PowerSeeker 80EQ Telescope - Manual German Equatorial Telescope for Beginners - Compact and Portable - Bonus Astronomy Software Package - 80mm Aperture

I'm giving it five stars because of bang for buck. I bought it after reading Gustav Mahler review and I'm not sure I can add to that review but I will try.First it came very well boxed three times in fact. There was a instruction booklet and for me the assembly was easy. I must say at first un-packing it it did seem intimating but the pictures help (stick to the pictures) because the side RA was turn 180 out to make packing possible. There were nine easy steps. There was a screw driver left over that looked like a part I missed. (Look says screwdriver on it). I didn't need a screw driver. I suggest you do not go any tighter than you need to and that is not tight. Too tight can do damage and many people tend to over do that. Its your baby go easy. Con's - I was not happy with the finder scope. I think that could have been improved. The tripod was OK. It had points on the tips and not rubber feet. I have a Galileo tripod I use for a small 400mm-70mm scope I do bird watching with and I think I like that one better. Pro's - I like the slow motion knobs. I thought I give them a try because too often in my pass I used a short scope with high power lens on a solid base to lessen the shaking due to moving it and near by earth movement, such as trucks going by when out on a patio. Those were better for those earthy harmonics than the long tube type. But with out the slow motion cables I over come the resistance that held the scope at aim and when it broke that hold the scope would over shoot and I would be way off my target. This cable knob type may be the lesser of the two evils and it gives me power like I never had. The lens tray has a lip on it so I can just place my lens in that with there case's on. It came with two CD disks. One instructions that was good but for the Polar alignment I like U-Tube. On that CD I couldn't get into accessory to see what the dove tail fastener was met for. I think its an optional digital camera holder. The second CD ( not II ). Asked for me to download a set up soft ware and I do not down load strange exe. In short, it was like a telescope that cost twice what I paid. That and reviews is what drives Amazon I think... IMPORTANT... This is a heavy scope with lots of cast iron to it. 18 Lps. It is a bad boy so if your female (like me) or not up to moving that weight, it may not be for you. I plan to back-pack the counter weight & my lens if I'm going too far with it. I wouldn't want a scope any more heavy than this. There you have it. Not sure I did better than the Gustav Mahler review. He is right, optics are great. Five stars. I can't believe I got a scope this good for this cost. I have four telescopes now. This one is the power house but I still in-joy the others. They have there place.

Terrific beginner scope for adults or families that can teach older children it's use. A little more complicated to use the Equatorial mount than a simpler alt-az mount but necessary to learn how to find faint objects using the North Star polar aligned mount and star maps. The 80 mm objective lens is a good size for the money and provides good clear sharp images from stunning views of the moon and some planets to nebulla. If you are a beginner, don't be overwhelmed by the appearance and instructions for polar aligning and use of the mount. It's very much worth the effort to learn. I recommend YOUTUBE videos on use of Equatorial mounts. I found Dean Fuller's video too fast but very good and after just a couple of repeated views was an old hat at using the telescope as this was my first Equatorial mount. The eyepieces are very good and I chose to buy a 2x Barlow lens to replace the supplied 3x Barlow lens. The finder scope is a challenge to align and use as it seems to be too close to the tube and difficult to hold a solid alignment. I bought a better finder scope and it works out much better and holds alignment between uses. An issue occurred with the mount still under warranty and I received dependable, fast, rock solid, exemplary service. I also have another Celestron; an Astromaster 130EQ Reflector with similar excellent image clarity. I managed to observe the Cassini divide in the rings of Saturn and the red spot and bands of Jupiter and four moons during moments of atmospheric stability on a good viewing night with the 80 EQ.

OK. First off I am in no way, shape, or form well versed in Telescopes or astronomy other than finding Polaris to find north (that is a skill you will need for amateur astronomy though, so that worked out). I bought this because my 8-yo son has been asking a lot of questions about the night sky during our nighttime walks, but understanding the typical attention span of a 8-yo didn't want to spend a lot of money. First...the bad: -Finder scope is cheap and basically impossible to keep adjusted.with any sort of precision. -Product comes with 20mm and 4mm eyepieces. The 4mm is pretty much useless and I believe only comes along as a means to claim a pointless magnification potential. Knowing what I've learned in the past few days this would have been much better with a simple mid-range 13mm eyepiece as the 2nd optic...not too big not too small. I'll probably invest in the accessories kit anyway though so..... -3x Barlow is also pretty flimsy. Now, I've read a lot of reviews that say the Celestron Barlow is unusable, and mine was also when I first got the kit. I tried to clean the lens though, and ended up moving the inner piece forward. Don't know if they're supposed to move like that, but after pushing mine all the way forward in the Barlow tube it works like a champ. Paired it up with the 20mm eyepiece and got some awesomely nice images. -Mount hardware in the Declination axis was a bit loose and caused a bit of wobble in the scope. Tightened it up a bit... holds like a champ now and moves very smoothly when making fine adjustments with the slo-mo cables. The good: -Super simple to get from box to stargazing. Instructions are very clear every step of the way from assembly, to balancing,to polar alignment. I downloaded the manual as soon as I ordered the telescope to familiarize myself with the different parts so I already had a basic idea of what and where Dec., altitude, & RA were as I was setting up and making adjustments. -Comes with an Equatorial mount (hence the EQ designation) that when set properly gets you ridiculously close to what you are trying to find....leading to my next point. -The SkyX First Light software is super cool. Gives celestial coordinates of most major sky attractions, and terrestrial cardinal headings for reference. Using a magnetic compass to orient my telescope and this software to tell me when & where an object will be, I've hit every target so far. -Crystal clear optics. Only really used the 20mm up to now. Tonight is the first night I've successfully used the 3x Barlow with the 20mm. Got some really neat looks at Venus which is only about a 1/3 crescent right now, but super bright and clear. Jupiter hasn't risen yet, but we got a decent look at that one, as well as Betelgeuse, Arcturus, and the Geminids using the 20mm 3 nights ago. Can't wait to see it paired with the 3x when it comes up tonight if the moon doesn't overpower it. Speaking of which...beautiful moon view. Too bad it's so close to full. Not enough surface shadow to really nail the details tonight but got some nice looks the first night out. Can't wait to see Saturn, but it's rising too close to dawn now. -Slo-mo cables smooth and solid. Excellent tracking. Anyway, for this price you're gonna get what you paid for which is a mid-quality small beginner telescope. You're not gonna pull this out of the box and discover new planets, or even zoom right in on the ones we know about. If you have patience, take your time setting up, and learn a bit about your equipment, you will be well rewarded for the price.

So I was in the market for an astroscope for my kids. It's been decades since I used to truck my newtonian reflector around and when I dug it out in the garage, I just didn't want to tackle the job of pulling it back from the brink and getting it into shape. I read some fairly pannish reviews of the Celestron basic scopes online, including a fairly pannish review of this one, but I went with it anyway because it seemed that the price couldn't be beaten for an 80mm refractor. I was apprehensive, but I need not have worried. Optics are great, very well aligned, very easy and smooth to focus, with very little in the way of chromatic aberration or visual defects. Got ahold of a variety of Plossl eyepieces from 26mm down to 4.x mm and have now had a chance to use all of them. Found all to be very usable. The tripod is excellent for this price and I'm not going out on a limb to say that if you had to just buy the tripod from a science shop, you'd pay more in a retail store for the tripod alone. It's well made, the fine adjustments work well and are precise and modular, and it's just generally very robust. This is a delightful beginner scope at a very, very affordable price and I really can't find anything to complain about. The reviews for this scope on hobbyist sites specifically mentioned a lackluster tripod, iffy optics, and a lackluster set of eyepieces included. I find all of these complaints to be either verrry nitpicky or just plain wrong. The kids have already spent several evenings breathlessly exploring the surface of the moon in very good detail, and we've taken a few shots through it as well with a camera phone that turned out very nicely. I guess if you're a serious hobbyist that has a $1k+ scope that you take to meet-ups or something then this may seem like an amateur piece. But if you're just a family looking to explore the sky and get excited while doing it, this fits the bill perfectly, and is a significantly better choice (IMO) than the 70mm scopes or scopes with worse tripods that will only save you $30-$50. I'd argue that this scope strikes precisely the right balance between "serious" and "affordable" for any family with a couple curious, science-minded kids ready to pick up a new hobby. Then, if they get really into it, spend 4x-10x as much later, in a few years, when they really outgrow this scope—which won't happen for a while.

Everything was perfect, exactly as advertised.

I had ordered this telescope without really reading reviews first. I looked it over, read the features, and figured this would be a great deal. For the price, there was a lot going on with this telescope. It was extremely easy to put together. You don't even really need the instructions (though I would still use them) it goes together seamlessly. I had it together and looking at the stars within the hour. It's easy to spot things in the sky, easily lined up and very clear to see through. The 3x Barlow lens that comes with it, really makes a huge difference as well. I would totally recommend this telescope for beginners and intermediate users as well. - Reading the reviews afterwards, I noticed a lot of hate on the cell phone adapter that came with it. To be honest, they must have gotten something quite different than me. It fit my phone just fine (Pixel 4XL) and was easy to attach. It is however, a bit of a fight to get it to line up with the lens, but it can be done, and works quite well. I mean, don't expect to win any awards for the pics you will take, but they are still quite nice. If this adapter can fit my phone, it can fit almost any phones out there. I am glad I made this purchase, in the short time I have had it, I have really enjoyed. As a person who does nature and astrophotography, this was a fun, and very good buy.

Amazing telescope for the money. I purchased it, not knowing fully what to expect because I am new to astronomy. The pictures that people have posted are totally accurate. I was able to zoom into the moon and see tons of details. On my first attempt I was also able to see Jupitor with slight stripes and it's moons! Super cool stuff. I am still very new to it but I did purchase a lens and filter kit and the lenses that came with the new kit are much nicer than what comes with the scope. However the 20mm lens that comes with the scope is great for the moon and seeing groups of stars. I didn't fully understand how huge this scope is, I actually purchased it to put in my camper, but we will make it work. The stand seems sturdy enough for the scope and has lots of little adjusters that help keep things in the field of view since the stars move across the sky pretty quick. When you are zoomed in it shakes quite a bit so you have to be careful. I don't know much about other stands to know how the others are. Update! So I only had this scope for 2 weeks before deciding I wanted to upgrade. The scope was great, but wanted something smaller that would be better for traveling. Got a SE4, stars and things look the same as they did with the 80EQ but I will say the mount is much better on the SE4. It doesn't wobble as much and is much easier to focus -- but at over 2x's the price the 80EQ is a great value.

Now I'm not a astronomer, just a causal viewer since I got this for my kids. They really wanted to see the stars up close, you know like the way NASA would show the stars. Now keeping in mind the price point for this telescope, you already know you're not going to get the best images. After setting up the telescope, you can see the stars closer but it's not in much detail, after all it's they are millions or billions of miles away. But the moon is a different story. When there is a full moon, you can see a lot of detail but you may get the same results looking through a pair of binoculars. Likes: It's a great looking telescope, good sturdy platform. Come with lens cover so that dust won't get all over the optics. The instructions for assembling was easy to understand. No problem with shipping, it is well protected. Dislikes: Adjusting the telescope is not easy at times, the nobs seem to get in the way when you have the telescope at a steep angle. I always get grease on my hands when adjusting the focus, you have to remember to keep you hands away from the barrel as it comes out when focusing. Odd: The telescope comes with a magnifying eye piece. Couldn't really get it to work, not sure when to use it.

With this one you can get nice views of moon. I didn’t try to look farther. Hope Saturn will look fine

جا فكرتون مرتب ماشاء الله وسهل التركيب طريقة استخدامه فيه مقاطع كثيره باليوتيوب لطريقه التكريب والاستخدام شكرا على سرعة التوصيل

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Compré siendo principiante en la astronomía. Vivo en una zona concurrida, con contaminación lumínica y de aire. Esto no detuvo al telescopio pues logré ver sin mucho problema Venus, muy brillante. Jupiter, Saturno y Marte igual bien con sus colores. Para observar la Luna también resultó genial. El lente que trae de 20mm es de muy buena calidad y en verdad los planetas se ven geniales. El lente de 4mm ya no tanto, recomiendo comprar uno mejor. La montura ecuatorial es perfecta y resistente