Buy new:
To see product details, add this item to your cart.
Ships from: Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Sold by: Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
To see product details, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.
To see product details, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.
Ships from and sold by Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.

Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope Small But Powerful Portable Telescope for Adult & Family Stargazing of Moon, Planets & More

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 364 ratings

To see product details, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later.

Purchase options and add-ons


About this item

  • This grab-and-go TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope provides powerful views of the Moon and bright planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars
  • Weighing just 6.5 lbs. assembled, this compact telescope and base can be taken just about anywhere to provide great views of the night sky while on road-trips, camping, or the short trip out to the backyard
  • 90mm aperture Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope gathers enough light for beautiful views of brighter deep space objects like globular clusters, nebulas, and many bright galaxies
  • Nifty tabletop base provides a stable viewing foundation you can set on any sturdy table, or even attach it to a field tripod with a 3/8" or 1/4"-20 threaded post
  • Includes two 1.25" eyepieces (25mm and 10mm focal lengths), EZ Finder II reflex sight for easy aiming, 90 degree mirror diagonal for comfortable night sky viewing, and more!
Bites for your bracket
Get ready for March Madness Find a Fresh store

Frequently bought together

$279.99
Get it Apr 2 - 3
In stock
Usually ships within 2 to 3 days.
Ships from and sold by Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.
+
$39.99
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Only 20 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Orion Telescopes & Binoculars and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
$19.99
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
In Stock
Sold by Orion Telescopes & Binoculars and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Product Description

Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope
Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope, accessories
Optical design Maksutov-Cassegrain
Optical diameter 90mm
Focal length 1250mm
Focal ratio f/13.9
Optics type Spherical
Magnification with eyepieces 62x, 125x
Eyepieces Bertele 20.0mm,10.0mm (1.25")
Magnification with eyepieces 62x, 125x
Resolving power 1.29arc*sec
Lowest useful magnification 13x
Highest useful magnification 180x
Finder scope EZ Finder II
Focuser Internal
Diagonal degrees 1.25" 90° Mirror Star
Mount type Altazimuth
Weight, fully assembled 6.2 lbs.

This pint-sized powerhouse provides surprisingly big views, making the StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain a fantastic first telescope or a pleasantly portable grab-and-go second telescope.

The long 1250mm focal length (f/13.9) Mak-Cass optics give the StarMax 90 some serious power -- in a tube that's just 11" long. The included 20mm and 10mm 4-element eyepieces yield powers of 62.5x and 125x magnification, respectively, to get in tight on your targets. You'll enjoy bright, detailed views of the battered lunar landscape, Saturn's picturesque rings, and Jupiter's meandering moons. Friends and family members will be wowed by the sights of well-resolved open and globular star clusters as well as brighter Messier nebulas.

Focusing the telescope is easy by simply turning the large focusing knob on the rear of the telescope.Set the compact StarMax 90 on a table, or even on the hood of your car, and comfortably view the heavens to your heart's content. And if there isn't a table handy, you can attach the StarMax 90's altazimuth base to an optional field tripod via the threaded 3/8"-16 socket on the bottom of the base. It's super versatile.

The StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain comes with an array of great accessories. In addition to the two multi-coated, 4-element eyepieces mentioned above, you'll get a glare-reducing Orion Moon filter that brings out incredible lunar detail. The EZ Finder II red dot scope helps with finding your target object. You also get Orion's MoonMap 260 to help you identify some 260 lunar features as you observe them.

One other feature of the StarMax 90 that is worth noting: Its optics never need adjusting, unlike with reflector telescopes, for example. The StarMax's Maksutov-Cassegrain optics are precisely aligned at the factory and fixed in place to insure maximum image sharpness.Ultra-portable and very powerful, the take-anywhere Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegain is ready for your viewing pleasure.


From the brand

Compare with similar items

This Item
Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope Small But Powerful Portable Telescope for Adult & Family Stargazing of Moon, Planets & More
Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope Small But Powerful Portable Telescope for Adult & Family Stargazing of Moon, Planets & More
Recommendations
HOROX Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescopes for Adults Astronomy, 80mm Aperture 850mm Catadioptric Compound Telescope, Compact Portable Travel Telescope, w. Pro Tripod & Phone Adapter
dummy
SVBONY MK105 Telescope, 105mm Aperture Maksutov Cassegrain OTA, Dielectric Coatings Catadioptric Telescope, for Planetary Visual and Photography with 160mm Dovetail Plate
dummy
Sarblue Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope, Mak60 Telescopes for Kids Adults 750x60mm, Compact Portable for Travel, Beginner Astronomy Telescope with Adjustable Tripod Finderscope and Phone Adapter
dummy
Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope, Mak70 Telescopes for Adults Kids 1000mm Focal Length 70mm Objective Lens, Beginners Astronomy Telescope with Slow Motion Gimbal Tripod
dummy
Sarblue Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope 60 with Dobsonian Mount, 60mm Aperture 750mm Focal Length, with Finderscope and Phone Adapter, Tabletop Telescopes for Kids Adults Beginners Astronomy
Details
Added to Cart
Details
Added to Cart
Details
Added to Cart
Details
Added to Cart
Details
Added to Cart
Details
Added to Cart
Price$279.99$369.99$279.99$159.99$199.99$129.99
Delivery
Get it Apr 2 - 3
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Get it as soon as Sunday, Mar 31
Customer Ratings
Portability
4.6
5.0
4.7
4.7
4.6
Easy to use
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.4
4.5
Value for money
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.4
For beginners
3.6
4.6
4.6
4.6
Sold By
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Horox
SVBONY Direct
DoubleSun
DoubleSun
DoubleSun
focus type
Manual Focus
Manual Focus
Manual Focus
Manual Focus
Manual Focus
Manual Focus
eye piece lens
Bertele
10mm*1 20mm*1
Plossl
Barlow
objective lens diameter
90 millimeters
80 millimeters
105 millimeters
60 millimeters
70 millimeters
60 millimeters
telescope mount
Altazimuth Mount
Equatorial Mount
Altazimuth Mount
lens coating
Fully Multi-Coated
Fully Multi-Coated
Fully Coated
power source
Catadioptric Telescope
Adapter
Adapter
finderscope
Reflex
Reflex
Reflex
Reflex
Reflex
Reflex

Product guides and documents

Looking for specific info?

Product information

Warranty & Support

Product Warranty: For warranty information about this product, please click here

Feedback

Orion

Orion StarMax 90mm TableTop Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope Small But Powerful Portable Telescope for Adult & Family Stargazing of Moon, Planets & More


Found a lower price? Let us know. Although we can't match every price reported, we'll use your feedback to ensure that our prices remain competitive.

Where did you see a lower price?

/
/
/
/
Please sign in to provide feedback.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
364 global ratings

Customers say

Customers like the portability, size and ease of use of the telescope. For example, they mention that it's a great little scope, easy to set up and that it gives great views of the moon, rings and moons of Saturn, Jupiter and Venus. That said, opinions are mixed on the quality.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

41 customers mention35 positive6 negative

Customers like the view of the telescope. They say the views of the moon are very sharp, stunning, and detailed. They also say it's easy to use and a great true beginner scope. Customers also mention that it provides great views of large clusters like Pleiades and the Beehive.

"...The views of the Moon were very sharp (sharper than my 10 inch dobsonian) and wasn't too bright, which can be a problem when viewing the Moon with..." Read more

"...The moon is amazing and easy to see and you can focus on a few craters at a time the the Barlow 2x...." Read more

"...if you are a beginner; now, don't get me wrong they are impressive to look through, but the lack of a computerized mounts and their large size is..." Read more

"...The star cluster Pleiades is a fantastic sight- rather than the 6-7 stars you can see on a clear night with the naked eye outside the city, even..." Read more

27 customers mention27 positive0 negative

Customers find the telescope portable, easy to handle, and set up. They say it's small enough for portability, yet the lens that takes in light is huge. They also say it can easily be put in your car to take to a good spot. Customers also say that it performs great for its compact size and is easy to store.

"...Its easy to take anywhere and can easily be put in your car to take to a good spot with dark skies...." Read more

"...Also a plus for having this small compact scope, is that wind doesn't have as big of an influence on moving the scope around!..." Read more

"...It's small enough for portability but the lens that takes in light is huge. It is light in weight. Looks and feels to be made of quality materials...." Read more

"This is a fun little quality scope! Easy to use and very portable.Exactly aligned on the mirrors and easy to set the finder scope...." Read more

25 customers mention22 positive3 negative

Customers like the size of the telescope. For example, they mention it's a nice little scope, has a good magnification, and is portable. Some say the lens that takes in light is huge, but it'll still fit in a backpack. Overall, most are happy with the compact design and find it convenient to use.

"...I can fit the optical tube, the mount, a travel tripod (a Dolica TX570B150SL) and all the accessories I need in a 20" x 10"x 7" camera..." Read more

"...The compact design has been very convient and makes you want to use it more than a huge telescope as many have written...." Read more

"...It's small enough for portability but the lens that takes in light is huge. It is light in weight. Looks and feels to be made of quality materials...." Read more

"...This table-top mounted scope makes a fantastic spotting scope. However, I bought it for astronomy, and this is where the mount is a liability...." Read more

21 customers mention15 positive6 negative

Customers like the build quality of the telescope. They mention that it is easy to use, has good optical quality, and is sturdy enough for its compact size.

"...Its simple and easy for anyone to use and when used on a table its quite stable. However, the table top mount only has 3 small legs on its base...." Read more

"...The scope in itself is nicely built and whatnot; but that's where nice things end for this guy...." Read more

"...The supplied eyepieces seem to be of good quality and I have no complaints there either...." Read more

"...Some people wrote the swivel stand is cheap and were unhappy with it...." Read more

21 customers mention21 positive0 negative

Customers find the telescope easy to use. They say it is simple and easy for anyone to use, and is good for beginners. They also say the red dot is easy to find and takes seconds. Customers also mention that the telescope is easy fix and is convenient.

"...If I had one small criticism of the Starmax it would be the mount. Its simple and easy for anyone to use and when used on a table its quite stable...." Read more

"...No more!Very impressed with this go to scope. Easy, fun, and just pleased for the value of this starmax 90.Would highly recommend...." Read more

"...The ease and convenience of grab-n-go is not to be underestimated, and for some nice quick lunar observing it is perfect...." Read more

"For a budget scope, it can't be beat. It's portable, easy to use and setup...." Read more

11 customers mention11 positive0 negative

Customers find the telescope worth the price. They say the optics are pretty good for the price point.

"...Very impressed with this go to scope. Easy, fun, and just pleased for the value of this starmax 90.Would highly recommend...." Read more

"...The Orion StarMax 90mm is portable and the optics are pretty good for the price point...." Read more

"...If you want a decent quality telescope at a reasonable price, this is your best bet...." Read more

"It is a great telescope for the price. Do not expect too much from it, but the moon views are amazing, and the planets ok." Read more

9 customers mention9 positive0 negative

Customers are satisfied with the appearance of the telescope. They mention that it is light, nice, gorgeous, and easy to handle. The Ez Finder II makes it extremely easy to find objects, and the design and value of the product are excellent. Customers also appreciate the crisp, clear views of the moon, Saturn's rings, and Jupiter.

"...I am glad I didn't waste my money! The Ez Finder II makes it extremely ez (ha ha) to find objects...." Read more

"...Jupiter is amazing! First night out I saw the cloud bands with the four brightest moons circling. The Orion nebula is pleasing also...." Read more

"...The moon was awesome, but I quickly bored of that, just too easy. So I had to find out what planets I could see. Jupiter. WOW...." Read more

"...It was gorgeous! Can't wait to check out Jupiter or Saturn!..." Read more

30 customers mention18 positive12 negative

Customers are mixed about the quality of the telescope. Some mention it's very usable, excellent, and does an amazing job for a small, portable scope. However, others say they had trouble with focusing and the finderscope is subpar.

"...Overall it's still very usable and I am content. I have considered buying an equatorial mount which would probably be the best fix...." Read more

"...large park that does have some dark spots, and the Newtonian performed surprisingly well there- especially after I got a decent Barlow & Plossl..." Read more

"...before, and in general when looking at very bright stuff the scope was rather bad, had a lot of "fog like in the entire view", the image is now dark..." Read more

"Great telescope but since I got it, I had issues with sight finder laser working. Super frustrating" Read more

From 2 to 4 stars. Its a different scope after you flock it; oh, and forget the tripod...
4 Stars
From 2 to 4 stars. Its a different scope after you flock it; oh, and forget the tripod...
So, after getting the Explore Scientific ED80 APO triplet, and an EXOS2-PMC8 GoTo mount, this little scope wasn't getting used much anymore, so, I figured I'd do something with it. First thing was ditch the dark color, after having the ED80 in satin white the boring burgundy red in the StarMax really needed to go... so decided to make it white using appliance paint. IMO its better to have white equipment at night so you can easily see it. I also powder coated the EQ-1 mount too... but that is another review, see pictures of the finished product, and the flocking inside the tube.So, upon removal of the back and front assemblies, the first thing you'll see is why these scopes are so inexpensive. The inside of the tube walls reflect light like a mirror!!, and the inside of the little tube where you look through the eyepiece? might as well been made out of glow in the dark paint! So, since I had nothing to lose by trying, I figured I'd learn how to flock a telescope, or do the contrast mod, how they call it. First thing was what to use to flock it with, there is a lot of stuff online that talks about flocking paper etc, but I knew of something that doesn't reflect much light, and that I had readily available: High Build Black Primer, yep, its as dark as a black hole and doesn't shine when lit at at an angle. (don't use flat black, its rather shiny at an angle tho)So, after some work I got the main tube coated in satin white and black primer inside, the difference was pretty obvious when holding it up against the light, where before you had all kinds of shine, now there was very little. So, after seeing how much of a difference this made I was, why stop here?Then I noticed the little cover around the small center mirror on the front lens its made out of some sort of shiny plastic... so that had to go too. Used a small brush and painted it with the same black primer, another big win: barely no reflections at all.Now, the tube where the main mirror slides, this was a tricky one, b/c I quickly realized you couldn't apply much, if any, paint to the outer part of the tube, b/c the focusing mechanism won't slide back in, so after removing the primer, to allow for the focusing mechanism to slide, the upper part looked much better than what the old shiny paint did.Then looked through the tube and behold, shine galore... it was really bad... so I first tried using the primer straight into the tube, and while it was difficult to get an even coat, the results where already pretty substantial so I had to make it better. So, in order to improve this I decided to get creative and needed to roughen the surface inside the tube too without making the metal shine (no sanding), so to do that I took a used toothbrush with a bit of acetone and started rotating the tube around the toothbrush while pushing it inside. Did this a couple of times to ensure paint was pretty rough but still had no metal exposed... lo and behold, once I looked through the tube into a bright light bulb and there was zero light shining on the sides of the inside tube... it was now time to put the telescope back together. After collimating it again, proceeded to test it out looking at some bright stuff at night, like streetlights, those were particularly tough before, and in general when looking at very bright stuff the scope was rather bad, had a lot of "fog like in the entire view", the image is now dark where its supposed to be dark, the contrast enhancement was really impressive... Anyhow, long story short, after doing the flocking all the light haze is now gone.My scope uses an Orion dielectric diagonal, and its mounted using rings b/c the EQ-1 mount doesn't use dovetail... might change that if I get a better mount than the EQ-1, but certainly after doing this contrast mod the scope is no longer on the chopping block. Once skies clear I might have to try it out again.I guess this takes care of my "not enough light grasp" matter, it wasn't that it didn't grasp light, is that it lacked contrast, that is now fixed!====OLD 2-star REVIEW: Not enough light grasp, mount is worthless, lost collimation after a couple of months of use...If you are serious about getting into astronomy as a hobby and not give up then this is not the scope for you. I was a beginner when I bought this guy and should've known what I know now, I would've gone with an SCT or an APO triplet refractor with a GEM computer mount.I've had this scope for almost 1 year now and after using it on a regular basis I have to say that I do regret purchasing it. The scope in itself is nicely built and whatnot; but that's where nice things end for this guy.So, where to begin?... ah yes... The mount, well, the alt-az mount that comes with this guy is worthless (for stargazing)... period. If you have any real aspirations to do any stargazing using this scope you will need a real GEM (German Equatorial Mount) Why? Because due to the ridiculous magnification this guy has everything will go out of view so fast that by the time you've fiddled with the dang thing to get the object in the center of the view, its already moved out of the view... Forget about letting other people see things that you've put in view. Oh, and not to mention that you'll need a place to set it in the great outdoors... and tables don't happen to grow in the middle of the field.NOTE: I won't go into mounts much since this a telescope review, but just to throw it out there: Get the BEST mount you can afford, trust me on this: get the first go-to, tracking computerized German Equatorial Mount that you can afford; crap scope with a crap mount is four times crap. (I personally would avoid the alt-az computerized mounts especially if you have aspirations to do astrophotography) Now, if you decide to stick with the supplied mount then let me break it down for you beforehand as to how you'll be spending your time: 10% of your time sitting outside will be spent just figuring out what to look for, 80% will be aiming the scope and figuring out if its the right star you're looking at.... another 9% will be keeping the thing aimed and that last 1% left you'll actually get to see something, out of focus and too dim. So if you out for an hour, you'll spend 6 minutes figuring out where to look, 48 minutes aiming the scope, 5.4 minutes keeping the thing aimed and 30 seconds actually looking through the scope.Viewfinder? The supplied red dot is a futile attempt to "point at things"; Might be good if you know your way around the sky, but if you are a beginner like I was, its useless. Oh, BTW, don't forget to turn it off after you're done, otherwise the next time you go to use guess what: its battery dead!! Get a real viewfinder, a decent 9x50 will do... or even better get a laser.Diagonal? Get a dielectric diagonal ASAP, the difference is noticeable in dim objects, especially when using Gen3 Night Vision gear to do intensified astronomy.Filters? They are fairly decent, although they have some internal reflections; The neutral density filter is probably the nicest and most useable filter of all of them.Eyepieces? If you wear glasses like I do, forget about the 10mm one... the 25mm is decent.Focuser? In cold weather it sticks, as in, it won't move for a few turns then it will catch... so all of the sudden you go from out of focus too near, to out of focus too far...F/stop? Well f/stop is the ratio between the focal length and the aperture, and you want that to be as low as possible. At f/13.8 this thing is just as blind as a bat: its just too high, too dang high; in fact, its so stupid high that even with an Omni VII military Gen3 night vision device attached to the back of this telescope I can barely see faint DSOs (forget about seeing anything beyond the planets, stars and some bright nebulae by looking through the eyepiece) Oh, and don't bother with filters either, I have an O-III and H-Alpha filters that are amazing when used in combination with MILSPEC night vision magnifiers but when you stick any of those and point the scope with the same Gen3 night vision to bright things like say, the Andromeda Galaxy, you see literally nothing in H-Alpha... A focal reducer barely alleviates this, but in exchange for a minimally noticeable improvement when using night vision, it adds a big vignetting circle around the edges so it looks like you're looking through a toilet paper roll...Focal Length? As stated by the f/Stop, its way too high for the puny aperture this scope has...Aperture? Same as f/Stop, might as well buy a good pair of astronomy grade binoculars before you buy this. For the price a pair of decent 20x80 binoculars will smoke this and provide a stereo viewing experience which is much more enjoyable than dim/blurry things (or not seeing things at all)Resolving power? Also related to aperture, in simple terms its said that the telescope max zoom is double of the aperture, which would've put this scope at ~180 max Zoom; however, I would be generous if if I say this scope would be useable at anything beyond 125 zoom (with the 10mm supplied eyepiece you get x125 zoom) but at this point things are so dim that you can't really make anything out of the blur... Good if you only want to see the craters on the Moon; but how many times can you see the craters of the Moon?Temperature equalization? You might be wondering what the heck is that? Well, so did I when I started down this hobby until the cold weather in Michigan set... then I began to see things rippling around... turned out it was the difference in temperatures between the air inside the scope and the air outside the scope... which caused turbulence inside the tube. If its cold/hot outside this guy requires about ~20-30 minutes of sitting at the place where you are going to do stargazing before you can even dream of getting crisp views of anything... otherwise it looks like heat coming of a sunbathed road in the middle of the desert...Collimation, it will go out of collimation, no matter how much you baby it, mine did; and once it did it was never the same. I can't get anything as sharp as it was when new... its not a mater of IF, its a matter of WHEN, and collimating the Starmax is a nightmare for a beginner. Might as well sell it at that point.Dew, yes, get a Dew Shield for this telescope (or any telescope for that matter), otherwise once it cools down at night everything in the scope will be hazy due to condensation in your objective lens.I might've left something in the tank, but the point is that this scope lacks; it seriously lacks for astronomical purposes, and for the price you are better served with some good binoculars and a tripod adapter. Truth is that once you get past the big ticket targets, like the Sun (with a filter) the Moon, the few bright planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and somewhat Mars) and adventure into the deeper skies doing fainter stuff like Neptune, Uranus, faint nebulae.... this scope will simply fall flat on its face.My advice would be that for your first telescope you get the one with the biggest aperture with the lowest f/Stop number in the smallest package that you can afford (usually this means short focal lengths, which is perfectly fine, just get a shorter focal length eyepiece) Avoid those cheap eBay and Amazon refractors and newtonians, all those suffer from color aberrations, comma, astigmatism... etc..., you won't see things sharp no matter how hard you try... oh, and don't fall the for the Dobsonian aperture at low price trick either; these dob scopes are just too big to be carried around, especially if you are a beginner; now, don't get me wrong they are impressive to look through, but the lack of a computerized mounts and their large size is the wost mistake a beginner can make.As a seasoned beginner the only two scope types I would only consider buying at this point would be a small low f/Stop SCT or any Triplet APO Refractor (emphasis in TRIPLET) The rest? a waste of time for a beginner.
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2014
12 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2015
Customer image
5.0 out of 5 stars No buyers remorse!
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2015
No buyers remorse here! After researching for several days on what telescope I should buy for my first telescope, I ended up on this one. I have a go big or go home mentality on most things and thought I would rather spend $800 on a big scope with gps rather than a $200 tiny table top scope I wouldn't use and get discouraged with. Glad I didn't go with my initial impulse on this one!

This is an excellent quality scope and I couldn't be happier. The compact design has been very convient and makes you want to use it more than a huge telescope as many have written. Don't be deceived by how portable and short this telescope is and think it will produce cheap images because that's simply not true. I bought a 2x Barlow and think it tops off this scope very nicely. The extra magnification is still great quality expect the 10mm with the Barlow can be borderline distorted on some nights. Also a plus for having this small compact scope, is that wind doesn't have as big of an influence on moving the scope around! I live in west Texas and didn't think of the size of the scope and wind but realized very quickly that I bought the right scope while easily viewing the night's sky on a typical windy night.

What can you see with this scope you may be asking as I did. With the given 25 mm and 10 mm lenses, you can easily see Jupiter and all four moons. The cloud bands are fairly easy to see and every once in a while I can see the famous red storm but it only shows up as a tiny speck even with Barlow 2x. Saturn and its ring is also easily seen but don't expect to see the Cassini Division in the ring or if you do it will be extremely tiny. The moon is amazing and easy to see and you can focus on a few craters at a time the the Barlow 2x. Bought the variable moon filter and have been pleased but definitely not required for great visualization of the moon. I have tried to look at Mars and Venus and they show up more as a bright off colored speck so far with little to no features and kinda boring honestly. Not sure how well nebulas visualize in this scope because I have only tried a few times in an in-town setting with street lights near my house. So far from what I can tell Orion's Nebula shows up more as a small bright cloud/bright area.

Some people wrote the swivel stand is cheap and were unhappy with it. I can see perhaps why some may say it is kinda cheap but I think it's not at all a bad stand or poor quality. Seems like an appropriate stand that will last so don't be turned off by those reviews.

Only thing I get a little frustrated with is trying to follow the objects around as they go up or down out of my field of view. Somebody or a few people wrote it can feel kinda jerky moving the telescope up and down and throw the image around etc... This is true. You can alleviate some of this problem by loosening the bolt holding it on the stand but it's extremely easy to have the scope too loose where it slips down or too tight and jerky and not sure if there is a perfect happy medium given this bolt on design. Overall it's still very usable and I am content. I have considered buying an equatorial mount which would probably be the best fix. We can't expect a bolt on system such as comes with this stand to function 100% smoothly as something as a mechanical turning of an equitorial mount. But the give design still functions quit well and am pleased enough and would say it's very usable.

Before purchasing this scope I was intimidated at if I would be able to locate and pull the desired object into the scope's field of view. I was very tempted to buy a "go to" or GPS scope. I am glad I didn't waste my money! The Ez Finder II makes it extremely ez (ha ha) to find objects. Furthermore I discovered iPhone has several free or cheap apps that you can download that allows you to just hold your phone up towards the nights sky to find objects or even at your feet to see what stars/objects are on the other side of the earth! Great apps that take pressure off of you for knowing what's what to get a good start at astronomy.

I attached a picture that I tried to take while holding my iPhone up the to eye piece (extremely hard to do which is why i can't get a good pic of Jupiter to show yet). I believe this pic was taken with Barlow 2x and the given 10mm and a variable moon filter.
Images in this review
Customer image Customer image
Customer imageCustomer image
59 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Jo
1.0 out of 5 stars Defects in the mirror
Reviewed in the Netherlands on July 6, 2022
Customer image
Jo
1.0 out of 5 stars Defects in the mirror
Reviewed in the Netherlands on July 6, 2022
The telescope arrived with two defects in the primary mirror. Totally unacceptable for a new scope.
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
B. Dunne
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant little starter telescope
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2020
7 people found this helpful
Report
badbobastronomer
5.0 out of 5 stars Lightweight, Portable, and Excellent Optics
Reviewed in Canada on September 14, 2019
Customer image
badbobastronomer
5.0 out of 5 stars Lightweight, Portable, and Excellent Optics
Reviewed in Canada on September 14, 2019
I am 71 years old and I have been an amateur astronomer since the age of seven. Recently I decided to purchase a truly portable (and also inexpensive) telescope, that I could carry in and out of my house through my front door without having to first "brace myself". After reading several reviews, I decided to try this one. It comes with a pretty good mounting but I decided to remove the telescope tube and attach it to a very lightweight, high-quality, inexpensive camera tripod that I purchased approximately one year ago on the internet. I even rigged up a simple slow motion control in altitude (I simply slide one of the tripod leg sections up and down, with a range of approximately one inch; I wrapped a large elastic band assembly around the tripod leg to keep the sliding motion within the one-inch range and to keep the tripod leg from accidentally completely collapsing). I constructed a simple, cardboard dew shield. I added an enhanced aluminum 90 degree diagonal mirror that I had previously purchased very inexpensively on the internet. I tried this telescope out on Jupiter, Saturn, and the moon with my relatively ancient and extremely excellent Orion Premium zoom eyepiece (maximum power approximately 160). The views were amazingly sharp and clear and the collimation of the telescope's optical system was excellent. I could begin to see some very subtle details in Jupiter's cloud belts and I could detect the delicate orange-brown color in Saturn's equatorial cloud belt. I could see amazing detail in the mountains and craters of the first-quarter moon. I tried a 28 mm. Plossl eyepiece and the entire field of view showed a decent image, which means that I should be able to get some pretty good views of open star clusters and large galaxies with this telescope at low power. The optics seem to contain some kind of transfer lens that is of very high quality, improving the width of the field of view and leading to good light baffling. I will have to do a bit more observing to better evaluate the situation, but it looks like an overall excellent job of optical design and construction, especially for such an inexpensive telescope.
Images in this review
Customer image Customer image Customer image
Customer imageCustomer imageCustomer image
18 people found this helpful
Report
Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars Einstieg in die Planetenreise
Reviewed in Germany on October 18, 2020
7 people found this helpful
Report
Ilarregui
5.0 out of 5 stars Très bon telescope pour débuter
Reviewed in France on February 7, 2020
One person found this helpful
Report