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Cosmosphil
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/04/05
Posts: 1026
Loc: So. California
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Looking for a 15x70 binocular to do more serious observing on a tripod mount. Is there an actual difference between the Skymasters and the Oberwerk other than about double the price? With all the re-badging going with astro gear nowadays I wonder... I assume they are both Chinese but are they the same unit?
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Phil Agins
15" Discovery TD
10" Discovery PDHQ
5.7" Ceravolo Mak-Newt HD145
TeleVue-102 / TEC 140 (on order)
Vixen ED80Sf
Coronado PST
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14594
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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Phil -
They are both Chinese, the similarities end there.
Some differences :
The Oberwerk is fully broadband multicoated on all surfaces, including the prisms. The Celestron is multicoated on the objectives only, with the rest of the glass being single-coated MgFl.
Celestron specs quote 18mm eye relief, Oberwerk 16mm, which suggests different eyepieces are being used - or different methods of measuring ER.
Celestron FOV 4.4 degrees, Oberwerk 4.3 degrees
Celestron exit pupil diameter 4.7mm, Oberwerk 4.6mm
These last two differences might seem negligible, but they could suggest different eyepiece designs.
The Oberwerk comes with a better, wider, neckstrap that the tiny piece of cheese-wire that Celestron offers.
Celestron offers a lifetime replacement warranty with a $25 fee and return shipping paid by the buyer. Not such a great deal when you consider the Celestron is only ~$69 to start with. It would cost ~$40 to replace a $69 binocular under "warranty" ... this is a better deal with the 100mm Skymaster that retails for at least $200.
Celestron near focus is 43 feet, which is pretty good for birding and terrestrial use.
Oberwerk near focus is ~65 feet.
Oberwerk is captained by Kevin Busarow who has a stellar reputation of customer service and "making things right". Celestron is a large corporate entity that has little time to deal with customers in a personal manner.
Short answer - no, they are not the same unit.
Clear dark skies...
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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Bonco
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/17/06
Posts: 1971
Loc: Florida
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Good answer by Mike G. The Celestrons are at such a low price it's almost hard to go wrong. I've been happy with mine and consider them a bargain. However, others have had quality control issues, so you are taking some risk. If you get a good set, you'll likely be happy with them. The Obies should be fine in any case.
Bonco
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RV6
Meade 2045
6 inch f/4 RFT R. Fagin Optics
TV Genesis
2.4 inch Lafayette Equitorial
3 inch Polarex/Unitron Equitorial
10 inch Zhumell
PST 40mm Solar scope
4 inch F/15 Antares
2.4 inch Unitron Equitorial
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14594
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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I second what Bonco said. I own a pair of 15x70 Skymasters and I enjoy them very much. Good bang for the buck....BUT, I did get a good pair the first time around. Some members of this forum have had to return one or more pairs to get an acceptable sample. So QC does appear to be an issue with Celestron, which I am sure is due in part to their larger volume. Oberwerk on the other hand has a better reputation for QC and a lower volume - the latter can be a blessing for the buyer, just ask Tak and AP owners. If I had it to do all over again, I would buy the Oberwerk. But I am not dissatisfied with my current pair enough to upgrade/replace. For what I paid for them, they serve their purpose well.
Clear dark skies...
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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ndelo
sage
Reged: 08/02/06
Posts: 485
Loc: Light-polluted New Jersey
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I've just gotten to astronomy a few months back and struggled with the Celestron vs Oberwerk issue. Ultimately, due to the abundance of positive reviews, I shelled out the extra cash for the Obies and am very happy with them. I can't say anything about the Skymasters, having never looked through them, but I remember reading that the edge sharpness of the Obies is bit better than the Skymasters.
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Bob W6PU
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/23/04
Posts: 2187
Loc: Springer-N.E.NM
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Mike hit it right on the head, you get what you pay for!
Bob
10" F/5 Coast Inst. Treckerscope, Circa 1956
11x80 Vixen
15x70 Oberwerk
7x50 Hensoldt/Zeiss
7x50 USN, Bausch and Lomb
8x30W Swarovski
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ZachK
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/21/05
Posts: 667
Loc: Israel
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I've not tried the Obies, so I don't know how good they are or are not. However I will say that I really like my skymasters. I've had them for a bunch of months now and I've had a blast everytime I've taken them out. Now the Obies may be better (and probably are) the question is how much better and how much is that worth to you. It may be worth considering buying the celestrons and putting the differnce into a decent tripod. (Warning if you do that upgrade the cheap tripod bracket that they give you).
I also find that putting a towel over my head to block out light polution helps a bit.
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Zach Kessin
Yesha Israel
Meade ETX 127 Mak-Cass
15x70 Celestron Skymaster Binoculars
Sinar F 4x5 view camera
Rolliflex Camera 80mm F2.8
Pentax K-1000 Camera 35,50 and 60--300mm zoom
3 kids, Large cat, small dog
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Blind-Cyclops
sage
Reged: 11/28/05
Posts: 449
Loc: Kitchener, ON, Canada
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Hi Cosmosphil -- welome to cloudy nights,
I have a pair of SM15x70s and they are excellent -- I'm very pleased with my pair. Granted, I've not tried the Oberwerks. As has been stated by others -- you take a chance on Celestron but if you get a good pair the first time -- they're great. If you get a bad pair, phone and complain right away and take them back to the store for an exchange. Be sure to do this within a couple days.
Best of luck
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Clear skies...
Duncan 
"Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!"
-- Closing line in movie spoken by newspaper report Ned "Scotty" Scott (Douglas Spencer) in the Sci-Fi movie
"The Thing From Another World", RKO Radio Pictures, 1951.
Antares (refractor) 127mm f/6.45. w/2-spd Crayford
Orion (Maksutov) 150mm f/12 w/2" EP adapter
Giro 3 (twin), 18" pier, EQ5 tripod.
Garrett 20x80mm, 410 head, 055 tripod.
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upsguy
Uff da
Reged: 10/01/05
Posts: 3100
Loc: schaumburg, il.
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i recently chose barska 15x70 over the skymasters. as inexpensive as these are, i think they offer really good views. either im easy to please, or it might be the fact that i've never viewed through a "good quality or overpriced" pair. 
i have used a pair of canon 18x50 IS and compared them to the barskas and didn't think the views were much better, except for the fact the IS is awesome!
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Jim
Meade lx90 8" uhtc
Meade 80mm refractor
Orion 70mm refractor
Barska 15x70
Obies 11x56
Canon 400D
Canon SX100IS
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Sarah88
sage
Reged: 11/18/05
Posts: 354
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I was looking at M33 last night with my SM-15x70....and my 6" Newtonian
And I have to say - that I could see M33 marginally BETTER through the SkyMaster, than with my the newt (before i put in a LPR filter)
The image was far brighter in the newt - but that was the problem to a large extent - from my moderately LP'd location, the background sky was ALSO far brighter through the newt.
I guess that the extra contrast from the 'twin-refractor' design of binoculars, was helping to make up for the aperture shortfall.
With the LPR filter added though - m33 then stood out better in the newt.
It sometime surprises me, some of the things these binocs can draw-in - last night, for instance, ngc7789 was an EASY spot, even handheld, no real resolution, just a fuzzy patch, but VERY easy to see.
They are not the SHARPEST binocs I've looked through, and they do suffer badly from internal reflections if you point them anywhere near a streetlight.
But the combination of reasonable optics, big light-grasp (for binocs), and low price, makes them a bargain IMHO
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ED100, OD250L
15x70, 10x50, 7x50
54.7N 2.7W
Edited by Sarah88 (08/29/06 10:34 AM)
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SkyArcher
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/12/06
Posts: 2006
Loc: 9545' in Colorado
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I just a couple hours last night looking thru my Barskas 15x70 andI was like OMG! When I realized that I was looking at the Milky Way. I don't regret at all buying my Barskas.
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An 8" Deep Space Hunter
4.5 w/ GOTO
4.5 newt w/ home built Dob mount
Omphaloskepsis - I didn't realize that there is a word for what I do while waiting for web pages to download 
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