Hi Tony!
I've only recently got into star gazing, and my first purchase was a 15x 70mm pair of binos from AoE. I'm very happy with the quality. The only thing I'd remind you to consider is the weight of the binos, and the field of view. For example, these 15x 70s don't seem heavy at all, but when looking up at an angle greater 40 - 45deg. , it's impossible to keep them steady!! (I don't care if a person can bench press 200Kgs, it's still difficult to keep these babies steady). Also, the magnification is greater, but the FOV is smaller. An example would be that I can't fit the southern cross in my binos... I can only go from star to star. I honestly found it tricky to find the southern cross when viewing through the binoculars, even though you can see it easily with the naked eye, but purely because you can see so many more stars with the binos (and I can't fit the crux in one view). I'd probably have trouble fitting the 2 pointers in the one image, too. However, they have fairly good magnification which is great for that closer view. I can make out 3 of jupiters moons (little dots), and you get awesome views of the moon. Other stuff I can make out are the Omega Centauri globular cluster, Eta Carina (very small magnitude), and many, many stars. Very good for learning what's where.
I have looked through smaller 11x 50s (or maybe 70s), and they were lighter, easier to hold for longer periods at greater angles, a great FOV (could see the southern cross in one view), but less magnification, and slightly less bright stars.
In closing,
, if you want these binos for long viewing periods where you'll be constantly looking at the skies, I'd definitely recommend binos with a smaller focal length than the set of binos I bought (link here ->
http://www.aoe.com.au/aoe70hp.html).
Just my experiences so far. Good luck buying.
...DJVege...