cheap Chinese binocular, but in actual fact it seems to be a very superior binocular.

I would think that it performs very well, at least at night, as Henry describes.

If you are able to buy it with a return possibility if you didn't like it, I think it would be a good proposition.

It seems to cost about £900 in the UK, which is similar to the Nikon 18x70 Astroluxe.

I simply was quite unaware of this better quality Celestron binocular.

Apologies again.
 
. Yes Al,
. It was my fault for not checking, and reading carefully the original post, and just assuming that it was another cheap Chinese 70 mm binocular, when it is actually Japanese and according to the claims, assembled in the USA. I simply was unaware of this binocular.

For the money, around £900, for use in the daytime, personally I would use a Canon 15×50 IS or 18×50 IS if I wanted to use a hand-held instrument. This would give better resolution and weigh less than a handheld 20x70 binocular.

Otherwise, as Henry says, a spotting scope on a tripod would give better results.

However, for nighttime use, this Celestron Echelon 20x70 binocular may be very good, although again personally for this type of money I would buy the Nikon 18x70, which probably has a wider field of view and maybe better optics. Although not having used either I don't know which would be better.

There is, however, the benefit when using the low-priced 15×70 binoculars, if you can find one that is in collimation, that they are much lighter than high quality 15×70 binoculars and are much easier to use handheld.
 
Thank you all for your comments, I think I'll buy these Echelon 20x70 and hope not to disappoint me. I love to see great distances in the day. . .
 
I've been very happy with my Nikon Monarch 5 16x56 as a day-use instrument. I take it when I'm going to be doing a fair bit of wandering about AND sitting in hides. It's surprisingly easy to hand-hold and much more relaxing than a scope. It's also very portable - I found myself leaving the scope behind more and more as I just couldn't be bothered will all the clutter. The M5 16x56 is now one of my most used bins. I don't miss many birds using it, near or far!
 
I don't think that you will be disappointed gonz33.
20×70s are actually my favourite high-powered binoculars.
I used a Celestron 20×80 for many years handheld both at night and during the day.
I even sometimes used a 7×50 binocular behind the 20×80 to give extra magnification when looking at details 10 miles or more distant.
Chromatic aberration is not something that really bothers me and I cannot recall that the 20 x 80 suffered much from it during the day although my eye pupil probably was cutting the aperture to 50 or 60 mm in daylight

One thing that Celestron do not seem to specify is the weight of the 20×70, maybe I missed it or maybe it was deliberately left out.

Gonz33, when you get the 20×70 could you please tell us exactly how much it weighs.

Crinklystarfish, thank you very much for your comments.
Nowadays I find large binoculars a bit heavy but when I was younger the 2.5 kg 20×80 was used handheld for long periods.
 
I had a Celestron 15x70 for review purposes for several weeks. I eventually Contacted Celestron and returned it to them unreviewed. This one had a focus/miscollimation issue with the right barrel. I told them I did not want to review it because I did not think it was a good representative sample. I have not heard back from them.

These are made (assembled) by Kama Tech in San Diego. Kama Tech is the US branch of the Japanese firm Kamakura, who supplies the components. They are a pretty stout binocular and they are HUGE. They seem pretty well built and I had no complaints, save the issues with the right barrel.

My impression is that they are a good binocular, but I don't know if they are an $800 binocular. That impression may change if I ever see a good one.

My primary interest in these was for terrestrial viewing. To differ somewhat from Henry's comments, I did not find them too bright. I thought they worked pretty well for a long range instrument, either terrestrial or astronomical. I will preface that by saying I'm evidently not bothered by CA.
 
Actually I misspoke. It was a 16x70, not 15x. I didn't weight it but it has to be 50-52 oz, it is way too heavy to hand hold, and I'm above average size and stature. Each barrel is a big as a 65-70mm spotting scope. So packing it is like having two spotters. However you gain the binocular vision. I thought it performed at least as well as 20-25x on a spotter and was a lot more pleasant to use than a spotter. Again temper that comment with the fact I did not have a really good specimen. A SLIK 700 tripod is about right.

I was not too sure about the individual focus, but at that magnification it seemed to be a non issue. The close focus is about 85 feet on the one I had. I might opt for the 20x.

I might add it comes with a quite nice padded attache type carry case.
 
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