Celestron 21035-ADS Travel Scope 70 Refractor Telescope Kit
Celestron 21035-ADS Travel Scope 70 Refractor Telescope Kit with Backpack, Black (Amazon Exclusive Including Additional 4mm Eyepiece and 3x Barlow Lens)
Manual Alt-Azimuth Mount
The Travel Scope is a manual Alt-azimuth telescope with a pan handle to navigate the sky with ease. The mount is set on a 1.25” steel adjustable tripod, which you can adjust to the desired height
Portability
Whether you’re hiking into back-country or going through airport security, the Travel Scope won’t slow you down. The telescope, tripod, and eyepiece accessories fit inside the backpack for easy travelling.
Objects to Observe
The Travel Scope features a refractor style body ideal for both terrestrial and astronomical observing. Fully coated glass optics provide vivid images of wildlife, the Moon, and planets.
Better Viewing
Includes two eyepieces (20mm and 10mm), 45° erect image diagonal, and 5×24 finderscope.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Aperture | 50mm (1.97”) | 70mm (2.76”) |
| Focal Length | 360mm (14”) | 400mm (16”) |
| Focal Ratio | f/7.2 | f/5.71 |
| Magnification (with included eyepieces) | 18x, 45x | 20x, 40x |
| Limiting Magnitude | 11 | 11.7 |
| Lowest Useful Magnification | 7.14x | 10x |
| Highest Theoretical Magnification | 118x | 165x |
| Assembled Weight | 2.7 lbs (1.2 kg) | 4.2 lbs (1.2 kg) |
| Size: | 70mm Amazon Exclusive |
| Dimensions: | 45.7 x 17.8 x 35.6 centimetres |
| Brand: | Celestron |
| Model: | 21035-ADS-CGL |
| Part: | 21035-ADS-CGL |
| Colour: | Black |
| Dimensions: | 45.7 x 17.8 x 35.6 centimetres |
| Size: | 70mm Amazon Exclusive |
Bought for a 7yr old. Excellent images, small enough to keep in a cabinet for ease of use, good pictures of the moon. Has opened up the sky for my boy.
I have a lot of telescopes from a big 8 inch Dob to this little scope the smallest of my scopes.
I wanted a high quality ultra portable telescope I could take out on a motorbike and to take camping etc that could offer good views by day and good performance under the stars and this little marvel exceeded all my expectations.
The scope comes packed in an attractive box covered in lovely pictures that makes for one exciting present if given as a gift.
Inside the box is the backpack with everything well packed inside. The instruction manual is very detailed a virtual book of useful information. It comes with a download code for some advanced free Astronomy software too.
The backpack is lovely, well padded and comfortable to wear on your back and the whole kit weighs virtually nothing so it really is the ultimate go anywhere scope, you could easily climb a mountain with this little gem on your back. I would recommend you retain the bubble wrap for the scope that it comes in as when packed in the rucksack there is a chance the scope could knock against the tripod. The scope is assembled in about 2 minutes and ready to use.
The scope itself is very attractive and very well made indeed. It is finished in a metallic black that does not show in photos on here. It has a very short dew shield which cuts down on the scopes size but still does its job well of keeping the objective lens clear on the dampest of nights. The main body of the scope seems to be aluminium and the draw tube is metal, it is all very well designed for stregnth and durability yet light and portable, its perfect. The quality of the 70mm objective lens is simply astounding and I would say as good as it gets for an achromatic scope, its well coated for light transmission and is an air spaced doublet so false colour is well controlled.
The version I purchased and the one to go for was the 70mm amazon special which comes with everything you need. It comes with 3 eyepieces 20mm, 10mm and 4mm and 3x barlow lens. I was very impressed with the performance of all 3 eyepieces with regards to image quality, very impressive indeed however the only thing is the 10mm although giving excellent performance does have a somewhat slightly narrow field of view and the 4mm has a very narrow field of view yet the 20mm has a very wide field of view indeed, if you can live with that though all eyepieces are as good as you could get with regards to detailed sharp images. The barlow is a total let down its a cheap plastic thing and i could not even get it to focus but the 3 eyepieces on their own provide ample power for a scope of this size and if you want more power remembering 150x is a good max then a good barlow is cheap to buy. The other bad point about the scope is the finder scope which is awful. It is impossible to align perfectly and wont focus properley but despite this it just about does the job of locating things in the night sky which is the important thing.
Everyone criticises the tripod saying it is flimsy and wobbly, i both agree and disagree with this.
It is very flimsy and so light it could easily blow over in a strong breeze and will make the image wobble in a strong breeze too but i personally think its well designed for the purpose as its just strong enough to hold the scope and just high enough to use but so light it weighs nothing therfor perfect for travelling, the scope has a dovetail mount for special astro mounts but also has a tripod bush so my advice is invest in a camera tripod from Amazon about 30 for using the scope in the garden for better stability but when travelling the little tripod included will just about do the job.
SO how does it perform on land and under the stars?
I live near a mountain about 8 miles away and this little scope astounded me, I was amazed to observe in breathtaking detail and clarity cows grazing in a field, astounding given the distance, image quality is simply amazing.
This has been my only session in the day so far but I have already used it at night many times.
Turning the scope to the Orion Nebula I was truely astounded as the scope showed the complete fan shape of the nebular and the great rift in extraordinary detail, Andromeda galaxy was also amazing clearly showing the nucleous and nebulous spiral structure, I tested it on some really hard to see star clusters in a scope of this size yet this little wonder scope resolved them all into individual stars. Images are simply breathtaking, really sharp with exceptional contrast. This little scope has magnificent optics. The moon will take your breath away, whilst always good in any scope there was a lot of fine detail visible through this scope that was lost in other scopes of this size.
I actually tested this scope side by side with a larger 80mm scope I have and I was truely suprised to find the views through the smaller Travelscope actually being superior.
I absolutely love this little scope and its one of the best scopes I have ever owned. It really is a little marvel. For the money its a steal. Ultimate optical performance, ultimate portability. Gives amazing results by day and night. I find myself using this scope far more often than my larger ones as its so easy to move around and set up and despite its small size it still gives lovely views of the universe that will simply take your breath away. Well done Celestron.
Bought this for my 11 year old. Simple to set up he was able to do it himself by day two. First night we saw the moon and it’s craters. This evening he explored Orion and the winter triangle. The 10mm lens is good – we tried a 4MM but it was too much for the scope. After two nights he has learnt to align the telescope and adjust the image focus. This does need a little practice as fixing the position can move it out of alignment but you soon learn how to compensate. The tripod is so light it can be moved easily from place to place. It is stable enough for basic use and he doesn’t have a problem. Would recommend for a child’s first scope.
I’ve just bought the telescope for my 8 year old son and we had a great night using it. We were able to find Jupiter and it’s moons and the detail was good for a childrens telescope. We viewed it as a white dot with its moons in view as smaller dots. It’s certainly got my son keen to use it more and he can’t wait for the next clear night.
As for the tripod I have to mark it down on its stability. It’s a mismatch in quality when compared to the telescope. We found it to be a bit flimsy and not very stable. For this reason I switched the telescope onto my own tripod. With a stable tripod the telescope really is great.
In a nutshell:
Childrens beginner telescope = 5 Stars
Tripod = 1 sta
I bought this set under Amazon UK Black Friday deal (at least what I saw on screen at the time of ordering) and the price went further discount. Amazon UK made a statement regarding to refundable price difference for all Black Friday deal if the price was further discount. I thought this is an eligible item and contacted Amazon Customer adviser. They replied said that it is not under Black Friday deal so no refund for difference price. A huge disappointment for what I saw on screen when ordered and what it is actual status of the purchase.
Be aware when order this or similar item under special deal. Photography of the webpage when order may be required if you (as a customer) will need to proof to Amazon what you’ve seen on the screen when purchase was made so that Amazon will consider to refund the price difference. If you have no proof and that will be Amazon’s call for whether the item is eligible or not. Not really happy for what has happened to me on this particular purchase…
I had my first outing tonight. I viewed the moon which was almost first quarter (half Moon). It looked awesome with the 20mm eyepiece (20 x magnification). I didn’t have time to try the 10mm eyepiece (40 x magnification). As the Moon was only in the sky for 40 minutes before it dipped below the horizon.
I would recommend this telescope. It is light weight and easy to transport so it can be used for other things. A day’s walk bird watching or viewing wildlife is easily achievable.
You should really consider putting this telescope under the “kids” section, because a beginner will definitely feel cheated after using this telescope for the first time. I personally guarantee that with a medium range zoom binoculars that cost half of the price will have more fun watching the night sky than this telescope. For the rest amazing quality as this company is and will be number one telescope seller.
Good product with good options and in a highly portable package. Not sure it’s the best telescope for the cash but was great for my kids on a camping trip
I have literally just got this today, went with celestron as it’s well known, I have only put one low lens on and I saw so much detail of the moon already! Since I have higher mags that have come with this telescope, I will be able to see even more detail! It’s my first telescope and I am made up just got to master the aiming and keeping it there and master the finderscope to match the telescope which as a beginner I am struggling with but that’s no fault of the product what so ever, its just me and my shaky hand lol! Love it!
It’s certainly compact and the rucksack is really handy. Feels a bit cheap overall but doesn’t cost a massive amount so forgivable and if you want to see the moon then it’s pretty good for beginners. You’re not going to see much else with the magnification, but good for moon craters and nosing on neighbours.
I bought this to find out if I’d maintain an interest in stargazing without wasting loads of money if the novelty wore off and to explore what I might really need. For serious stargazing you need something a lot better than this. As others have said, the tripod is a bit of a joke. Even using a more substantial tripod it’s difficult to maintain stability at higher magnification. The specification that comes with the scope says that the maximum effective magnification is 168 times but focusing is difficult at 100 times due to instability and lack of a fine adjuster as well as the lack of clarity. Viewing planets is a waste of time but viewing the moon is great but best viewed at 20 or 40 times magnification. In fairness to the manufacturers, their manual states that it is a terrestrial telescope and very occasional astronomical telescope. Daytime viewing is crystal clear and best enjoyed using 20 or 40 times magnification. The barlow lens is a waste in my view, only succeeding in making everything less clear as well as upside down and back to front.
You’ll get great views of the moon, and will be able to see Jupiter’s moons and (just) Saturn’s rings.
The thing is, you can do that with one of the much smaller and more portable spotting scopes, also made by Celestron. I think these are much more practical and usable, especially for kids or beginners, and are incredibly well made.
Other things to note:
The Barlow lens is pretty useless. It’s supposed to give 3x magnification for the other lenses, but the level of definition is hopeless and you’ll see virtually nothing.
As others have said, the tripod is completely useless, and you will definitely need something better and more sturdy.
It is important to limit your expectations with this scope. It won’t show you anything like the pictures NASA takes. It can also be tricky to identify exactly what you’re looking at. The side scope will likely require adjustment every time you set the scope up. I like to use a star tracker app on my phone/tablet to help identify exactly what I’m looking at.
The tripod is good quality, although the legs aren’t long enough to use while standing. It’s fine for kids or if you sit down. Everything assembles easily using thumbscrews. I did also buy a phone mount to try and take pictures. For astronomy, this scope isn’t powerful enough for decent photos, but I did get some half decent photos of the moon and using it during the day out in nature.
Bought it as an exploration into astrophotography and observing having never owned a telescope as a kid and I’m blown away by what I can see through it. I’ve barely had it out and in less than ideal conditions just in my back yard but examining the moon under the 10mm eye piece is insane! The detail you get is amazing.
Pair it with a t adapter for an ancient DSLR I have knocking about and I’ve got some incredible shots of our nearest neighbour.
Now, the tripod… Next to useless. It sort of works but seriously just go buy a cheap newwer photography travel tripod or similar you will be much happier. Trying to lock the cheap rickety tripod in place led to much frustration as the target moved out of frame.
The finder scope, actually not the worst. I spent some time aligning the thing and it’s kept its alignment pretty well since.
The focuser is a basic unit that does suffer with sag when a DSLR is fitted to it, that said I still managed to get useable photos from it. Great for experimenting with photography.
It’s a starter scope but the bag, the kit and the OTA all come together to deliver what is a very enjoyable experience, with a few niggles to be expected given the budget nature of it.
The optics on this telescope are surprisingly good. The tripod is light weight so obviously has some limitations but considering it all fits into a small back pack it is great value.
The finderscope is useless, its in a weird place, I can’t even get my head close to it without tripping over one of the tripod legs!
Remember that if you plan on using this for astronomy,it does not have an EQ mount so it would be very hard to line up on distant planets but for bird watching etc the image appears the correct way up which is very useful.
My husband is a busy man. He works very hard all day and sometimes into the evening and often does not return home until late into the night, by which time I will already have retired to my bed. Thank heavens for a soft tread and twin beds! Rarely does the poor fellow disturb my slumber. The last thing this stalwart and breadwinner needs on his weekend jaunts up a steep mountain to view some picturesque landscape is to lug a hefty telescope in his knapsack. It is for this reason that he has purchased the Celestron 21035-ADS Travelscope 70 Telescope kit, complete with handy tripod, so as not to cause excessive strain to my frail back as I carry it in his wake. The Celestron 21035-ADS Travelscope 70 Telescope kit, complete with handy tripod, in my own knapsack, allows the man to freely stride at quite a pace as he enjoys his regular hobby. This smashing piece of technology, once I have easily assembled it and affixed it onto its tripod while my husband is refreshed from the Thermos, allows for some frankly breathtaking viewing of both land and sky (and, indeed, seascapes!). By day, mountains are crystal clear and distant goats are virtually at heel. At night, one can well understand why so many believe the moon is made of cheese! Through the fabulous – rather, miraculous – Celestron 21035-ADS Travelscope 70 Telescope kit, complete with handy tripod, the mysterious, beautiful celestial body indeed resembles my home-made Cheddar (churned and strained in my own scullery)! Planets can also be viewed in all their glory, although I would advise any potential purchaser NOT to gaze at the sun through its sharp and fairly powerful lens. On one particularly unsatisfactory trip, a quick and ill-advised glimpse at the sun through the telescope proved disastrous and I was left to stumble blindly back down the slopes with the Telescope and accessories far from safe on my back in its knapsack, so close to a stumble as I was. In fact, when I met my husband two hours after he had arrived at the carpark, still blinded (it was later proven that I had irreversibly burned my retina), he was quite annoyed indeed, as my delayed arrival meant he was late for his important meeting at the local gentlemen’s club. Poor man! However, in a nutshell, the Celestron 21035-ADS Travelscope 70 Telescope kit, complete with handy tripod, is a ‘star’ buy.
Patience will only take you so far with the basics as supplied, and I really wouldn’t bother trying anything other than the 20mm eyepiece until you’ve replaced both tripod and finder. The entire package is so light that making these substitutions won’t break your back. Oh, and get a moon filter and if necessary a light pollution one too. And do bother with the downloadable Starry Night software. Enter your location and the default display automatically shows you what’s visible where you are right now (with tooltip labels). Good for planning and even if your local sky is a complete bust, you’ll know where things actually are and can have a virtual ponder.
Oh, and the finder bracket is positioned for right-eyed people. I’m not, so I’m considering DIY options…
My one negative comment would be the rucksack bag it comes in is pretty much useless, it has no padding and not enough inside straps or pockets for the kit.
This is a nice little ‘scope, and the software/instructions supplied with it are really useful. We’ve not purchased any additional filters or lenses yet, but it’s good to know we can do so if we want to.
As we live in South East England there’s a lot of light pollution, but occasionally we get a night clear and dark enough to have a good look at the stars. We probably use it mostly to look at the moon, and the clarity and level of detail this scope provides is awesome.
For the price, I don’t think you’ll find much better. However, while it’s nice to get a rucksack and tripod included, the tripod is too flimsy for stargazing. If you’re viewing from indoors or on a steady platform you might be okay, but even for use in the garden it’s just a bit too wobbly. Fortunately we had a much sturdier camera tripod which we use with it instead.
Firstly, as others have commented, the tripod which comes with the scope is inadequate. Indeed, it is light and compact but is not up to the task of holding the O.T.A. steady enough for decent viewing. I have teamed it up with a Vanguard photographic tripod which, although longer and heavier, holds the scope solidly.
Secondly, the rucksack. This too is small and light, but much too small now for the longer tripod. I am now using a Lowepro Alpine 35 sack which takes it all and has more pockets for accessories, clothing, food & drink, etc.
Thirdly and finally, the telescope itself. (1) the finderscope. I tried and disliked the cross hair finder which comes with the scope. It consistently refused to remain in position. I then tried an R.D.F. which turned out not to be a whole lot better. Again, the problem was the same, all of which makes locating distant objects both awkward and tiresome. I suspect something like a Rigel Quickfinder would improve things, but would add quite a bit of, in my view, unjustifiable expense. This, however, is not unique to this telescope and seems to be a common experience elsewhere. (2) the eyepieces. The 20mm provides sharp, bright images both terrestrially and astronomically and gives the widest FoV for both locating and viewing. With it I was able to see Jupiter and its 4 moons fairly clearly, but without much in the way of detail. Moving up to the 10mm and the 4mm E.Ps supplied with it produced only slightly larger images which were proportionately darker, fuzzier and poorly-focused as the focal length of the scope is increased. I tried the 3x Barlow which came in the pack in conjunction with the 4mm E.P. and this only worsened things as it failed to focus whatsoever ( I am mystified as to why Celestron include this with this scope as it pushes the optics ‘way beyond their capability). I then tried a 2x Barlow. It also failed to focus. When I reduced it to 1.5x I did get it to focus, but it made the objects being viewed so dim and the FoV so narrow as to render the combination all but useless and make locating anything virtually impossible.
In conclusion I would offer this advice: if you are happy with the viewing provided by the largest E.P., i.e. the 20mm, you will be rewarded with clear, sharp, but fairly small images revealing little or no detail. Do not get tied up with higher magnifications, Barlow lenses etc: in my view these are a total waste of time and money, as they stretch the magnifications beyond the recommended 140x ( which in itself is much more than optimistic! ). I also suspect this to be the case with almost all telescopes – optimum performance with the largest provided E.Ps only, which is probably why some manufacturers send only one with their telescopes! All-in-all the Celestron Travelscope 70 is a decent performer if you are satisfied by lower magnifications. It is also decent value for the price as a general purpose rather than a dedicated astronomical instrument, but you will have some modifying to do with the rucksack and tripod, making the package more expensive than it initially appears. I am now hoping for some clear weather (!!!) to try some D.S.O. hunting which I hope will be more rewarding.
Since submitting this review, I would like to say what a great deal of pleasure I have had with this little scope and , despite what I have said above (all of which still stands) , I have found it to be a versatile piece of kit for both terrestrial and astronomical use. I have indeed managed to view many nebulae etc, albeit with the 20mm eyepiece which provides enough field of view for the task. On Monday last (May 9th) I viewed the entire Transit of Mercury using the 10mm EP along with my1.5x Barlow giving 60x mag with a Baader solar film filter and the views were stunning. This little scope really is a little gem and now goes with me on all my travels as it is so light and easy to carry. Highly recommended!
The bag is lovely as it means the whole kit is in one place and easily stored a massive plus point for anybody whose the parent of a teenager who sees his or her bed room as a massive skip with a door.
Now for the negative in my eyes the tripod if you can afford it replace it, it is a really low end budget model and is not very stable and easily adjusted in my eye’s, the good news is if you are the owner of one for photographic purposes they fit on this base perfectly.
Overall I would say this was a perfect compromise between cost and quality. Having used it now a few times over the last year I think it is good value for money and a great starter kit if like me you have a young person taking up a new hobby and can’t afford to purchase an all singing all dancing model.
If you wish to use this for Astrophotography and have a Digital Slr all you need to purchase is a T-Mount ring for your brand of camera. There is a celestron adaptor eyepiece which we do have but you dont necesarilly need to purchase one as it has a t2 thread on the focusing barrel.
my advice is if you can find one of these for about 60 buy it you won’t be disappointed. I have also used it as a day telescope bird watching it is not ideal or looks the part when amongst “professional” bird watchers but does a reasonable job.
Update we have just decided to up grade this product Sept 2015. Its good!! made sure I did not waste 500 pounds but after almost a year we are upgrading and its going to be a big hit. We have used it for astro photography but it needs a motorised mount to get better pictures hence the upgrade. With wildlife things are great and we’ve managed some decent bird pictures and lovely landscapes can be zoomed in on. I bought a barlow adaptor and t2 adaptor for my Nikon Digital SLR and it give a lovely picture but you do need to take the pictures in manual setting as all the gizmos on my D90, D80 and D50 bodies do not work due to no electrical connections.
I have learnt a lot and my son has also last nights blood moon was lovely through the lens just ensure you have a moon filter.
This little telescope is a real gem, perfect for bird watching and much more versatile than a spotting scope. It is very well made, metal body, good optics. The finder scope is frankly a bit naff but not really needed for terrestrial viewing, if you intend to use the scope for astronomical viewing you may need to upgrade it. The tripod is on a par with almost any light weight tripod, again you may need something heavier for astronomical use, but i have no real complaints. The eyepieces are exactly what you would expect with a basic telescope, the 20mm and 10mm EPs are perfectly useable, however the ‘freebies’ ie the 4mm EP and the 3x Barlow are pretty much unusable. I cannot comment on the software as it will not run on my computer ( Win XP ). The rucksack is a very nice addition, plenty of room for scope, tripod and all your accessories. Overall i think this little scope is an absolute bargain, for 50 there is really nothing to criticize. p.s. filters screw into the BOTTOM of the eyepieces, hope this helps.
Although I was skeptic at first (since there are some very negative reviews), I would have to definitely recommend this telescope! If you take it easy and not tighten things too much, you can avoid damaging it (as was said by some reviewers) – yes, it has plastic parts; however this is what makes it weigh less than half a kilo and still work pretty well. I am no experienced astronomer or star-gazer but I would have to say that the item does its job to my expectations.
A definite con though is the tripod. It’s not as wobbly as you’d be made to believe; but the one I received cannot seem to support the weight of the telescope. A few minutes after I locked the mechanism and was preparing to change lens, I found that the scope had slowly tilted downwards and lost its target. However, I invested in a 30 tripod and fixed the issue quite well – true that it doesn’t fit in the bag but I’m still satisfied.
The refractor is 70mm wide, very close to the 76mm Firstscope (meaning 15% less area if you take into account the obstructive mirror on the Firstscope). The focus is damped well, and the images are nice and clear (even better when not looking through patio doors!). My 7 year old got to grips with this within minutes, and we were looking at Jupiter and four moons on our first, and light polluted, night.
Treat the bag and tripod as freebies. It’s tricky to criticise something when priced at 44-62, and also comes with several eyepieces and is well built. The All plastic casing gives the telescope lightness for handling, but I’m wondering whether it’s the lightness that is causing the wobbly image as there is little weight bearing down on the tripod legs. the tripod also has a spirit level, and all legs are lockable. Considering the price of the scope, I’m guessing the support is probably about 10 of the price, so what would you expect.
Since the tripod is so light, I don’t recommend full extension, BUT most fun can be had with the lowest magnification and the tripod to be honest. Distant stars at full magnification can be very wobbly, and the Barlow lens is yet to be tested. I have SLR and camcorders which I use with a Manfrotto monopod, believe me, at just 18-70mm focal lengths WITH built-in vibration reduction, SLR and camcorder images of my kids nativity play and dance recitals can still be shaky without practice. At the magnifications you’re getting with this Celestron scope, without VR and on a free tripod, it’s performance is outstanding.
I also shortlisted the Celestron Firstscope and other equivalent mirror lenses at the same price, and the lack of image inversion and ease of use made this the winner.
If you want a scope that a 7 year old can aim, find, and observe in seconds, this is it!.
One criticism? there has to be, the scope looks rather agricultural. I prefer the cool look of astronomical scopes, but this all black Darth Vader look will suit many tastes.
Overall though a great price for a great little scope, but it is really important to remember, stargazing takes patience and the best results come if you take time in getting it right. I suspect this is why some people are voting it down a bit.
A very good scope, was impressed what you get with it especially for the price. I got it about 3 weeks ago. I bought it for an all rounder, day time and night time. The eyepieces are good especially 20 mm and the 10 mm plenty of space to look into. The 4 mm one has a small viewing hole to look through I find it very hard to get the full picture even with your eye close to it.
The tripod is very light. It’s quite good for scenic views when you have the scope horizontal but when you use it for night time having the scope nearly virtigal it’s hard to secure it with the Pan Handle. But for the price it’s a very good product.
As I am only just getting into Astronomy, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a telescope, but I wanted a product offering reasonable quality. This little scope meets the criteria I was looking for.
It’s beautifully compact, I’ve taken it with me when camping and have had the pleasure of some wonderful views of the sky out in the countryside where there is virtually zero light pollution.
The scope is easy to set up, and the range of lenses provided are ideal for starting out.
The only downside is the tripod, this has obviously been spec’d to be lightweight in order to make the whole kit easy to carry when traveling, and it is a little bit flimsy, however I have a pretty good tripod I use for photography and when fitted to this, aligning the scope for viewing and tracking is very easy.
Overall, a great little kit for the money, I would definitely recommend it!
The scope came well packaged and in a strong box. The hardest thing to set up was the angle on the spotter scope that fits on the side of the main telescope, as this has to line up with the main scope so that you can find your target quickly before moving your eye to the main scope to view it at close quarters. The spotter scope mounting fits easily to the main body via two chromed nuts, but it is the setting up of this scope via three equally spaced pins that proves the hardest thing to achieve, especially as you have to get the cross hairs on the spotter scope to line up to roughtly the centre of the main scope. It does not help that the image in the spotter scope appears upside down. That said, that was the hardest thing to achieve, but that might just be me!
The rest of the scope fits easily together with everything being held in place by chromed pins which are all in place on the body and just require screwing in to hold the pieces together, (no packet of mixed pins to sort over). The trypod has four telescopic sections that simply pull out and are locked in place with catches and a central column for another foot of height at the top where the platform sits that holds the body of the scope.
The platform has a spirit level set in it, should you need one, and can angle up and down with the use of locking handle and be locked in place to that it can be moved horizontally via another locking nut.
Having never had a telescope before I tend to hold it when using it, I suppose on a stronger more robust stand this might be alright, but not so on this model. After use the scope easily packs away into the bag provided, as there is more than ample room, and I leave the spotting scope in position on the side of the main scope. I would recommend this product to anyone who doesn’t know if they are into star-gazing or not and would like a go and at half price it is a good time to find out. And as to the age old question of why is that person stood on the top of Malvern Hills not moving, that’s because it’s a tree!
After a slower than expected delivery period, Moon filter ordered at the same time arrived days before with another item. For the price it seems good value, I would agree with others about the quality of the tripod being very poor, I’m using my camera professional quality tripod which I think is essential if you want to be able to get a stable image. Even with the cost of adding a better tripod from the budget end of the market it would be a good value portable telescope for scenic use.
The compact size makes it possible to leave assembled without it being a major obstruction in an upstairs room window.
In summary the Telescope is excellent value with easy to operate control. If the tripod was of similar quality then an easy 5* item.
So i order it at 2.45 pm yesterday and it arrives at 11.00 am today very fast shipping.
It was well packed, it took me longer to get it out of all the rapping than it did to set it up.
So easy to set up, so tried it out looking at the fields opposite my house, well i was pleasantly surprised when i looked through it the clarity was brilliant there was a tree that i looked at only 200yds away but you could see the lines in the bark the buds and the green moss. Then i noticed an electricity pylon so i zoomed in on it its about 1 mile away once again very clear as i didn’t know it was there as it is very difficult to see with the naked eye.
Tried the barlow lens but i could not get it focused on any thing so i will wait untill its a clear night and try it on the stars as i think that that is what it is really for.
So i am very very pleased with it, for the price the best bargain scope for a beginner like myself.
Very brief initial thoughts (much the same as many of the other reviews really!):
Useless tripod – don’t even bother, buy another one (I use a cheap camera tripod which is much better)
Finder scope feels cheap (plastic) and reverses the image compared to the image in the main scope, which shows image the correct way – this takes a little getting used to when lining up objects.
3x Barlow – completely unusable – none of the supplied lenses will focus with the barlow (in my experience and from what other reviewers have said).
Having said that, the actual scope itself is great and well worth 5 stars. I’ve only used it a couple of times so far to look at the Moon and Saturn (very small even at max magnification, but you can just make out the rings), but it seems and ideal starter scope. The quality of the image is great and gives a clear view of the Moons craters and it’s really simple/quick to get set up.
The bundled eyepieces are considerably better than expected for the money and give x40 and x20 magnifications (10mm and 20mm respectively). The rack & pinion focuser and the objective lens mount unfortunately are both made of plastic. The tripod is wobbly when the legs are extended and the pan/tilt head is not the smoothest I’ve seen – but it is better than nothing and you can always buy a decent photographic tripod or even a proper equatorial mount later. The optics of this package may not be perfect but they are fine for direct visual use – offering sharp detail, low colour fringing and fairly wide flat-field views. Whilst perfectly usable as a spotter, you should note that the ‘scope is not weather-proof.
I bought this on a whim — interested to see whether it might be usable as a telephoto lens. Where else are you going to find a new 400mm f5.7 lens for this money? Out of the box, the ‘scope seems reasonably sturdy (tripod excepted). For direct visual use, the image quality it offers is very respectable and much better than any of the half-dozen sub 100 spotters that I have to hand. As a telephoto lens, however, it suffers from low contrast due to internal light scatter from the side-walls, a lack of ultimate sharpness from optical misalignment, evident edge of frame focus-softening (due to field curvature) when using large sensors (APS-C or larger), and of course, from the curse of all refractors: chromatic aberration.
Here’s a quick dissection of the product – as delivered
T-Mount
The handbook doesn’t even bother to mention it — but the outside of the eyepiece holder is threaded. If you have a T-mount adapter for your camera then you can mount your dslr etc directly on the back of the ‘scope for prime focus photography.
Rotatable eyepiece mount
The eyepiece mount is a screw-fit onto the chromed focuser tube (both are plastic, sadly) and has an associated locking collar — together these features allow you to square-up any attached camera without having to fiddle with a T-mount’s grub screws.
Adjustable pressure plate on the focus tube:
A knurled screw at the back of the plastic focuser housing allows you to softly clamp the focuser tube in place (to prevent inadvertent focus shifts). The chromed plastic focuser tube slides smoothly in its guides and, with very little backlash in the rack and pinion, offers precise and easy focusing.
Focus travel:
For visual use (20mm eyepiece plus erector prism) the closest focus is about 13ft from the front of the scope. The focuser tube has about 70mm of available travel – and the point of focus lies about 50mm outside of the fully racked-out eyepiece holder. Notice that this means that you cannot focus the scope when using eyepieces alone (for traditional inverted astro views), the erector prism (or an eyepiece extension tube) is essential to provide an adequate optical path length to give a focused image. The scope, however, readily allows infinity focus with a dslr on a T-mount (tried with Pentax and Olympus dslrs) — though with mirrorless compact system cameras extension tubes may be required to compensate for their shorter lens-mount to sensor distance. With a heavy camera, however, to reduce the extent of ‘rack-out’ of the focuser and the consequent strain on the thin plastic focuser tube, I’d advise the use of a camera-extension T-tube. Extension tubes have the added advantage of enabling closer focus.
Eyepieces:
The eyepieces have standard astronomical 1.25 inch push-fit mountings — with real, chromed-metal, nose-pieces. The 20mm eyepiece is a three element inverse Kellner (I’ve not taken the 10mm one apart yet!). It offers a very respectable image: geometric distortion is not excessive and sharpness is good across the claimed 50-degree apparent field of view. The 10mm eyepiece is ok — but the apparent field of view is noticeably less than that of the 20mm one.
Lens Cap:
The supplied lens cap is a two piece item — offering the option of viewing through a central aperture of about 42mm in diameter (effectively reducing the scope’s aperture from f5.7 to about f9.5) handy for looking at bright targets. The restricted aperture also has the useful side-effect of reducing chromatic fringes. This smaller aperture, however, causes a degree of vignetting – so that photographs darken towards the edges and corners of the frame when using 4/3rds and larger sensors. For smaller sensors (e.g. or 1/3 inch web-cams or CCTV cameras) this is not a problem.
Alignment:
The optical axis of the focuser is out of alignment with the centre of the objective’s mounting (by about 4mm in my case) and it shifts as you tighten the focus tube clamp screw.
No collimation or centring adjustments are provided.
Moulding ‘flash’ in the lens holder and on the lens retaining collar means the objective lens is not squarely seated or evenly clamped.
Contrast:
The objective lens is not edge-blackened so image contrast is lower than it could be.
The lens retaining collar is polished and reflects general glare down into the scope.
The inner barrel of the eyepiece mount is polished plastic (very bad – if using a T-mount for prime focus photography).
The push-on lens hood is too short to offer much protection from stray off-axis light.
The internal baffles and the smooth matt black painted interior are of only limited effectiveness in controlling light scatter.
Field curvature limits the scope’s photographic (prime focus) usefulness to small sensor cameras (4/3rds or smaller).
Mechanical:
A heavy camera attached to a 1.25 inch push-fit adapter (e.g. for eyepiece projection) would be in serious peril of falling to the ground because the plastic eyepiece holder has only two, small, eyepiece-securing screws. Only the T-mount option offers adequate mechanical security to an otherwise unsupported camera.
Some simple suggestions for DIY Improvements (this is for dedicated tweakers only):
Please note — implementing some of the following suggestions will invalidate your guarantee so proceed at your own risk.
1 – Fit a longer lens hood:
Non image forming light, bouncing off the interior of the scope, floods your camera’s sensor with useless illumination — sapping colour-saturation and contrast from the scene. This is less problematic with direct visual observation (or photography through an eyepiece) – as the eyepiece’s restricted field of view shuts out some of this indirect light. A camera’s naked sensor, on the other hand, has an extremely wide field of view, it can ‘see’ the illuminated side-walls just as well as it can see the direct image-forming light from the lens, so considerable pains should be taken to prevent indirect light falling on it. The simplest and least invasive improvement would be to extend the length of the plastic lens hood using a tube of (black) cardboard 12 inches or so should work wonders.
2 – Line internally with velvet or felt:
The interior of the narrow bore focuser tube is particularly prone to scattering off-axis light and funnelling it down towards the camera’s sensor. Black felt is a good lining material though the best absorption of stray light is obtained with velvet. The front half of the main tube will also benefit from a lining of black cloth.
3 – Insert an eyepiece’s nose-piece (for prime focus photography):
The inner barrel of the eyepiece holder is polished plastic — it reflects light easily and for prime focus photography this needs to be tamed. The simplest solution is to borrow the chrome nose-piece from one of your eyepieces, line it with felt and fit an O-ring over one end. The O-ring will stop the nose-piece falling into the ‘scope and damaging the objective lens. The O-ring will also block the sliver of light that squeezes through the gap between the outside of the nose-piece barrel and the inside of the eyepiece holder.
4 – Remove mould flash from the lens mount and retaining ring:
The objective lens sits on a ring moulded into the plastic lens holder and is then clamped in place by the screw-in front retaining ring. Both the seating ring and the retaining ring show slight moulding ‘flash’. This needs to be removed. Use a small craft knife to scrape away the excess plastic from the lens mounts — to provide a level seating surface and an evenly-distributed retaining-pressure for the lens. When reassembling, the retaining ring should be tightened only just enough to stop the lens rattling within the mount excessive and uneven pressures will cause the lens-pair to distort.
5 – Black-edge the objective lens
The matt-ground edge of the objective lens scatters non image forming light into the ‘scope. The lens is a doublet:: a pair of lenses separated (and held together) by three small plastic wedges sandwiched between the front and rear elements. You can remove the lens-pair from its mount (taking care not to separate the two elements) by unscrewing the front retaining ring. Cleanliness is vital – handle the lens only with soft glass-cleaning cloths or cotton gloves. Use a black permanent marker pen to blacken the edges of the lens pair. Note — the thinner of the two lenses is the outermost one — so reassemble accordingly.
6 – Paint the lens retaining ring matt black:
The lens retaining ring has a smooth polished inner surface which reflects stray light down into the scope. Line it with felt or paint it matt black.
7 – Collimate:
Although no collimation adjustments are provided there are a couple of simple things that can be done to improve the scope’s optical alignment. You will need a laser collimator for this — available on Amazon from around 20. If you fit the collimator in place of an eyepiece, its beam will partly bounce-back from each of the air-glass surfaces of the lens. Three reflections should be seen in the collimator’s window (four – if you are extremely unlucky) — they will not be narrow pinpoints as they are reflecting from quite highly curved surfaces. Ideally, however, all the reflections should centre on the laser’s exit aperture in the middle of the collimator’s screen. You will be lucky indeed to have three such centrally co-located reflections. In my case, initial tests showed only one reflection on the collimator’s screen the other two were so far off-axis that the reflected beams didn’t even make it back into the eyepiece holder!
7.1 – Align the Axes of the Focuser and the Main Tube:
To see how far out of ‘true’ the axis of the focuser is with that of the main tube try the following test. On a thin sheet of paper, scribe a circle with a drawing compass. The scribed circle needs to be exactly the same diameter as the outside of the main tube. Remove the lens hood and the objective lens-holder then temporarily tape or glue the paper circle over the open end of the main tube – ensuring that the rim of the tube lies exactly on top of the scribed circle. The pinprick on the paper (caused by the compass) will then lie on the central axis of the main tube. Fit the laser into the eyepiece holder and switch on. The distance between the central pinprick and the laser spot shows just how far out of alignment the focuser is with respect to the main tube.
If the laser beam lands on the centre of the scribed circle, consider yourself lucky. If, however, the laser spot is far adrift from the scribed circle’s centre point then you can try the following tweaks: Remove the three screws that fix the focuser to the main tube. Rotate the whole focuser assembly and see whether the laser spot moves towards the centre of the paper circle. I was fortunate; I found that I only needed to rotate the entire focuser unit by one screw-hole (i.e. by 120 degrees) to obtain a reasonably centralised laser spot. If you find that an intermediate degree of rotation gives the best result, you can bore three new pilot holes in the focuser’s plastic body — to accept the original retaining screws. More drastic remedies include elongating the three screw holes in the main tube – allowing the entire focuser to be ‘wiggled’ into alignment.
7.2 – Centre the Objective Lens:
The objective lens is a loose fit in its holder — there is perhaps a millimetre or so of lateral rattle-room to play with. Having first aligned the focuser’s axis with that of the main tube, you may then care to try moving the lens from side to side, within its holder, to try to make the multiple laser reflections all fall on the centre of the collimator’s screen. This needs to be done with the scope pointing vertically up – and the lens clamping ring removed. There may not be sufficient ‘free play’ available within the lens mount to achieve perfectly returned reflections — but, as in the case of the focuser unit, you can also try rotating the entire lens mount by 120 or 240 degrees to improve the degree of coincidence of the multiple laser-spot reflections. The reflections test is extremely sensitive and the simple the act of tightening the eyepiece retaining screws to clamp the laser will cause large shifts in the positions of the returning laser spots — so don’t be overly concerned with precise spot locations just getting them all onto the laser’s target screen is achievement enough.
None of the above suggestions should be regarded in any way as condemnation of the ‘scope. As a visual scope for spotting or simple astronomical viewing, the compromises of design and construction have been well chosen by the manufacturer and, straight out of the box, it performs much better than its modest price tag might suggest. Asking it to perform in more demanding photographic applications, however, shows the need for better control of stray light. Fortunately these simple mods are well within the capability of anyone raised in the ‘Blue Peter’ school of diy — and tackling them should reward you with a more versatile and better performing bit of optical kit.
I give it five stars — for its value for money — and for the ease with which inveterate diy-ers (like me) can have a go at pushing its performance towards the limits of its theoretical capability.
Pros:
– very good price.
– lightweight and compact, and with the included backpack the whole package becomes very portable
– well suited to terrestrial use like bird watching etc.
– included 20mm and 10mm eyepieces are of ok quality
– scope optics are of surprizingly good quality allowing sharp, high contrast images (with some CA)
– can be customised/upgraded
Cons (mostly for astronomy)
– included tripod is of poor quality and at high magnification pretty useless due to its wobble and difficulty to finely adjust
– included tiny, plastic finderscope is also of poor quality and hard to use effectively
– no 90 degree star diagonal included (instead its a 45 degree erect image prism diagonal)
Summary:
– for terrestrial, low magnification use when you don’t worry about the need for a finderscope, this scope works well
– for astronomy, its in its raw state its severely limited by the cons listed above. That said, I’ve since stuck on a more robust photo tripod with a decent ball head and added a red dot finder and its made a huge difference. Once this is done I’ve really enjoyed views of the moon, jupiter, saturn, m45 etc, but of course objects are still small. Don’t expect to push its magnification beyond x100 or so.
– Key attraction to me is its small size and convenience, I use it a lot since its so quick to setup.
– Small enough to take on holiday / overhead luggage.
If you are serious about getting into astronomy and want to look at more than the moon I would think carefully about buying something with a better mount with slow motion controls and a decent finder, as such things really do make a difference. This will involve spending a bit more money though. However, for a multi-purpose, grab and go, highly portable piece of kit it works pretty well and is a good compliment to larger, bulkier, heavier equipment.
As most reviewers have mentioned the tripod is very unstable and will frustrate all but the most patient users. Personally I am willing to live with it for the ease of transport and price.
Views through the scope are not at all bad, considering the size and price. My last HUGE telescope cost over 900 and the difference in what you can see, well yes it was better, but not as much as you’d expect.
I’ve yet to really put this through it’s paces, but a quick glimpse at the moon was satisfying, Saturn less so as it just wasn’t as large as i’m used to seeing (but would be improved with a 2x barlow lense). Terrestrial viewing is good, and the tripod much less of an issue.
I suspect a lot of the tripod issues could be fixed with some oil, but for those serious about using this for astronomical viewing at higher magnifications, it will simply drive you crazy.
For the price, it does a reasonable job. The most important thing is that it’s small enough, very quick to set up, and VERY easily transported – and those are features that mean you will use your telescope often – which is the important thing. A big expensive telescope may sound tempting when you’re new to the subject – but the reality (as i discovered) is that you won’t use it very often.
Although i would suggest considering a pair of good quality binoculars when making your decision to purchase this, as you will benefit from a wider field of view.
** Oh important point: this version does not come with the Barlow or 4x lens – there is another version for the same price which does… I made this mistake, so hopefully i’ll help you avoid it too! **
This package has reviews on you tube and I suggest you watch them. Overall the reviews are good but all say the tripod is a waste of time. They are right. However I knew that and still bought it.
When you think the 70mm scope comes with two eye pieces, effectively 20x and 40x mag. To get 20 x70 binos you will have to pay more than this. So all in all I think you got to accept that these are good for the price. Get a better tripod if you need to, but the scope seems half decent.
Oh and the bundled software (Sky x) is not really worth loading. Get the free Stellarium on line, much better.
Of course this scope is very useful for wildlife and with it’s back pack means you can pop it in the boot of the car, or sling it over your back, and go spotting. It’s nice and light and you could use it by hand if you lean on a tree or wall.
I am a complete beginner to astronomy and was simply looking for a cheap telescope to make sure i wouldn’t lose too much money if i decided that it wasn’t for me. Instead, ive bought every accessory going and am outside every night. This all came about from the first time a saw the moon in this telescope. The value of this just defies belief. You get a tripod, a 3x barlow lens, and 3 additional lenses plus a backpack and stargazing software. I have since bought a t-adapter and a moon filter for proper lunar photography using this scope. As pointed out by others, the tripod is pretty bad. It is very flimsy and not easy to adjust, but it is very light and may just be good enough for what it was designed (being fitted into a backpack and travelling). Overall, i cannot recommend this whole package enough. I plan on using this as intended, as a travel scope, and will now be trying to get a more powerful scope. I love my new hobby!
So, let’s get down to brass tacks; the weakness of this scope lies in the tripod. As it has to be small & light to fit into the supplied backpack then I knew when I bought this scope that for my nocturnal astronomical forays that it wasn’t going to cut the mustard much. Hence, when I use it for observing any of the planets or the moon I use a more robust camera tripod that I used to use for my old (now defunct) SLR camera. This makes moving the scope around a much smoother operation, and more sturdy too. The supplied tripod will work OK’ish, but you have to be a little more careful & precise when aligning it up to a planet, star or satellite. For day time viewing the supplied tripod would suffice for most occasions as you could keep the tripod as low as possible to the ground & sit on the ground or a small chair to use it. The fixing to use any other tripod with the scope is the standard camera fitting, so fitting the scope on any other tripod is simple. You could of course buy an equatorial mount to fix the scope too if you wanted the best mount for it for astronomical use, but this would set you back quite a bit & also makes the system less portable. Equatorial mounts take some setting up, and to be honest if you were going to pay the price for a mount like that you would most likely also go for a dedicated astronomical telescope too.
The lenses supplied with the scope (4mm,10mm & 20mm) give good magnification. As I mostly use this scope for astronomical purposes this gives me good views of the moon, most of the planets (the gas giants Uranus, Neptune & demoted ex-planet Pluto are out of range really with this small scope). Saturn looks great as ever through the scope, especially with the rings open wide; Jupiter & its Galilean moons are a jewel; Mars at closest approach to Earth is good; Venus really doesn’t show too much except its phases & the same with Mercury too accept smaller & harder to spot closer in to the sun. The 45 degree viewing prism makes observation with the lenses easy, except when trying to view anything close to zenith. This is always a hard thing to do with the kind of tripod used, even with a sturdier camera tripod as well. The 3 x Barlow lens is a little too much for this scope; a 2 x Barlow lens I think would suit it better, especially for astronomy. For daylight viewing it is more suited, but remember the higher up the viewing magnification you go the less bright the view through the scope is going to be, so that is why unless you use it to view the moon then you are not going to see much with it at night time; coupled with the fact that the tripod (whether the supplied one or a camera one) will not give you the fine control that you need to zoom in on these high magnifications on any objects you are trying to view. The finder scope is a little tricky to set up, so if you intend to do any night time viewing then it is best (if possible) to set this up in the daytime on a stationary distant object, rather than trying to do it at night on a slow moving star or planet.
The quality of the scope itself is good, given the price range. I can view M31 quite easily through it on a clear night in the city, so if you have great dark skies where you live then it & a few other galaxies should be quite easy to spot too with this scope. I can pick out quite a few globular & open star clusters with the scope, & of course Orion’s nebula is wonderful to view as well through the scope. The view through the scope is normal as we see it, so remember that that if you do decide to go for a dedicated astronomical telescope this may not always be so, hence making terrestrial use of any astronomical telescope annoying in the fact that the view may be inverted.
I have had this scope now for nearly six months. I have owned much more expensive & more technical telescopes than this, yet strangely I get more reward & fun out of using this scope for things rather than the more expensive ones. Unless you intend to spend some serious time on astronomy (when the weather permits in the UK at least) then like me you may find that this small scope is all you need. Even at the low price you pay for this scope you still get a large amount of satisfaction from any views from it. And if the worst should happen & you drop or damage it, then you haven’t lost too much money on it. Now could you say the same for any serious astronomical telescope? Methinks not!
Anyway, if you want something more stable you can use a good standard camera tripod with mounting screw. Vision is clear and the image is very light, due to the 70mm diameter. Unfortunately, there’s no Lunar filter in the package, so I recommend to add one to your cart before submitting the order, it will really help.Coming with 3 eyepieces (20mm, 10mm and 4mm for a 20x, 40x and 100x magnification) each in its own plastic enclosure. Considering its price, this telescope is perfect for beginners, I really recommend it.
Now that I discovered I can buy at Amazon.UK, I will no more waste so much time looking in shopping centers (when such items are almost rare to find at the same price or even at all!)
Firstly it is small enough and light enough to be carried around with ease and the main scope does seem to be built well and the main optics are good. The finderscope I think is a waste of time because it’s of poor quality, the image appears upside down and you aren’t working with much magnification anyway so you can easily find what you want in the main scope. In fact, I don’t use the finderscope at all.
This product comes with 3 different eye pieces – 20mm, 10mm and 4mm. The 20mm eyepiece provides you with a 20x magnified view. At this magnification, the scope performs wonderfully as the image is reasonably magnified and the image is clear and crisp. The 10mm eyepiece provides you with a 40x magnified view and to be honest only under the brightest of conditions is this useful, with the reason being that at this magnification the lens or arpeture of the scope is too small to gather enough light, so what you view is a dimmer and fuzzier image than if using the 20mm eyepiece although your view is twice as magnified. As for the 4mm eyepiece – complete waste of time, and completely unuasable due to the magnification v arpeture. The 3x Barlow that comes with this is only really usable with the 20mm eyepiece and given the extra magnification at play and the very basic tripod, it is difficult to line up with what you want. The rucksack that comes with this product is pretty good and useful it must be said.
With regards astronomy, this scope only seems to work well when looking at the moon. Looking at stars is not this scopes forte to say the least and works at its best during daytime hours.
So in summary, this scope is only useful when you are using the 20mm eyepiece during daylight hours and when looking at the moon. If I had the choice again, i’d go for a 20×80 set of binoculars as I find binouclars easier to use than a telescope and the binoculars will provide a wider field of vision and good nighttime viewing also.
I had a very good observing session last night,using 40x magnification Jupiter looked absolutely amazing!!I live in the centre of a city,but from my back yard I could see intense details in Jupiter’s equatorial bands,and the Galilean moons were crisp,sharp points of light. All the eyepieces are very good quality,and even though I’d read that the tripod wasn’t great I have absolutely no complaints about it,I found it very sturdy and easy to use,and it extends to a very comfortable height.The carrying bag is made of good quality material,and can easily fit other useful items in for those mobile observing nights.It doesn’t feel as though you’re carrying much at all.As an astronomer with 20 years experience,I can recommend this scope and can’t wait to take it to a really dark sky area as the dark nights draw in:-)
Well done Celestron for producing such an easy to carry ,high quality scope.Just what I needed!!!!Thanks Amazon for the ultrafast next day delivery.
In my opinion, the tripod is fine as long as you don’t extend the telescopic legs. As a tabletop tripod, I give it 3 out of 5. With a bit of lubing it runs quite smoothly.
The optical tube is of reasonable quality while the 45-degree diagonal, eyepieces and the 3x barlow are of low quality.
Personally, I use the included 5×24 finderscope as a monocular. It’s easy enough to remove the two wires that form the reticle.
Only the views with the included 20 mm eyepiece are bright and sharp.
I recommend that you purchase at least one medium quality eyepiece, for example a 10 mm Plossl.
If you’re interested in astronomy, you would also benefit from having a 90-degree star diagonal, which results in improved viewing comfort.
Finally, a 2x achromatic barlow also makes a great accessory…
The tripod supplied is a bit rickety and on full extension and the bottom legs extension are quite thin and bendy but you can’t expect miracles – I’d rather have a reasonable scope and a rubbish tripod as that’s easily remedied – you can get a sturdier tripod fairly cheaply (although it might not fit in the pack).
The kit had expanded from that described on Celestron’s website to include a X3 Barlow Lens and a 4mm eyepiece (X100) in addition to the 20mm (X20) and 10mm (X40) giving you magnification options of between x20 and x300 (although I wouldn’t push it that far – it would be impossible to hold the image).
You might move on to bigger and better things but that’s the beauty of this scope – it will always have a use because it packs away so small – great to take camping, on walks, on holiday etc (you’re not going to lug around an 8″ reflector!).
For the money you get a decent scope and lots of extras. If you look for the “firstscope accessory kit” you can pick up a moon filter, 6 and 12mm eyepieces (for more magnification options) and a spare spotting scope for about a tenner (only a few quid more than getting a moon filter on its own).
Now, I thought of binoculars but, I have some of those and they’re 10x mag. They’re fine if you like to see streaks of light as the stars zip about your vision like fireworks. Get a tripod? Well, for the money, big (I say big when actually the biggest are only 15x) binos are not all that great and like someone on already said Amazon saide you’ll need to be Data from Star Trek if you plan on holding them – forget it. No really, forget it – bins are a big disappointment for the stars. Only German soldiers in my WW2 picture books and bird watchers have them.
The Celestron travel scope is like one half of a MASSIVE pair of binos. From 20 to 40x mag they walk all over binos in terms of brightness and magnification.
I have packed it in its little bag (very useful believe me) and carry it up the Malvern Hills. Try doing that with a reflector.. In the perfect 360 view up their I’ve seen the heavens explode into life. I can get it outside, set up and marvelling at the moon or a nebula in 2 mins. Gaze and Go. Every night I have a quick scan at the heavens then get back to putting bath sealant around taps or whatever grown-ups do at night. Great.
Build quality is absolutely great. Sure, you have to be delicate with the controls and not heavy-handed but it’s a telescope – what did you expect? If you’re too rough to handle it then take up judo instead. I am careful with my lovely little scope and it opens up the skys for me and my little daughter every clear night. I can’t believe how brilliant it is. My daughter saw a hot air balloon in the sky today – so small it was barely visible. In 45seconds we’d found it on the Travelscope and could count the occupants in the basket and watch the flames light up the red envelope – completely perfect.
Maybe you could get a better stargazer… maybe you could get a better bird watcher… but could you get a lovely little instrument that could do both for 70 quid? (2 million US dollars)if I drop it and smash it I’ll be sad but get onto Amazon and get another. It should be 160 quid (85 million dollars).. but don’t let Celestron know they’ve mis-priced it!
Want a cheap but perfectly useable scope for looking at the moon and birds and ships at sea? Want to use it every day? Are you not a Wall Street banker? Get this little beauty. If you really get hooked with astronomy then in a year get a reflector. You’ll still only use the travel scope mind you!
Hope my review gets you looking up and going “Wow!”