Customer reviews
an update on my review
Review by ralphy1976 on 11.01.2014 11:20:57( 4 / 5 )
Having had this telescope for some time now, i have had the opportunity to use it more and here are my thoughts (some are identical)
1 - focusing and adjusting the position with the fine focus will blur and shake the picure, which has become extemely annoying: if you have a "webcam type" camera you will lose recording material due to the shaking. Staying on that subjectyou need very good eyepiece with good eye relief length to get the best picture
2 - the focuser is extremely cheap and weak: i have tried to take pictures with a normal digital camera with the lightest mount available and i could see a focuser creep as the angle of the telescope was increasing. The positioning screw used in the focuser feel extemely cheap and i am always wary of using them to tighten things up
However last night i was able to see a very detailed Orion Nebulae and Jupiter was well detailed (with an upgraded eyepiece).
Overall i think the telescope itself is good, but it needs a better focuser and definitively very good quality optics, so as a result my upgrade will be nearly as much as the telescope...why? well i think the portability and the dimensions of the telescope are really great (easy to set-up and light) therefore i want to see what it can give which good quality optics (i have an omegon planetary 18mm and it gives a great picture) and a sturidier focuser.
If i decide to change the scope, these items will be useable with the next oen anyway, so there will be no loss anyway
So in conclusion: i recommend it as a beginner's telescope with a bigger budget and i would recommend you to get a basic 32mm, good quality 18mm and 12mm, as for barlow, start with a basic 2X and 3X
some cons...
Review by ralphy1976 on 17.05.2013 11:22:42( 4 / 5 )
Hi there,
I agree with everything which the previous reviewer has mentioned, but i'd like to add some cons.
1 - when tracking, the telescope wobbles which at a medium magnification and above is annoying as you may have to refocus.
2 - focus is a bit too coarse i think
3 - i find the spotting scope to be useless
4 - the manual travel adjustment is not an infinite screw system. Every now and then you have to totally re-adjust your position to give you some "screw" for your find tracking. This gets tedious after a while
5 - to adjust the scope vertical position you have to use the scope as the handle / lever, which puzzled me for a while as i didn't expect this
Overall, i still think it is a great introduction package as it does everything i want it to do and i have fun looking at the plantes.
I think i will upgrade the focuser as i'd like sharper images.
Ultra-portable
Review by asd on 05.11.2010 14:15:48( 4 / 5 )
Portability:
Highly recommended for people who need portability. If you don't have a car to go to a dark location or if you live on the 5th floor of an apartment building and carrying a large scope up and down the stairs is a problem for you, this telescope is perfect. At 120mm of aperture, it's still reasonably bright, considering the small weight and size. The telescope + the mount + all the accessories fit in a large backpack, so you can carry it anywhere.
What I've seen:
An achromat refractor at f/5 is always going to suffer from a bit of chromatic aberration. It is the same for this scope. However, the chromatic aberration isn't severe and you can still get quite nice views even at higher magnifications. I have seen Jupiter with its satellites at 120x magnification (with a 10mm eyepiece and a Barlow lens) and it looks reasonably good. You can very clearly see one of the cloud bands of Jupiter, maybe even more with the aid of some color filters (I haven't tried yet).
The Double Cluster in Perseus looks magnificent through this telescope, and so do other open clusters. For globular clusters, I've managed to see M13, but the telescope couldn't resolve any details, I could only see a round smudge and no clearly separated individual stars. (with a 200mm Newtonian, I was able to distinguish individual stars in this cluster)
The Andromeda galaxy also appears like a smudge, I couldn't see any details at this aperture (but neither with the 200mm Newtonian).
Photographic use:
If you own a DSLR, you can buy a T2 adapter ring for your type of lens mount and use this telescope as a 600mm lens for your camera. Photos of the Moon show a certain degree of chromatic aberration, but you can get by this by stopping down the telescope with the aid of the front cap (from which you can remove the central part to let some light in). This will reduce the chromatic aberration, at the cost of darkening the image (but the Moon is bright enough anyway, so no problem here) and losing a bit of angular resolution (but you can't focus perfectly anyway, so again, no real loss when photographing the Moon).
Other things to consider:
The mount is easy to use and gives good stability to this telescope. The image shakes a little bit while focusing, but nothing serious.
I've noticed that bright objects, such as Jupiter, appear as having a luminous band emerging from them. I've traced the problem down to the 45° erecting prism, which isn't of exceptional quality.
Delivery:
Very quick. It was delivered to France in only 2 days after making the payment, with the cheapest carrier.
Conclusions:
Overall, a very good telescope at a very attractive price. One of the largest apertures that you can own, but still carry around easily from one place to another. It's better to have a small telescope that you can really use than to have a very big one that's too heavy to use frequently.
Compose your own review
Do you have specific questions about your order or products? Please contact our customer service!
