20 Best Telescopes For Planets (2022 Updated)

I sympathise with the other reviewer. I had similar difficulties on the initial excursions. To plate solve effectively the app does need more than a few stars, but on a reasonably clear night, once aligned, its pretty good for this novice to find basic objects in the night sky.

The red dot finder is a pain for an older neck but, when aligned correctly to the scope, it helps initially to check the scope is pointing where you think it should be. At present this scope is on par with binoculars for what I’m able to see, given the light polluted sky and bad weather recently.

I shall persevere. Already bought a 2″ diagonal and more eyepieces. I can see this becoming a money pit! But for someone who really does not have the time, nor the expertise, to learn the night sky, I find this relatively cheap computerised assistance a great boon.

I’m using an old Samsung J5 phone and the App works well. I expect a more powerful modern phone would be quicker. The tripod is stable enough on a still night.

We have never owned a telescope and assumed this was a good starting point. Upon opening the box, there is some light assembly required. After calibrating the red dot finder and phone app, we are able to find what we want.

The app is absolutely great! It will tell you what’s currently visible, complete with information about that object. Then, just push an icon, and it tells you where to point the telescope. It will then pause a few seconds while it recalibrates.

You can then fine tune the object. Take your time, follow the steps, and it will be somewhere in your field of vision. You can then slip in different eyepieces and color filters (available from OPT) to enhance.

There are so many things to see out there! This telescope makes it possible and the app makes it interesting. The only con I have is the rotating swivel on the tripod is a bit tight, even with the friction screw backed out.

Perhaps it will wear in with use. I’m sure the materials could probably be improved to fix this, but at this price point, I’m fine with the minor learning curve. Great product, great price, exceptional knowledge with the on-call staff.

Very much looking forward to this new learning experience! Thank you Opt and Celestron.

When you get this very large telescope, you really think you have a nice piece of equipment, but the clarity of the scope is more like a toy. You can see the same images with binoculars. You can also find things like bright stars and moons much quicker with binoculars.

The large cell phone holder is nothing more than an app. There are many sky and stat apps that use your cell phone to help you tour the sky, I thought the cell phone mount was so I could take pics of what I saw in the scope.

This is not at all how this works. The App itself never is able to see my scope, constantly says “cannot locate scope”. You have to realign it over and over and when all of that is done, you get a slightly clearly ball of light for a star and a pic of the moon you can see with Binoculars.

I realize in the world of Telescopes paying almost $200 is not alot of money and I am a beginner. But $189 for a product that appeared to at least take pics with a phone is frustrating. The quality of this scope if very nice on the outside.

Its size is huge, which also makes you thing you are really going to see something when you look through it. I think the description needs to be much more clear as to what you can see throught this scope, and what it actually does with a cell phone app.

The current description is quite vague.

This is my first real telescope and my first time reviewing one so take my review with a grain of salt. As someone who recently took a strong interest in astronomy and look all over for a high quality but still affordable telescope you options do become rather limited in the affordable range.

This was the highest end Telescope Best Buy sold on their website (going strictly by the 130mm number and price compared to the other Celestron telescopes on here) and the price was just at the limit of the money I wanted to spend for my first telescope.

And I will say I am loving this telescope a few months later. Comes with everything needed to get started observing the stars and planets. I would recommend using the moon on a clear night to really get a full grasp on what you can see with it.

Now keep your expectations in place, don’t buy this telescope and think you will see Saturn and Jupiter like they appear in pictures from Hubble or Voyager. But you will still be able to see them and with the two eye pieces with plenty of clarity in a way you just can’t with the naked eye.

It comes with two eye pieces with different magnification and it’s a good place to start. You can buy more eye pieces which I will be doing shortly for more viewable and filters. So I can’t speak on them yet but with what is included for the price and ease of use and for beginners just starting out.

And the app which once you get it aligned and learn how to use it with the telescope helps finding objects in the sky with extreme ease. Overall highly recommend this for people just starting out.

The Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ is a well made refractor beginning telescope that utilizes the processing power of newer cellphones in conjunction with a Starsense Explorer App that provides for manual guidance of the telescope to a selected celestial object.

By moving the telescope using arrows on the App towards the user’s chosen object, one can not only reach the chosen object to view, but also develop a greater knowledge of the location of celestial objects in the sky.

A clear sky is required for the App to function correctly, but due to the provided red dot finder a user can also manually find objects in the sky the “old-fashioned” way. The OTA with a f/5 focal ratio five inch (130mm) aperture and 650mm focal length allows for sufficient light gathering power to be able to view objects clearly and sharply.

The OTA is made of steel with other parts of the telescope made of a high quality plastic. The tripod is aluminum. The focuser is a 2 inch rack and pinion type with an included adapter for the use of 1.

25 inch eyepieces. Included 1. 25 inch eyepieces are fair quality 1. 25 inch 25mm and 10mm.

This is a quality telescope, and a good value. I’m not experienced, so it took me about four hours to get familiar with the parts and assemble it all, and then about four more hours to align the finderscope, install apps on my smart phone, match up the smart phone, and learn to use the telescope.

My only suggestion for Celestron is they could make the instructions easier by adding a glossary with pictures of the parts for beginners like me who don’t know the difference between a finderscope and an eyepiece.

I ended up returning this. I have to figure out whether to get more serious about astronomy. Maybe I want something programmable with motors and gears, so once I have a clear image of Jupiter to show someone, it doesn’t travel away from the eyepiece due to the Earth’s rotation before my friend can take a look.

And maybe I want my smartphone to be able to take pictures of the magnified image of Jupiter once I can see from the eyepiece. According to YouTube, I guess that’s possible by buying accessories and having two smart phones? (The phone you put in the dock doesn’t take photos of magnified images.

).

This is an excellent telescope and very easy to set up. We are new to night sky viewing so this computerized telescope makes it easy to learn about and view our night sky. I did have to call tech support as I had a question and they were fantastic! Answered my question and gave me additional information to make our experience even better! I would highly recommend this product.

I plan to update this review as I use the telescope but I want to write about my experience so far. First off, TelescopesPlus. com provided fast shipping which was great. It arrived when I was at work and it stormed that night (I am a firefighter and work 24 hour shifts) so I was worried that it would be damaged on my return.

I found that it had been double boxed then each peice had its own box on the inside. Very well packaged. That said, I am not that pleased that a [$] telescope was left on my front porch even though I live in a quiet community.

The foam that surrounds the telescope and arm is very sturdy. I have set that aside to put in a sterilite case later. I see no reason to purchase one of the expensive cases online unless I plan to travel via air.

This is my first descent telescope. Until now I have been using the less than $100 plastic long tube scopes. As a matter of fact my current longer tube model is a Celestron. I unfornately expected the same thing but grander scale so I set myself up for a let down.

I was WAAAYYYY off. You get what you pay for in this case. First unpacked was the tripod. I have a Canon EOS T1i system with a very nice tripod. This tripod with the telescope is very heavy and sturdy even compared to a high quality camera tripod.

The only thing to put togeter on the tripod was to mount the acessory tray which is a simple knob. Then I opened the box with the scope in it. The scope came attached to the arm already and packed in foam that is about 3″ thick on all sides.

Simply lift it out and line it up. The three knobs do the rest of the work. I mounted the spotting scope and the eye piece, added batteries and I was in business. Very simple. I noticed the eye pieces were not light weight either.

They were heavy quality feeling pieces made out of aluminum. So far I am very happy with my decision to go with this scope. I do have the power tank and the eyepieces as well. I hope to catch some great images very soon.

Of course it won’t stop raining now.

I couldnt find the instructions. But had a celestron nexstar 8se. So, the first attempt to use star sense failed. The second time I remembered to input time and lat long and not turn it off after that.

It automatically aligned! I was looking at the usuals and then Andromeda Galaxy M81. Wow! Second time in 21 years. Im sold on this product. Its affordable. Its automated. A great buy for stargazers.

I purchased this scope just for using my cell phone on a Celestron NEXYZ camera mount and that works great. The focuser works well and holds true. The built in Barlow gives my eyepieces some extra oomph too.

The tripod is okay, not the best, but certainly not the worst. The GEM works great and I plan on using it with a couple of mt refractors too. The red dot finder did not work properly. No dot projection no matter how far I turned the knobs.

Possibly a defective unit, but I would think Celestron’s QA would have found that before packing. Not a big deal as I can swap it out with a laser. Got it on a great sale so it was a good value for me.

This is my first telescope since I was a kid. I did not know much of what I should look for. This scope is a great start for a reasonable price. With the EQ mount and red dot indicator, set up is a breeze! You can easily make out Saturn with its rings and at least one moon as well as Jupiter, its bands and its four Galilean moons.

Viewing some deepspace objects such as the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy is also possible. I purchased an additional Barlow x2 lens, which helps with some of these difficult objects. With the tripod legs fully extended, there is a lot of shake in the scope.

I usually leave them completely collapsed and sit on the ground for the stability. The rack and pinion focuser seems a bit sloppy and can make for tough fine tune focusing of planets and deep space objects.

I purchased an eyepiece CMOS camera, but have not had the patience to use it for much given the difficult focusing.

This is an excellent telescope package for anyone with more than a passing interest in stargazing. The assembly was not too hard – sometimes the pictures helped more than the directions – but everything went together once we knew where it went.

The tripod is solid and fully adjustable – much better than the “camera” tripods that some equipment comes with. With all of the gear driven adjustments the scope is easy to point and adjust in small increments – perfect for tracking an object as we move under it.

The spotter scope is a real boon as the adjustable intensity of the “red dot” allows it to be bright enough to pinpoint the moon crater and dim enough not to obscure the dimmer stars as you line up the view.

My wife was amazed to see the moon as it appears in pictures, and the double stars in the Big Dipper’s handle were easily resolved. We are looking forward to many nights of learning (or relearning) the skies in the coming months.

This is an investment that is well worth the price. It is designed to last and has the capability to be expanded with different eyepieces and accessories as your focus changes. Our first accessory will probably be the DSLR adapter.

The only downside of this telescope is that it cannot clear the clouds away. I had to content myself with terrestrial viewing for a week or so before I could actually look up! This is the best Anniversary present I have ever been given.

This is the first telescope I have ever tried to look through. The build quality was good and assembly was straight forward. However, we are yet to explore the full power of the scope yet. Waiting for the right weather condition for it.

So far, I haven’t been able to see anything other than stars, which are showing up as little dots anyway. Taking stars away for these reasons. 1. ) The Go-to- controller is a bit clumsy. We have hard time reading the information against the orange light especially when information text is sliding right to left quite fast.

2. ) For some of the objects I tried, I got warning about telescope colliding with telescope mount if I continue. I continued because the text wasn’t very clear on display and luckily I realized that the telescope would bump into base had I not turned it off.

I don’t understand why the software lets the telescope mount to move when it knows that doing so would damage the scope. 3. ) Should have come with power adapter.

Maks are really a boon, and I’m glad Celestron is offering this 5 incher. Celestron should take more care with its design and manufacture. As usual, the design offers a compact large aperture format that can be easily transported, and thanks to the Celestron software, easily aligned to planetary or deep sky objects for (sloppy) autotracking.

But the optics are. meh. glass encased in plastic, and the alignment gadget is so sloppy and whippy, it’s hard to know what to say. The main focusing mechanism is sloppy with plenty of hysteresis. The tripod is very poor – very flimsy and apt to vibrate at the lightest passing footfall.

This is a lot of very mediocre telescope for the dollar. I’m disappointed.

The pros: Assembly is quick and easy. Learning curve is simple to master. Optics, for the price are amazing. The design eliminates the need for expensive collimation calibrations. Cons: The included eyepieces (9mm / 25mm) are adequate (upgrades are available).

The motor requires 8 “AA” batteries (there is an available rechargeable unit that includes a flashlight). The computer tether uses an outdated RS232 cable (there is an optional wireless adapter). Conclusion: With the addition of a rechargeable power supply, higher-grade eye piece and professional-grade 3X Barlow, the telescope moves from the kiddie pool into the adult swim.

The eye piece is easily removed so that a DSLR camera (requires a “T” mount adapter designed by the camera mfg) can be attached for astrophotography. The star tracking feature allows you to pick up right where you left off.

As is, right out of the box, the moon fills the viewfinder. With the addition of the Barlow, individual craters become visible. An optional solar filter makes viewing sun flairs possible. For the photographer: A counter weight may be required (I use a lanyard attached to a one litre bottle that is partially filled with sand).

To produce high-quality pictures, shoot in RAW and stack the images in Photoshop to achieve the best results. If you are shooting the moon, I recommend purchasing the moon filter. For magnification, you can use the following setup – attach the “T” ring directly to the telescope for 1X.

Purchase an aftermarket 1. 4 or 2. 0 tele-extender made specifically for your camera and attach the “T” ring to it (you may have to tape over the contacts to prevent lens communication errors on the camera), to increase the magnification.

Purchase Clestron’s high-grade 3X Barlow for even higher magnification. And, it is possible to mount the 1. 4/2. 0 tele-extender to the camera, and attach it to the 3X Barlow for an extreme deep-sky view; however, it is a bit blurry for photography.

To add some excitement, or use as a training aid, a field monitor can be attached to the camera, and using live view, display the view seen by the telescope. The telescope is very well constructed, disassembles in minutes, and collapses down enough to make it portable.

If you are planning on hiking to a remote location, it will fit in a large back-pack – but it does weigh 20 LBS. Happy hunting!.

If you are roaming thru assorted telescope reviews to decide which one is best to start your night sky adventures, stop. There are numerous options; different brands, cheaper telescopes. If you want the best value for money but also the best telescope to start viewing the moon, the planets and the sky then buy the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ-Motor Drive.

Celestron is one of the top brands. The size and setup of this model will help you learn astronomy but will enable you to expand your skills without having to update to another model. Also, buy this from Jacobs Digital.

I live overseas (Samoa) and they arranged and delivered everything professionally and efficiently. When you buy this model from Jacobs, I also suggest you also get the Celestron Accessory Kit that has additional eyepieces, a Barlows lens and assorted colour and Moon filters.

These all assist in expanding your enjoyment in astronomy. Also get a red light. I got from Jacobs the Carson Red LED flashlight. This really helps during your viewing sessions without using ‘normal’ flashlights which affect your vision.

You only live once so don’t waste time and contact Jacobs now and buy this telescope. You will not regret it. Enjoy the fun and wonder that astronomy can give. Thank you and regards, Peter.

A bit above entry-level, this EQ mounted reflector is designed for lunar and planetary observation and exploration. The optics are good although there’ve been no suitable nights for observation in the last month since purchase; it comes with 20mm and 10mm basic eyepieces, the 20 with a righting prism ideal for whole lunar observation.

The mount is disappointing: once the clamps are free enough to allow movement there is significant play and wobble; the drive unit has no clutch system and locks out any fine adjustment unless disengaged with a screwdriver, and then it’s tricky to re-engage it – you just have to adjust by moving the tube around by hand and, with the play, it will be pointing somewhere a bit different once you tighten the clamp; there was significant scratching and chipping to the paint on the mount when unpacking – well packed, so I imagine this took place during manufacture.

This might be a dodgy mount but it’s pretty crude to adjust and the design of the drive – so that you can have drive or fine adjustment but not both – is poor. So good optics but some disappointments.

My wife gave me this Celestron AstroMaster 130 CM-MD reflector telescope for Christmas. It has provided a thoroughly frustrating experience. The assembly took me several weeks. Even watching YouTube videos left the process unclear and very difficult.

We called OPT and Celestron several times and waited several hours on hold. I never was able to speak to anyone at either organization. Finally I took it to the nearest recommended telescope shop where, at our own expense, a technician corrected the assembly.

When I got the telescope home, I found I could not coordinate the finder scope with the main scope. After several days work with no positive results, a neighbor was able to make the necessary adjustment.

This was in mid February. Finally, we were excited to bring our scope outside and look at the moon, assuming it to be an easy target. We were disappointed that we could not focus the image which also had what appeared to be lines across the unfocused image.

We never were able to get the equatorial motor drive to function. It was set in such a way that it blocked use of the horizontal knob and made it impossible to physically raise the scope very far from the horizon.

The technician at the telescope shop told us that the drive didn’t work on this model. His best advice was to remove it. Overall we found our experience was disappointing , frustrating and upsetting.

I would never recommend this telescope to anyone. We would be happy to return the telescope, but, of course, we have been able to speak to anyone.

I live in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. I ordered this telescope with a small amount of research back in September, I was amazed at its ability to view Jupiter, Saturn and was quite stunned by the moon. The telescope comes already collimated and ready to use.

I highly recommend that you don’t touch its settings, and only make minor adjustments on the primary mirror for collimation. It is quite heavy, but I have built a wooden platform (20″ x 20″) for it with 4 wheels and its now very easy to move.

It fits very neatly in the back of my ford focus and I can take it to friend’s house to enjoy few hours of star gazing together. Invest in some good quality lenses and a 2x and a 3x Barlow. I personally use a 25mm lens and a 3x Barlow to view Jupiter.

At a minimum I see its orange stripes and when the sky is really clear I see Jupiter’s Eye shaped structure. For an all around planetary viewing its excellent. Its not the greatest for astrophotography.

It still can be done, but the preparation is a bit more difficult and pictures might not be as clear as others dedicated to it. I have no issues with the mount, focuser and the target finder that comes with it.

Very simple design but sturdy. Afshin.

I’ve had my XT8 for 4 years and have always been unable to collimate properly until this week. Here’s what I did as the secondary mirror was always high (up/down) in comparison to figure 2. e. on page 2 of the collimation instructions.

1. Ensured the secondary mirror’s housing was centered in the telescope’s opening. 2. Replaced the secondary mirror’s setscrews with M4/. 07-30mm screws. 3. Moved the focuser about 1/4 inch toward the finder scope base—metal file and new holes.

4. Replaced the focuser’s set and locking screws with M4/. 07-20mm screws—both sets of setscrew replacements extend out enough to use my fingers to adjust. 5. With these modifications, inserted the collimating cap and moved the focuser all the way in.

6. Viewing through the cap, centered the secondary mirror in the bottom of the focuser drawtube from left to right by using its center screw. 7. Adjusted the secondary mirror’s tilt until the reflection of the entire primary mirror, to include retaining clips, was centered on the secondary mirror’s view.

8. Replaced the collimating cap with a laser collimator. 9. Loosen the focuser’s new locking screws until they extend about 1/4 inch or so. Placed downward pressure on the focuser with one hand while adjusting the focuser’s new setscrews until the laser struck the center of the primary mirror’s center ring.

Maintaining downward pressure, screwed down the locking screws with the larger of the allen wrenches that came with the XT8. 10. Finally, adjusted the primary mirror until the laser struck the bulls-eye on the collimator’s window.

Now, my collimation looks like figure 2. e. Seems like I have a new scope. Living in the southeast outskirts of Tucson and using a Q70, 26mm eyepiece with a light pollution filter, I’m able to galaxy hop around M87 with these 60 year old eyes.

The XT8 ia a great telescope for me It gives some great views of planets and deep sky objects. It is my go to scope when I want to look at something because it is so easy to set up. If I bring out on my driveway, the neighbors come to see what I’m looking at and are amazed.

I get a lot of oohs and awes. So, I’m very happy with my purchase. There are some negatives. Orion is no longer providing a fan bracket on the back, so I’ve had to come up with an alternative method to mount a fan.

Orion did not include a collimation cap. In the YouTube instruction videos, they state that one will be included. They are easy to make though. You only get one eyepiece and it has no protective cap.

Fortunately, I had some extras. The price has gone up. Use to be able to get these for less than $500, now you’ll spend closer to $700.

Gets the job done. If you don’t screw it up. It is a great telescope tbh and can easily see things faint and bright. The goto system does what is expected and works well except for one flaw. I should have know where things are located at in the sky.

I chose a random object and it points the telescope straight up. Only to hit the tripod legs and keeps forcing it into the tripod legs. This was clearly a manufacturer mistake as the telescope should have known that the legs were there and it led to a burnt motor on the horizontal axis.

I can’t use the goto system anymore since then it has “fried the chip” due to moving the motor up and down after it was partially burnt out. Err code 17. I tried reaching out to Celestron and they didn’t pick up after I was on hold for 40+ minutes!!! Tried by email and the replied with “we will get back to you soon we are busy” or something within those terms!!!Soo clearly this is made as a beginners telescope and they can’t even make a “no go-to zone” in the code?!? This was partially at my fault but the manufacturer could of done some remodeling so it didn’t hit the tripod legs.

I am using the standard tripod legs that came with the telescope. Manufacturer is at fault and I wish to hear from them soon.

Great scope/tripod for the money. The go to is also nice, when it works. Few tips to perfect your night. Try and get a 12v lithium external battery. The AA batteries aren’t enough to precise track anything and the motor runs at half speed with batteries.

Use 2 star align and make sure theyre on opposite sides of the sky. After a successful alignment click “menu” on the handcontrol and scroll until you see “precise go to” use that. Download an app called stellarium or use telego and input the declination/ascension for the object you want to look at.

It will direct you to a nearby object for you to center into your eyepiece. After its algined it will slew to the object you chose and depending on how good your previous alignment was it will track the target as well as an Alt Az mount can.

For astrophotography you will need to mod this scope. Newtonians aren’t great for astrophotography since its impossible to get prime focus because of the size of the focus tube. So you’ll have to move the primary mirror up or use a mirrorless camera.

Literally no complaints on the build quality and came extremely well collimated out of the box. The tripod is also pretty good for the price.

The 130SLT is a good telescope and mounting system provided you understand its limitations. The OTA is the strong point of this setup. The optics are of good quality, the scope seems to hold its collimation pretty well, and the sloppy focuser can be improved with some replacement grease and adjusting of the tension screws.

Also, this scope takes 2-inch eyepieces, which is almost unheard of at this price point. The 130 has the largest aperture (5. 1) of the SLT line, a good size for general observing. The SLT mount is pretty solidly constructed.

The azimuth axis is permanently engaged to the drive gears, and so can only be moved with the hand controller. The altitude axis can be moved freely, but does not have a lock-down mechanism which can cause the scope to tilt if it is unbalanced.

The dovetail clamp is well designed and holds the scope securely. The NexStar GOTO system is known for its excellent accuracy. Just keep in mind the tripod needs to be exactly level and there needs to be adequate power for slews to be accurate.

The mount takes 8 AA batteries but I would recommend purchasing an AC adapter or using a cigarette adapter and 12V power source. As with most budget scopes, the tripod leaves something to be desired.

It is a standard aluminum tripod with plastic connectors. It is fine for low power viewing but the shakes take a while to dampen at higher powers. That being said, the setup is very portable and can be carried with ease.

Total weight assembled is about 25 pounds. Aside from that, you also get a good red dot finder, two decent eyepieces, adapters for 1. 25 and 2 eyepieces, and instructions to get going. As far as value goes, $400 for a good scope and GOTO system is a bargain.

If you can live with the mediocre tripod, then you cant really go wrong with the 130SLT package.

I picked one of these over 5 years ago on sale and it compliments using larger reflecting telescopes. The high ‘f ratio’ number in refractor telescopes gives a crisp clear image when observing lunar and planetary detail.

Also, you can use less expensive eyepieces with greater eye relief and magnification than with ‘fast’ low ‘f ratio’ refractors. I prefer this over my 110 mm reflectors when observing the planets and lunar terrain.

It’s a grab and go and relatively light weight. One suggestion is to have the handle ‘reversed’ to provide better tripod balance. A common weakness in most less expensive systems is with the mount stability.

A good refractor in the city,with light pollution,can outperform a reflector twice its’ aperature.

I bought primarily for terrestrial viewing and it is excellent for that. I use it to look 1 to 20 kilometers away as I live by a large lake. Much more powerful and steady than binoculars. The tripod mount was very stiff at first but loosened up after awhile.

Unlike others, I haven’t had a problem with an unsteady mount (make sure telescope is balanced (rather than centered) on the mount. The focuser works excellent once it is properly adjusted as per directions however it is easy to forget to turn it off (and wear down the battery).

It is an OK starter for astronomy, but you can only look at the moon and a few planets. So if you’re serious about astronomy and want to see something further away and/or with more clarity you’ll need something better than this.

Very nice optical quality in a lightweight and easy to use package. Great as a first telescope for these reasons. Dovetail mounting means that you can easliy mount the scope onto an equatoriel when you’re ready to take the plunge into real astronomical observations.

The lens is good quality and gives as good an image as any 70mm achromatic telescope. I would recommend this telescope, especially for kids as it is so easy to use and it’s very light for carrying out to the garden.

Codos to High Point, scope arrived quickly and well packaged, as always! Have had the opportunity to use the scope a little a couple of times since getting it though the seeing was less than great. First impressions of the 102 mm FCD 100 are good, but do to the poor seeing I can’t honestly comment that there is any improvement optically with the FDC 100 series compared to the standard version.

Once I get the opportunity to do some astro photography, I’ll have a better idea. The one improvement I have noted is the HEX focuser, it is a step up over the standard focuser. Much more solid/robust, operates smoothly, dosen’t have the flexing issues I’ve noticed on my 127 mm CF.

I got the 102 mm because I wasn’t happy with the performance of an 80MM scope, just too “short” and not bright enough. The 102 MM looks like it’s going to be just right for galaxies, I did hook-up my Atik Infinity and framed up a couple of galaxies and I liked what I saw, imaged size was right, F/7 works with the Infinity nicely, just needed better seeing! I like the size and light weight, makes handling the scope very easy plus you don’t need a super robust mount to carry it and all the other gear for photography.

All in all I know that that this scope will get a lot of use!.

I don’t know what kept me from buying the ED102 other then stubbornness. It turned out to be one of the best purchases I’ve made. The resolution is absolutely wonderful and the construction is flawless.

A real precision instrument there is absolutely no CA and views are near perfection.

Great service and speedy delivery. Hats off to Red Carpet. New scope is phenomenal and excited to really put it through the rigors of a night of imaging. Glad I finally decided to make this purchase.

For the price, the optics and construction are what you would find from a $700+ scope. Be it that this is a new brand in the telescope game, it’s safe to assume that GSkyer are attempting to provide a relatively high quality scope for a value to entice buyers to choose their product.

This is a perfect beginner/intermediate telescope that is a great bang for the buck! The other reviewers who are claiming poor craftmanship must not have ever owned a Celestron at the same price point.

These pumps cost about $150. 00 at retail establishments, but I payed half that for this pump. This is the 3rd shurflo, 3 gpm pump I have purchased. They are intended for intermittent use, but I use mine every day.

At $75. 00 each, 2-3 years of use per pump is reasonable. This new pump is quiet and powerful. In 2-3 years I will know how well it has performed. So far, so good.

This pump replaced an identical pump which gave me ten years of good service, but was starting to make noise, indicating a coming issue. This new pump works flawlessly, and is very quiet. A direct replacement.

No changes in plumbing were required.

Purchased in its promotions, genuine standard goods, reasonable price equivalent with its value, very satisfied with this deal. However, the packaging is sketchy, lacks a lot of cushioning and shockproof, mainly cardboard.

The telescope’s condition is not guaranteed, the optical tube is in a dusty state. Seems that the goods have been stored for a long time and are not preserved well, there is a hard-to-clean stain like a scratch on the main objective lens.

Waiting for seller’s response for maintenance warranty.

The Celestron Nexstar SLT GOTO 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain is mediocre in quality, just as good as any other GOTO. The casings, actual covers, are plastic and the legs are hollow. The battery case and compartment is cheap.

“keep in mind, this a plastic telescope, more of a toy. ” I had to tighten screws all around the mount assembly before use. The actual 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain is good though, it is sharper than a 127mm reflecting PowerSeeker.

Reflectors look blurry and irregular, when compared to even this small 90mm MAK. The small 90mm has the least abberations out of any telescope type and the mirrors are perfectly aligned. The telescope’s mount is top heavy and I only reccomend going up to a 127mm with it.

The GOTO function is okay, just average, cheap. Overall, it is a toy telescope.

First scope, so my opinions should be taken as purely amateur. We got it for the kids for Easter but I was able to take it out of the box, assemble it and try it out Easter-Eve, and I’ve been very impressed with it.

Assembly took about 20-25m or so: not too bad at all. The tri-pod is rock solid on adjustable legs. The two included eyepieces work great, and I had a 2x Barlow (from a previous attempt to buy a telescope) that fit into the rotation seamlessly.

We had a near-full moon here and I was able to check it out with ease, and it makes a pretty good object to use to ~bore-sight the red dot/aiming finderscope that mounts inline along the body of the main scope.

With the less-powerful eyepiece you can fit the whole full moon in the view, the greater magnification piece = you can begin to easily focus on quarters or eighths of the moon. When I put the 2x Barlow in in conjunction with either of the two included, I was able to focus on craters inside of craters, though the tracking understandably becomes more difficult at that point.

The focus control is very simple to use. I have not yet experimented with much of the computerized automation, only tried this scope with the moon and used the adjustable-rate motor to track it. My next target of interest is Saturn (if it’s around?), and I’m really looking forward to this weekend when the kids will be able to stay up late enough to check it out without having to worry about getting up for school.

I’ll have to experiment with the triangulation that is required before we can use the pre-programmed celestial spotting functions of the scope. One other note, our celestron Power Tank is still on backorder, but the scope functioned without any trouble at all on the required AA battery power.

We decided the Power Tank would be a good investment when taking the car out away from the city lights as far as possible for stargazing on summer nights. This seems like a really solid investment for an entry-level telescope, and I’m eager to let the kids have a try with it.

The only reasons I gave four stars is because I can’t have tested for longevity/durability yet, and because I don’t have any relativity to compare it against any other products since this is my first scope.

My initial experience with it was five stars, so I hope that will remain the case. OK cheers,.

I’ve been very happy with my 6SE. Ordered it in Sept 20 and along with everything else, was a backordered a couple of months, receiving it in Nov 20. The additional eyepieces from OPT arrived about 6 weeks after the scope.

The delay wasn’t the fault of OPT, everyone was on backorder. And I received emails now and then with the status of my order. Like everything else, there is a learning curve but it’s small, this is so easy to use.

The hand controller and alignment is a little confusing at first but you quickly get the hang of it (reading instructions helps) and you’re off. I love the way I can select what I want to see and it automatically goes there.

It’s in view and I just slightly center it. Like everything else, as soon as I got it began wishing I had bought the 8SE but as use the 6SE more and more, I believe I made the better choice with the smaller one.

It’s lighter and much easier to move in and out of the house. I can just get up and walk out with it all set up, put it down and start the alignment. The moon seems like you’re right there. I got this at the perfect time to see Mars at opposition and Jupiter & Saturn at their closest in the sky for several years.

It amazes me I can see the rings of Saturn 905 MILLION miles away, from my backyard. In addition, I’ve found Uranus (looks like a star), The Pleiades (unbelievable), The Andromeda galaxy (a light smudge in the sky).

Orion’s Nebula (like thin smoke) and several nebulas and double stars. The negatives – the finder scope is a toy at best. Celestron should be ashamed to put that on their scopes. Plan on replacing it right away.

Once I added the Orion 9×50 finder scope my enjoyment factor shot up 100%. The added eyepieces OPT included with this package are ok, but other than the moon filter, I haven’t used them. The 25mm one the comes with the scope is the perfect one.

I also bought a Orion Planetary 9mm eyepiece and is what I consider essential after the 25mm. You’ll also need a power supply (power pack works), 8 AA batteries will get expensive. I think you can tell I’m very pleased with my 6SE and given the chose, would buy it again as well as recommend this to anyone starting off.

Great for beginning or intermediate users. Easy to break down and move about and setup. I have owned mostly Meade scopes and being the first celestron scope I was fairly impressed with the outcome. Views were sharp on distant stars and the moon looked extremely clear.

Can take short exposure photos but most long time exposure photos would take more advanced and expensive equipment. I bought mine used but even new theyre a good bargain. I use an adapter for power and the cord could have been longer, but an extension allows more flexibility.

This is my first telescope in 20 years, I could not be happier with my purchase. As a beginner, I find this this telescope very user-friendly with absolutely astounding optics. The alignment process is very easy to accomplish.

I recently purchased the Celestron SkyPortal Wifi module to remotely control the telescope using my computer or iPhone, and the added experience is awesome. I am using the StarryNight planetarium software that came with the scope and I also find it amazing.

I’ve also been enjoying SkySafari, another great planetarium software. The only drawback I’ve experienced is the realization that the telescope optics need very slight collimation, likely because of the handling and shipment of the telescope.

I love my Celestron NexStar 6SE. This amazing machine will bring joy to your curiosity of the skies. I highly recommend it.

I’ve owned three Meade LX200’s over the years… decided to give Celestron a try. Let’s make this really simple… the CPC Deluxe 1100 HD is better than the Meade LX 200 in every way possible… every aspect of the system has been thought out in detail and built to provide the best possible experience.

Scope alignment is simple and the goto is spot on every time. The scope is a bit heavy but is ergonomically constructed so as to make it easy to move around and set up. Compared to the LX200 this scope is quiet as a mouse.

The optics are excellent and everything they are advertised to be. Best visual observing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t say enough good things about this telescope. If you want a top of the line system that will surpass every expectation you have, this is that system Five thumbs up!.

I was expecting a lot from this telescope, and it was even better than I had hoped. The tube is a work of art, and the tripod and mount are beasts. It’s about as large and heavy as I’d want. Glad I chose the 9.

25 over the 11 inch. All the planets look great and are easy. The larger nebulas are very clear and M3 cluster shows a sprinkling of stars throughout and has a three dimensional quality. I have another GoTo scope I use and really like but the accuracy of this model in finding objects is nearly perfect.

Really happy with this baby.

It took me months before I found this model with Orion, lady took my call was very helpful placing my order. Five stars. The unit arrive via UPS and the outside box was damaged, even boots foot prints “on the box side” !! They walk on or kick the box My complain I have is that instructions are very basic or generally and lacks substance.

I guess celestron thing that if you purchase this model , you knows everything. WRONG!! It will be helpful if celestron have tuition on the telescope. For the nextstar handheld software, is a lot of work , when you have a Mac model.

Also I don’t understand the sending a car power cable instead of ac/dc or both. It will save time , because not every place have it , if you want the original model. Since I got is been cloudy , hopefully will be able to try it tomorrow with blue moon.

last but not less important , collimation!! I hope is ok after how it arrived but just the idea of doing this calibration terrify me. Let see what happen!!.

Purchased two of these units for my Astronomy for Educators program at my University. Quality is excellent, both fit and finish as well as optically. The scope and Bressler mount are rugged, easy to set up and transport to the observing site.

The soft case holds the scope, finder, diagonal, eyepiece set, camera adapter, GoTo handset and battery. The mount could be a bit beefier, but this is very transportable as it is. Optically, the scope is a joy; rotating focuser makes it easy to use without adjusting the saddle clamps.

Clusters in Hercules, Sagittarius, Cassiopeia resolve down into the interiors – even dense globulars are well defined. With the 30mm 100-deg eyepiece, the double cluster and Andromeda galaxy fill the field; double cluster shows nebulosity and star colors throughout – no discernible false color at the eyepiece.

Double-double is easily resolved. At 225x, Saturn was exceptional, showing banding and surface features, Cassini division easily visible, ring structure was excellent, tracking is accurate and the hand control works very well.

Airy disks of stars are well formed & balanced across the range of focus. Photographically, the scope is really amazing. Photo of the gibbous Moon with Canon 5D at prime focus gives detail down into crater interiors, lava flows of different colors, amazing detail.

I can’t wait to try this scope on the Orion nebula this winter. Highly recommended.

Very happy overall with the 127mm-FCD100. When I bought it, I had the option for a FeatherTouch focuser, and looking back I should have added it. But I have installed a Rigel motorized focuser and it works well enough in my not so great environment.

I use the OTA almost exclusively for narrowband imaging. My G-11 mount handles it easily and my only complaint is stray light from the streetlight across the street. With the primary lens up front, I have to ***** a shield to block stray light from entry into the instrument – wasn’t a problem, of course, with my older SCTs – I should have recognized the potential problem but its easy enough to get around.

The FCD 100 glass is quite nice. I had not looked through FCD 100 before, but it seems identical to FPL 53 in clarity, contrast, and color. I have pushed the scope to 220X without seeing any chromatic aberration.

Visually, the included extension tubes are necessary to bring an eyepiece to focus. The focuser only has 45mm of travel, hence the extensions. The hex focuser is robust. I attached an ES 30mm 82 degree eyepiece with an ES 2X focal extender (my heaviest combination), pointed to zenith, and the focuser did not slip.

I did so without locking the focuser. Likewise, there is no movement with a flattener/camera. The focuser travels smoothly, but it does take more effort to get it moving than with other scopes. The carbon fiber version saves about 3lbs over the aluminum tube version, which is slightly noticeable at the expense of its increased cost.

For what one gets vs price, I definitely recommend this scope.

This may be the biggest tabletop of all time. It certainly performs above its weight. Very much recommended. My only problem is that it was packed for shipment overseas mounted on its single arm base.

Of course it cracked the mount. I don’t know what they were thinking over there. I decided to reinforce both sides with metal plates and paint them black. I think it may be stronger than new. But the scope does a great job for a 130.

Just what I was looking for when I don’t want to break out the big boy.

Out of the box, I rated this Zhumell z130 as a 3. 5 stars scope. The fit and finish is nice. The mirrors are fine. The mount is perfect for me. That said, this scope needed modifications. Both mirrors required alignment, easily done with a collimation laser.

The red-dot finder was replaced with a laser pointer holder. I added what’s called a ‘navigation knob” under the objective. This is a handle that makes guiding the scope an easier process. Then, there’s that plastic focuser which probably costs only a few cents to produce.

I found nothing of quality on the internet; 1. 25″ focusers are apparently passe’. I do have a JMI aluminum 1. 25 Crayford style unit, but fitting it would require using a tin snips on the Zhumell’s tube, a last resort maybe.

I found a link to a possible alternative at https://telescopeadvisor. com and used it, following the instructions for tuning-up a plastic focuser. Additionally, I drilled/threaded two holes for plastic, finger adjustable set-screws on each side of the focuser body.

They provide variable friction against the eyepiece tube. This allows for finer focusing and prevents the tube from wobbling. Too, the unit now supports the weight of even heavy eyepieces such as my 22mm Tele Vue Panoptic.

So far, so good. If you have handy-person skills, go for it. I rate this scope as a 4 star instrument, now. Labeled a “beginner’s” telescope, to that I say rubbish, I’ve used such scopes for years. I prefer smaller scopes with altazimuth mounts for their simplicity and portability (I’ve got an 8″ Dob that’s mostly been collecting dust for years).

My star-finder is the Sky Atlas 2000. 0, cheaper and lighter weight than any “go-to” scope. The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide by Terence Dickinson & Alan Dyer still serves me well. Simplify, simplify, simplify, indeed; I like it a lot, this Zhumell z130 telescope.

The Zhumell tabletop Z114 is a great package. Optics are good. I did tweak the collimation a bit upon arrival, but it wasn’t too far off. The red dot finder is the real deal. The two eyepieces seem very good as well.

I sought this as a gift for grandsons, but will keep this one with me for when they visit. It’s portability is perfect for young enthusiasts. It’s a solid and amazing value at $150.

The Nexstar 8se is, on the whole a great telescope. Celestron have developed an affordable 8″ light bucket with a go to alt-az mount which is excellent for observations through an eyepiece. The alt-az alignment procedure is very straightforward, although this works best when performed manually as opposed to the auto two star alignment.

The 8se can be used for astrophotography, however it will require a wedge to convert the mount to an equatorial. Celestron do make a compatible wedge, but these do not come cheap. Also, a 2″ focal reducer will greatly increase the field of view for large scale deep sky objects but this is again, a separate purchase.

Although the telescope will run off AA batteries, it will rinse them in no time, therefore a power tank which will last a lot longer is another add-on worth investing in, and seems to allow the scope to move more smoothly.

Aligning the 8se with a wedge for astro imaging is a little more complicated, but there is an easy to follow guide on the Celestron website. The add-ons can make this an expensive purchase, but the telescope itself is a good starting point, and the extras can be purchased over time.

I purchased mine during lockdown and feared I may have invested a lot of money in an ephemeral hobby which would subside when life returned to normal; and while there are a lot of telescopes on the market which can be hobby-killers, it has certainly not been the case with this one.

It has opened up the heavens to me.

Likes: -Set up only takes 10-20 minutes. -Eye pieces are well-crafted and the main mirror allows for clear views. -Ability to automatically slew to objects in the sky with the touch of a button. -Celestron carrying case is great for all of the small accessories.

Dislikes: -Telescope stand isn’t sturdy enough to prevent vibration or shaking. Unfortunately, this makes it difficulty to fully enjoy the image you are looking at. There are vibration pads for purchase, but you would think this would be built into the stand from the start (especially with the price you are paying).

-Too many items/pieces to bring when going out to a viewing site, so not as portable. Any cases online are very overpriced also.

One of the best things I have purchased in a long time. I’ve had it for a year now and absolutely LOVE going to dark sky places and able to set up this scope while camping. At a dark sky site, the Andromeda Galaxy & Orion Nebula look stunning.

You can see the planets in the scope from anywhere and both jupiter & saturn look absolutely great as well. Globular Clusters look great in the scope as well. However the only complain as I have is having to buy so many extra accessories-like the GPS unit-wish it would have been included in the scope for the price of it.

(you don’t have to buy it but it helps the set up process a lot quicker).

My bride got me this wonderful telescope over Christmas 2017. This is a terrific unit and doesn’t take long to set up. It came complete with motor drive (including a battery), finder scope and all the parts needed to make it work right out of the box.

Included is a handy couple of manuals really compliments this package. The software disc is a bit tricky to use for some reason; I could not get the ‘registration,’ ‘tech support’ or ‘accessories’ links to work.

I was able, however, to get a digital copy of manual which is printed and included with the telescope already. A more useful software package is the The ‘Starry Night Celestron Basic Edition. ” This is really a link on separate piece of paper, which which can be accessed via a private code that comes with the telescope.

This took a good 15 min. on a high-speed connection to download and a few minutes of loading and is quite interesting and useful. As for the unit itself, the telescope seems perfectly fine to use out of the box once assembled.

I’m not expert on the matter but it does not seem as if the mirrors on the telescope need adjustment (collimation); time will tell if it needs so but the initial views of the moon were sharp and crisp.

The two eyepieces provide useful and good magnification when starting out. Yes the 3x Barlow lens is plastic but I see no issue there. The finder scope also seems to work fine but it hardly seems very precise, though it does seem to get you into the general neighborhood of what you want to see, which is what it is supposed to do.

Again, this too is plastic. It also comes with a motor drive, a real bonus for people who want to keep a ‘fix’ on a star or planet. I have not set it up yet but it does come with a battery and seems very easy to attach provided the rest of the unit has been assembled correctly.

Please note, I’m nowhere near the level of an amateur astronomer, but I did have a growing interest in Astronomy as a child. Back then my dad got me a prized 60 mm Tasco 90x telescope, through which I first started exploring the stars; an interest which waned with the passage of time.

This telescope has rekindled that interest. It’s a far more advanced item than my old Tasco but simple enough that a young teen, or even someone with a casual interest in star gazing, can really get hooked on.

It also gives any aspiring beginner astronomer the option to buy accessories like filters or other lenses (including camera mounts) to add to their experience and make full use of this telescope’s capabilities.

Truly a wonderful item and a great gift at a great price. You cannot go wrong with the Celestron PowerSeeker 114EQ Telescope with Motor Drive!.

The telescope is very good for beginners. The optics quality is at par. The eyepieces are kind of cheap quality though, specifically the Barlow lens. The Barlow lens has such a small field of view that you can’t center an object in it, almost impossible.

One thing you should know before buying this is, it has a alt-az mount, meaning you go left/right + top/bottom step by step to keep moving along with the object, which is very difficult. The slow motion rod is only for altitude control, not horizontal, making it not much usable.

Also the slow motion rod never works practically because of it’s short range of rotation. You will have to keep pointing at object every few seconds manually through the finderscope. The finder scope is awesome though, very very accurate and easy to use if you have got it set up correctly at start.

If you are looking for a easy to use beginner scope, then go only for German Equatorial mount scope, it will be somewhat costly though.

Just amazing! So easy to use and to set up…! Perfect for beginners!

The Celestron Travel Scope 70 is a short-tube f/5 refractor, focal length is 400 mm. If all you want to do is look at wildlife or scenery, you will be pleased with this telescope. All the body parts are made of plastic to reduce weight.

Celestron has chosen to supply a flimsy tripod, again in order to reduce the weight. Let’s start with the most important part, the 70mm doublet objective lens, which gives adequate performance at this price point.

Slight purple fringing from chromatic aberation will be noticed at the highest magnification. This telescope comes with two eyepieces, a 10 mm Kellner and a 20mm Kellner, giving magnifications of 40 X and 20 X respectively.

Celestron supplies an erecting prism diagonal, with 32mm barrel diameter, which is a good choice for terrestrial viewing. This telescope is not really suited or intended for astronomical viewing. The tripod is too wobbly, and the finderscope, a 5 x 24 is very dim and blurry.

However, it could do occasional astronomical viewing of brighter objects like the Moon and planets, which are easy to locate.

I bought the Celestron Travel Scope 70 after watching countless YouTube videos on all sizes of telescopes. I wanted to keep it simple to see how often I would use it before possibly considering spending more money on a more powerful telescope.

I’ve certainly been using it regularly, weather permitting, and it’s not disappointed. Jupiter and four of its moons, Saturn and its rings, the Orion nebula and of course the moon are all very clear.

As are numerous other heavenly bodies which I’m beginning to identify. Other reviews have rightly criticised the poor tripod stability but you can’t quibble at this price. I’ve got round this by placing the tripod on a garden table on it’s lowest possible setting.

One advantage over its bigger and more expensive cousins is that it takes me only a couple of minutes to set up and more importantly with our climate, a few seconds to take it indoors when the rain comes.

I’m very pleased with my purchase and look forward to many more months of stargazing.

I have purchased this particular Telescope before the Pandemic I have found that this particular Telescope the Celestron Travel Scope is easy to use. I also found that while I can attach the Celestorn Star Pointer Finders Scope item # 51630 I believe the one that came with the Telescope is just fine.

I know it can be raised but it is a wobbly central column but I will raise it as an option. I will also use a 90 degree Diagonal. All in all I like this particular Telescope it’s very easy to use and I have to get use to the Tripod.

I also am using the Celestron Hummingbird Tripod I am waiting for an extra Quick Release Adapter Plate from Celestron and I will attach it to my other Telescope. All in all it’s a Great Little Telescope and I love how it looks I strongly recommend this Particular Telescope.

This is a great telescope for beginners. I assembled it with my 13YO nephew in about 15 minutes, and he was running it by himself in no time. Finding planets, adjusting aim, changing eyepieces, everything.

We’ve gotten great views of the moon and a look at Saturn that rivals open night at the local observatory. It’s amazing to watch it orient itself. Just press one button, stand back, and watch it look around for a few minutes.

It recognizes constellations, and then calculates the entire sky from there. Once oriented, a few simple button pushes will get it to point itself at the celestial object of your choice. You can select from among the currently visible planets, a vast catalog of stars, or an automatically generated list of the most interesting objects visible that night from that location.

You can also point the telescope at an object and ask it to identify what’s in that vicinity. The one problem is that orientation is done with a camera attached directly to the tripod, not the telescope’s own optics.

With magnification that high, even a minute variance in angle can make miles of difference. So, while the computer can get you in the right ballpark, you’ll probably need a few minutes of fine tuning to actually get the view lined up.

(Again, my 13YO nephew can do this by himself. ) The telescope computer does have a calibration option. It will point at a bright star, center it in the camera, and then ask you to center the star in the telescope’s field of view.

We haven’t tried that yet, so I don’t know how much it helps and whether or not it’s necessary to redo the calibration every night. I should note that I went ahead and splurged on the accessories kit.

We haven’t had use yet for any of the color filters, but the Moon filter is a must, as is the 6mm eyepiece (for closer magnification on planets). Lunar observation is both easy and breathtaking, but it’s painfully bright to look at without the filter.

This telescope is a great value. Its 70mm lens is much better than the 60mm usually found in a telescope in this range. People generally focus on magnification in evaluating a telescope, but the size of the objective lens is just as important.

As a practical matter, useful magnification is about 50 to 60 times per inch of objective lens; there are 25mm to an inch. Any magnification above that is largely useless. This telescope has a useful magnification of about 175x, achievable with its included 4mm eyepiece.

This is enough for most observation needs. You do not need to use the included Barlow Lens. Even an expensive instrument can only rarely benefit by much higher power, due to atmospheric conditions. Another thing I like about it is that it uses an Azimuth mount, not an Equatorial.

An Equatorial is a pain to set up and use, and it must be set up EXACTLY right to work or it is useless. This is only for the serious amateur. Another point is that an Equatorial will not track the moon and planets, it is used only for the “fixed stars”.

If you just want to look at the moon or planets or Orion as well as use it for terrestrial observation, you are much better off with an Azimuth mount that this telescope has. This is particularly true if it is meant as a gift to a juvenile.

If you give such a person a telescope with an Equatorial mount, you are likely to turn him off from Astronomy for good. This is a good telescope for a juvenile. The laser finder provided with it works quite well for getting visible objects in the field of view of the eyepiece.

The mount is sturdy and the three eyepieces give a good range from 35, 70, to its its maximum useful 175x. All in all, an excellent value.

This is the telescope you are looking for. You are searching for the right telescope, so many options, so many things you don’t understand about telescopes. This is what you want. Great optics, easy to set up, affordable.

Buy this one, you will not regret it. I bought this telescope for $40 on sale during Christmas several years ago. I have carried it everywhere since. This scope, the price, the experiences with it are what made me love star gazing! I knew nothing about telescopes before I bought this one.

After several years of star gazing, this is my go-to scope, everytime. I own several more expensive telescopes that are just too complicated and tedious to set up and don’t deliver. Please don’t spend a ton of money on a telescope that you won’t use because it’s too difficult to set up.

This telescope can go anywhere and take a beating. You can clearly see Saturn’s rings and moons, Jupiter’s colors and moons and so many other awesome nebulas, star clusters and other space objects. The upgrades (i.

e. lenses, filters etc. ) are so affordable and worth it. Just buy this telescope and get on with it. After buying “stronger” scopes, you will return to this one time and time again. Trust me. Hope this helps.

Enjoy!.