BUKI TS007B - Telescope 30 activities

It's mostly plastic, with the actual lens and barrel being metal. It's important to bear in mind this is a toy, and for a toy, it's pretty good.Had a bit of faff with building, the legs of the tripod mostly, but after this everything is logical - screw threads, wing nuts for easy grabbing to tighten or loosen, and things being logically in place. All parts eventually are screwed on, so there's no small parts risk for smaller children.On the top there is a 'spotter', a wider angle magnifier useful for selecting what you want to look at first, and then looking in the telescope to find it closer. Right by the eyepiece there is a circular motion toggle that adjusts the focus - if you can't see anything first time, pull this forwards and backwards to bring in and out the focus plane, which may reveal something. Long telephoto lenses which is what this is can have very short moments of something being in focus, and I found this difficult at first to see anything, but practice and you will find!The lenses are 20mm and 40mm - The lens (pictured) does actually say 4mm but it's not, it's 40, as the book says and also you can tell with it on (as you can see further away objects closer, it's more magnified).The tripod when fully extended is 89cm, so child's height still. The viewfinder piece mount can be positioned so that it's either pointing up (meaning you'd look down in to it, good for taller kids that can kneel or bend down) but it can also be tilted to the side, so smaller children when standing can look in. The adapter holds the two lenses, which are interchangeable.The information book provided is both a pain and a blessing - written with all the languages at once, it looks like a lot of words crammed and most of them you can't understand, so you have to search for the EN paragraph. But then, it really is packed with science and space information, written appropriately for kids. It explains solar eclipses, has tasks to draw the birth and death of a star visually so it's understandable, gives a bit of history, has some quizzes with answers in the back, shows constellations, instructions on how to make a rocket (it's messy and involves bicarb of soda, parents beware) so it really is a decent booklet that seems to have some thought and care written in, rather than just providing a telescope in the box.Sadly as I live in the middle of a city, the sky is never clear so I couldn't test this on the night sky, but I did as the book suggested and creeped on my neighbours. (I'm joking.) Poorly photographed are some examples of the rooftops and trees I saw in daylight, at the top of my road from my window.I think this is a good toy present, ideal for the kid that's adamant wants a telescope but you don't what to spend £££ just yet on proper scientific equipment, just in case it's a phase. If it's not, this certainly seems like good practice for a better one at a later date. It's not perfect, but it does it's job, and it is good enough.At time of review price £34.90, and bearing in mind this is very much a toy, I think it's value for money and worth it considering these factors. The information book is certainly that, and it's very educational, I think though this is yet another plastic kids toy, compared to others for a similar price, you get what your money's worth for it.

You get what you pay for and based on that premise this is reasonable value for money. It good enough to look at the moon, but more distant objects are a disappointment. The tripod is the problem as it really is not up the job.On a plus note my daughters (aged 6 & 9) have really enjoyed using it but if you want to go further than the moon with children I think it's better to spend a little more.I do think the company have done well to get a telescope out for this price but for me it's a bit like buying a cheap guitar; one is more likely to give up quickly.

For a budget telescope set, this is not bad at all. It comes with an illustrated colour instruction sheet with 30 activities to discover night sky, the planets and the lunar landscape. The tube and the tripod are made of metal. There is 50 mm diameter lens and 2 interchangeable 20 mm and 4 mm eyepieces. 89 cm tripod. and there several accessories included: 6x25 mm finderscope, 1 2.3x Barlow lens, 1 sky map to find your wayIt is recommended for 8 years + but my 4.5 year old son was able to enjoy it with supervision.

Okay for toy

This is a wonderful telescope for budding astromomers. Inside the box is everything you need to set up the telescope - including the telescope itself, eyepieces tripod and a booklet that has lots of activities to carry out. The set up is minimal but there is some assembly required - screwing pieces together to make the final product. Once this is done the telescope no longer fits in the box and so you will have to think about how the telescope will be stored. The view through the telescope is clear and easy to see with focusing knobs if needed. The night that we used it was not terribly clear (typical I suppose for the time of year) and so we are looking forward to using it on a clear night. Both my boys are over the moon with it and are very excited about conducting the activities. Highly recommend

Optical performance is poor. Unable to get any focus. Package and box looks good but now gathering dust.

Perhaps, at this price, it's unreasonable to expect very much, but this telescope has two major flaws that make it practically useless if its purpose is to inspire kids to get into astronomy. The biggest problem is the tripod, which is absolutely useless - so useless that it's barely possible to get it set up to look at the moon, let alone any of the small objects in the sky. It's basically a wing-nut affair so you have to try to get the object into the viewfinder and tighten it without moving it. Absolutely useless. The optics are also of pretty poor quality so, when you do finally manage to look at anything, it's not sharp. The Celestron Firstscope Celestron 76 mm Firstscope is a much better choice as a starter scope.