I have a pair of the 10x42 stabilized canon binoculars. I think they're very good though over-priced (esp compared to the price of an IS supertelephoto canon l

I have a pair of the 10x42 stabilized canon binoculars. I think they're very good though over-priced (esp compared to the price of an IS supertelephoto canon lens). I didn't get them for astronomy but they get used for that some. I also have zhumell 25x100 binoculars (which also get oemed under a number of other brand names). These are huge and must be used on a tripod. The canon are easy and convenient to use. As a result they get used more often. That said, for astronomy the big binoculars are obviously better. E.g. A couple weeks ago I looked out the window with the 25x100 and the blue glow of the Orion nebula h-beta emission was quite obvious to me, but I couldn't really see it with the canon. Juipter's moons are always nicely visible on the big binocs but harder to see with the canon. On the astro binocs jupiter almost always gets a "wait! are those moons?!?". But it's just not compatible in the sense that the canon gets used when the big ones often don't. You can just lay back in a lounge chair with the canon and gaze at the vastness of stars (which are much more visible through the 10x42 than the naked eyes). You're not going to do something like that with 25x100 binos except with some kind of cantilevered balanced mount that looks like a dentist tortured device. :) (laying back is advised: the canon is still kinda heavy even if nothing compared t the astro-monster) I don't particularly enjoy eyepiece astronomy-- my interest w/ astronomy is in imaging via telescopes. I have the astro binocs for the benefit of guests and I've found in general that guests don't have the intuition or patience to correctly focus them (and it's hard for me to do it for them because I'm -3 diaopter so if I focus for myself it'll be wrong, and even through my glasses I'm still at the wrong distance). This is a place where the canon beat out the astro binocs too, because the stabilization prevents shaking/blurring the frame when you adjust focus so it's much easier for an untrained person to get it right. Similarly, I find guests will actually manage to make the IPD adjustment on the canons while they tend to give up on the zhumell, as it takes a lot of force on those. So I would say that if you're considering the canon stabilized binos for other reasons and wonder if they'd work for astro too: Absolutely. If you're looking for astro binocs though there are better results at a lower price possible if you're willing to put up with the tripod. Without a tripod I don't think you can beat the stabilized binocs.