Celestron AstroMaster 114 EQ 4.4"/114mm Reflector Telescope Kit

Comments about Celestron AstroMaster 114 EQ 4.4"/114mm Reflector Telescope Kit:

This is a fine instrument for a beginning backyard astronomer. It is particularly well suited for inhabitants of light-polluted urban areas, because

(1) It is compact enough to be transported easily to dark sites, by car or plane. While it does not come with a carrying case, it is easy to make one from a small duffel bag and some 2" thick cushion foam, and the tripod can be collapsed and clipped to the top of the bag;

(2) Even in light-polluted areas it can show beautiful detail of bright objects, such as the Moon's craters and Mariae, the phases of Venus, and Jupiter, including striping and moons.

At dark sites it can show the usual details of double stars, star clusters, and moderately deep-sky objects, that are within the capabilities of a 4.5" reflector (M57, Andromeda, etc.)

The mount and tripod are sturdy, and with practice the whole telescope can be assembled in minutes.

The User Guide is for the most part clearly written, if perhaps a little sparse on some details. The included software didn't seem that useful to me, but that may be personal preference -- I prefer an open-source product called "Skychart" for planning observations.

The main problem with this telescope is that the supplied starfinder is junk. It's difficult to use and adjust in the daytime, and nearly impossible at night. It rises about 1" above the optical tube assembly, near the aperture. It has two concentric circles that can be seen in daylight, and used to sight down the length of the tube. For night-time use it has an LED spot, which can only be lined up by laying one's head on the tube right next to the starfinder. I haven't had much success with it in this mode.

Not having a working starfinder is a serious problem, since the field-of-view with the low-power eyepiece is about 1 degree, so that even getting the FOV into the right area of the sky is a serious challenge, and requires lots of time and practice. I would recommend buying a third-party starfinder that can be attached to the side of the tube.