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It measures 35 inches by 19 inches by 12 and it weighs 17 pounds and with the mount on it weighs 26.5 pounds. A Newtonian reflector type, you don’t have to worry about chromatic aberration, but you will have to calibrate it quite often. Its aperture is 130mm wide and the focal length is 650mm, making it ideal for transportation and storage, without compromising the quality of your image. It has two types of magnification – 50x and 100x – with two eyepieces, a 20mm, with an already built-in image corrector and a 10mm one. The lowest magnification it can reach is 19x while the highest is 307x and it comes with a finderscope that has a built-in StarPointer.
Mount
It comes with a CG-3 equatorial mount, with 1.25 inches steel tube legs for the tripod.It has two slow-motion control knobs, that allow you to make adjustments to the telescope in both Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (DEC) axes. Thus, you have the freedom of moving it in whatever direction you want, without losing focus and the quality of your already found star. Plus, it can follow the Earth’s rotation, so you won’t miss any celestial body passing by.
Accessories and Warranty
It comes with Starry Night Basic Edition software, which provides you with resources and knowledge about planets and the solar system. Moreover, it has an accessory tray so you can easily reach any accessory whenever you want to switch them up. It is easy to assemble, as the manuals, instructions, and assembly guides are extremely detailed, offering you images, video tutorials and accurate information on how to properly set it up. Additionally, it comes with a 2-year warranty from the moment of your purchase.
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CONS
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- No chromatic aberration
- Durable
- Easy to assemble, install and set up
- Sturdy tripod
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- Requires constant calibration
- Some complained about it being poorly put together
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| VERDICT
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| Easy to install, assemble and set up, it offers you a quality image of the night sky, which you can be sure has no chromatic aberration. With magnification accessories to allow you to zoom as close as you want and the DVD guide that can shed light on what constellations you are looking at, you will definitely enjoy stargazing even more than before. |
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It measures 24.8 inches by 8.26 inches by 4.33 inches and it weighs 6.17 pounds. It has an aperture of 70mm, a focal length of 400mm and a focal ratio of 5.7 for clear and crisp image quality. Additionally, it comes with an antireflection blue film optical coating to better protect your eyes, and it also comes with a Barlow lens of 3x. It is a refractor type, and it has two magnification eyepieces, the first measuring 10mm with a magnification level of 16x and the other measuring 25mm with 40x magnification. It has an Altazimuth mount, with an aluminum alloy tripod and tube, and a 5×24 finderscope with mounting brackets. Moreover, it has a 48° erecting BAK7 prism for its zenith mirror and a 2°and 24-minutes angular field of view. Moreover it has an inverted image Star Finder while it is beginner friendly, so it requires no additional tools to set it up. Easy to carry around, it comes with a backpack for hassle-free transportation and storage, and a 1-year limited warranty from the moment of your purchase.
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CONS
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- Antireflection blue film coating
- Beginner friendly
- Easy to carry around
- Easy to use
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- Some complained about the installation guide not being detailed enough
- There were some complaints about its overall design
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| VERDICT
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| Easy to assemble and set up, it is beginner-friendly and easy to use. It comes with a stable tripod and two different magnification eyepieces which allows you to switch them up instantly if you want to see a particular star. Thanks to its incorporated bag, it is easy to store and carry around. |
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It measures 22 by 12.5 by 5.6 inches and it weighs 4.5 pounds. It is a refractor type, with an aperture of 80mm, a focal length of 400mm and a focal ratio of 5. It comes with two eyepieces, 20mm, and 10mm with the ability to magnify 20x and 40x, respectively, while the highest useful magnification reaches up to 189x and the lowest useful magnification drops to 11x. It comes with a manual Altazimuth mount, with a height adjustment range of 558.8mm to 1320.8mm, and with a tripod with the legs diameter of 31.75mm. It has an accessory tray, and a 5×24 finderscope so you can easily track and find what you’re looking for.
It has a dovetail compatibility vixen/CG-5 saddle plate type, thus allowing it to have a star diagonal erect image of 45°. Plus, thanks to the bag it comes with, you can keep all its accessories in one place,for better transportation and storage. Additionally, it comes with a smartphone adapter so you can take breathtaking images of the planets directly from your telescope. Moreover, it comes with two different software: a Starry Night Basic Edition DVD and the SkyPortal App. The former teaches you about the planets and the solar system while the latter is similar to a planetarium, allowing you to experience the night sky. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Furthermore, it will align your telescope with the stars you’re seeing on it, for an even more enhanced experience.
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CONS
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- Several accessories
- Easy to set up and assemble
- Durable and stable
- Comes with a DVD and an app
- Easy to carry, store and transport
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- Some complained it takes a while to focus it
- There were some complaints about its tripod
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| VERDICT
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| It allows you to experience stargazing in a completely different manner. By allowing your phone to connect to it, you can take pictures directly, with a breathtaking quality, while the DVD and app it comes with, teach you more about the stars, planets and solar system. The app even aligns your telescope to with your phone, allowing you to immerse yourself into the starry night sky. |
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It weighs 18 pounds and it measures 38 by 12 by 8 inches. It is a refractor type and it comes with a 90mm aperture, a focal length of 600mm and a focal ratio of 6.7. It has 3 eyepieces for a diverse magnification, 25mm with 24x, 10mm with 60x and 5mm with 120x, its maximum magnification going up to 360x. It comes with a 6×30 finderscope and with Barlow lens of 3x. Additionally, it has a 48° erecting BAK7 prism for its zenith mirrors and, thanks to its optical multi anti-reflection green film coating, your eyes will be out of danger, even if you use it during the daytime. It comes with a 2.8 resolution and with an angular field of view of 1° and 36 minutes. It comes with an AZ Altazimuth mount, with a hook dovetail plate connection for better stability and safety and with a tripod that has 1.27-inch long, stainless steel feet. It comes with a step-by-step installation guide and a 12-month worry-free warranty.
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CONS
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- Easy to assemble
- Durable, and time resistant
- Versatile and easy to carry
- 3 magnifying pieces for better zoom
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- Some complained about the instruction not being detailed enough
- There were some complaints about the finder not keeping the focus.
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| VERDICT
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| Beginner friendly and easy to use and install, it offers you three magnifying pieces to be able to quickly and efficiently switch how far you want to see. Adjustable while offering you stable support, it can be used in both nighttime and daytime because, thanks to its lens coating, your eyes are safe from strong light. |
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This refractory type telescope features a large 70mm aperture, thus providing you with increased performance, regardless if you’re a beginner or a professional, and with 400mm focal length. It comes with fully multi-coated lenses to offer you excellent contrast and enough brightness, while its 5×24 finderscope with mounting bracket will create a 45-degree erect-image diagonally, to allow you to locate the celestial bodies easier. It comes with an adjustable aluminum coated tripod, which can go from 16.1 inches in height up to 51.6 inches once fully deployed, providing you with versatility according to how you wish to operate it. Once mounted on the tripod you can easily rotate your telescope in 360° left and right, with a spin up and down of 90°.
The telescope measures 18 inches in length, 9 inches in width and 5 inches in depth, and it weighs 4.35 pounds, and it comes with several accessories. It has two eyepieces, K6/16x, and K25/67x which allow you to focus light and see the planets clearer, and with a metal-made, moon filter to reduce the brightness of the moon and allow you to see it in a sharp image. Additionally, it comes with a phone adapter, thus it can easily project the image you see right into your phone, while the Star target planisphere helps you find various stars.
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CONS
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- Beginner friendly
- Large aperture
- Versatile and easy to carry
- Several accessories
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- There were some complaints about it being hard to assemble
- Some complained about the tripod being unstable
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| VERDICT
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It allows you to explore celestial bodies with precision and accuracy. By allowing your phone to connect to it, you can take pictures directly, with a breathtaking quality, while the planisphere it comes with allows you to decide which planet you want to see next. |
6. Meade Instruments 209005
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Beginner friendly, this achromatic refractor telescope comes with a precision Altazimuth pre-assembled mount, with slow motion controls that will allow you to easily track celestial objects as they move, without you having to worry about chromatic aberration. It measures 53 inches by 34 inches by 34 inches and it weighs 11.2 pounds completely assembled. It has a 90mm aperture that offers you bright and sharp images for both terrestrial and celestial objects.
Its focal length is 600mm and its focal ratio is 6.7, and it has a Red Dot viewfinder. Additionally, it comes with 3 eyepieces of different lengths: 26mm, 9 mm and 6.3mm, thus allowing you a wider range to observe. It features a Barlow lens of 2x, and has a rack and pinion focuser mechanism while it has a 90-degree erect-prism diagonal system. Additionally, it comes with AutoStart Suite Astronomer Edition Software on DVD, so you can learn even more about the night sky, and with a 1-year warranty from the moment of your purchase.
| PROS
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CONS
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- Achromatic lenses, thus no chromatic aberration
- Easy to assemble and set up
- No calibration required
- Can be used in the daytime, as well
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- Can be a bit difficult to follow celestial objects as they move
- There were some complaints about the installation instruction not being detailed enough
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| VERDICT
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| Beginner friendly, it is easy to install and set up while it also comes with an included DVD so you can learn more about space. With three magnification eyepieces, you can easily switch them up whenever you need. As it can be used in the daytime as well as during the night, you can easily use it to gaze at nature. |
While there are
several models of telescopes already on the market, if you travel a lot or if you simply prefer to have the freedom of choosing your stargazing locations, instead of viewing the sky from your room and balcony, then a portable telescope is what you’re searching for. Easy to carry, but packing a powerful and high-quality image, let’s take a look at what types you can choose from.
- Refractor – standard, durable and the most common type. It gathers environmental light from one end and focuses it into the eyepiece at the other side. While it is true that it regained its popularity thanks to the fluorite, and despite the fact that it can offer high-quality images, it does tend to be susceptible to chromatic aberration.
- Newtonian reflector – named after the well-known scientist, it uses a parabolic mirror to focus light from the front end to the eyepiece at the back. It doesn’t suffer from chromatic aberration, but it does require constant collimation, as it tends to defocus quite easily. Additionally, you have to be careful not to use it on cold days, as the mirrors inside it can cloud up.
- Schmidt-Cassegrain – commonly known as SCTs, it tends to be quite compact. It uses a mirror at both ends to fold the optical path, thus making it a more compact version to its counterparts. It tends to come with a variety of accessories, but its image quality cannot reach its counterparts.
- Catadioptric – also known as compound telescopes, they are a hybrid between a reflecting and refractor one. With an overall shorter length, they are portable and are capable of avoiding the aberrations the other versions tend to not escape from. While they might seem better at a first glance, they are quite pricey and they do require calibration from time to time.
Tip: The bigger the aperture, the better the image.
Aside from the lenses, the mount is an essential part of your stargazing experience, as well. There are
two types of mounts that, according to what you need it for, will definitely fit your requirements:
- Equatorial – it is designed to follow the rotation of the sky. A bit on the pricey side, it will make, however, your ‘starry’ experience a lot more immersive and will be able to help you track the celestial bodies, easier.
- Altazimuth – it can be considered more like a standard mount. It can move up, down, left and right, but it will not automatically track the sky, so it will need manual adjustment. However, it is more affordable and more compact, thus it packs lighter than its counterpart.
So, it all depends on what you’re looking for and how much your budget can stretch. While an expensive one can be exactly what you’ve been searching for, a more modest version can easily offer you a high-quality for your stargazing moments, as well.
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