Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

I bought this for my Dad for his birthday. I was impressed by all the material included with the telescope and the quality of the telescope's construction. Good deal for amateur's telescope.

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

[...] some nice thumb prints on the lenses. The telescope works well enough, but I should have sprung for something a bit more powerful... and new.

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

I have a large 10" Dobsonian and a also a 5" Newtonion EQ. I bought the Astromaster 70 telescope because I was intrigued with having a classic refractor that was small and lightweight. This has since become my favorite telescope and I use it all the time. Despite what self-proclaimed 'experts' may lead you to believe on the internet a small refractor is not a 'toy' telescope and in the hands of someone that knows what they are doing you can have a lot of fun viewing hundreds of celestial objects with this scope. It is not just for planets and the moon! You can view most if not all of the Messier Objects under the right conditions with this 70mm telescope! You may learn to be very happy with it and never need a bigger scope. It just depends on what your astronomical ambitions are.

The tripod itself is worth the price of the scope! The mount is all solid cast metal, it is smooth and stable. The objective lens is fully coated and of superb quality for this price range. Because the Focal length is a long F13 this scope beats out many 'fast' scopes of equal lens quality. The views through this scope are crisp and vivid and even a full moon shows very little chromatic aberration. I had no trouble using the finder scope, if you know what you are doing the red dot finder scope works well also. The focuser tube is plastic but its of good quality and contains a baffle to reduce unwanted reflections. The tube is seamless aluminum with a beautiful dark metallic blue paint.

I did make some small modifications that enhanced the performance of this telescope. I painted the inside of the dew shield a flat non reflective black because the plastic was a bit reflective. I got a non-reflective flat black "camo" paint from the home improvement store. I also upgraded the diagonal to a high quality dielectric diagonal which reflects 99% of the light. Of course some PLOSSI eyepieces are an improvement also. I use a 25mm and a 9mm. I also painted the part of the focuser tube that is inside of the OTA flat black since it was shiny chrome, then I used a laser collimator to adjust it back to center alignment with the objective lens. Right out of the box this is a great telescope. Don't be fooled by the price, yes you CAN get a really good telescope for less then $200 even though that is not what you may read in a lot of places, it's not the 1960's anymore! This is a nice high quality instrument that will provide years of good service. Remember, Galileo unlocked some of the mysteries of the universe with a tiny telescope. Enjoy!

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

Bought this telescope for the family for Christmas. My son, 8, and I absolutely love it! We spent half an hour last night looking at Jupiter and three of it's moons. Of course, it wasn't until we referenced the included software (TheSky running on Mac OS X) that we even knew what we were looking at.

I am looking forward to taking it out where it's REALLY dark. My front lawn in Houston, TX is, obviously, not the ideal spot.

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

To watch the sky stars

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

I use the product for close objects such as the Moon, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Whats great is it so much clearer than my other telesope that I paid 3 times more for. What I don't like is the tightening handle for lateral movement, it doesn't work too great. While finding an object and then trying to lock it is pretty tough. After the handle is tightened the scope still moves and requires me to find the object again. Other than that it's a pretty good beginner scope for the price.

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster-70 AZ 2.7"/70mm Refractor Telescope Kit:

I bought this as a present for my boyfriend who has a big interest in space and he really likes it. It's great as a starter telescope for someone who is going to use it for fun rather than a really intense hobby. It's easy to set up and gives great views of the moon, even in a city with all the light pollution. But let's just say you're not going to be calling NASA to inform them of all the comets and meteors you've identified.