CelestronAstroMaster 70AZ Telescope - Refractor Telescope - Fully Coated Glass Optics - Adjustable Height Tripod – Bonus Astronomy Software Package

I have been using this telescope for about a year now and it never bores me.You can easily watch the below celestial objects-> Moon in a very high definition-> Mars-> Jupiter with jupiter's moons-> Saturn-> Venus-> Orion Nebulaand many many objects.Pros:-> Very helpfull viewfinder-> The First light software is very helpful-> Sturdy design-> The 90degree prism makes erect images-> Very nice focal lengthCons:-> Tripod is very very bad. The movement of the telescope up and down while tracking will be of a big challengeThe horizontal rotation is fine. But when u move up and down while u r watching through the eyepiece, it will become very difficult to track due to the spillover movement in the tripod's rotators. WHen u tight your telescope, it gets tight in a different position. With this tripod, it almost becomes impossible to tight the telescope exactly after tracking something. You fix it and the telescope will move and gets fixed somewhere where u can see only blank sky. For such a company like celestron, this tripod is a black mark.-> Heavy vibration on the tripods. The nuts and bolts and joints starts sounding unusually after some days of usage.If you plan to buy this, better buy it along with vibration suppression pads or else it will not be fruitful in long termFrom a telescope perspective, this is a very nice investment for a beginer to intermediate astronomers. You will enjoy the fun of it when you see it in refractors.My suggestion to celestron is to fix these tripods to avoid frustration on these nice telescopes. The goodwill of telescope is lost because of the bad quality tripod.Overall, this is a product I am enjoying every day. Please be very choosy between reflectors and refractors. And please dont see sun using this. Even with a solar filter, i suggest NO. Refractors get in a lot of light focus which sometimes makes the UV rays even come out of solar filters.Nice product except for the Irritating Tripod. :)

I got this telescope about a month and a half ago. I waited to write a review so I could have some time to use it a few times. If you're even remotely thinking about getting a telescope and you're a beginner, don't hesitate and just get it! Looking at all the telescopes on Amazon can be overwhelming, so take the guesswork out and get this one. It's super simple to set up and extremely easy to use. Some of the fancier telescopes require calibration steps, yes the views they produce are superior but it's intimidating for beginners. However this one is ready to go, just point and look. I would highly recommend aligning the laser, which is super easy and takes only minutes. It's a nice tool, point the laser on the object you want to view and it's in your in your eyepiece when you look through the telescope. That simple. The moon looks amazing through this. Tonight I finally found Saturn and Jupiter. I could see Saturn's rings very clearly and 3 of Jupiter's moons. I could even see faint color bands on Saturn. I would recommend an app for your phone such as sky view or sky Safari so you can identify what you're looking at or see what time each planet or star comes into view. Sky Safari will show the trajectory of objects complete with times or the trajectory. It's a great tool to have.I'm beyond pleased with this telescope and the price can't be beat.

A perfect first telescope! Especially suited for lunar and planetary viewing. The views of the moon through this telescope are breath-taking! The EQ mount makes tracking objects so much easier once you get used to it; you will spend more time enjoying actually viewing, instead of fighting adjustments as with an AZ mount. Overall this is an outstanding scope! Well worth the jump up from the 70mm. For the highest contrast, sharpest views of the planets a refractor is definitely the way to go! Also, practically zero maintenance and no time spent collimating. Just put it on the mount and get right to viewing!Purchased Astromaster Accessory Kit: it's a decent upgrade for this telescope if you're on a budget, but I can't recommend it. The 15mm Kellner actually performs well for a cheap eyepiece. However, the filters in this kit are too dark for a refractor of this size, and you really won't get any benefit from them on the planets. You really don't need a barlow lens for this scope, because the magnification range is fairly narrow; you just need the right size eyepieces.Skip the kit and purchase the Agena AstroProducts EWA 9mm eyepiece instead; for $45 I challenge you to find a better performing eyepiece! It really takes views through this instrument to a whole new level! Very comfortable for extended viewing, with great eye-relief, a wide field of view, and excellent contrast! This single eyepiece makes every starter eyepiece in your collection obsolete! This entire line of eyepieces are incredible for the price!This scope really shines in the x111 to x166 magnification range. Sometimes it takes a little patience to really nail the focus, as the focuser adjustment is a bit coarse. If it's within your budget I recommend the prism diagonal 90 by William Optics which has a 15mm fine helical focuser adjustment (Agena AstroProducts carries it). It's worth every penny, and is an incredible upgrade. Looking through the Agena EWA 9mm on this diagonal is like having a new telescope, and everything I viewed was like looking at it again for the first time! The moon through these optics will simply blow you away!To get the most out of this instrument, upgrade the cheap, plastic diagonal, and don't buy the cheap "kit" lenses.Clear Skies! :)