20 Best Handheld Telescope For Astronomy (2023 Updated)

Just got this home tonight and unboxed/haven’t officially used it yet. Keep in mind, I own many telescopes and have enjoyed astronomy for many years. I wasn’t expecting much for the price, but here are my first impressions: This is a plastic telescope with “ok” optics, not something for any “serious” astronomy/observing, other than the moon or a fleeting glimpse of Saturn or possibly Mars.

It will give a good close-up view of the moon surface, but not at a high resolution. Mars will look like a small reddish circle (SMALL), and will be able to tell that Saturn has rings, but will not be much more than a yellowish circle that has a slight bulge around the middle (the rings).

It might be okay for terrestrial viewing (distant mountains/landscapes, etc. ), so don’t expect greatness. The construction is all plastic, with only a few metal parts. This makes the entire setup very lightweight and easy to carry, which is it’s strongest attribute.

Don’t tighten any of the screws/knobs more than just enough to keep things from falling off, otherwise you risk stripping the threads. The OTA tube itself is plastic with a decal covering that looks neat, but it’s still just plastic.

I keep mentioning plastic as that means the entire assembly could be damaged/broken if treated roughly, so just be nice to it and it should work well. The tripod leaves a lot to be desired. Yes it is lightweight, but is very susceptible to vibration from even just a slight puff of wind which will result in a “shaky” image.

The pan/tilt (Alt/Az) controls are identical to a cheap camera tripod (in fact, this can certainly be used for a small “point-n-shoot” type camera just fine) and do not lend themselves to easy tracking of objects (remember, the moon and earth are moving relative to each other and will not stay centered in the eyepiece for but a few moments – this requires a constant and gentle “tracking” of objects as they move across the sky).

Mine did not come with the Barlow lens, but I have other high quality eye pieces and filters that I can use (it takes standard 1. 25″ eyepieces). The included eyepieces (10mm and 20mm) are okay for this scope.

Better eyepieces are available but won’t be of big benefit on this scope. Honestly, this would not be my first choice in a beginner telescope, as for a little more money ($150 range) you can get a much bigger/better scope that would provide better planetary viewing.

This might be a nice thing to bring along on a family camping trip to keep the kids occupied, as it is a very lightweight and compact unit, but like I said above: don’t expect greatness. I purchased this for a specific purpose of sighting in my rifle instead of a much more costly spotting scope.

This actually provides much better magnification than an entry-level spotting scope sold at sporting goods retailers for a fraction of the cost, with a trade off that this scope isn’t as “field-durable” as the more costly options.

For my purposes, this is a fantastic choice. For astronomers, this is below average. You DO get the Starry Night software included, which is a nice software package for astronomy, although I still prefer Stellarium.

There is also a free ebook download with amazing images of the moon. The cell phone adapter isn’t anything special, although it will allow you to actually take some nice pics with your phone. The cell phone mount is not capable of supporting a DSLR (nor is the scope or tripod, for that matter), so this is not an ideal setup for astrophotography aside from taking a few memento types of pics to post on social media.

The backpack is padded with a few pockets and a divider that will hold everything, but won’t provide much in the way of protection from bumps/drops/etc. My review sounds very negative but I’m trying to be honest.

it’s an okay product, and it will work as intended. Just don’t set too high of expectations and if you are looking at starting out with astronomy, I feel there are better options. Celestron is a great company and they make quality products, so this would be a better choice than an equally priced knock-off brand, but again – make sure your expectations are realistic for a sub-$100 telescope.

I need to be careful writing this review, because perhaps I didn’t assemble the telescope properly. The telescope has some nice qualities to recommend it: it is lightweight, easy to assemble and disassemble, and can be easily packed away in a backpack that comes with the telescope, so that it ought to be ideal for taking on trips.

Since I live in New York City where there is not much to see astronomically, that is very important. However, the telescope mounting doesn’t seem to be sturdy at all. The telescope wobbles, which makes observation very difficult.

But what is worse is that it is impossible to point the scope exactly at a target — I can’t get the scope to move in exact increments, it jerks arounds and doesn’t stay where I point it. I found the instructions to be rather sparse.

To put the telescope together, I had to do work hard to figure out what the instructions meant. It could be that if I work with it more and consult the Celestron company, I’ll find a solution, perhaps something I did wrong.

But as things stand, I bought a useless telescope, at least for astronomical purposes.

The good: – The telescope itself is alright. There’s a little chromatic fringing noticeable around the edge of the Moon, but I’ve had good views of the Moon, the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula, for example.

– Nice to have the cell phone mount and remote shutter button. Much easier to take good space photos without having to tap the screen. The not-so-good: – The tripod. It’s just about adequate for holding the telescope on its own, but the imbalance of adding the cell phone mount and a cell phone is too much for it to bear.

There’s almost no transition on the clutch between “slack” and “fixed (but not quite)”. The ugly: – The remote shutter button has a blue LED that is really, really bright. If you’re going observing at night, consider putting a little masking tape over it.

First telescope I buy and it has performed as expected. From my city with usually foggy skies and much light pollution I’ve been able to see Moon craters, Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s rings. Easy to mount and use.

Also good for terrestrial observation. The only shortcoming I see is that the aim always moves down somewhat inmediately after locking the handle. Maybe the tripod isn’t rigid enough. But overall I’m happy with this purchase.

This is a good telescope! 1. OTA: The Optical Tube Assembly is relatively fast @ f/5. It is clear and bright. 2. Tripod: The tripod is somewhat wobbly, especially if you extend the center column. Use a good tripod.

I chose to use my Manfrotto tripod with a Manfrotto fluid head. Luckily the telescope has 1/4 X 20 mounting holes (common photo size), so mounting it on a good tripod will not be a problem. 3. Finderscope: The finderscope is okay, but it mounts with somewhat flexible plastic mount.

I chose to replace it with a Celestron Star Finder Finderscope, which is very easy to use and comes with a sturdy mount that fits nicely on the telescope. Happy stargazing!.

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.

I have owned 6” and 8” SCT telescopes and a 14” Dobsonian, but the Unistellar eQuinox had me jumping for joy. I charged it on its arrival and took it outside my condo that night in the suburbs. It was so easy to turn on, align, check collimation, focus, and take a dark frame.

I was amazed it only took 5 minutes. The software was easy to use and the connection to my iPad was stable even though I operated it from the warmth of my living room for half the cold night. The first thing I looked at was Orion’s Great Nebula.

It was amazing in the Live View and absolutely outstanding in the Enhanced Vision mode. I have viewed numerous objects thus far and am loving astronomy more than I ever have. I even viewed a dim comet and can hardly wait for the next “good” comet.

In addition to the above, this scope is design perfection. Only a tripod and the mount + scope parts. The tripod is a work of art as is the scope. They are also highly functional I have not been able to view any planets, but Uranus was pretty great and at least I was sure I was looking at it since this scope always centers the object it slews too.

I can hardly wait to try it on Saturn or Jupiter, but I am sure I will like them, but still use my SCTs to view them I love this telescope and have the highest customer satisfaction I have ever had. I do not know anyone at Unistellar or OPT and am not being paid by anyone.

This product deserves this review. There may be some astrophotographers that may dislike this scope, but I can look at new objects after every 5 minutes in the comfort of my home and not spend a lot of time assembling parts and hooking up wires.

That being said, serious astrophotographers are amazing and I for one love their monumental efforts at producing the most beautiful and awesome displays of our incredible universe.

The sales staff was pleasant, patient and easy to deal with. I could recommend them for that alone, but I also paid $600. 00 less than MSRP! What’s not to like? Now to the telescope: If you’re an aging amateur astronomer like myself whose eyes aren’t what they used to be, I highly recommend this scope.

It does everything the manufacturer claims. I am sooo impressed! I’m 60yrs old not what you’d call tech savvy. I watched a number of tutorials on the net while waiting for the scope to arrive, and when it came time to actually set up the scope myself, I found it was actually EASIER than I thought it was going to be.

For first light I chose M51 the Whirlpool galaxy. The scope slewed to it, I hit the enhanced vision, and within 28 seconds I was seeing it as I never thought possible from my light polluted skies! Truly amazing.

I felt like I was 10yrs old again glimpsing the rings of Saturn for the first time! If you’re on the fence, don’t be. You’re never going to see deep space objects like this unless you have thousands of dollars in astrophotography equipment and have spent years navigating the night sky.

Wanna see nebulae in color? This little scope is a game changer!.

Having been in Astronomy since 2018 I was looking for a Prtable and compact Telescope. I looked at the Orion Telescopes and Binoculars website and I found what I was looking for. So I bought the Orion GoScope III 70 mm Refractor Travel Telescope kit.

The kit included everything I need. This particular telescope has all the things and it fits nicely in the backpack, it even comes with two Eyepieces a 20 mm and a 9 mm a 45 degree diagonal and a 5 X 24 Finderscope and a Tripod.

Nothing ese to buy it’s a complete Kit. For this telescope you have to sit an a chair. when you want to observe either Astronomy Observing or Terrestrial Observing it’s very easy to set up takes only minutes.

One thing beware you will get addicted to this very nice Telescope and Telescope KIt.

I have the Orion GoScope III Telescope and will buy the 2nd Orion GoScope III 70 mm Refractor Travel Telescope. I will use this Particular Telescope because it’s always great to have a spare Telescope.

Knowing how fun and easy it is to use, I always like Orion Telescopes and I like the Company Orion Telescopes & Binoculars. I am also a big fan of the Orion GoScope III Telescope. And it will be a joy to use when I look thru this Telescope and I see the Mon, the Planets, the Stars and Star Constellation and I will use it when I do my Astronomy Observation and my Terrestrial Observation.

I have a high functioning 14 year old autistic grandson who doesn’t do well in school and not on the same level as his classmates but he enjoys being on his computer and playing his xbox One. I’ve been trying to think of a Christmas gift for him that will intrigue his curiosity and be educational for him as well.

It becomes difficult as children start becoming young adults to find good gifts that they will be excited about and actually use (other than clothing and shoes). After watching both “The Universe” series on Netflix he and I would have conversations about the stars, planets and universe.

So after much thinking and searching, I decided to ordered this telescope as a Christmas gift for my special grandson and I’m looking forward to exploring the universe with him. I also order a couple of extra books for him to read and look at the pictures that will help him search and find different things in the skies.

I like that it comes with its own bag so he will be able to keep it all together. I’ve taken it out of the box to look over to make sure everything was there and not broken. The quality and price are great and I recieved it well packaged and in just a couple of days.

I just hope I can hold off until Christmas to give it to him. I think it’s a perfect gift since he is the light of my life and my world! My only regret is that I didn’t think of getting him a telescope a couple of years earlier.

I’m thinking about ordering another one for my granddaughter who also lives with me but first I’ll have to pick her curiosity to see if she may be interested in a telescope too.

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.

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 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.

When my 9 year old son opened this gift, I thought he was going to burst. It is by far his favorite gift. He carries it around with him wherever he goes. The brass telescope is heavy and focuses by adjusting the length of the extension slightly.

The handle is wrapped in leather, which is hand-sewn together at the seam. The box that it came in is excellent quality as well–nicely finished with smooth seams. I find this gift to be a steal for the quality.

If you are looking for a gift with an authentic, antique, pirate feel with high quality of craftsmanship, this is the gift to get.

if these were available on the titanic, they wouldn’t have had the ice water problem in the staterooms. go for it!. excellent quality for very little money. re-enact Custers last stand. if he had these he would have quietly gone around and headed to Deadwood instead.

The description is the thing I most have issue with. I assumed (wrongly) that the box that the telescope or even the telescope itself within the box was 6 inches long. This was not the case. The telescope is little over 2 inches within the box.

The box measures, maybe 3. 5 inches. The quality however, is quite good!.

After a lot of research purchased this telescope because it was recommended for beginners and great for travel. Like many people, we live in an area with a lot of light pollution so to really see the stars we need to travel.

I recommend reading the directions carefully and practice a few times at home before taking it out at night. Our first time using at a dark skies location, it was approximately 26 degrees out and the wind was really blowing.

Knowing how to assemble in the dark was paramount to success out there. Can’t wait to for the next adventure.

This telescope is great for beginners ! It is well made and very easy to assemble. It comes with an adjustable tripod, 2 different eyepieces, and even a map of the Moon and stars to help guide you. I really love that it folds back up easily into a convenient storage bag so that we can take it with us outdoors or camping.

If you are looking for a high-quality stater telescope, this is a great one! Our whole family has already had so much fun star gazing and exploring the sky with this telescope!.

Is a gift but we had a quick play with it beforehand. Was very pleased, could see the full moon very clearly including some craters etc. haven’t heard from my Niece / Nephew further feedback since gifting and didn’t have a chance to look further for other planets etc.

I don’t think it’ll be quite strong enough for that but would be with some add ons I think. It was very clear and easy to set up. Perfect for children as it’s table top and can be put in and out of a cupboard when they fancy having a play rather than involving a complex 30 minute set up and taking up loads of floor space (by which time they’ve moved onto something else).

Ideal for children (or adults) to dabble in astronomy I’d say.

I am amazed at the image quality and level of magnification of such a compact and economically priced telescope. Being a table top model already fixed to its fully orientation adjustable mount, the only thing I had to do when I took it out of the box was attach the spotting scope to the front of the telescope cylinder, a very simple operation involving only the tightening by hand of a couple of thumb nuts.

The two viewing lenses supplied that provide varying levels of magnification are crystal clear and good quality. Great value for money.

I decided to get this scope instead of the Astromaster 130, because well, its cheap, and litterally my first scope! After I get my bearings with this scope, I can give it to the grand kids and get something a little bit more.

powerful. This scope can barely look at a full moon without killing your eyes, but a moon filter does help (I got the Astromaster accessory kit. Not super powerful at 300mm, but still does a great job.

I needed to adjust the secondary mirror a smidge to begin with, but even without that, it wasnt terrible. The spotter scope is fairly temperamental to align, but I still love that it has it (never thought it would be so useful).

I live in appartment, so the base just barely fits on my deck railing.

I recently purchased the Stellina. I also have the Celestron Nexstar 8 SE, which I absolutely love however I have a very difficult time “like many others I’m sure” at understanding the whole processing and stacking with PC or Labtops part of astrophotography.

Lucky Stellina takes away that headache. I have a brain injury which make it very difficult to learn new things that I didn’t know prior to my accident. And trying to figure out astrophotography was especially hard being that I have such a passion for it.

With the Stellina any image I view it has all the info about it right there on the screen. So it’s less I need to try and remember. The only reason I give Stellina 3 out of 5 stars is because 1, with todays technology along with the price tag of this scope you would think you would be able to view planets as well as DSO’s.

And 2ndly, there should be a way to move the telescope manually. I don’t mean having to enter the coordinates, there should be something like arrow keys in the Stellina app that allow you to move the telescope in any direction.

Other that those two things that I feel could be very easily addressed I highly recommend this telescope to both the beginners and seasoned stargazer’s.

I own a variety of astronomical equipment, including several scopes, mounts (including equatorial) and both a dedicated digital astro camera (ATIK) and a modified Canon DSLR. With almost any combination of these items I can take superb astro photos.

The price? Time, and lots of it. Oh, and patience. My new Stellina consists of the combined scope and electronics in a briefcase size package and a small, portable tripod. Set up takes only a few minutes and another five or so for the unit to use your OIS/Android phone to orient itself, take a few photos of star fields for precision location, and focus.

The Stellina app will then give you a variety of objects/targets that are currently in the night sky for your location and cay and time. In the month or so that I’ve had the scope I have been delighted at its ease-of-use but more importantly, at the quality of the images.

No, the scope will not duplicate the photographic results of more sophisticated (and often more expensive) equipment, but I was — and you will be — impressed with what you do achieve. The JPEGs are processed by the unit’s computer using advanced stacking and processing software but you’re also given RAW files which you can process yourself with any number of currently available astronomical software.

While the scope is essentially on an altazimuth mount it contains a mechanical field rotator which keeps the scope accurately focused for extended periods of time. I recently took a 60-minute photo of the Horsehead Nebula which stayed in focus the entire time.

You could not do this with most altazimuth mounts offered by Celestron or Meade. Yes, the Stellina is expensive but in my mind worth every penny. In short, for ease, simplicity of use and great images, it can’t be beat.

And on a personal note, I can’t tell you how many of my neighbors have been dazzled with the beauties of the night sky taken from my driveway. Highly recommended.

I come from a background of “traditional” astrophotography. I’m older and no long wish to lug around a ton of stuff. This instrument does everything I need it to do. My main interest is DSOs (deep space objects) and this works wonders.

Cautionary note: It is not suitable for detailed planetary imaging. However, that is not my goal. B&H service was amazing and I received the instrument in appropriate time.

We bought this telescope for the deck on our new home. We are away from all the lights of town/the city and our boys wanted to get one. This one was so easy to get together, easy to find stars and other objects in the sky and the lenses work great.

I was a little skeptical because the price was low but I am more than happy we chose this product. The kids use it all the time and the adults do too!!.

The telescope is way better than expected. Though it’s cheap, it can show great views of planets like Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The moon looks beautiful with it. Only thing being that it has to be viewed on a very low magnification since the image becomes blurry with higher magnification.

It’s great for beginners a.

This is a great telescope for kids, as the tripod adjust short enough for little legs, and the tripod itself is sturdy (no accidental tipping). The three eyepieces can just be rotated through, so there is no time wasted screwing in a different one like with some telescopes, and it has a phone holder.

I like that this telescope came with a bag for storage and transport.

The mount is very sturdy for this lightweight OTA; the problem is the mount head bolt is epoxy fixed, so the head cannot be replaced. The scope itself has the longer 660mm focal length, as compared to the standard 600 of most 100mm objectives.

The doublet achro lens are single coated for anti reflections; however, this does not detract from image quality. The lens housing is plastic. The dew shield is too short to be effective at reducing light reflections.

The 2″ focuser has the longer tube, to accomodate the longer focal length; as it would seem the normal 600mm scopes actually use the same scope tube. Chromatic abberations are not bad for a semi-fast f/6.

5 telescope. Whereas an f/5 scope will give nice purple fringing on bright objects, such as Sirius; the 102AZ gave a smaller blueish fringe. The small dovetail attached directly to the scope tube is not as effective as would be an actual system of scope rings with an 8″ dovetail.

The lens quality is quite good and would benefit from upgraded rings/dovetail, double speed focuser, longer dew shield, & better lens housing.

My 6-year-old future astronaut has been captivated with space and especially the Moon since she was a baby, so we got her a real “grown up” telescope for her birthday. She loved it! I was worried that she wouldn’t be able to look through the telescope herself, but we just attached the phone adapter and she could see the Moon perfectly on the phone screen, plus we got some great pics.

We also looked at Venus, which happened to be next to the Moon and will be trying to find more planets and stars soon. I agree with the other reviewer who said to line up the mini scope with the red dot and use that to find things.

My husband set that up during the day and then when we used the telescope at night it was very easy.

PLUS POINTS Clear optics, super easy finding targets Very light scope NOT SOO GOOD Stand does wobble a bit and it needed loosening on pivots SUMMARY This scope is really enjoyable and super easy to use.

Was soo impressed how clear the views are, put in a Meade 4000 10mm and saw Saturn soo clearly. Overall really impressive scope, ok the Stand isnt the best, but will do. I’d recommend a decent zoom to help you find and zoom in on targets.

Add in a lunar filter make this a great little scope. I have a Meade Lx 90 8″ and Celestron 5″ Schmidt Cassegrain, if I’m going to out for anything less that 30mins the 102AZ is first pick as its soo light and easy to get set up.

Never use a Newtonian telescope (Or ‘Catadioptric Newtonian’) with a spherical mirror under f10 These telescopes are an exercise in cost cuting and give awful image quality. The primary mirror is not parabolic and so CANNOT bring all the light to the same focus.

No matter what you do the image will always be a little blurred and unsharp. Also, the Barlow lens in the draw-tube is supposed to ‘help’ with this problem, but only magnifies the error in the main mirror.

The Barlow also makes collimating the telescope almost impossible! Awful instruments – Avoid them. AVOID any telescope with a spherical (Non-parabolic) mirror and avoid all telescopes with a built in Barlow.

These typically have a total length of about half the focal length stated. So, I you have a Newtonian that says 1,000mm focal length and the tube is about 500mm long – Bin it! Get yourself a Parabolic Newtonian, without the Barlow (Typically the tube will be the same length as the focal length).

You will have much much better images and setting it up will be easier and more accurate too!.

This is a good ‘scope for the money. It is a full length real Newtonian, with full equatorial mount, fine-adjustment knobs and all. It’s not the most solid mount I’ve seen, but adequate, given the (light) weight / small size (4 inch — that’s small for me).

It does take patience an some understanding of how the earth turns to use the mount right, but once you do, it’s worth it, for tracking at high magnification. The ‘scope has way more light and clarity and magnification than other ‘scopes in this price range.

I got this for a beginner, but it’s not just a toy — you can see some serious space objects out there. The finder scope is sharp, but the mount for it is not really stable — you have to be more careful than most people are.

I may just put tabs on the top and bottom of the main tube, or figure out how to really secure the finder more tightly. I’m happy with this purchase.

Plastic EPs, flaky mount, quality too poor for anyone to grow into a learning experience. I know that bottom end purchases in astronomy are not the best but this scope really scoured the bottom and for an experienced observer trying to school two boys on the joys of observing the stars this scope came up empty.

It should not be sold at any price no matter how low. Why didn’t I return it? I had it sent to folks who lived literally a thousand miles away. And they decided that I should be the one to open it for their kids since I was scheduled for a visit and had experience in observing, they didn’t.

It was a visit that was past the returns allowable date. Solution: I’m giving them them one of own my scopes on my next visit that is not a Celestron (not my first Celestron experience. ) but another branded combo.

TranslateShow in original languageAllrounder mit sehr eingeschränkter Verwendbarkeit Auf der Suche für einen Einstieg in die Hobbyastronomie habe ich mich wegen der vielseitigen Verwendbarkeit für dieses Teleskop entschieden.

Da es seitenrichtig anzeigt, ist es nicht nur als astronomisches Teleskop, sondern auch als terrestrisches Fernrohr (Spektiv) verwendbar. Wegen der kurzen Brennweite von 400 mm ist es recht kompakt. Mit dem Sonnenfilter deckt es fast alle Beobachtungssituationen ab.

Das Ganze kommt in einem kleinen Rucksack, Gesamtgewicht etwa 2,5 kg. Ideal, um auch auf langen Wegen zu Fuß oder per Fahrrad zum Beobachtungsplatz mitgenommen zu werden. So weit, so schön. Leicht war es ja, wie ich vorsichtig auspackte, mein erstes Teleskop! Aber ich stellte auch gleich fest: sehr viel Kunststoff, also mit viel Gefühl anfassen und die Kordelschrauben z.

B. zur Arretierung des Okulars mit noch mehr Gefühl betätigen. Schönes Wetter, die Nacht schien klar zu werden, also alles vorbereiten zum ersten Beobachtungs-Abend! Aber dann wich langsam die Vorfreude einer immer größeren Enttäuschung.

Stativ und Montierung sowie Okular- und Sucherfernrohrhalterung sind unpräzise und wackelig. Das Sucherfernrohr lässt sich nicht einwandfrei justieren. Damit lässt sich das Teleskop gerade mal halbwegs bei 20-facher Vergößerung (20mm-Okular) nutzen.

Mit der 67-fachen Vergrößerung (6mm-Okular) ist es Zufall, das Beobachtungsobjekt zu treffen. Da man ja bei dieser Vergrößerung bei astronomischen Beobachtungen ständig nachführen muss, ist das Beobachtungsobjekt auch gleich wieder aus dem Gesichtsfeld verschwunden.

Immerhin habe ich neben dem Erdmond Jupiter samt 3 Monden und den Saturn sehen können. Der Saturn erscheint als ovales, in allen Farben schillerndes Scheibchen. Ich nahm es mit Humor. Es gibt also nicht nur achromatische, sondern auch chromatische Refraktoren! Mit der Barlow-Linse war leider kein Fokussieren möglich.

Das machte auch nichts, weil das Teleskop lediglich sehr eingeschränkt brauchbar ist mit 20-facher Vergrößerung. Hier liegt neben der mech. Mängel außerdem ein technischer Defekt vor. Als letzten Test gönnte ich mir eine Sonnenbeobachtung.

Mit der 20-fachen Vergrößerung war die Sonne nur als Scheibe zu erkennen, bei der 67-fachen Vergrößerung meine ich kurzzeitig sogar Sonnenflecken gesehen zu haben. Das Einrichten war mit der wackeligen Mechanik schwierig, denn bei Sonnenbeobachtungen darf man auf keinen Fall das Sucherteleskop verwenden.

Denn im Gegensatz zum Hauptteleskop gibt es hier keinen Sonnenfilter. Hier besteht höchste Gefahr für die Augen! Darauf sollte unbedingt hingewiesen werden, vor allem, wenn noch ein paar Kinder herumspringen und “auch mal” gucken möchten.

Bevor ich dann doch im Eifer der Sonnenflecken-Suche gedankenlos durch das Sucherteleskop schaue, wie bei den Sternenbeobachtungen in der Nacht zuvor stundenlang praktiziert habe, packte ich lieber alles wieder ein und schickte es zurück.

Schade, im Ansatz gut, aber leider schlecht realisiert. Der Name “Levenhuk” soll wohl Assoziationen zu dem niederländischen Naturforscher Leeuwenhoek (Pionier auf dem Gebiet der Mikroskopie) wecken. Ich glaube, mit einem Fernglas 8×40 oder 10×50 ist man besser bedient.

Klar haben wir hier weniger Vergrößerung, aber mit dem Teleskop war ja auch nur die 20-fache Vergrößerung einigermaßen verwendbar. Dafür ist ein Fernglas kompakter, leichter und dabei auch etwas preiswerter zu haben – und hat zwei Okulare! Für ein astronomisches Telekop (auch für ein Einsteigergerät) sollte man mindestens den doppelten oder dreifachen Betrag anlegen, wenn man Freude daran haben möchte.

Das beste Teleskop bringt nichts, wenn Stativ und Montierung nichts taugen. Beim Stativ sollte eine Ablage für Okulare vorhanden sein, da man Objektive häufiger wechselt. Wenn man bedenkt, dass man für ein gutes Fernglas weitaus mehr ausgeben kann, braucht man sich über die “Qualität” dieses “Allround-Teleskops” nicht zu wundern.

TranslateShow in original languageДля начинающих отличный вариант, ребёнку сделали подарок. Сами тоже с удовольствием будем пользоваться. Можно не только на звезды смотреть, но и на природу брать и наблюдать.

Ещё и на скидку попали, в общем довольны.

TranslateShow in original languageПока не пробовали использовать по назначению, но в черте города видимость до конца улицы отличная. Лёгкая сборка, удобный чехол

Even though newer AVX mounts have a dual saddle plate the ADM Dual Saddle Plate is a great upgrade for the AVX mount. The original saddle plate on the AVX uses two bolts that press into the dovetail bar to secure the telescope.

The bolts leave ugly dimples on the dovetail. The ADM upgrade is a compression saddle plate that does not damage the dovetail bar and is much more secure. The orange aluminum knobs on the ADM are easier to grip and add to the aesthetics.

Bought this upgrade for the standard AVX saddle because I was having issues balancing my new Sharpstar 61EDPHII in DEC on the standard saddle. This saddle is so much better! I can now mount the scope in a forward enough position so the center of gravity of my setup is over the center of the axis.

It also feels more secure than the standard saddle, and it’s not leaving bite marks on my dovetails. This will work for all the scopes I mount on my AVX: the Sharpstar, my Coronado Solarmax, and my C11.

Why the AVX doesn’t come with a saddle like this to begin with is beyond me. Installation was a breeze, took just a couple minutes. The hardest part was getting the bolts loose to take off the original saddle.

I recently bought this to compliment the deluxe ADM knob kit for my AVX. It provides a solid mount for my 9. 25 SCT. There’s are great products and quality/craftsmanship is superior. With the clutch levers in the knob kit I was having an issue with the dec.

motor clutch contacting the dec. motor housing and releasing the clutch while slewing. With the addition of this ADM saddle the issue is no more as it allows me to tighten the clutch in a position that won’t cause contact.

Bravo ADM. Also, I lost one of the threaded stainless steel grommets used to tighten the clutch levers. A quick email to Highpoint and ADM and 48 hours later replacements arrived in the mail from ADM.

…. exceptional customer service!!! (from both HP & ADM) If you want to make your AVX look awesome then I highly recommend the replacement saddle (& knob kit).