| I have always wanted a telescope and when Mars was beginning to approach it's closest distance to earth in 2200+ years, I didn't want to wait 2 more millennia to get one. Amazon delivered the scope just in time for me to view The Red Planet at its closest distance in history. I must say that the viewing was anti-climactic... but not due to the telescope's failings. At its closest, Mars looked like an orange dot with a white dot near the polar cap - fairly flat in appearance. About a week later, when Mars was still relatively close, I went to a public viewing at the Observatory at UNT in Denton, TX. I got to look through a telescope that was so large, it could use this Celestron as a q-tip. :-) It was then that I realized how good m Celestron was - because the viewing at the observatory looked the same as it did with my new, inexpensive telescope! Wee! The moon is absolutely breath-taking, especially with the included moon filter that helps the craters to "pop" with clarity. My less than perfect rating is due to the fact that the included software is for Windows-only. This is frankly inexcusable. There is no reason that the same software could not be made for the Mac platform, especially since Mac OS 10.x is Linux based. Also annoying is the lack of a built-in compass and bubble level. I bought a compass and lined my scope due north and bought a carpenter's level to make sure it was level. I then punched in the date, time and time zone and gave the command for the telescope to auto-calibrate. The motor impressively hummed as the scope automatically turned to find Polaris... but couldn't find it. Then it tried to find another star, and couldn't find that, either. The instructions read like you have just completed a college-level astronomy course (which I have not), so the neophyte will be confused by many of the instructions. With the help of some online web sites, I got some helpful hints that made the use of the scope to be easier. I know that the stars are millions of miles away, but they really don't look any different through the telescope than they do with the naked eye. I wish there was an angle viewer for the laser alignment scope... when you're looking at objects that are right above you, you've got to get into a yoga position to line up the spot scope. The tripod folds up easily, as long as you don't attach the storage triangle below the scope. The battery pack design is totally bizarre. If you want to easily transport the tripod from location to location and opt not to install the storage triangle, there is no where to put the battery pack unless you precariously hang it on the top of one of the tripod legs - and it's way too easy for the cords to get tangled up as you move the telescope from object to object in the night sky. The clip that holds the hand controller is also less than impressive. Any jarring of the tripod and the controller goes flying. The phone-jack like connectors should have had swivels installed so that when you turn the scope the controller doesn't get tangled with the power cord to the battery pack. Also annoying is the fact that the AC adapter is not included, so you have to keep fresh batteries on hand. The spotting scope has a cool laser-like light to help you spot an obect easily before zooming in w/ the compounded lenses - but the battery that operates that scope is not changeable - when it dies (estimated time is 10 years), it's dead and all you can do is either live without it or buy a new telescope. For someone who is totally clueless like me, but still wants to view the night sky, this is a very affordable way to get into a rewarding hobby. Obviously, though, you get what you pay for and the serious astronomer should get the most power they can afford to reap the biggest rewards. |
