Fujinon 16 x 70mm FMT-SX Polaris Binoculars

Binoculars are highly recommended by most observers as the best beginner's instrument. The super wide fields and ease of use allows the newbie to learn comfortably with binoculars in one hand and a chart in the other. Almost any pair of binoculars will do, but optics with flat fields are difficult to come by without spending a little bit of money. Such a curved field, often coupled with fat star images at the edge of the field of view should be expected with expensive binoculars. Afterall, most binoculars aren't made with celestial observing in mind.

The Fujinon FMT-SX series is an exceptional instrument for both astronomy and daytime applications.  The optics are highly refined and show stars as points anywhere in the field of view.  Plus, colors are true, with none of the "false color" that is found in cheaper pairs.

These Fujinons perform better than binoculars that cost 3 times as much, and blows away anything less expensive.  You don't know how pretty the views are through a great pair of binculars until you've actually observed with them.  By far, I use these binoculars more for visual work than any of my other instruments, including my scopes.  But for best use of these binoculars, a tripod mount is recommended.

Check out the full review of this instrument <here>.