Top positive review
265 people found this helpful
... is my honest attempt to tell folks about a great little scope
By fred houseal on Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2018
This review is my honest attempt to tell folks about a great little scope, before I purchased this scope I had to read the reviews to find out if the scope is any good , bad ,or reviews written by people that are clueless to the cause.i always start out with the one stars, there you weed out the clueless and people that just like to complain and hear themselves fuss, I definitely ignored the folks that said I can’t see a thing, or you can do just as good looking with your bare eyes in your back yard, for these people I recommend finding a life, now will jump to the 3 stars, this group I find have legitimate claims, like maybe the Barlow lens doesn’t work, with this scope it doesn’t work , I for the life of me cannot figure out why they included a 3x Barlow lens with this scope , way to powerful, 2 times would have been better, and now the 5 star reviews sometimes seem to go over board, and that’s what I’m about to do, I bought this for my granddaughter for her birthday which is about two weeks away, yes I opened it to make sure it was not broken and in good working order, I was impressed with its ability with power and sharpness, I liked it so much I bought grand pop one two, thank you grandmom, just an added note I have many scopes in many sizes and styles, so I know enough to get around the hobby, I live in the northeast and it’s February here and cold out under the night skies, took scope out early to cool off and set the finder scope with ease, and waited till Orion what’s high in the southern sky, with two pocket warmers one in each glove started my search for Orion Nebula, useind a 62* 6 mm lens found it with ease, the view was great, small of course but was able to see a,b,c,d, stars with separation and you could def see e and f siting in the background, I was impressed with how sharp and bright the image was, no joke, for. $100.00 scope I’d say money well spent , I started to look for the horse head nebula but my fingers hurt and the cold won out, so now the wait for warmer weather stairing me down like it does most folks , as I said before I have many scopes , many great scopes, this one I just had to have , did I really need it , probably not , want won out , besides it looks good on my wall with all my other smaller group of scopes, so all in all I think it’s worth the buy, as with all scopes ,it’s a must to have good lenses, , could one do better with a different scope , sure you could, and it will cost ya I’m sure , I can say read between the reviews and take the plunge, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed at all, I don’t receive anything for my reviews just peace of mine knowing I told the truth and give ya my best with my purchase, have fun
Top critical review
Good beginner scope
By Matt on Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2024
The telescope itself offers good magnification and clear, crisp images. The finder is very easy to knock out of alignment and the screws don’t adjust or hold the finder well. The tripod is your basic, cheap aluminum frame. There is no smooth movement with it, no bar as it says in the description to give ease of movement. The phone adapter works well but the iPhone Pro has issues with focusing because of its multiple lenses- a problem with the phone not the adapter but something to be aware of. None the less, for the price it’s a good entry level telescope for a child with budding interest.
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... is my honest attempt to tell folks about a great little scope
By fred houseal - Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2018
Verified Amazon Purchase
This review is my honest attempt to tell folks about a great little scope, before I purchased this scope I had to read the reviews to find out if the scope is any good , bad ,or reviews written by people that are clueless to the cause.i always start out with the one stars, there you weed out the clueless and people that just like to complain and hear themselves fuss, I definitely ignored the folks that said I can’t see a thing, or you can do just as good looking with your bare eyes in your back yard, for these people I recommend finding a life, now will jump to the 3 stars, this group I find have legitimate claims, like maybe the Barlow lens doesn’t work, with this scope it doesn’t work , I for the life of me cannot figure out why they included a 3x Barlow lens with this scope , way to powerful, 2 times would have been better, and now the 5 star reviews sometimes seem to go over board, and that’s what I’m about to do, I bought this for my granddaughter for her birthday which is about two weeks away, yes I opened it to make sure it was not broken and in good working order, I was impressed with its ability with power and sharpness, I liked it so much I bought grand pop one two, thank you grandmom, just an added note I have many scopes in many sizes and styles, so I know enough to get around the hobby, I live in the northeast and it’s February here and cold out under the night skies, took scope out early to cool off and set the finder scope with ease, and waited till Orion what’s high in the southern sky, with two pocket warmers one in each glove started my search for Orion Nebula, useind a 62* 6 mm lens found it with ease, the view was great, small of course but was able to see a,b,c,d, stars with separation and you could def see e and f siting in the background, I was impressed with how sharp and bright the image was, no joke, for. $100.00 scope I’d say money well spent , I started to look for the horse head nebula but my fingers hurt and the cold won out, so now the wait for warmer weather stairing me down like it does most folks , as I said before I have many scopes , many great scopes, this one I just had to have , did I really need it , probably not , want won out , besides it looks good on my wall with all my other smaller group of scopes, so all in all I think it’s worth the buy, as with all scopes ,it’s a must to have good lenses, , could one do better with a different scope , sure you could, and it will cost ya I’m sure , I can say read between the reviews and take the plunge, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed at all, I don’t receive anything for my reviews just peace of mine knowing I told the truth and give ya my best with my purchase, have fun
Good 'Nightime' Moon Viewing Telescope - Jupiter with Moons
By Landon H. - Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2022
Verified Amazon Purchase
I was disappointed at first, after viewing terrestrial objects (looks blurry). I was looking at an antenna on top of mountain and it looked really bad. Not clear at all. But decided to look at the moon before returning it. The moon looks amazing! I can see the craters! Just go on internet and look for a moon phase calendar website to see when moon will be rising (in my city, moon rose 20 min after moon rise time because there's mountains). I don't use finderscope because for one thing, it's hard to calibrate it for it to be accurate. When I want to see the moon, I just point telescope towards moon by getting behind telescope, looking up the tube and pointing it at moon. It's tricky to focus without GEM (German Equatorial Mount) but for someone looking for an inexpensive telescope for basic moon viewing, this Celestron PowerSeeker 50AZ Telescope is perfect. Nothing fancy but better than say, a $30 telescope they sell at certain grocery stores in my opinion. The moon looks good at night only, I looked at it in the daytime and it didn't look good. This telescope is not good for terrestrial, or daytime viewing. It's September, the end of Summer 2022. Here in California, there's a bright star that appears in the eastern horizon 2 hours after sunset. It's Jupiter. There's 4 small stars surrounding it, those are 4 of Jupiters moons. After reading that you can see Jupiter and it's moons right now with a small telescope, I tried it and found it to be true! People that leave bad reviews for this telescope, most likely don't know how to use it properly.
Fantastic entry-level telescope
By Christopher Shearer - Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
I have now had several weeks to get accustomed to the Celestron PowerSeeker 60AZ telescope. I must say it more than lives up to its price point. For casual stargazing, there is not much better of a choice to make. Anything from the Moon to the Andromeda Galaxy can be found easily using the finder scope and provided eyepieces. For basic to intermediate astrophotography, it gets a little iffy. The mount provided shakes a lot in response to any contact made with it, making shots taken with a phone immensely difficult to line up. If you are going to use this for astrophotography, invest in a stronger, heavier mount. Also consider purchasing at least an additional ~10mm eyepiece and an entry-level CCD camera. I am saving up for one as this review is being written. Optical quality is right on-par with other Celestron products, in that it is nearly flawless. Once the scope is properly focused, objects appear absolutely crystal clear. Overall, this scope is utterly perfect for beginners as-is, but any higher level of dedication requires much additional equipment.
Good beginner scope
By Matt - Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
The telescope itself offers good magnification and clear, crisp images. The finder is very easy to knock out of alignment and the screws don’t adjust or hold the finder well. The tripod is your basic, cheap aluminum frame. There is no smooth movement with it, no bar as it says in the description to give ease of movement. The phone adapter works well but the iPhone Pro has issues with focusing because of its multiple lenses- a problem with the phone not the adapter but something to be aware of. None the less, for the price it’s a good entry level telescope for a child with budding interest.
Spotted Jupiter and the Galilean Moons!
By Photographer - Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2022
Verified Amazon Purchase
August 2022: I arrived at this sub-$100 scope from the Astrobiscuit video on YouTube. Surprised to hear that this narrow refractor out guns some larger reflectors in the same price range. My telescope budget was limited so I opted for this one based on the low price and glowing review by Astrobiscuit where he captures Jupiter, Ganymede, IO, Callisto, and Europa. It’s $70, so don’t expect a rugged tripod or any useable accessories (seriously, the 4mm eyepiece and 3X Barlow are essentially useless). The tripod is fairly flimsy but even so, I was able to align the spotter scope during the daylight my first day with the scope. You have to make subtle movements (it helps to keep the lateral rotation nut completely loose, and learn to use the vertical adjustment knob rather than moving the entire scope for up/down). Jupiter was going to visible in the valley where I live from about 1:30am to 5:00am tonight, so I went outside and located the giant planet. It was cloudy (actually good seeing conditions if you can get a break in the clouds) and I had very limited windows of time between passing clouds. Just as Jupiter was passing through a narrow gap between my roof, a tree, and a heavy cloud, I was able to line up on him, focus, let the vibration die out, and BOOM! There, clear as day, was Jupiter and the Galilean moons. I could even make out the colorful bands on the giant gas planet. I was completely shaken up. Pictures are one thing; but viewing an object that is over 300 MILLION miles away from earth (over 4x further from us than we are from the SUN) AND being able to see its colored bands absolutely blew me away. Bottom line: this telescope is absolutely useable for viewing larger planets, the moon, and (so I’ve heard) Andromeda. I’m sold. I will be upgrading the eyepieces and getting a better Barlow lens. I probably won’t even bother with the mount or spotting scope until I upgrade to a bigger telescope. But if you want to see something out of this world in real life without breaking the bank, buy this telescope.
Great beginner telescope
By JMV - Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2014
Verified Amazon Purchase
This telescope is pretty great, but definitely for an amateur (which I am.) It is very easy to put together and change the different attachments. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow, and it included a CD full of interesting and interactive star maps. The magnifiers are really great - with the different attachments, you can see everything from street signs a few blocks away, small print pretty far away (picture the brand, logo, and model number of a ventilation duct on the top of a 15 story building that is at least 6 blocks away), to the small dips, and crevices of the moon. With my setup, it's a little harder to focus on things using a high magnifier. Any sort of small movement can really ruin your view, or make it easy to lose your target. I use this often on my wooden porch, and it's almost impossible to stay still enough to see something very far away. It would be much better to use this on solid ground and not something that moves or vibrates easily. I don't know if I'll ever upgrade to a better model, this seems to get the job done perfectly for me as an amateur.
Telescope not recommended cheap made
By Carey Taylor - Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
The telescope won’t stand up right it constantly falls down. It’s not easy to work, especially if you’re a beginner. It’s not very informative on how to use it. I never even got to use it because it would not stand without falling down. I would not recommend this buy
It works.
By R.C. - Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
Verified Amazon Purchase
Inexpensive and works great. I lost most of the parts but what I have, allows me to see jupiter and it's 4 moons. It's a white dot, but I can 4 moons of another planet. That's crazy. Our moon looks nice and detailed. I like to check out downtown from a few miles away. 5 years later and it still works well. Only small issue I have is it shakes a bit. Like it is a bit loose. Even though I tifhten it. It wouldn't really stay still. I've used other telescopes that are smooth and don't jiggle like this one. Other than that. Perfect telescope for beginners. Buy a phone adapter and bluetooth trigger to take steady pictures.
Not bad at all
By Mark Blocker - Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
Giving this 4 stars because the price is so low, and this thing is pretty cool. I saw Saturn's rings for the first time tonight (had the telescope for almost a week). I also saw the Andromeda galaxy, which is a very exciting moment. Ok so it was TINY, but it's still clear to see it's a galaxy and not some star or planet. The barrow lens has been useless except tonight when I was able to see a very blurry and big Saturn even when zoomed all the way in. Seems the barrow is too powerful for the scope and thus the barrow is not usable.
Magnifico
By Daniel - Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2025
Verified Amazon Purchase
El telescopio es espectacular
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