Hi Ezekiel - Welcome!
Great idea to start with a pair of binoculars and learn more about the sky.
Yes, I believe AOE give good service and supply quite satisfactory binoculars for the price. You can pay a lot more for the best quality, but I think, for beginners, one would be more than happy with both pairs you suggest.
Now, even the 12x60 can be difficult to hand hold if you want to intently study an object for a while. The 15x70 will be even more difficult. But this does depend on the person. There are people on this forum who seem to have success hand holding even 20x80s!
Any chance you can look through a pair first to get a sense of how easy they are to use? I think that may be the first step.
Another question is how often you want to look well up to the zenith? That brings its own problems - even with a good tripod.
There are options for observing without a tripod. One is to balance the binoculars on a small cushion on top of a fence post, or roof of a car - you just won't get to a high elevation. I've seen examples of putting the binoculars on a version of a monopod, but it was really just a broom, up-ended so the end of the handle was placed on the ground and the binoculars were held, by hand, on the head. That can provide quite a bit of stability to the view.
That's a few initial thoughts,
Eric
