Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescopes for Adults Astronomy, 60mm Aperture 830mm Catadioptric Compound Telescope

I was looking for a small scope for travel. Small enough to go on a plane. I was not expecting too much for $99 (60 mm version), but was pleasantly surprised. Let me summarize: pros: 1. small enough for travel on an airplane. 2. good optics. The included eye pieces suck (always with small scopes. see below. Large scopes usually don't even include eyepieces). BUT, with my high-end Baader 13mm or my 7mm Astronomics 100 degree ultrawide I get fantastic views. 3. unlike other scopes in this price category, small body and fairly long focal length. The tube is about as big as a large (0.5l) beer can. A 830mm refractor would be 3ft long, at least. 4. At this price you don't expect a usable tripod, but I find this one quite sturdy. Sure, a bit wobbly with extended legs, but anything less wobbly would weigh 10 times as much. Simple trick: hang a weight in the middle and it will be much better. Or put it on a table with short legs. Also more comfy in most situations. 5. The alt/az head is quite sturdy and fairly accurate. Not a goto, but hardly any slack and neither too fast or too slow. Of course, fine tune knobs would be nice, but at this price point? cons: 1. A 45 degree prism would be better than the 90 degree it comes with to stay out of the way of the finderscope. A decent 40 deg prism is $25 at Amazon, get it. 2. The finderscope is flimsy, as expected. I'm trying to put a laser pointer into its holder instead for easier pointing. I'm also considering mounting (velcro or magnet) an electronic digital angle finder on top, so I can adjust the azimuth of objects before starting to hunt. 3. As I said, the eye pieces suck. Get better pieces. At a minimum "SVBONY 4mm 10mm 23mm Telescope Eyepieces Lens Fully Coated Lens Accessories Kit 62 Degree Wide Angle for 1.25 inches Astronomic Telescope" for $40. The 4mm will be barely usable (too much magnification for this small scope, but may be ok for moon and planets). Note that apparent field of view (AFOV) matters more than magnifications. mag = 830mm/xxmm, so for the 10mm you get mag=83. True FOV is the AFOV/mag, so for the 62deg SVBONY TFOV=62deg/83 = 0.75 degrees. The moon ois 0.5 degrees wide, so you just fit the moon. Unfortunately pieces with large AFOV get expensive, but they are a good investment because they fit pretty much any scope. Note that 23mm is about the lowest useful magnification (mag=36, TFOV=1.7 deg). Just OK for large objects like clusters (Pleiades) or the Orion nebula, but larger TFOV requires 2 inch barrels. Maximum magnification is around the 4mm, mag=200, limited by the optics. I'd say mag=100 is about usable for a 60mm, that's what my 7mm Astronomics does just fine, but at a price. 4. The focus knob is just about OK. A bit too fast, 2x slower would be better. Summary: In spite of the cons, which are rather minor, and the $99 price tag, a great value. Excellent for beginners and kids, but even serious amateurs will get something out of it because it's small and easy to set up. If the extra $100 and extra weight/size don't bother you I'd say get the 80mm (gets ~2x the light), otherwise the next step up would be a 100mm or 120mm (4-6 time the light) but at considerably more cost. Better get good eyepieces first.

Unfortunately - the optical quality is bad. Everything you look is blurry like looking through a fish tank. Very disappointing. The image quality is unacceptable. Photos attached.

Funciona bien, pero la caja venía maltratada, tanto la del envoltorio como la caja del telescopio, un tornillito de plástico de la mira estaba quebrado....

Excellent scope this 60 mm mak, very small, light (800 grams) sharp views, tripod (900 grams) is ok, especially for 60 mm. Very smooth motions due to gimball/mounthead (520grams). Prism is phase coated. Eyepieces 10 and 20 mm 70 degrees. Blackened but no filter thread. Nice packaging.

Impressive daytime contrast for a small Maksutov telescope. I like the novel quick focus mechanism. Finder works good enough for what it isn't. Nice mount/tripod combo. Easy slow motions. A bargain @ $94. The optics really are good. I made telescopes for a living, so... Glad I got one. Light to move around.

El mejor telescopio que podras tener por este precio, la calidad optica es realmente muy buena, no vas a conseguir una mejor imagen por este precio, el telescopio por ser catadiotrico no tiene aberracion cromatica, aunque la montura es altazimutal viene con unas perillas de movimiento fino que nos permiten hacer un seguimiento muy preciso de los objetos que observamos, incluso con esta montura he sido capaz de hacerle seguimiento a un avion en movimiento sin problema. la luna se ve con un nivel de detalle increible, jupiter veras las franjas de nubes en la superficie y podras ver los anillos de saturno. El buscador aunque es basico, tiene una base que nos permite alinearlo de una manera muy facil ya que tiene 2 tornillos para ajustar y un resorte que mantiene siempre ajustado el buscador par que no se suelte totalmente.

Product did not come with the phone adapter as advertised

Good value, limited aperture, but good for moon and planets. Nice slo-mo controls but tripod a bit on the flimsy side. Good package for the price.

Excelente, muy portátil y fácil de usar

No lo recomiendo porque no tiene buena calidad de imagen y venía roto el plástico del lente secundario y venía medio rayado el lentey venía medio rayado el lente

Recibí el telescopio pero no es de la medida anunciada. Este es de 60mm y el anuncio dice claramente 80mm