Celestron AstroMaster 114EQ Telescope for Family Stargazing

The telescope is fantastic with great potential. Pulls in an abundant amount of light. Moon looks stunning and I saw jupiter... sort of. I was able to focus it in and even sorta make out the gaseous nature of the planet, and I saw one of the moons. Blurry though at high magnification. All in all, is it worth the price? Definitely! But you'll do yourself a favor making the extra investment Buying an eye piece kit. If you want to see planets, Plossl eye pieces would be the way to go along with light filters. It's difficult but doable to make out the gasses on Jupiter but to really pull in it's detail, you'll need filters. High quality eye pieces like Plossl will be my next purchase so I can push this scope to it's limits which seem far beyond what the included eyepieces can offer. Oh yes, the star finder thingy. It's like using a red dot scope on a riffle. It's a bit of a pain to use but sight it in on a terrestrial object (land) far away first, converge the two dots and it'll put you right on that object. I used it to find Jupiter and it worked well. It took less than a minute to align the scope on it so it did it's job. The tripod. It works nice and all but very shaky. Basically, you have to center it in and don't so much as breath on it and look through the scope. Kinda a pain when you have to touch it to keep it tracked in as the object moves away as the earth spins. Anyways, good beginner set up. Get a high quality eyepiece set to take it to the next level. I gave it Five stars because the Scope for the Money you pay is just Fantastic and this could be an Excellent set up with the high quality eyepieces, filters, and maybe a sturdier tripod if that's an issue for you.

The Celestron 31042 AstroMaster 114EQ is everything I hoped for and more! 😍 As someone totally new to telescopes, I was nervous about the setup—but Celestron made it incredibly easy. The instructions were clear, and I had it up and running in under 30 minutes, no tools needed! This telescope is perfect for beginners who are curious and ready to experience something new. The image clarity blew my mind—moon craters, Saturn’s rings, even some deep-sky objects became real from my own backyard. It feels like having a personal window into space. 🌌🔭 Not only does it perform beautifully, but it looks sleek and professional too. It instantly made me feel like a legit stargazer. If you’re even slightly interested in astronomy or just want to see the universe in a whole new way, this is your sign to go for it. 💫 Huge thanks to Amazon for the fast shipping and seamless experience as always. If you’re scrolling through reviews trying to decide—this is the one. 👏

First off, the scope itself is pretty good, but there's just a few things that really keep it from being great. -Missing Parts: When I assembled the scope, I found out I was missing the screws required to hold the tracking handles on. This was not a deal-breaker "return the thing!" issue for me, but required a trip to the hardware store that I was not planning on in order to make the scope work. -Some parts feel cheap: The aforementioned tracking handles feel pretty cheap and unreliable. They simply slide over an existing rod, and with the application of a screw, are held on by friction, you then turn the handles which moves the scope. Unfortunately, if the screw comes loose, you end up not tracking properly, and it can be a bit of work to get it back on track after you fix the problem. -Lacks Diversity in Eyepieces: The scope comes with only a couple of eye pieces, which while functional for viewing the Moon, is not really strong enough for anything else. Celestron sells a set of eye pieces for $50 that get the job done, but its a sneaky expense that you might otherwise not be expecting.

Knowing almost nothing about telescopes, I did quite a bit of research before buying this telescope as a surprise birthday present for my husband. I considered ones that ranged from $130-300 before ultimately deciding on this one. Pros: - Easy and actually fun to assemble. However, the picture instructions provided are difficult to read and it seemed that some steps were glossed over. - Versatile - can be used for land or astronomy. My primary purpose was for astronomy, but since we live near the water, it's nice to have something that also works for seeing boats off in the distance. - Really sharp looking! It's always difficult to tell from the photos how the product will actually look. In this case, I think the photos were less impressive than the real thing. - Comes with 2 eyepieces (20mm with 50x magnification and 10mm with 100x) - 2 year warranty, covers defects and damage from normal wear and tear - Tripod is sturdy enough to sit on thick carpet or outdoors with no issues - Not designed for travel, but after seeing it fully assembled, I think it would be fairly easy to bring on a short road trip to the mountains. The tripod retracts for easy storage - Comes with manual and software that helps you identify stars/constellations and planets Cons: - The declination cable seemed a little bit wobbly, a minor thing, but felt like it detracted slightly from the overall quality - Not computerized -- but depending on how you look at it, that also means one less thing to break My husband loved it and immediately took it outside to use it right after we finished assembling it. Highly recommend!

I bought this as my first telescope to explore the sky and I am VERY pleased. It's a high quality scope, and the mount and tripod are the kind you get with higher end models. Mine came with an incorrect piece, I contacted the Celestron, and I had a new piece in 3 days. Very nice service. I to had problems finding stars at first, so I went to an astronomy forum and found out the correct way to do it. From there, I haven't had a problem finding anything. The 2 main things are 1) calibrate your finder first and 2) use the right eye piece when looking for something (this scope comes with a 10mm and a 20mm, so you would want to use the 20 to find and 10 to magnify once you found what it is your looking for). I have found Astronomy is not a hobby where you can easily learn stuff through trial and error, and most frustration comes when you try just that. The only thing it's lacking is an eyepiece that goes to it's full magnification. I'm buying a 5mm for this, but if they included that, they would have to up the price. So all in all, this in my opinion is the best bang for the buck telescope out there for beginners on a budget!

Note: It is a Bird-Jones Telescope, not a classical Newtonian. This telescope is very difficult to collimate, and it needs frequent collimation; basically it needs to be collimated every time before using. If uncollimated, the image quality will certainly be disappointing. Since the improper dock-tail manufacturing, the finder scope can not be aligned properly. It is not the problem of the red-spot finder, since I have purchased a better red-dot finder, which is also not able to be aligned. I am not sure if it is the problem of my particular case, or it is a general fallacious design. The mount comes with the package is only moderately sturdy. Besides this, the telescope is very difficult, or we may say, impossible to be balanced on the mount. Moreover, the micro-adjusting knob in the mount does not work properly, as the direction of the mount change irregularly as the knob being switched. I have also tried to astrophotograph with this telescope, and the result is disappointing. Heretofore main defects of the telescope are listed. Here after some of its advantages will be discussed. If collimated properly, beautiful view of the moon can be seen. The telescope is also able to capture main planets in the solar system, although their details will not be revealed. Some deep sky objects, such as the famous Orion Nebula, can also be viewed through this telescope. However, the quality of the view is discouraging. It is certainly an OK telescope for pure hobbyist who doesn't want to spend much time in astronomy. However, if one wants to dive deeper in amateur astronomy, complete potential of such a telescope will soon be exploited, leaving desires to see more, which can only be satisfied by a much finer telescope.

Where do I start? Most of these reviews are super long. I'll keep it short. 49yrs old, amateur astronomer from my childhood but I remember a lot of what I learned. Great purchase. Easy assembly. Without Star Finder calibration I found the moon under three minutes. Awesome clarity. Filters and variety of eyepieces arrive tomorrow. Can't wait. Get this for your kids, grandchildren or yourself. Please read the instructions. Don't expect to see things like the Hubble Telescope. That's not what this is. If that's what you're looking for, expect to pay thousandssssss. Seriously. Do your research for what you're expecting to see. I don't think you can go wrong with this purchase. 7/13/17 I'm still loving this Telescope. It's all slowly coming back to me. Here are some moon photos. All captured within 10 minutes including setup. Taken with a canon T6 DSLR. Just a little blurry. Need a shutter remote so I don't have to touch the camera. Going for some nightscape pics next. Great purchase. Get the Celestron eyepiece kit as well.

To be fair I have only had this telescope since yesterday. But it was easy to put together. Getting it set up will require you to go watch some YouTube videos to actually USE. The instruction manual came in 5/6 different languages but the photos were very small and didn’t always show exactly how or what direction things are supposed to go. There are however videos you can go watch that will help you along if you’re new to this. It came in several boxes like a Russian nesting doll. But it was definitely safe when it was delivered. It was slightly overcast last night so after getting it set up we were able to see a lot of really wonderful detail on the moon, I cannot wait for a clear sky and a full moon! I’ve wanted a telescope since I was 5, this one has exceeded my expectations so far and I’m looking forward to seeing more things! Btw the software that comes with this is phenomenal!!! Taking it out tonight too :)

التلسكوب يمكن من خلاله رؤية القمر فقط غير صالح لرؤية الكواكب

Could see bands of Jupiter. Couldnt spot saturn yet. Will buy some accessories for attaching an SLR and some filters.

Das Teleskop ist schön und gut. Die Eq Montierung ist nach ein Monat kaputt gegangen Mann kann es auch nicht mehr Reparieren. Kauft nicht das Teleskop zu mindestens mit dieser Montierungen.

Hasta ahora me a encantado llevo un tiempo usándolo y por el momento me ha podido ofrecer un buen desempeño en fotos y observación visual eso sí la montura no es tan estable pero si da un buen desempeño a la hora de su uso y ya con unos accesorios extras como oculares o una montura más robusta estaría excelente. Hablando de observación los planetas por ejemplo marte, mercurio, neptuno, y urano son casi indistingibles y suelen verse como unos puntos brillantes sin forma aparente de ahí en fuera Venus, Júpiter y Saturno son muy distingibles y dejan ver más detalles de los mismos mostrando como serían los anillos de Saturno las fases de Venus y las lunas y franjas de júpiter. Además para los objetos del espacio profundo si puede ser bastante útil se notan como manchas grises y blancas algunas y con una cámara y un motor para la montura pueden distinguirse más detalles colores etc un muy buen telescopio para iniciar y practicar el manejo de las monturas ecuatoriales tiene sus detalles pero con unas mejoras es un excelente telescopio Y mencionar que el buscador puede ser complicado de usar pero con una aplicación como stellarium se facilita bastante el proceso de encontrar los objetivos en el cielo Edición: con un buen ocular puedes conseguir mejores resultados además de procesos de apilado etc.

Robusto facile da usare una volta presa la mano, grazie alle istruzioni e il CD video è facile montarlo ma vi consiglio di montarlo in 2 perché è un po' pesante , per evitare di romperlo. Gli oculari in dotazione sono sufficienti a vedere bene la luna e saturno, un po' più piccolo è visibile giove e le sue lune. Il telescopio è molto stabile ed è buono in confronto al prezzo e veramente adatto ai principianti. Io lo adoro.