Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope

Hello Stargazers,

I have been promising you a review of one of the duty telescopes and I'm happy to say I finally have the time to write one! As with every serious piece of astronomy equipment there is a hefty price; $1400. Let's take a look and find out if Celestron has built a well scope that can justify the steep price.

The Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope is equipped with the “GoTo” tracking system. Don't worry, for all you old schoolers out there you can still track things the old-fashioned way. But, for people who just want to point and shoot to find exactly what it is you have an interest in without messing with arch minutes and seconds the “GoTo” tracking system is one of the fastest and simplest I object tracking systems out there.

The optics are superb, you get an 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Lens with StarBright XLT high transmission coating. One my personal favorite features is the quick release for car mount and that allows you to easily and quickly set up this telescope without any tools whatsoever. If you've been stargazing you'll know just how important this is! Don't be put off by the roughly 50 pound weight, that's about standard for a telescope in this price range. It's actually quite portable considering what this object actually is.

What are the things I didn't like all the plastic accessories that come bundled with it. It just gives this telescope she feel and I don't like a cheap feel what I'm spending $1400 on a telescope. Granted, if you're going to spend $1400 you'll probably buy high-end lens enhancements somewhere down the line to see various objects from a different perspective, but still, plastic seriously? The other thing I want to mention is the short battery life span. I really did expect more, there are DC power options available but in all seriousness serious stargazers will almost never have an opportunity to make use of the DC power adapter.

All in all, this is a solid showing from Celestron aside from the few quirks that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. You probably can't get a better telescope for under $1500! If you have the cash to spend some serious money on a telescope I would definitely go with the Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope.

Celestron Skymaster Bincoulars Review 15 x 70

Hello stargazers,

later on this week I'll get to some of the more serious equipment, I promise. But for now, I'm sticking with astronomy equipment for casual strong owners and people knew to the hobby. Admittedly, this is a very short review, but it's a very important one! I introduce the Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars.

I like to think of this pair of binoculars as a mini telescope. The Celestron SkyMaster binoculars deliver crystal-clear views at an extremely low price. These binoculars generally retail for over $100 a pair but Amazon.com has them on sale for about 70 bucks plus shipping. One of the other good things about Amazon is that they can ship this product to Alaska and Hawaii! That is not true with some of the other telescopes you might see on this site.

There are some drawbacks to using this pair of binoculars, one of them being the outer edges of the lenses tend to be a little bit blurry. These binoculars are also very heavy, and if you plan on using these binoculars to stare at the sky for an extended period of time say seven minutes or more, you should probably get a tripod. They're cheap; I've seen them go for the lowest 10 bucks at Wal-Mart. Oh! Did I mention the Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars include a tripod adapter?
I want to rain on your parade, but there is one last thing I feel I have to mention. There is a very low occurrence of defective binoculars. But, Celestron is very good about getting replacement binoculars out in case this happens.


See ya next time,
Corey

Celestron Nexstar 114GT Telescope Review

Hello once again stargazers,

I'm back with another telescope review and I ready to dish the dirt and sling mud. Without further delay, here is my review of the Celestron Nexstar 114GT 114mm Go-To Reflector Telescope.

Once again, I want to start up this review by prefacing that this is not a telescope for the hard-core enthusiast. This is an excellent telescope for people who have a casual or fleeting interest in astronomy. The price range of this telescope is about $350, the price of the Xbox, PlayStation, or well-equipped Wii. Normally, telescopes with lenses similar to the Celestron Nexstar 114GT are about $100 or $200 less expensive. I really wish you could say you get better quality images along with a higher price tag, but I can't. That heftier price tag is due to the sophisticated “go-to” computer system. This system allows anyone to set up a telescope and find the objects one wants to look at with little and often no effort. There is no exaggeration here, this telescope easily finds objects in the night sky just as its manufacturer advertises.

When the other things I really like about this telescope is the easy assembly. Sometimes newbies can feel overwhelmed with the task of putting together their first telescope. Often times manufacturers in China will write the directions and write them in such a way that English speakers have a difficult time understanding them. I myself have wound up with extra parts after assembling a telescope wondering where on earth do I put the extra parts.

One of the other cool things is that this telescope comes with a full size tripod. One of the things I hated with their first telescope was having to stoop over to look inside the lens. It made my hobby more of a chore than a labor of love.

All things considered, this is one of the best introductory telescopes in the $300 price range. If you know you're going to get a decent amount of use out of your telescope purchase I would definitely consider the Celestron Nexstar 114GT telescope. Oh, reading Amazon.com reviews part showing the helpful when trying to decide which telescope to buy, whether you're an amateur or buying another telescope to add to your collection.

Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium Review

Hello fellow stargazers,

Once again I must warn you that I'm going to review a product that most of you probably consider child's play. Well, I have a lot of readers who were just starting out and if you are just starting out this just might be the thing for you. I introduce the Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium.

This is not so much a telescope as it is a planetarium in your hand. The sky Scout can identify celestial bodies, planets, galaxies and whole lot of other stuff by simply pointing at an object in the sky and pressing a button. It uses GPS to track your location and locate objects in the night sky. What really cool features is that it will tell you what you can see that particular night from where you're standing. You can even update the data via a memory card so you can have the latest information about the objects in your local sky every time you take this thing out in the field. Like all good electronics, its USB port enabled!

Once again I'm going to warn you that this is probably not for people looking for serious equipment, and willing to spend several hundred to several thousand dollars on a telescope. This is an excellent device for people who take a casual interest in astronomy and want something that will make looking in the night sky and identifying objects as easy as humanly possible. The other thing I must warn you about is a higher rate of product failure. It seems the GPS system doesn't work as well as it potentially could. Lots of people have been complaining that the sky Scout planetarium is either dead on arrival or delivers inaccurate position information, which means you can't find the objects you want to find.

If Celestron works out the bugs of the GPS system I might be able to give this cool little gadget excellent review. Unfortunately, there just too many mechanical errors for me to wholeheartedly recommend this product. That said, this is still a really cool idea especially for the beginner. The Celestron sky Scout has tremendous potential, I just hope the Celestron can work out the bugs.

Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Telescope Review

Hello stargazers,

I want to start out by letting you all know why I wanted to write about telescopes. Couple years ago I had an a strong astronomy class for my general education requirements and loved it! I didn't want to lose the information I learned I figured the best way to retain what I learned about the universe is to use it everyday or at the very least once every couple weeks. I am indeed an amateur, I mean well, and I'm sure it past time with as many avid and learned devotees as astronomy will have plenty of comments and remarks about my reviews. Just know that I am in no way professional and my recommendations are based purely on my personal experience and three units of astronomy. That said it's the first review.

First telescope I want to review is the Orion SkyQuest XT4.5, Classic 4.5" Dobsonian Telescope Kit. It retails for about $199, and I know some of the more hard-core fans out there who probably leave numerous comments telling me how buying anything under $300 is a waste of money. Well, go ahead and leave those comments and by the telescope you really want. I am talking to the novice or beginner. The best part about this telescope is the stellar views you can get! I'm sure there are better telescopes out there, but I haven't had the privilege of using. You'll be able to pick up many popular objects in the night sky like Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons, but I personally could spend hours on end playing this thing at the moon.
If you're new to the hobby you'll probably hear a lot about a program called The Sky. It's an expensive program, but it's very robust. Newbies to the hobby will probably find the full version of the sky intimidating or confusing at best. The Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Telescope comes with a slimmed down version of the sky that most people will probably find more helpful than restrictive, especially if you're a beginner.

A couple things you need to be aware of before buying this telescope is that it can get a little difficult to assemble. There some parts and people that put it together have said that the instructions can be a little vague at times. The other thing I really just don't like is the plastic focus or. I prefer the feel of metal and it makes me nervous when I think about longevity. I haven't heard anybody complain about broke in focus pieces, but it does give that “cheap feel” to it. The other thing you watch out for is the height of this telescope. Adults are probably going to want to put this telescope on the table or something else to raise the level of the eyepiece because this telescope is short.



Alright guys, that's my first review I hope you found it helpful if you have any comments or suggestions just leave a comment and I'll be happy to read it.

Sincerely,
Johnny