tried Tony's binos x2

Tony gave me his two pair of Celestron Skymaster 15x70 binoculars to test. He said that both he and Trevor were having a hard time with them.

Put outside my monster Manfrotto tripod.

I tried the "unboxed" glasses first. Easy to use, good colour, easy to focus. But at no time could I merge bright stars. Proof was that I'd stand back from the binos, look at the sky, relax. Then I'd move to the oculars and look in. I'd see my quarry, the bright star, as two images, widely separated. Immediately, my eyes (and/or brain) would start to adjust. The dual images would draw close together. But, again, never merge to one. Also, if I scanned the field and relaxed, dual bright stars would draw a little closer; but whenever I'd centre on the bright object, they'd stay apart. I could make my eyes move (going a little cross-eyed) to make them go further apart, then relax, and they'd draw closer together. And never merge.

I then got out the "boxed" glasses. Far worse. The right tube was badly out of collimation. The image was worse. Dual stars, further apart than the other set, and not even level. Also, there was something wrong with the transmission in the right tube. The image was much darker.

The binoculars-tripod adapter was terrible, by the way. Given the mass, size, and polar moment of these binos, any movement or shock would cause the glasses to yaw violently. And then they would oscillate for several seconds. Ridiculous.

I told Tony he'd have to return them to Canadian Tire. This smokin' good deal is consuming more time and fuel...