Celestron EclipSmart 10x25 Solar Eclipse Binoculars

I just received my Celestron 10x25 solar eclipse binoculars in the mail from Amazon. I must have ordered these last minute solar observing eclipse binoculars at just the right time, because now they are saying "usually ships within 1-2 months" on Amazon. I got mine in 2 days. Are they really out? No idea, I got mine, if you want to order some before the big day you might want to look around quickly! I ordered these because I knew in the time leading up to totality I would want to play with more than just some cardboard eclipse glasses.

They are listed as a best seller on Amazon, perfect size for under $40

I think these 10x25 binoculars will give me a good view. Hopefully there is something interesting like a sunspot on the sun that day, because you can indeed see large sunspots with these binoculars. I spotted one just yesterday that looked like a little black freckle on the sun. Here are some photos of my eclipse binoculars unboxing. It's a little weird at first, pointing binoculars toward the sun. I'm glad these solar filters on the ends are NOT removable, just in case!

 

The shiny black surface is cool and reflective. These will come in handy for more than just the eclipse, as I mentioned you can absolutely use them to see large sunspots too.

The color of the sun through the binoculars is a pleasing yellow/orange, it looks very natural - not that I can really stare at the sun to compare.

Bigger isn't always better with binoculars. I like that these will fit in my pocket, or even (gasp) on my belt because of the handy belt-loop on the case. Oh my, I would be the most fashionable at the solar eclipse viewing party.

The first number (10) in "10x25" means the magnification, or how many times closer an object will appear compared to the naked eye - so these are 10x meaning the sun will appear 10x closer. The second number (25) in "10x25" is the diameter of the objective lens (bigger lens on the front) so the lens is only 2.5 cm across. This would be no good for viewing the night sky, with such a small light-gathering diameter, but for the sun it's no big deal. Bigger objective lenses are bigger light-catching buckets, and images will appear brighter - since this isn't important for daytime viewing of the sun, I'll trade size for portability. These 10x binoculars actually provide more magnification than my 7x50 binoculars I got for observing the moon and stars, even though they are much smaller.