Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ-MD Telescope with Motorised Tracking

Review after six months of using....Fantastic telescope, really like it.Couple things to keep in mind ( as a respond to some comments and reviews)* Red dot finderI was out of range from the very beginning, I had to place chim to make it able point right ( it was always to high, even adjusted to the lowest position). So it is usable and works with small modification.(Stop working after 5 months, battery replaced but still dead)* Tripod - hmmmWorks well, I mean, once polar alligned you can just turn RA knob to track object - great !Motor Drive - works well as well, I don't understand why people complain about it... Maybe they simply don't know what it does ?Bad things are: when MD attached you can't use RA knob for precise aiming (you need to release a main knob) and there is a dead area / zone - when to motor itself block couple degree of rotation ( Not a big deal really)Tripod is.... Bit wobbly, not the best one in terms of stability, but it's not junk too... Hope you know what I mean. Just avarage one.* OpticsFast telescope (F5), good quality overall, not bad eyepieces included. It's Newtonian so, collimation required. Sound scary ! But is not! Main mirror doesn't have a central mark ( considered as a negative aspect - why celestron ? Why? ) But, I am collimating it without, and i have mastered it ! It's nice and easy . I was thinking about making mark myself, but, what for? YOU CAN COLLIMATE IT WITHOUT! You don't even need laser collimator. Get one if you want, mark mirror if you want - just keep in mind ,it's not must!* AstrophotographyYeah... Newtonian...You get some problems with focus, using DSLR!(Works well with modified webcam) and works well with 2x barlow and DSLR , works well afocal projection with DSLR, and works well with prime focus - if you modify telescope ( move main mirror towards front, about 2 cm) not a big deal, hovewer, once you do it, the observations will required adapter ( all about focus plane)Every method have some advantages and disadvantages - Google them !I am using Seben zoom eyepiece 8-24 attached to my t adapter and canon DSLR or Barlow X2 with t adapter to the same camera (keep in mind, 2 X Barlow actually quadruple exposure time and doubling FR! ) Anyway, this two methods gives me better results then modified webcam.take reference photos if you want good results ( flats, bias, darks) and experiment.Overall, it's a great scope. You need to learn things in order to obtain full potential ( eq mount, polar alligment, focus, collimation, not to mention night sky !)It's great for observing stars and DSO, not so good for planets (obviously you still can do it)For astrophotography - it required some small modifications.No regrets of buying it ! Imho super cheap and well performing scope.+ For observing deep sky objects (nebulas, galaxy's)= For astrophotography DSO, long exposures thanks to motor drive but some mods required (focus)- For planetary observing or photography get Something else - like f12 refractor ;)

This review is based on the cost of this telescope after using it for about a year now. The review is for 130EQ-MD.First, to put things into perspective:* A good eyepiece costs more than half of the price of this telescope* A good mount starts at 4 times the cost of this telescope and exceeds 20 times the priceThe telescope is an excellent starter telescope. Based on forum review, it is probably not the best, but quote close to that. It has all the bits and pieces that you need to learn about while taking the first steps into amateur astronomy:* Equatorial mount: you'll learn about the types of mounts, how to do polar alignment, what is RA/DE and Hour Angle* It's Newtonian: you'll learn about reflector telescopes and collimation. You don't have to bend to look at the stars, which is important when spending an hour or so* Large focal length (you *do not* need more than that): allows you to toy with eyepieces and discover the limits of the telescope. You will realise the effects of the atmosphere and the limits they impose and you will also realise that in high magnifications the stars move too fast and go out of view in seconds.* Decent aperture: You won't be limited by the ability of the telescope to collect light. You will learn what dark adaptation is and how important it is.* Two eyepieces (20mm erect, 10mm): You'll learn what an erect eyepiece is. You'll get used to seeing things upside down. You'll learn to divide the focal lengths to get the magnification. You'll also inevitably learn about apparent field-of-view, eye relief, multicoating, what plossl is and that there is a variety of eyepieces but that you don't need many of them.* A motor: you'll learn the importance of it at higher magnifications.Eventually you'll also try to take pictures, either with a phone or with a camera, in which case you'll start attaching things to it. It's more trouble than you think but the good thing is that the telescope is very sturdy and can take it.Its pieces:* The telescope itself is of good quality* The mount is a *very* good mount for the price. It's sturdy, accurate to adjust and reasonably stable. I can't stress enough the importance of the mount. It's *the* most important part of a telescope. If you're not convinced, take a look at amateur astronomy forums for advice given to others.* The sky pointer is easy to use and very accurate once adjusted (the first time)* The eyepieces are good for the first days. At some point you will probably replace them with something better and possibly add a barlow lens. Look at forums about recommendations. I had very good results with a celestron omni 15mm. I have a celestron omni 5mm which is not useful 99% of the time and can't recommend because of the high magnification and the bad eye relief. An onni celestron barlow works well too. I also recommend getting a 30-40mm plossl eyepiece with good eye relief.* The motor (for the MD model) is painfully basic. Unfortunately it doesn't allow manual micro-corrections when it's attached, even if it's off. It also limits the rotation of the telescope which creates some blind spots (boooo). I had to remove it in some occasions.Overall , it's lots of fun for the price. IMO, you should not try something more expensive as a first telescope because you won't know what to look for. You'll realize that if you're going to invest then it's better to invest on a mount than a telescope.Expect to be able to see Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons when they are close to Earth. See attachedThe bads:* The motor is basic and limits the movement of the telescope when attached. Fortunately, it's easy to remove and reattach.* The included eyepiece are very basic, although a good starting point and expected for the price of the telescope

I just received this telescope yesterday. First of all, I would like to say that the delivery service was excelent, very fast, and I wasn't home, when the first passed by, but I was able to give the delivery guy ( who called me because there was nobody home ) an alternative adress and he delivered it there. Awesome job, thank you very much random MRW guy. Everything was very well packed and in very good state.So, about the telescope. First of all I would like to say that there are many reviews in here from people who don't have the slightest ideia of what they are doing. This is no telescope for someone who is giving their first step in astronomy and are completely clueless about what to buy. If you know nothing about equatorial coordinates and telescopes calibration ( and if you are not planning to learn those things), you should go for a computerized telescope.Two things I would like to highlight:1º: The motor works completely fine, you just have to know how to use it and display telescope axis in order to do that2º: The StarPointer also works fine, but obviously it is misaligned when you first take it out of the box. Take your time during the day to align it, and you will see that it performs just fine and that it is very usefull.The mount is very sturdy, but ( and this is why I give it 4 stars ) it does not rotates completely free at some points, because the screws ( in the mount ), hit the mount itself, but it isn't a big problem. You also have this problem with the motor atatched, some things hit it too. Like I said, not a big problem, easily solved.The eye pieces supplied are actually pretty good, I just saw Saturn and could easily see its rings just with the 20mm piece. Don't panic when you notice that with the 10mm piece everything is inverted upside down. This is actually a natural caracteristic of the newtonian reflector, but the 20mm piece is designed to correct this, since it can be used for terrestrial view.Looking forward to buying more lenses, specially a 2x barlow. Overall it's a great scope, excelent quality for this price. But like I said, think before you buy it, try finding the scope that best suites you capabilities

I have purchased this telescope about five years ago. I am a complete novice on this subject (to the level that I can tell which way up the sky is, I can differentiate between night and day time sky and can see the stars and identify the moon - that's about it!). This was a present for a slightly better novice who can do all of the above but can olso identify a number of constellations, can figure out north and South directions and has some hobby level knowledge of astronomy.I chose this particular model based on other reviews and price. Not a cheap item to buy but it should last a long time.The telescope comes very well packaged and all individual items are carefully boxed or bagged up. You might want to keep the packaging if you think you'll be moving house to protect during transit. This was the case with us and am glad I kept all the packaging because I could put everything away safely and nothing got damaged in the process of moving house 3 times.I am fairly technically minded in the sense that I look after all technology in our home, putting things together, maintenance etc. So I was confident I could assemble the telescope myself especially as I had a comprehensive manual with the product (I am a woman so I will refer to instruction manuals if I really can't figure it out on my own). Assembling everything isn't difficult but it took me a very long time. And it wasn't any quicker when I had to do it again after moving house.It takes up a fair bit of space but can be tucked away in a corner if needed because it is easy to move (not lightweight but well constructed so easy to manoeuvre). The tripod is very easy to handle as well. This means you can move the telescope into the garden and so on.Another feature which interested me was the possibility of taking photos. I have a decent Canon camera and in time I was able to use it. But this is an added bonus.The telescope itself is very powerful for a domestic, hobby set up, so it has very good magnification for our needs.You do need a bit of knowledge about the night sky which I, personally, haven't got but there are some fantastic books and maps available on Amazon which are very useful.I haven't used it that much but my family found it very interesting and they spent quite some time on it and they seem happy with what they see through the lenses. You can easily adapt it with different lenses and it is easy to move the viewing point because the motion mechanism and little motor are very good and smooth.I would recommend it as a domestic telescope, it isn't cheap but it is an impressive, powerful, large bit of kit and you will use it for years to come. It will also impress any visitor and it is easy to dust :)

Not a great first experience of Astronomy, I ordered this scope via a warehouse deal, the listing said damaged box but contents as new, because of that it was cheaper than ‘new’.Wish I had paid for the new version (or in my case now a different scope altogether). When it arrived, the box was more than damaged, it looked like it had been in the ring for 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, the poor delivery driver apologised and said that's how they got it. There was no outer packing box, the inner box was bashed, dented, ripped, barely held together with tiny bits of tape. Thankfully the scope itself was undamaged.Although that was the least of my worries, when I opened it, quite excited at the prospect of being able to use my first telescope, that excitement very quickly diminished when I realised that Amazon's version of like new were different to mine. There was no instructions, no software details, 2 parts were broken (the sky pointer and a lens cap), there was also a scratch on one of the tripod legs.Thankfully Amazon's customer service were on the ball and refunded me (and the difference between that and a full price one), and so I ordered the new version but having now used it for a bit I've realised it's not a great first time user telescope, especially for someone with arthritic hands. The EQ mount is heavy and stiff to move, the control knobs are almost impossible to turn, the motor drive is useless, (and there were no instructions for it at all), the tripod is so flimsy and wobbly it's impossible to see anything.Not recommended at all!

The quality of the tripod, mount, scope and optics are superb for the price (even though both ends of the tube are ill fitting). The level of magnification achieved is a little disappointing though. The moons of jupiter tonight were clearly visible as was the shape of the planet, although no detail was. I have ordered a moon filter and will probably order a barlow lens for it as well. Two lenses 10 and 20mm are supplied as standard (although annoyingly only a case for one of them).I too had some build quality problems like the other reviewer. The starfinder shorted out when I first put the battery in. As a result the alignment lights became very dim. The motor also didn't last 5 minutes. I contacted Celestron who put me in touch with Hama UK. They exchanged the parts very quickly, which is the best customer service I have received from a good many companies in a long time. The replacement starfinder however is so bright its less use than the one that shorted out, Stars are barely visible past the bright red LED. So I'm using the faulty one, which is a far more useful dim orange. The other one would be more use during the day.When attaching the replacement motor onto the mount the allen bolt sheared and will no longer tighten. Obviously that's a disappointment too as it means I can't really use the motor drive. What's the saying, the more things it has on it, the more there is to go wrong?! I'm not convinced the motor drive is worth the extra, it looks very cheap by comparison.In retrospect, I too would save a little more and perhaps consider a higher magnification one, without a motor drive. The quality of the rest of the kit though and the customer service means I would most likely still consider Celestron; and Hama's reputation, in my eyes, has also improved as a result of this purchase.

This is my first telescope and so far, I'm really impressed. Setting the scope up, provided you follow the instructions, is simple but time-consuming the first time (mainly because I wanted to check everything over before putting it in place) and I had a good, clear view of Jupiter the very first evening.The image quality has been very impressive. I used a distant tree for my initial alignment test of the scope and was astounded by how much detail I could see. The clarity and reproduction through the eyepiece was better than I expected and I'm looking forward to using my camera with it when the necessary attachments arrive.There have been a few teething problems:The motor drive connects to the EQ mount using a cast metal "flexible connector". It's not very robust and was broken when the scope arrived. I'm on to Celestron to get a replacement connector, but I'll be making my own alternative using a steel spring and some 5mm plastic hose.The slow motion cables do not feel very sturdy and I don't expect them to last very long. Again, I'll be making my own alternatives (springs and hose again), probably making them shorter than the originals and with smaller handles so they're less intrusive.It would have been nice if they'd provided some kind of case for the 20mm lens. The 10mm lens comes in a canister but there's nothing for the larger one. I'm using a zip up pouch (the sort they make for point and click cameras) that does the job well enough and no doubt I'll buy more lenses and a proper case as time goes by.I haven't been able to find any kind of case or bag to store the telescope in when it's not in use, so this is another thing I'm going to have to make.These are all relatively minor issues and do not detract from the fact that this is a brilliant telescope. The bag/case issues are only a problem for me because I don't want the scope set up all the time. Perhaps I'll have to buy myself a shed an make it into a permanent observatory in the garden!! I'm sure my wife would be delighted with that idea!!I would recommend this scope to anyone looking for a substantial bit of kit for stargazing. Hopefully, I'll be able to post the designs for my improvements and bag online once I've completed them.

This is a truly spectacular piece of optical technology, for a surprisingly low price. The box has not only the Telescope itself, but a purpose-made tripod, lenses, counter-weights, booklets, assembly instructions and other useful bits and pieces.Assembly takes a little time: if you've not assembled one before, a local astronomy group might be a good place to start, since amateur astronomers are only too willing to share their expertise. Once assembled, it's obvious just how sturdily built this is, and the lens provided is an 'erecting' lens, which allows images to be viewed without inversion, so ideal for bird or train spotting. If you've never used a 'scope before, it's essential to read all about them, and in particular the bit about never, ever looking directly at the sun. Even looking at the moon requires a filter, since the mirror in the 'scope is so powerful.I used this in conjunction with a Celestron T-Ring Adapter for a Canon DSLR, which allows the Canon to mate directly to the 'scope viewfinder, and a CamFi CF102 Wireless transmitter, the combination of which beams the telescope's finder image directly to an iPad or Laptop. I did have to buy the Celestron accessory kit to get the right mating piece, to fit the camera to the telescope body, but the result on an iPad Pro was simply stunning.In summary, then, Celestron are makers of fine and high quality optical instruments, and their attention to detail is second to none. This provides a wonderful introduction to the delights of Astronomy and will even allow you to get some great pictures of the houses in the next county.

Suuuuuper

Fungerade precis som jag hade förväntat mig, bra produkt

Beau bon pas cher, je le recommande

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