I got hold of my current instruments, a pair of 25 x 100mm Celestron Skymaster binoculars during the Summer. These are my first astronomical instruments for 20 years.
Large binoculars have many attractions. They provide beautiful, wide field views of the Milky Way. Cygnus and Cassiopeia are stunning in the relatively wide field of 2.4 degrees. The binoculars have an exit pupil of 4mm and an eye relief of 15mm. With big, 100mm lenses, the Skymasters can reach relatively faint magnitudes (for binoculars that is!). Despite some localized light pollution I have reached magnitude 11.6 on a good night and I would estimate that I could possibly reach below 12.0 at an ideal location. In variable star terms I can sometimes see SS Cyg at quiescence without a moon.
I have been very satisfied with the performance of these instruments although there is some chromatic abberration which is to be expected for binoculars in this price range. False colour is only really a problem for bright objects such as the moon or planets for which these binoculars were not really intended. Further equipment reviews from the amateur astronomical community can be obtained from the excellent Cloudy Nights website
These binoculars are very big and heavy, weighing in at 5.5kg. In order to make use of binoculars of this size, it is of paramount importance to be able to be able to mount them properly. I use a shorter T-Mount Light parallelogram mount made by Universal Astronomics in the USA which works perfectly even for objects at or near the zenith. Without this mount it would be virtually impossible to use the binoculars for variable star observing >