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.