Travel Scope 70 Portable Refractor Telescope – 70mm Aperture, Fully-Coated Glass Optics – Includes Tripod, Backpack & Software – Ideal for Beginners & Travel

TL;DR Review: Great portable scope. Get a separate tripod - tripod wobbles. Definitely recommended for anyone who would like to take a scope with them on a trip, for someone who doesn't have the space for a permanently mounted scope, for a student whose interested in astronomy, or as a fun add-on to keep in the trunk on trips to anywhere. It’s small, lightweight, and priced right. It’s light enough that a five-year old could carry it for an entire trip without effort, giving them direct participation in the setup process. This is an amazing little telescope which you can easily take anywhere you're going. Looking at the moon, you'll be able to see the moon in fantastic detail, clearly seeing the ridges of the craters peaking above the moon's northern pole. Aimed at any patch of the sky, stars will become visible when before you saw nothing but darkness. As with all telescopes with this magnification, you will not see the individual rings of Saturn, but you will be able to make out the halo of the rings. Jupiter's moons, though, will be easy to spot, but speaking of spots, you won't see Jupiter's red-spot. Mars and Venus are indistinctive. As for galaxies, if you know where to look, Andromeda can be seen. As for using this scope for daytime viewing of birds and bees, it's perfect. My recommendation is to pair this scope with a Gosky Cell Phone Adapter Mount (you can order one here on Amazon - see my review for photos and videos take with it) and use your phone's camera to capture some amazing shots. Note positioning the Gosky is tricky, so prepared to be frustrated as you try to get the phone's camera and the telescope aligned. It’s not a defect and it's not something you're doing wrong - it's just worth it, but difficult. And if you want to get photos of objects you can't even see through the telescope with your phone, Google "android [or iphone] astronomy photo stacking", "NightCap Pro," or "iastrophotography". What makes this scope a winner it how easy it is to carry around. The included backpack has enough extra space that you can easily toss a laptop or Chromebook in it - I have. It also comes with two high-quality eyepieces (20mm and 10mm) which allow you toquickly switch them up as needed. Each lens also comes with a cap (a needed feature), though I wouldn't fret too much if I lost one. The side finderscope is well aligned and will make targeting much simpler. But the tripod! The tripod! It's OK, but because it's tiny and lightweight, it's not stiff and suffers from touch-wobble. You'll repeatedly find yourself aiming for an object and then when you let go of the telescope or tripod, sometimes it will move out of alignment. You just need to be cognizant of this and use a light touch once you've locked it down to where you want to aim. Since I’ve gotten it, my son and I have used it in City locations and in the country – obviously it works great in both locations. So if the tripod is poor - why did you give it 5 stars instead of 4? For the size, price, and weight of the tripod, it’s what you would expect. A sturdier tripod will weigh a whole lot more and will be bigger, killing the portability aspects of what without the tripod would automatically make this a 5-star telescope. So it’s neither the tripod’s fault nor the Celestron’s. A better-built tripod would weigh more and cost a lot more. As a person who doesn’t read manuals, do read the instruction manual. Some parts aren’t obvious. I managed to figure out how to put it together but would have had a much easier time if I had taken two minutes to flip through the instruction manual.

I have 40 years’ experience with telescopes and hope I can help. First, the 50mm is a great first scope. This is designed as a travel scope and so is small (12 inches long) and light. The tube and screws are the only metals pieces, which helps with the portability and backpack use. The tripod included with the 50mm is adequate for most sitting uses but it is not tall for standing or sturdy at high powers. For example using the 3x barlow and the high power eyepiece it would be difficult to have a stable view. In that case a stronger tripod (at the cost of some portability) would be best. A standard camera tripod could be used with better results. The 1.25 eyepieces included with the 50mm are fair but not the best for people with glasses because you have to hold your eye close to the eyepiece. There are better eyepieces with better eye relief if you plan to stay with the hobby or if you are over 50. I would not recommend replacing the eyepieces for the smaller scopes for two reasons, (1) more expensive eyepieces will add more weight to your setup and (2) if you don’t need the portability a larger scope may come with better eyepieces. Many scopes come with low quality eyepieces to cut costs. The 50mm optics produces a sharp image and the scope focuses well with the supplies eyepieces. It is important to know that a law in optics is a larger aperture will produce a brighter image because it is able to capture more light. Example a 90mm scope will provide a better view at night when compared to the 50mm. This is not a big issue for daytime use with the 50mm scope. Also the supplied diagonal is best used as a spotting scope for daytime terrestrial viewing or bird watching. A con is the finder scope which I had to turn the diagonal sideways to use the finder; there is no room for a straight through view. On a clear, dark night the scope will show good images of star fields, a few star clusters and a few other objects. The included 45 degree diagonal is harder to use when viewing objects that are high in the sky; for those items a 90 degree diagonal works better. Expect to see good sharp views of the moon although a moon filter would help cut the brightness when the moon is full. With practice you can see Jupiter’s moons as well as Saturn’s rings but a larger aperture (80-90-102mm) would provide more detail. In a smaller scope don’t expect to see much detail and Mars, Venus and other planets will only appear as small colorful dots even with an 80mm scope. The 50 /60 /70mm will not provide detailed view of any galaxies. Bottom Line: this is a good portable scope but at this price point don’t expect the quality you would get from a larger 102mm scope which is 3 times more expensive. This scope is perfect for daytime and travel use. The scope is good for kids under supervision (don’t ever look at the Sun). If you want to do nighttime astronomy I would look at an 80mm scope for portability or a 102mm which shows more details and is much better but less portable. If you need better eyepieces and a new tripod buying a larger or more expensive scope will be a better choice. If you already know you will stick with this hobby the go with the 80 or 102 mm and replace the eyepieces with better quality ones.

Un producto de alta calidad a un precio muy accesible, $1,900 MXN ya con todos los gastos (alrededor de $100 USD a la fecha). La compra fue el modelo Celestron Travel Scope de 70mm (no es la version DX que incluye adaptador para tu smartphone). Los materiales son de primera, a veces es difícil ajustar la dirección, pero con paciencia y práctica se puede resolver. Cumple perfectamente su función, pude ver Saturno, Jupiter y Marte con muy buena nitidez, los lentes incluidos hacen ver los planetas un poco chicos, pero con muy buena nitidez, me imagino que consiguiendo un lente extra para que aumente el tamaño de la imagen lo haría perfecto. No esperes poder tomar fotos para tu instagram o cosas por el estilo porque no se apreciarán mucho (por el tamaño de la imagen) a excepción de tal vez imágenes de la luna, pero si lo que buscas es simplemente disfrutar de la astronomía, este telescopio es excelente para iniciar.

Gostei da facilidade de montagem. Muito leve, prático, bem acondicionado. Já sabia que não seria fácil observar planetas, pois como moro em uma cidade onde a luminosidade é muito alta, fica mais difícil. A visualização da Lua Cheia foi fantástico. Satisfeito com o produto. Atendeu minhas expectativas.

the #5 piece is missing..

It is an Awesome telescope for a beginner. It comes with a 3x Barlow lens and that makes astronomical use quite feasible. Image quality is good and the tripod(though many have complaints with it) is pretty okay too, since the telescope is very light. The bag is well padded and the total package is so light that it's a delight to carry around. One may underestimate the telescope's power and quality by the looks of it. An awesome product all in all with very good packaging by Amazon!