Skywatcher Telescopes

Reviews

These binoculars are great big wonderful things. I don't mind lugging them with me up the mountains to get the great views. I also don't really need to climb up the mountains anymore, since I can see the top from way down here. The moon looks fantastic, awooooo. I have found that they can be steadied without a tripod by gripping them at the farthest end of the lens tubes, or by sitting down and resting my hands on my knees. Works good with glasses and without. Totally changed my perspective of the visible world around me. Thanks Chinese!

These binoculars are wonderful. I have not experienced any quality/collimation problems with mine (Bought January 2010). Was tracking high altitude fighter jets practicing dogfighting over the city last night. These are excellent for looking at the moon, The Pleiades, and other distant objects. They are much more practical than my telescope for away from home use. They get used a lot because they are cheap, mobile, and work well. If they break or get lost I'll just buy a new pair, which I can't say about the telescope. Thought I could use these with just a pair of steady hands. The other reviewers are right in that I did need to order a tripod. You can steady your arms against something, like a tree, and get a stable view for a few minutes. If you are going to be out looking for more than 5-10 minutes you will most definitely want a tripod. It's not just the stability either. Your forearms may go numb after about 10-15 minutes, especially if you are wearing a heavy winter coat. If you don't already have one save yourself some time, and maybe some shipping costs, and just order the tripod at the same time.

I can't say enough positive tings about this fine set of binoculars which came well collimated. Its one instant where there should be no unpleasant surprises. Quality per dollar spent excels in every way.

I could never expect to see what I did the first clear night I took these out. Having little to no experience viewing the night sky the result is inspiring. My first object was the Pleiades cluster. After some other views of stars and the moon (which is amazing) I turned to find the Orion Nebula. A faint glow of pale green can be seen emitting from the center but make sure to try and stay steady. Being that the magnification is so high steadiness becomes a problem. Its ok for clusters, stars, etc. but if you want to focus on any faint objects or even catch a good look at the moon and planets a tripod is essential. Trying to view Jupiter using only my hands produced a small dot of light shaking around violently in my view. As soon as I put them on a tripod not only could I see a steady ball of light (no bands or anything like that) but to my surprise I was able to make out at least 3 of the moons. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone looking for a good way to enter the hobby.

Wow, the clarity is very impressive. I live in the sunny side of US, so I can see things clear and bright. The product itself is bit heavy so can't hold still or for long time. Bought a Dolica ST-500 68-Inch Lightweight Tripod tripod stand but still you got to be uttermost careful in not shaking it for obvious magnification reasons, otherwise objects are shaky. I absolutely love it. Yet to explore the star gazing side of it.

Reviews

In my short time using this telescope, I have found it very easy to use; much easier than a regular full tube telescope. I have an easy time finding planets, and keeping them in my sight, without having to twist and tighten a whole bunch of knobs. It is easy to focus; very similar to using a microscope to view planets. I already have an assortment of lenses to go with it, and they all work well, even though they are not the brand name. It is very upgradable, with many different types of lenses and filters you can buy for it, which makes it an all around very adaptable telescope.

This is the first telescope I purchased. I was expecting a very easy to use telescope. First, the instructions were practically non -existent. Second, the strength of the telescope was not that great even with the eye pieces. finally, it was very difficult trying to find an object in the telescope that was right in front of me ( ie: full moon). When my 3 girls tried to see the moon through the telescope they moved it slightly, resulting in the moon disappearing. perhaps this happens with other telescopes, but I expected a more 'kid friendly' easy to use one. I can not see how anyone can find Jupiter, Saturn, etc with this and know that the bright dot is actually a planet and not a star. I returned this item.

I bought this telescope a while back to try and see if I wanted to get into stargazing and it definitely didn't let me down. I haven't had enough cloudy days to see Saturn's rings, but I've definitely been able to see Mars. For a beginner's telescope, this is a good buy.

This product was purchased as Christmas gift for my 8 year old son. My husband seems more impressed than my son, but both are enjoying it. We've seen creators on the moon and lots of stars. I think we've managed to locate a nebula, but it just looks like a glowing mass at this point. We bought this telescope after reading a very helpful review on Amazon.com (we did not purchase from Amazon this time)from someone who knows more about telescopes than I. He recommends buying a Barlow and better eye pieces - "celestron plossl: the 15mm first, then try something in the 4, 6 or 9mm range." We have not done this, but when it gets warmer, we certainly will. He also did not recommend the accessory kit, but we have found that it is very hard to locate specific items in the sky and I think the spotting scope from the accessory kit would help with this; we are also going to try that in warmer weather. Overall, we are pleased with the purchase and for the price, you can't beat it.

My daughter received this as a gift. We think it's a very nice telescope. One lower powered lense is useful for locating items, then the more powerful lense lets you really see the items' details. Easy to carry around. A tri-pod attachment would be a nice addition to this product. Easy to use and fun though.

Reviews

This is my first telescope and I couldn't be happier with the overall quality of the construction and ease of setting up, no tools required. This is a great starter telescope for the money paid with no extra taxes and free shipping how could I complain it was a great deal in my opinion.

Overall this was a good purchase. My son is a new star gazer and this is just what we needed. It was easy to put together. It took a little while to find something in the sky. We could see the moon great and even make out its craters. I wish we had more magnification--can get more lens for extra purchase however. It is a sturdy telescope and we are happy with it so far. As for delivery, it was here the next day--that blew my socks off!!

the quality of the item is OK. I am looking for a suitable power telescope to look more details on the planets near us. This item can not do it. I used a camera with digital zoom to look at the moon, the result is better than using this item.

The telescope tube is good, but the only bad on this part is the tripod stand, it does not tighten the telescope to a particular location, it should have been more sophesticated and easy to tighten up. I am not at all happy with the tripod

I was disappointed when the 1st one we received was damaged since it was for Christmas. We sent it back to Santa and received a new one quickly! My son loves his telescope and so does my hubby. It's easy to use and the clarity is good. It's a good, inexpesive option for your little astronomer!

Reviews

I've had one of these for a couple of years. The concept and the technology are great, but the design and assembly are typical Chinese throwaway quality. Over the time I've used it the accuracy in identifying objects has not been consistent. Sometimes it is quite on target and sometimes it can't even come close to the full Moon. I tried it in combination with the optional telescope designed for the SkyScout and the accuracy just wasn't there. For $400 you would expect a little more attention to design details and QC. I've been very careful when handling the unit, but as soon as it got out of warranty it completely crapped out on me. I've had it at Celestron factory service now for two months waiting for word on whether or not it can be repaired. Another point: like many users I find I can't read the display without my glasses, even though I have a fairly mild prescription. I was considering replacing the SkyScout with a Meade Mysky. But judging by the reviews it's an even greater dud.

A todos los astronomos amateurs que necesitan de este tipo de equipos tengan mucho cuidado. El aparato tiene un problema de magnetismo que hace que el aparato funcione mal, llevo más de 90 dias tratando que los señores de Celestron me cumplan con la garantia, no ha sido posible. No recomiendo el servicio de garantia post-venta de esta empresa. Astronomos amateurs mucho cuidado cuando compren equipos de cierto nivel de tecnologia de esta firma NO responden por los daños, a ustedes les pareces justo que se demoren más de 90 días para un simple gps de us$170.

I really like this device. If you find that it doesn't work well when you get it, update the firmware of the unit via the web site. Mine was a little whacked out till I updated it. I also bought the Altec Lansing iM-237 speaker to listen to the audio vs. the tiny earphones. Now... if I hadn't sold my telescope!

Waited six weeks, then got a note from Amazon.com that it's no longer available. Don't bother ordering.

I bought this after all the rave reviews only to be sadly disappointed. Not one person mentioned that the device does not work next to wifi recievers. I have a ten inch dobsonian reflecter that I cannot exactly move around my property with ease. Therefore I can only use a balcony outside my room. But because I have a wireless service that uses wifi the Skyscout failed to perform. No matter where I moved around the balcony the indicator always said "Cannot connect to GPS due to electromagnetic interference". So if you buy this Skyscout be sure you do not have a wireless service that could interfere with reception.

Reviews

Really cool kit to enhace the real power of any mid-range telescope. Good quality lenses. Superb filters!...What else must I write?...Uhmmm...what are u waiting for?!!! you won't regret this purchase.

The kit is overpriced. The 4mm eyepiece that comes with it is completely unusable. The eye relief (the space between your eye and the eyepiece) requires you to push your eyeball into the lens. As a matter of fact, nearly all of the eyepieces have horrible eye relief. The one I use most from the kit is the 9mm lens. You have to be pretty close to the opening in order to see anything. All of the eyepieces feel cheap. It seems like they're made in China - completely out of plastic. A few times, pulling the protective cover off of the 9mm, I felt as if I was going to break it. The barlow suffers from the same problem. It's cheap. But at least it's decent. Optically, it's alright. I could see paying $20 for one. The case everything comes in is actually really nice. It's well built, kind of tough, and has ample space in it. You could easily add a few more eyepieces. Of everything that came with the kit, I plan on holding on to the case for sure. I'm not sure of why or what I should use the filters for. After some reading of the instructions, I discovered I should use the lunar filter (it's blue) to take a picture of the moon with my cell phone. It cut down on the brightness but gave the moon a slight blue tinge. The picture I took looks like it's in grey scale. Before, the moon was way too bright to snap a picture of, so I guess that's one reason to use a filter. I tried out a few more and I don't think I liked them. I'm sure some people know how to use them, but I don't see myself getting much milage out of them for the time being. If I could do it over again, I'd probably only buy two or three really nice eye pieces. My 6se came with a 25mm. So then I'd get a 10mm X-Cel eyepiece (with more eye relief), a barlow lens, and maybe a wide field eyepiece from Celestron's Ultima LX series. An X-Cel 10mm lens costs $50, a better quality barlow will set you back $35. Already, you'd have a nice set of magnifications with real quality eyepieces that's 40-50 dollars less than the kit. You'll get tons more use out of just those two eyepieces (plus the lens included with your scope) than you will with the kit. I guarantee it. If you wanted to splurge, you could get a wide view eyepiece for $120. After viewing a few messier objects, I'm going to want one. In conclusion, skip the kit. Figure out which eyepiece you'll want by taking the focal length of your scope and dividing it by the eyepiece. For instance, my scope is a Celestron 6se. It's focal length is 1500mm. So, we find that with the included eyepiece, it has a magnification of 60x. With a 10mm eyepiece, you'll get 150x. With the barlow, you can get 120x and 300x (probably pushing it). You now have a good range of magnifications to see just about anything in the night's sky. If you choose to spend a little more and get a wide field lens as well, you'll be loving life.

I'm fairly new to astronomy, but I expected better quality when I purchased this eyepiece kit from Celestron. After reading some of the reviews here, I was convinced that these were going to be some decent eyepieces and filters. This kit may be alright for some, but I found them lacking in quality of fit and build and would not recommend them to anyone who has the desire to use the high-power eyepieces (9x, 6x, 4x, etc). I bought these because of the low price tag, and for the most part, I regret not just buying one or two better quality eyepieces from Televue. The filters were really "cheap" too.

Since I am a beginner I occasionally use this. But, I keep thinking of purchasing eyepieces of higher grades in the future. Optical qualites are fairly limited. The extreme small ones are too dark to use. It might be better to purchase 15mm and Barlow(sp?) lens seperately.

You just can't beat the price! Wait they just did! I paid a little over 120 and they just dropped it 5. Great case. Eyepieces all work great and you get the filters also. Has extra room for your other eyepieces. I highly recommend this for all beginners like me,