Great travel telescope for the eclipse
341086
Great travel telescope for the eclipse; not much else going for it; too flimsy for night viewing and to hard to adjust for terrestrial viewing.
3339088
For the price this bino is hard to beat.  Large aperture lenses give lots of bright images of the moon.  I was able to spot 4 of Jupiters moons and almost resolve the orion nebula.  I couldn't get it to focus very well on most deep sky objects.  My older and much smaller Pentax did better with the orion nebula for example.  Edge of view would show luminated shadows (double images) that I couldn't resolve with the focuser.  But for the $ you get a very bright image that is excellent for terrestrial viewing even at night.

Build quality is about what you would expect from a bino of this price but not much more.
I wonder if the 25x100 which is almost 3 times the price would fare much better.  The spec sheet is very similar (same type of lenses, same bak4 prism etc..  but the pictures would indicate a better build quality as well.

Overall a good starter astro bino for the budget conscious.
208165
This is a great little telescope!  It's nice for quick easy viewing sessions and very portable so I use it often.  I have a bigger telescope but I use the FirstScope more because it's so easy to carry and there's no setup.  The base is sturdy and stable.

The eyepieces that come with this telescope are not good, and that's why I had to give it 4 stars instead of 5.  I found them to be blurry with lots of distortion and a small field of view.  They are a waste of the telescopes capabilities.

This telescope gives some very pleasing views if used with a better eyepiece.  I have 10mm and 25mm Plossl eyepieces that I use instead, and it's like a whole different telescope with them.  Very clear and bright, with a nice wide field of view.  It's great for looking at the Moon and star clusters like Pleiades, Double Cluster, or just scanning across the sky.  The wide field of view is one of its strengths, but you need better eyepieces to take advantage of that.

I would definitely recommend replacing the eyepieces to bring out the scope's true capabilities.  Inexpensive eyepieces can be found on ebay.  The SVBONY/Aspherical eyepiece sets on ebay would be a good low-cost upgrade, as well as any other type such as plossl, gold line, kellner, etc in the $15-$30 range would all be a big improvement.

I'm really happy with it overall.  It's just a great, fun, easy to use telescope that can give steady clear views.  I recommend it to any beginner, or anyone looking for a nice portable low maintenance telescope.
21968
At first I was a bit hesitant to buy a telescope at such a low price, but I'm really glad I did! when I was young, I had an $80 meade telescope and it was crap, so hard to focus and set up, but this telescope is basically ready out of the box. All you have to do is take off the covers and insert the eye pieces and on a decent clear night, you can see some great things. Now you have to be realistic about things to, if your expecting to see distant things immaculately close, get out of here..lol Images like that will require big bucks$$$$ on better telescopes and eyepieces. However if you want a great opportunity to see the moon pretty close, buy this telescope. You can also see things like mars, jupiter, and saturn at a distance, if you purchase additional eyepieces the images can be improved. Also it depends on the light pollution in your area, I live in a relatively light polluted area, so I can image things would look a lot better outside of city lights. The Telescope is well built, and sturdy. It is compact and looks great sitting on your shelf. I personally did not purchase the addition accessory kit, a lot of negative reviews on it, but I would say you will eventually want to buy better eyepieces or a Barlow. Overall if your looking a great starter telescope of good quality, buy this one.
365911
As an amateur astronomer, I was well-acquainted with Celestron's reputation for quality telescopes, and so I was drawn to Celestron when looking for a more portable and waterproof alternative to my excellent (but heavy and unwieldy) 10x50 binoculars.  So far, the Celestron monocular has proven an excellent choice.  The optics are very good, and while other reviewers are correct about the stiffness of the focusing ring, I consider that to be an asset, because it allows for very fine focusing of the image -- and once focused, it stays focused until you change it!  The monocular is very lightweight and hangs so comfortably around my neck that I have to check to see if it is still there!  The carrying case comes with a snap to attach it to a belt, but this snap has let go a number of times during hiking, allowing the entire case and monocular to drop to the ground.  For this reason I no longer use the case, and put the device in a pocket or hang it around my neck.  The 10x lens is probably the maximum allowable for hand-held use, as any shaking of the unit is immediately visible through the lens.  Other reviewers have cited this as a negative, but to me, if you want 10x magnification, you better expect to hold it steady!  If you know this to be an issue for you, perhaps a 7x or 8x monocular would be a better choice.  In conclusion, I have been very satisfied with this monocular and am looking forward to bringing it on paddling trips and on the motor scooter, where its portability will ensure it gets used -- as opposed to the bulky binoculars, which sit in their case in the closet!
1370096
Since I was new to Astronomy I selected a scope that I thought would meet my early needs and not be too complicated. The 5 SE scope has been a great purchase for me. My only stumble was telling the NexStar computer I used EST time instead of the Standard time we use during the winter. I couldn't align the scope which was frustrating. Once I figured out this bonehead move it's worked flawlessly since. Its ruggedly made and gives you a since that this is a quality telescope. Looking back I would probably buy a slightly larger Celestron scope (perhaps a six or eight inch scope) as this would give me additional, future, options as I build my skill set. Nonetheless this is a quality instrument and I know I'll spend more time outside with it once the weather warms a bit. The entire family has enjoyed including my three year old granddaughter...you should have seen her face once she saw the moon up close!
3409825
This is the company endorsed by NASA. The 2017 eclipse is on the way in a few weeks. We have already tested this cardboard viewer and it works nicely for viewing the sun. You can use it whenever you like - not just when there is an eclipse. We bought a 10-pack so we can pass them out to family and friends.
1956059
I got this for my boyfriend, he is a birdwatcher and star gazer. In the past we've gone on spontaneous adventures and the big telescope he had wasn't convenient at all to take around so this was perfect. Everything fits great in the backpack and the telescope has some nice lenses.
Its still a travel telescope so judge it for that.
4034823
This is the first telescope I have ever purchased. The first thing I noticed about this telescope is that the color of the optical tube is beautiful! Out of the box, it took me about 30 minutes to assemble, with very little hassle. Since this was my first time putting together a telescope, I had no idea where to put the right ascension and declination control cables, but I figured it out. I was happy to see this telescope included three eyepieces (low, medium, and high power), as well as a 2x barlow for greater magnification. The red dot viewfinder included a battery, and it was a breeze to align.

The Polaris 80 came with an equatorial mount (right ascension/declination axis), as opposed to an altazimuth mount (up-down/left-right axis). Because of this, I had to polar align my telescope in order to use the slow motion controls correctly. After watching a YouTube video on how to properly align my telescope, it was clear to me that polar alignment is much simpler than I thought it would be. After a few nights of observing, I felt like an expert!

The view through the telescope is excellent. I know that refractors can suffer from chromatic aberration, but when looking at the moon I saw no such problem. The moon was sharp, even with a good amount of light pollution AND bad seeing. Lots of craters and other details can be seen. Jupiter looked great, and the moons around Jupiter were visible. The focuser knob is smooth, and changing out eyepieces is very simple. The mount is quite stable for the price, and tracking objects as they moved across the night sky is simple (I only had to turn the right ascension knob after getting the scope polar aligned). The barlow worked best with the lowest power eyepiece. Using it with the high power eyepiece over-magnifies the image and produced a blurry image.. After doing some research I found out :

Magnification = focal length of scope / focal length of eyepiece. Using the 9mm eyepiece with the 2x barlow, the focal length of the eyepiece is 4.5mm (the 2x barlow cuts the focal length in half). Focal length of the scope is 900mm. Magnification = 900mm/4.5mm = 200x magnification.

Highest Useful Magnification is 2 times the aperture size (in mm) = 2x80mm = 160x.

What does this mean? It means beyond 160x magnification, the image will not be in focus. So this has nothing to do with bad optics or designit's just how optics works! Now to return from that tangent

Overall, my experience with this telescope has been great. I'm eager to view more and more when I get the chance. Next on my viewing bucket list: Saturn, the Orion Nebula, Mars, Ring Nebula, and M13! This is a nice first telescope (and it looks great too!), and a great way to get started. I would recommend this telescope to anyone interested in learning their way around the night sky. With any great hobby there is a learning curve, but I will proudly say that it is worth it.
2564150
I bought this to give to my son for his 4th birthday.  He loves outer space, but especially the moon, and I thought he would love being able to see the moon close up.  I am going to surprise him with it on his birthday in a few weeks, but I did test it myself just to see what it could do.

It comes with two lenses, a 10mm and 25mm.  It also came with a 3x Barlow lens, but I have to say that I could not get the image to focus when I was using the Barlow lens.  I am a newbie when it comes to telescopes, so I chalked it up to user error.  But I had much better luck with the 10 and 25mm eyepieces.  I was able to get a clear picture of the moon with both the 10mm and 25mm lenses.  The view was cool, I could see the craters clearly.  It's definitely meant for beginners.  If you are looking for a telescope that will allow you to zoom in and see the intricate detail of the craters, or even view anything much further away than the moon, you will need to spend quite a bit more money to get a much more powerful telescope. But if you are just looking to get a really crisp and clear full view of the moon at a decent price, this telescope will do the trick!

The telescope comes with a really nice canvas case that fits everything perfectly and makes it easy to transport.  It was super easy to put together, it took about 10 minutes.  It's extremely light and easy to move around on the included tripod.  The detachable sight finder is great and really helps you pinpoint where to aim the telescope.  It also has a stabilizing lever (or at least that's what I'm calling it for lack of a better term), which allows you to easily pan the telescope through the sky and then tighten it to keep the view locked in place horizontally.  Then, there is a separate knob on the lefthand side that allows you to lock the scope in place vertically.  So it's very easy to maneuver.

It's also great for viewing distant landscapes.  I was able to zoom in on distant trees with amazing clarity.  I think my son will enjoy that just as much as viewing the moon!

Overall, I think my son is going to love this telescope and it does all I need it to do.  If you or your children are just getting your start as budding astronomers, this seems like a great telescope to begin with.

I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
3308664
We have had our Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 for over 15 years.  Our children were in early grade school and now they are college students. It was a great tool for family activity building curiosity We used it two nights ago to see Jupiter and Venus in close proximity. We purchased a Sirrus Plossl 25mm, a Sirrus Plossl 10mm and a Shorty 2x Bartlow 1.25 as our lenses.  The 25mm is great for looking at the Moon.  The 10mm allows us to see Saturn's ring and Jupiter's moons. The Shorty Bartlow is designed to be used along with another lenses and multiply its magnification by 2x, we have not used it often as the lenses by themselves give a clear image.  Being a reflector telescope the image will be reversed if looking at two planets together, as it was when we looked at Venus and Jupiter.  We also have a 50mm pair of binoculars.  When I was researching telescopes all those years ago I read a article that suggested a good pair of binoculars if you couldn't afford a telescope.  We can see the craters on the moon clearly with the 50mm binoculars and you can see stars hidden from the naked eye as well.
2111332
Decent little travel scope with quick setup. It is not for serious viewing of planets or deep space objects. Good for viewing terrestrial objects, the moon, and with a proper solar filter the sun (recommended). Best used on a table, as shaking pretty bad when tripod fully extended. Great first scope for kids beginners.
3416895
I love this telescope. For the Amateur Astronomer, or backyard enthusiast like me, this scope offers power, affordability, and quality. The precision of a German Equatorial mount allows for easy tracking of objects across the sky, and has the ability to be upgraded with a motor drive for under $50. It also comes with a 3x Barlow Lens, which most comparable Telescopes do not. Setup was quick and easy. The mount is extremely sturdy as well. I would recommend to anyone purchasing this model, a collimation tool/eyepiece is an important accessory. If you are looking for more bang for your buck this is a great choice.
2264482
I am very impressed with this telescope. I had a Meade reflector that cost twice as much. It didn't work well for me since there are so many trees around where I live. It was computer-driven. This is sort of like having a point and shoot camera as opposed to a complicated SLR.

The scope was incredibly easy to set up right out of the box. The 90mm is longer than I was expecting but still easy to carry and not heavy. I love the deep blue color. The only complaint I would have is that the accessories tray doesn't fold up with the tripod part, you have to remove it. That is the only drawback I've found thus far.

I was able to line up Jupiter easily and see it better than I have before. Could see 4 moons and the bands on it clearly. I haven't been able to see Saturn yet, but should be able to see its rings with the magnification it has with just the lenses that came with it. Can't wait to try out my barlow lens with it.

It has great power for such a low price. I still can't believe it was only $200. It is an incredible telescope. I would highly recommend it for beginners or advanced users.
602231
This is a good inexpensive solar scope.  You can identify sun spots very easily with this product.  I have never been that excited about solar observing until I tried this scope out.  I used it for the total solar eclipse and it was really interesting to see the moon slide past 4 sun spots.  It made the entire experience much better.
126432
It was wonderful viewing the eclipse of August, 2017, with these glasses. So much better that the cheap cardboard ones sold everywhere. Crystal clear view.
3488643
A fun scope that can be used daytime or night. The included tripod is flimsy and lightweight, but will do with some effort. The advantage is that it is compact and light for travel, which is what I wanted. Around home, I use a sturdier tripod that I bought for general photography. Pointing the scope is rather crude. It is a challenge to point and secure the tripod; there's a lot of sticking and jumping involved, and no means to carefully adjust the aim with some nobs. But, it's still fun and you can see a lot. It was a special thrill to view Saturn and its rings, just visible with high power. Some day I'll get a large aperture goto scope. For now this is much fun and is highly portable.