Celestron 21045 PowerSeeker 114EQ Reflector Telescope

J’ai hsiter a achet le modle en rduction pour bote lgrement endommag mais finalement le tout tait numro un a part de lgre trace d’utilisation qui na aucunement un effet sur le produit. En conclusion jai du ajuster le support et rectifier le viseur et une fois mont c’est magnifique, j’ai pu observer Saturne . Bien hte de voir d’autre plante.

El telescopio en general es bueno para observar la luna, planetas, cometas, etc, tiene buen alcance con los oculares adicionales, pero no es bueno para astro fotografa, el soporte aunque se ve robusto, no es suficientemente firme

Compr el modelo 114EQ a un excelente precio de $200usd y sin duda vale eso y ms
Me gustara advertir que no es lo mejor para principiantes debido al tipo de montura que tiene, pero nada que no puedas aprender con un poco de prctica
Como actualizacin: he comprado mas cosas, entre ellas oculares mejores y un colimador lser para darle mantenimiento, y funciona perfectamente

So after watching the ‘how to’ videos on the company website we took it outside for a second go (first time we couldn’t see the moon in front of us haha). We where not disappointed! Really good quality from the basic lenses (hard to use my phone to take a photo). We’re looking to spot the planets next. It can be a bit fiddly and very sensitive to being knocked so kids would need supervision. Other than that it was a solid investment, not too expensive and not terrible that we wouldn’t see anything.

Very much like this, would highly recommend over others I’ve tried! First and most important this has awesome image quality in the entire field of view! I saw Jupiter’s red bands and 4 of its moons. Also saw the ring around Saturn – just amazing. The craters on our own Moon are a much easier target and also very spectacular.
The EQ 127 and most all other models with the short fat (“folded”) tubes use a “Bird-Jones” design. Stay away from those! By design they will only ever be “sort of sharp” in one small area of the field of view – impossible to focus! (check out Bird Jones issues on google) Get a long tube like this!
The Equitorial mount is of good quality. It can be a bit humbling to learn to use but makes it much easier to track a target once set up. Targets are always moving in (and out of) the field of view due to the motion of all celestial bodies and this will track them precisely with the turn of a single knob opposed to a pan/tilt mount.
The eye pieces are adequately good but only 2 are included (plus a barlow). If you like what you see but want better you may consider upgraded eyepieces. They are easy to find in this common 1.25 inch standard size and made a good improvement in my experience.
This turned out to be exactly what I wanted: not too big, well priced, powerful and functional.
After a few disappointments with others I finally found the right one!

I am a complete beginner, I waited for 3 nights for a clear sky and finally had a chance to use it. The moon was so easy to find, I used the finder scope to spot the moon first, I don’t know if I didn’t align the finder scope pretty well, it was a little bit off its target, but it was not a big deal, I only spent less than 5 minutes to find the moon on the view scope. I was able to see a lot of details of the moon, even better than the pictures I saw from other reviews and I only used the 20mm eyepiece and the 3X lens (came with the package). Then, I tried to see Jupiter, it was much harder to find on the view scope than the moon but I finally made it. I don’t know if I didn’t do it right, I only saw a bright spot (not much bigger than we could see with naked eyes), but I only used the 20mm eyepiece because after I put the 3X lens on, it already disappeared and I could never find it again. I have ordered a Svbony 7-21 eyepiece and it is on the way, I hope I will have a better experience on viewing planets with it in the future. Overall, it is a great telescope, even for a complete beginner like me, however, you have to learn how to use it on planet viewing, but it will pay off when you have been knowledgeable about it.

Update: 2nd attempt for Jupiter, after made some adjustments on the finder scope, I could easily locate Jupiter, I could see its colors (not clear because it was too small) and satellites only using the 20mm eyepiece, after I put the 3X lens on, I expected to see more details but it turned out to be blurry. Now I understand why other people said you need to invest in better eyepieces and lenses, the 3X lens is just a piece of shit on planet viewing, however, it is still good on moon viewing. I also tried Saturn tonight and I was able to see its ring by using 20mm eyepiece and 3X lens together although it was also blurry. I have bought a Svbony 7-21 eyepiece and I think I still have to buy a better 2X lens based on tonight’s experience. Don’t let the negative comments scare you away, it is definitely worth the money. I am a complete beginner and I could use it, so everybody else should be able to, just be patient to learn and figure out what is wrong when something goes wrong.

This is some piece of work. First of all, i did a blitz research on telescopes in the lower range (under 200$) but tried to go for biggest bang for buck, i think i got it pretty good.

So far ive done a single viewing in a remote area (900m elevation) and was able to see Jupiter (and its moons!) and Saturn (with its rings!).
However, without the motor the viewing is nearly impossible. While i did get the motor, i didnt set it up for the viewing and that is something i suggest you do. Also, get more lenses, the 4mm is very hard to look through, and the 20mm doesnt offer enough zoom.

Id say its a 4.5/5, because there are not enough lenses, but, i guess you cannot do better at that price range, and for the price of 115$ (i paid double because of customs and shipping) its a very good purchase.

Ill update as i go along.

Update 1:
I got the astromaster lens kit (15mm kellner and 6mm plossl) and it somwhat helped, see my review here: Celestron AstroMaster Telescope Accessory Kit . The 15mm is a great addition to the telescope, the 6mm is a little small. I find it necessary to get a larger eyepiece, something in 25-32 range for deep space objects.

Also got the celestron motor, but still had trouble properly aligning the scope and compensating for earth’s rotation. More to come.

Quick disclaimer – This is my first telescope. I bought this for the price and the decent number of good reviews.

Bad news first:

The finder scope is really crappy. I can’t get it to aim at anything that the scope is pointed at. That being said, I just eyeball down the tube to get close to my target. The tripod feels like it could be more stable, as a few other reviews state, but it’s not terrible. When I really tighten down screws, it’s ok. I bought mine USED from the Amazon Warehouse, and the EQ mount seems loose to me. It’s probably user error, but it does seem looser than it should. Please take that with a grain of salt.

Good news:

The scope comes collimated (internal optics aligned). DON’T TOUCH THE SCREWS AT THE CLOSED END unless you know what you’re doing, like I made the mistake of. That being said, it was a quick lesson in collimating a reflector scope. Viewing the moon is FANTASTIC. Very crisp images through the 20mm and the 4mm eyepiece without the barlow. It’s not got the resolution to see the landing sites, unfortunately. I haven’t really tried it on much else, I’m sticking to lunar viewing for now.

Overall: VERY pleased, especially for only paying $112 after shipping. Not a bad place to start for beginners, especially for Lunar viewing, I’d recommend an AZ mount for newbies, unless you’re up to the challenge.

UPDATE (11/5/15)
After nearly a year and a half, here are some additional thoughts:

Buy a laser collimator. The scope will eventually fall out of collimation. For $20, this is an invaluable tool.

Get more eyepieces. I recommend the Celestron kit for ~$130. The two this scope comes with are “just ok”, overall. The 4mm is difficult to use as the eye relief is against the eyehole (the functional distance between your eye and the EP). The mag on the 4mm is 225x, which is pushing the upper limit of “useful” magnification, therefore you MUST have excellent seeing conditions for use. The 20 works fine, but the barrel is loose-fitting in the focuser. The barlow is not really useful. Obviously, this is where the corners were cut to keep the price low.

Overall, still a great scope. I might keep it, but I have my eye on a 10″ dobsonian. More aperture = more seeing.

Other recommended upgrades: better finderscope, better tripod (or other tripod stabilization. adding weights may be an option).

Celestron considers the Powerseeker line to be entry-level, and this telescope definitely meets that definition. But this telescope proves that “cheap” doesn’t always mean “crap”. You won’t be getting the kinds of views possible with a 16″ Dobsonian mount, but you’re also only paying $110 for this telescope.

The primary mirror is spherical, not parabolic, but the f/8 focal ratio makes this a non-issue. After a night out with it, little to no spherical aberration was observed, images were crystal clear. In addition, there isn’t any sign of coma typically associated with parabolic mirrors. Double win! In fact, the only optical aberrations were a slight bit of chromatic aberration from the included eyepieces, they aren’t exactly the highest quality, but I’ve seen worse. The collimation was spot on, I figured a ride in a UPS truck would have knocked the mirrors around a bit, but no, perfect alignment out of the box. As always, your mileage may vary.

A lot of reviewers have noted that the finderscope is…subpar. And they’re right, it’s very difficult to get it on target, so I just gave up and used Kentucky Windage to line up targets. I centered Mare Imbrium on the Moon in the 20mm eyepiece, and just noted where it appeared in the finderscope view. Not exactly precise, but it worked.

The mount isn’t exactly perfect, but for $110, I can’t really complain much about it. Really, this is the worst part of the whole package. There’s a bit of slop in the gears, and the locking bolts are pretty ineffective. I can easily move in both right ascension and declination when it supposedly “locked”. The slow-motion cables work, but the connection isn’t as snug as I’d like, and the right ascension cable can occasionally get in the way due to its length, but that’s common to pretty much any GEM unless you have a motor drive, and even that can sometimes get in the way when you’re near the meridian. The latitude adjustment goes from 0-90 degrees, which means you can easily turn the GEM mount into an alt-az mount for terrestrial viewing by setting the latitude to 90 degrees. The setting circles are pretty much there for show, too much uncertainly and not enough resolution for them to be useful. But this is true of any setting circles smaller than about 8″ (~20 cm) so I won’t complain too much here. I spent about an hour playing around with it, and was soon able to figure out how to work around the entry-level construction. The key is light touches, too much force can put you several degrees off target, and you’ll be feeling around in the dark trying to find what you’re looking for.

UPDATE 3/16/2014: I seem to have solved the issue with the locking clutches. It seems like I wasn’t getting the wingnuts tight enough. I can still sort of move in RA with the clutch engaged, but it takes considerably more force now. The declination clutch is solid, it doesn’t go anywhere. With that issue solved, my opinion of the mount is considerably higher.

A telescope is only as good as the eyepieces, and the supplied eyepieces will get the job done. That said, there are far better ones out there, and there are worse ones as well. At least Celestron doesn’t supply Huygens-type eyepieces with this. You’ll probably use the 20mm eyepiece the most thanks to it’s wider field of view, but the included 4mm has it’s uses. The 3x Barlow is a nice touch but I don’t recommend using it with the 4mm eyepiece. The maximum useful magnification for this telescope is 228x (multiply the aperture in mm by 2). You can get close to this by using the 4mm on it’s own, but the narrow field of view and short eye relief makes this impractical for most targets, although it does allow for better views of Saturn if you can keep it in view (motor drive or RA slo-mo cable). The box does mention a maximum possible magnification of 675x, which can be achieved by using the 4mm with the Barlow. Don’t do this, as this telescope does not have the angular resolution (1.21″ Rayleigh, 1.0″2 Dawes)to support that level of magnification. You’ll need more aperture for that. Upgrading the eyepieces is easy enough, it takes standard 1.25″ eyepieces. I would recommend also getting a 10mm and a 6mm (Plossl-type, naturally), along with at least a moon filter, but that’s just me. Your preferences might vary.

UPDATE: 3/19/2014: After two observing sessions, the 4mm eyepiece provides an excellent view of Jupiter and the Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Only complaint is the short eye relief. Keep in mind that this eyepiece does not have the image-correctig optics, so the view will be inverted.

All in all, this is an incredible value. You get quite a bit of scope for not a lot of money. If you’re looking to get into amateur astronomy, this is an excellent starting point. The mount is a bit sloppy, but I got used to it after a few minutes of learning its quirks. Eyepieces could be better, but the ones you get are far from terrible. I’d try replacing the finderscope as soon as possible, preferably one with an illuminated reticule, but I can live with this one for the time being. The OTA itself is much better than I was expecting, and with a proper finderscope, I’ll be keeping this scope around for a long while.

TL;DR: For $110 I don’t think I could ask for better. Unless “better” includes a finderscope that doesn’t suck.

I like this telescope very much. It is very easy to use, I researched online about how telescopes work and how to use them. I suggest anyone trying take up the hobby do the same. Youtube is a great source of information.

As for this telescope, as most people probably do, I expected to see what you see in the photos on google images, or at least something close. Do know that you will not see much for color if you are looking at something like Jupiter and it will not appear significantly large in the eyepiece, even at 225x. I have only had it for a couple months and due to my camp shift and weather, I have only been able to have it out 4 or 5 times. But I have seen Jupiter very clearly, as well as the moons. The view of our moon is unbelievable. Star clusters become very apparent as well. Very cool sights.

It comes with 20mm and 4mm eyepieces, which on this scope gives you 45x and 225x magnifications, respectively. It also comes with the barlow lens has multiplies the 20mm lens by 3 to give you 135x. I already have and recommend that you get a 10mm and/or a 15mm lens which gives you 90x and/or 60x, respectively, and with the 3x barlow lens 270x and/or 180x, respectively. Remember that the max. useful mag with this scope is 265x. So the 10mm with the barlow to give you 270x is pushing it. I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t review it. But the 15mm with the barlow gives you 180x and that’s a good mag without as much difficulty focusing as with the 4mm lens (225x).

I know that one day I will be getting a longer telescope with a much larger aperture. But while I’m still very much an amateur stargazer, this telescope is meeting my every need. I highly suggest this one for beginners.