Skywatcher Telescopes

Reviews

The Nexstar 4 SE is a great buy at $499. This is a real telescope, not something bought at a discount store. The Goto tripod works well and is stable. The only thing missing is a low power eyepiece. A 40mm eyepiece would be nice. It comes with a 25mm. Add a 2X barlow or a few other eyepieces and you've got it made. It's small enough to leave set up. I won't call it a grab and go telescope, but it's close. For planetary, lunar, and solar(FOR SOLAR VIEWING YOU MUST BUY A SOLAR FILTER!!! DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT ONE!!! IT WILL BLIND YOU FOREVER!!!) this scope is great. For deep space you'll want something bigger. I'm not saying you can't see deep space objects, you can, but they won't look like pictures from the Hubble.

I'm not an astronomy major, neither an expert in optics. Got it for my 10-year old son. I suspected this might be a good product, but couldn't even imagine how great it is, considering all bells and whistles. Now both my son and my husband are hooked. So far their only complains were about weather and seasons. It's too cold outside when its dark in winter and it takes too long to wait for the night time in summer :)

I purchased the scope from a chain camera shop during a 50% off clearance sale. The scope appears to be well made. The tripod and mounting are solid. The optics seem pretty good but it has been hard to get a sharp focus on Jupiter and Saturn. Moon viewing has been great. I bought the lens accessory kit as well but have been unable to get a sharp view on the planets. I have not had much luck with the sky align. Half the time the align fails and when I do get a good alignment it has only been marginal at finding objects. I normally resort to a sky map for navigation. The spotter scope is great when properly aligned to the telescope and it is easy to align. The scope is much better than the Tasco toy scope I had when I was a teen, but I wish I could get a sharp focus on the planets.

Found this easy to use. I chose this one to buy as my first telescope after reading several reviews concerning a few different telescopes and comparing prices vs features. The NexStar 4 SE telescope set up rather quickly. Sky align worked well, though sometimes the scope seemed to become less accurate as the hours went buy, and I tried to re-align to different stars but eventually I encountered the same alignment results. The motor does sometimes jump and looses track of objects. Approaching the objects from a certain side seemed to help, as mentioned in the instruction book. I did have to buy the additional eyepiece/filter kit. Clarity was rather good up to 6mm eyepiece, though the 4mm was pretty blurred, even for moon views. Although the AC adaptor is a necessity for continuous power, I found out I already had one that fit my telescope from a car seat back massage/heater cushion which also had a car cig adaptor (which I bought for $19.99). The computer info included in the hand controller is great though some of the 40,000 objects might not be viewable. I had problems finding some nebula and galaxies, maybe that are too faint. I have seen Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, great Moon views, a very blurred mars view (cannot see any features), and extremely blurred Uranus (basically just blue color blurred). I would have given it a 5 out-of 5 had the motor tracking been smoother, alignment stayed accurate. Besides that it met my expectations.

This is a great telescope for many reasons. First, it is very easy to use. Most telescopes out there, even if they are computerized, are still difficult to align to the night sky before beginning use. The Nexstar 4SE with the sky align makes it fool proof because you only need to point it to 3 bright objects in the sky with no need to know what they are. One of the easiest ways to align it to the night sky is using a the Solar System Align. If you don't want to choose and point it at 3 bright objects, you can choose the moon. The moon is very easy to spot and easy to point the telescope. To me, this is the easiest alignment of all. After a few minutes setting them up, I found Jupiter easily after using the moon as the alignment object. Secondly, for the price range, it is very well made and sturdy. Most of the components are metal which appears to make them rigid and durable. A rigid telescope makes them sturdy and shake free. It's 40,000 object database gives you enough things to look at for years and years. The 4" optics on this is superb and the overall package is well worth the money. It is great for looking at planetary objects and deep sky. Highly recommended.

Reviews

I've used this telescope since June 2009. The NexStar 8 SE provides pretty good views, but the computerized mount is literally a piece of junk. I'll tell you why. Problems with the mount: 1. Battery compartment: Lots of space taken up for batteries, but batteries only work for a few minutes. This thing eats batteries, and doesn't come with a power cord! Further, the battery compartment design is poor, with two battery holders dangling by their wires. The battery holders must be placed a certain way after batteries are installed into them. There's only one way to place the battery holders and still be able to close the compartment cover, but there are a few ways to place the battery holders incorrectly. If you want to be able to close the battery compartment, you'll probably have to look up the instructions on the internet. You'll need to by the optional AC power cord (which is what I did since I'm always observing within an extension cord's length of an electrical outlet), or the 12V cord along with a 12V battery in order to use this scope. 2. Noise: I know everything seems louder at night... in the dark... when you're supposed to be quiet. But slewing at moderate to fast speed with this thing is like a freight train coming down the tracks. It's not a problem if you're not near anyone, but the many times I've been in my backyard or up at the lake with this scope, I've worried about disturbing neighbors. 3. No clutch in azimuth: This means you can't move the mount in a sideways direction without using the power-hungry, fantastically noisy motor. You can move the mount in altitude manually, but not in azimuth. Truly a bummer. 4. Spur gears: There's a lot of slop in the gears, so when you begin to slew the scope it often doesn't actually begin to move for a short period of time. No big deal, but it's annoying. 5. Time isn't saved: As others have mentioned, having to enter the time each time you turn on the mount is just ridiculous. 6. Cheap hand controller: The screen on my hand controller came loose and tilted within a couple of weeks of use. LCD screen doesn't work well in cold weather. I know this is a common problem with these types of controllers, but cold weather is a common condition for astronomical observing. Celestron and all other manufacturers really should take this into account and install a heating element in the controller. (I know all the workarounds - use handwarmers, put the controller in your jacket, attach your own heating element, etc. - but they're just not convenient.) There's obviously no intention of minimizing power consumption with this mount, so adding a heating element wouldn't be a big deal. 7. Built-in bubble level: There isn't one. 8. Defective (at least mine is): I'm in the process of sending my mount to Celestron for warranty repairs because it no longer slews properly at slew speeds slower than 8 or 9 during alignment. So, at a slew speed of 5 which is the default for alignment, the mount doesn't move at all. It's too bad I have to pay for sending it in, when I'd really rather just get a better mount. Problems with the tube: 1. Focus knob: The focus knob shakes and moves the mirror way too much. If I didn't know better I'd think it was a defect. But I know better. It's not considered a defect. It's just a bad design that amateur astronomers apparently don't mind too much. 2. Accessory mounting holes: Ideally, you'd have a red-dot finder and 9x50 finderscope mounted to the top of the tube. You can't do that with this scope unless you're willing to get out your drill. There are mounting holes at approximately the 2 o'clock position and 4 o'clock position, so most people will probably use those using the topmost holes for the red-dot finder and the lower ones for the magnified finderscope. There should be another set of holes on the top of the tube somewhere between 10 and 2 for the purpose of mounting accessories. There are a few things I like about the scope: 1. Portable: Compared to my 10" dob, the 8 SE is quite portable, and this is the primary reason I bought it. I've been able to take it to the lake (where the sky is much darker) on many occasions. 2. Tracking: Once aligned the mount tracks pretty well. I've left the scope tracking for over an hour, to find that the object of interest was still in the field of view when I returned. For me, the bottom line is that the NexStar 8 SE has too many problems, and shouldn't be considered by anyone new to astronomy. Considering the design quality, the 8 SE is overpriced. You can get a bigger and better telescope for less than half the price if you're willing to give up the computerized object locator and the tracking ability that's inherent in such a mount. Trust me. If you're a beginner in reasonably dark skies (meaning you can actually see and locate stars with just your eyes) then a computerized mount like this one will frustrate you far more than it will help you.

This whole package is disappointing. I got it for Christmas and while I can get it out and see some stuff the features of the telescope simply don't work. The automated, computerized system gets you pointed in the general direction of what you're looking for but can't actually find it. And, once you've gone through the alignment procedure and tried to find something (which it can't quite do) the keys on the control pad don't work. So, you end up shutting it off and restarting it just so you can move it around and try to see something. The computer doesn't work. Simple as that. I also called Celestron's Technical Support and was less than impressed. The guy didn't even seem familiar with the operation of the unit and then just told me that "I wasn't using it right". Sorry, dude, but I was. Lastly, the software bundled with it isn't that hot either. It's a neat idea, but it won't take the time from your computer and seems determined to insert some other time (in my case I live in the US central time zone and the software insists on using Pacific time), even though I check and tweak the computer "Date and Time" settings and hit the button. I've had to delete and reinstall the program three times. No joy. As a telescope I think it works reasonably well, but all the money for the computerized mount and the software is wasted. Personally I'd probably get something else if I were you. Good luck.

I have a professional degree in astronomy before turning to medicine. I also have over 40 years of observing experience. This is a wonderful off-the-shelf telescope for the amateur observer who is mainly interested in visual observing. Optical and mechanical quality and image stability are excellent. I use a digital camera with it for planetary and lunar work, but I don't do deep-sky photography. This type of alt-azimuth drive/mount is not really designed for serious deep-sky photography, but it is terrific for visual observing. My only complaint is that it does not have an onboard memory clock, so the time, date, and location must be re-entered with each use. That is a crazy software design. The other complaint is that the unit I have does not know about the change in daylight savings time dates that was made last year. It is a small hassle, but a hassle nonetheless.

I first was able to see the rings of Saturn in high school during an all-night science class (sort of a sleep over thing, we all got up at 3am, and one of the students had a 6.5-inch reflector telescope). I'd never seen the level of power or detail before and it made me realize that, when you want to get serious about amateur astronomy, there's no substitute for size. I waited years to afford a 6.5 or 8-inch telescope. I finally decided to buy this Celestron after much research. For the price and all the listed features, this telescope is a disappointment. Out of the box, I noticed pieces missing. Celestron customer service (likely in India, China or Jamaica) doesn't provide humans to speak with. Only terse online text responses. No luck getting the piece I needed. A buddy and I set up the scope and the first thing that happened was that the batteries that came with the telescope shorted out and literally spilled acid inside the battery tray. I cleaned the tray and put in freshly-charged rechargables. They ran out of power extremely fast. So, I put in brand-new disposable batteries. Three out of four alignment attempts didn't work. Finally got it aligned. Motors seems to be really sloppy and very imprecise. Stars and planets weren't where they were supposed to be. Scope does not track so, by the time you see something cool and tell your friend to look, it's totally out of sight. I personally have found that, other telescopes with manual adjustments, are much easier to make slight adjustments to than this scope. With this scope, it was way to easy to overshoot in any given direction with the motor. Objects viewed didn't look anything like the pictures on the web / marketing materials. I used it on a clear dark night with the optional Celestron accessory pack. Obviously astrophotography (with a light aperture held open) will yield better results than the human eye, but I still question whether the photographs I saw in marketing materials for this scope were actually taken by this model of scope. Very disappointing. Too big to ship back once assembled. To disassemble the unit and ship it back would be like doing a 100 piece 3D jigsaw puzzle.

I am a beginner to astronomy and I find this is the perfect scope to begin and continue my adventure with. Its about as much telescope as you can have that is still be portable. It is solid and I can carry it out in one piece. Every time I take it out I learn more about astronomy. It is also an excellent platform to grow in the future with accessories, such as anti-vibration pads, upgraded finderscope, and a focal reducer. I am very pleased and would recommend it to anyone.