Great telescope for a full year now. I brought the 5'' because it fits my budget and is much more portable than the 6" & 8".
The telescope arrived in two boxes and was packaged well. It was quite easy to assemble and was straightforward. But the first night when I tested it the red dot finder failed and would not turn on. I contacted product support and they refunded the price of the red dot finder to let me buy another. I think this is reasonable.
The telescope was of good quality and was fairly portable in two pieces. I also brought it with the Nex-yz adapter and eyepiece kit. In my opinion, I would not buy the phone adapter and eyepiece kit because I don't use the adapter and eyepiece often. You will pretty much only use the moon filter, 13, 17, and 32mm eyepieces. I also brought a generic LPR filter which helps somewhat in revealing dim objects and filtering out the light pollution
.
The goto function was really helpful in finding objects especially DSO's. I will use the auto 2 star alignment procedure and manual location settings.
This scope was fine for starting astrophotography but exposures can only be limited to 30 seconds maximum. Even though there was a polar alignment option, it was really hard to do since I am living quite close to the equator in Hong Kong and the mount twists into a really weird position when tracking.
In the first few months I viewed only from the city, which was a bortle 9 scale. The planets are easy to see, you can see the belts of Jupiter and its moons, and the rings of Saturn easily. If you want a telescope for ONLY the planets, I would recommend some of the scopes without go to like a dobsonian or maktusov because you will be able to see more detail with increased aperture. You don't need go-to because planets are really bright and sometimes the mount will go off track. The Orion Nebula can be seen though only the bright parts. The andromeda galaxy can NOT be seen at all in light polluted places.
Later I was able to go out to a better spot ( bortle 5 ) and it was excellent, and I was able to see the double cluster, Orion Nebula and andromeda galaxy a lot better.
I would recommend this scope to beginners and people starting astronomy. You can get good results in the middle of the city, but driving to a deep sky site really makes the view impressive. I will not recommend this for astrophotography but instead will recommend scopes with German equatorial mounts.
* images are taken with A6000 camera with remote control.
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This Item  Celestron - NexStar 4SE Telescope - Computerized Telescope for Beginners and Advanced Users - Fully-Automated GoTo Mount - SkyAlign Technology - 40,000+ Celestial Objects - 4-Inch Primary Mirror |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $679.00 | $939.00 | $1,599.00 | -9% $999.00 Typical: $1,099.00 | $799.00 | $999.99 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it May 3 - 6 | Get it May 1 - 3 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Portability | ||||||
| For beginners | ||||||
| Accuracy | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Tech Support | ||||||
| Sold By | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Adorama | Focus Camera LLC |
| focus type | Manual Focus | Manual Focus | Manual Focus | Manual Focus | Manual Focus | — |
| eye piece lens | Plossl | Plossl | Plossl | Plossl | Galilean | — |
| objective lens diameter | 102 millimeters | 125 millimeters | 203 millimeters | 150 millimeters | 8 inches | 150 months |
| telescope mount | Altazimuth Mount | Altazimuth Mount | Altazimuth Mount | Altazimuth Mount | Altazimuth Mount | — |
| lens coating | StarBright XLT | StarBright XLT | — | — | — | 21x |
| weight | 30 pounds | 17.6 pounds | 10.88 kilograms | 21 pounds | 1 pounds | 40.85 pounds |
Reviews with images
For the Entry Level Observers 4SE
To provide context, I live in Houston city limits and purchased this for my mom last Christmas.It's quite heavy, so I carry it out each time. She wouldn't be able to lift it in one piece. We keep it in a corner of the house so as to not break it down and set it up each time. We, for the most part, use it to take a peak at Venus and the moon. You can get some fantastic views of the moon as it goes through its phases.A few weeks back we woke up at around 4 am to see Jupiter and her four moons with it. That was cool!In the city, the telescope, with its stock eyepiece, is mainly useful for viewing the moon in good detail. You can also peer into the sky to view stars you hadn't noticed with the naked eye. You'll be able to observe shimmering stars both faint and bright. The wane and wax of bright Venus can also be observed over time, similar to the way the moon comes and goes, but at first it'll look like a very bright star until you pay attention to its change over time.There isn't much detail in the observation of Venus, but the shadows and craters of our moon are fascinating. There will be plenty of oohs and ahhs from family and friends as they peer through the eyepiece.You'll need to align the telescope each time you use it. If you don't know any stars in the sky, that's fine; you can use the moon as an alignment point.You'll power on the scope and hit Enter. You can scroll through alignment options. I prefer to use Solar System Align in the options. You put in your time, date and location. You then choose what in the solar system you want to align to. If you recognize Venus, align the scope to Venus with the remote. If you recognize the moon, align to the center of the moon. Follow the prompts on the remote to align. Once you're aligned, the scope will know to follow the object in the sky without you having to do so manually -- objects in the sky aren't static!Before you do all that, make sure you align the red dot pointer on top with what you see in the eyepiece. The calibrated red dot will be your friend as it provides a wider view. You can do this in the daytime with a point somewhere down the road or even in the sky at night. Turn it off when not in use, as it runs on a separate battery. You only have to align the red dot pointer once. Adjust in the future as needed.There is a software package that comes with the scope. It's really just to help you learn about the sky. It's a nice tool to have when you look up and ask, "I wonder what that star is!?" You can open up the Starry Night software and pinpoint it. You'll learn its etymology and plenty of fun facts. You'll become a more educated observer. And they have good customer service if you run into issues obtaining the software. It's worth the download.You'll need to purchase one more item: a powerbank. It's not an endorsement, but I purchased TalentCell's Rechargeable 12V Lithium ion battery. It's Chinese-made. I charged it once and have used it for months. There are other brands.If you want to take images with your DSLR, you can do that. You'll need to hook that up to the camera jack that's available on the telescope. There's a camera icon on the side. You won't miss it. I haven't hooked up a camera, but it's on my to-do list. I don't have the appropriate cord.The images I am uploading were shot through the eyepiece on an iPhone. Some are hard to capture as slight movement takes it out of focus. You will be better served viewing through the eyepiece yourself.Lastly, once you become familiar with this telescope and all its offerings, you'll want to upgrade the eyepiece to increase magnification. You'll be able to see our solar system's planets in greater detail and color. Spend some time exploring the scope's functions and the night sky then do some research on the appropriate eyepiece upgrade.Images: This is approximately what you'll see through the eyepiece.Image 1-- first night using the scope to view the moon (no editing)Image 2 -- first week using the scope to vie the moon (no editing)Image 3 -- first full moon (no editing)Image 4 -- first image of Venus and surrounding stars (no editing)Image 5 -- Venus and surrounding stars (slight color adjustment)It's worth the buy. If it had come with another quality eyepiece and power bank at this price point, I'd have given it five stars.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2019
Size: Nexstar 5SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
Great telescope for a full year now. I brought the 5'' because it fits my budget and is much more portable than the 6" & 8".
The telescope arrived in two boxes and was packaged well. It was quite easy to assemble and was straightforward. But the first night when I tested it the red dot finder failed and would not turn on. I contacted product support and they refunded the price of the red dot finder to let me buy another. I think this is reasonable.
The telescope was of good quality and was fairly portable in two pieces. I also brought it with the Nex-yz adapter and eyepiece kit. In my opinion, I would not buy the phone adapter and eyepiece kit because I don't use the adapter and eyepiece often. You will pretty much only use the moon filter, 13, 17, and 32mm eyepieces. I also brought a generic LPR filter which helps somewhat in revealing dim objects and filtering out the light pollution
.
The goto function was really helpful in finding objects especially DSO's. I will use the auto 2 star alignment procedure and manual location settings.
This scope was fine for starting astrophotography but exposures can only be limited to 30 seconds maximum. Even though there was a polar alignment option, it was really hard to do since I am living quite close to the equator in Hong Kong and the mount twists into a really weird position when tracking.
In the first few months I viewed only from the city, which was a bortle 9 scale. The planets are easy to see, you can see the belts of Jupiter and its moons, and the rings of Saturn easily. If you want a telescope for ONLY the planets, I would recommend some of the scopes without go to like a dobsonian or maktusov because you will be able to see more detail with increased aperture. You don't need go-to because planets are really bright and sometimes the mount will go off track. The Orion Nebula can be seen though only the bright parts. The andromeda galaxy can NOT be seen at all in light polluted places.
Later I was able to go out to a better spot ( bortle 5 ) and it was excellent, and I was able to see the double cluster, Orion Nebula and andromeda galaxy a lot better.
I would recommend this scope to beginners and people starting astronomy. You can get good results in the middle of the city, but driving to a deep sky site really makes the view impressive. I will not recommend this for astrophotography but instead will recommend scopes with German equatorial mounts.
* images are taken with A6000 camera with remote control.
The telescope arrived in two boxes and was packaged well. It was quite easy to assemble and was straightforward. But the first night when I tested it the red dot finder failed and would not turn on. I contacted product support and they refunded the price of the red dot finder to let me buy another. I think this is reasonable.
The telescope was of good quality and was fairly portable in two pieces. I also brought it with the Nex-yz adapter and eyepiece kit. In my opinion, I would not buy the phone adapter and eyepiece kit because I don't use the adapter and eyepiece often. You will pretty much only use the moon filter, 13, 17, and 32mm eyepieces. I also brought a generic LPR filter which helps somewhat in revealing dim objects and filtering out the light pollution
.
The goto function was really helpful in finding objects especially DSO's. I will use the auto 2 star alignment procedure and manual location settings.
This scope was fine for starting astrophotography but exposures can only be limited to 30 seconds maximum. Even though there was a polar alignment option, it was really hard to do since I am living quite close to the equator in Hong Kong and the mount twists into a really weird position when tracking.
In the first few months I viewed only from the city, which was a bortle 9 scale. The planets are easy to see, you can see the belts of Jupiter and its moons, and the rings of Saturn easily. If you want a telescope for ONLY the planets, I would recommend some of the scopes without go to like a dobsonian or maktusov because you will be able to see more detail with increased aperture. You don't need go-to because planets are really bright and sometimes the mount will go off track. The Orion Nebula can be seen though only the bright parts. The andromeda galaxy can NOT be seen at all in light polluted places.
Later I was able to go out to a better spot ( bortle 5 ) and it was excellent, and I was able to see the double cluster, Orion Nebula and andromeda galaxy a lot better.
I would recommend this scope to beginners and people starting astronomy. You can get good results in the middle of the city, but driving to a deep sky site really makes the view impressive. I will not recommend this for astrophotography but instead will recommend scopes with German equatorial mounts.
* images are taken with A6000 camera with remote control.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2016
Size: Nexstar 4SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE NEXSTAR 4SE: I don't normally write reviews for most products but since buying a telescope can be trickey I thought I should help others with this process. First of all if you buy this product you will need to buy a 12v power adapter since the only other option is using AA batteries. If you choose to use batteries you will run into several problems. First of all is the fact that the telescope will run through batteries quickly. I really don't even know why they made batteries an option. Second, batteries do not function well during the cold months. Lastly, batteries do not provide sufficient power for this product to function properly. Now that I have discussed power let me tell you about the scope. This telescope comes with a 25mm lens which is fine but you will want more lenses to enhance your experience. I started by getting a Barlow lens (celestron X-cel Barlow). This is a great Barlow for the money and only has slight dimming. My next purchase will be a X-cel 12mm lens. Back to the telescope. The telescope is very easy to set up and provides great views of Jupiter, the moon, Saturn and deep sky objects. It is easy to focus and lived up to all my expectations. I looked at the nexstar 5 but by the time you buy the accessories you need you will be in the $1000 range. I have never viewed through the Nexstar 5 but based on the reviews I would assume that there is not a significant difference unless you are willing to shell out the $$ for something like the nexstar 6 or 8. The tripod that comes with this telescope is heavy duty and stable. The go to features of this telescope are what makes viewing a pleasure and so easy. You will want to make sure and read the Manuel and watch videos on YouTube to learn how the controller works. Once you have learned how to operate the controller you are well on your way to viewing the night sky. For me this telescope has been life changing because I have always wanted a telescope and just never committed to spending the money. I can tell you that it is money well spent because I have spent a lot of quality time viewing with my son and my friends. You can easily transport this scope wherever you go (outdoors) to make any occasion more interesting. I often find that many people have not viewed the planets through a quality scope and they really appreciate the opportunity it provides. So there it is. I highly reccomend this product. I am including some photos of the moon I took through the lens with my iPhone. I am giving 5 stars because of the quality of the telescope. I can overlook the battery issues due to the bottom line fact that I was impressed with the views of the night sky.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
SUNNY SHARMA
Not happy with telescope
Reviewed in India on February 10, 2024Size: Nexstar 4SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
Basil
PhD needed
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2023Size: Nexstar 5SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
Cliente Amazon
Celestron 5se
Reviewed in Spain on February 27, 2023Size: Nexstar 5SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
Cliente Amazon
Reviewed in Spain on February 27, 2023
Básicamente viene como si lo compraras en la misma tienda celestron ( bien colimado)y si, viene con 1 ocular pero no se acaba el mundo hay muchas variedades de oculares y estos son caretes ,
pero es como todo en esta vida,se paga la calidad si vas a darle 1 uso frecuente,si no, hay más variedades de fabricantes.
El telescopio de calidad ,la montura es perfecta para este tubo y la goto funciona perfectamente y si le sumas el módulo WiFi, mejor que mejor. Todo correcto y quien tenga duda,que no se lo piense.
Images in this review
Dario R.
Fa bene quello per cui è costruito
Reviewed in Italy on July 7, 2021Size: Nexstar 4SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
A R Wollaston
A good product and good service from Amazon.
Reviewed in Australia on June 17, 2021Size: Nexstar 5SE TelescopeVerified Purchase
A R Wollaston
Reviewed in Australia on June 17, 2021
The telescope was well packaged and took about 15 minutes to put together. One of the retaining screws for the Star Diagonal is missing but I'm pretty sure I can find something that will fit.
I have only had a chance to test it terrestrially because of rain at night but I'm sure it will be fine.
If Celestron and almost every other corporation on the planet didn't gouge Australians so badly on price I'd buy locally but it looks like Amazon is going to get more of my business.
Images in this review
