Celestron AstroMaster 114 EQ Reflector Telescope SUPER PACKAGE

Excellent optics/mount, bad finderscope!

I'm an amateur astronomer and have a good deal of experience with more advanced telescopes. I bought this for my nephew as an introductory scope. Overall, I'm very pleased with the mirror optics and...Read complete review

I'm an amateur astronomer and have a good deal of experience with more advanced telescopes. I bought this for my nephew as an introductory scope. Overall, I'm very pleased with the mirror optics and mount. It delivers good views of the planets and the Orion Nebula. The mount and focusing are stable. The telescope seems mostly rugged and is relatively lightweight.

The main con: I read about people having problems with the finderscope, and can confirm that the finder is absolutely a nightmare. For starters, the battery casing was broken and I could not get the finder to work. Others online recommended taking it apart to solder a wire that tends to break inside the battery compartment. Sure enough, I opened it up and found the wire broken. The finder lit up after I soldered the connector back together. I was shocked to discover that the design of the finder is completely useless for pointing the telescope in the dark. The red dots are not even remotely comparable to better designed Telrad or even Celestron red dot (1x dot projected at infinity) finders. To point the finder, you have to line up two red dots and while your eye is focused on the sky it is impossible to focus on the red dots. So, after trying for several hours, I was unable to calibrate the red dots such that they would help me to point the scope in the correct place. Instead, I had to get it approximately in the correct part of the sky and then scan around. This was frustrating for me, and I know it would be very frustrating for a new user. If you buy this telescope, it is extremely important to also buy and install a finder that works, such as the Celestron red dot finder.

My other complaint concerns the poor quality of the 20 mm eyepiece. It was lightweight, plastic, and inverts the image (bad for astronomical viewing). While the image of the orion nebula was pleasant, the 20 mm does not provide an exceptionally wide field of view. To get the most out of this telescope, consider buying a 40 mm super plossl. You'll be able to see through the scope easier, see the whole moon, and find small objects that are hard to hit with higher magnification. The 10 mm eyepiece was acceptable, but will not deliver a very high level of magnification. Consider also buying a 2x or 3x barlow to enlarge the planets and to use with your 40 mm plossl or just buy a 5 mm plossl eyepiece.

Aside from the finder and the eyepiece, the telescope was a good deal at the discounted price, but I would not recommend buying this scope without also buying a better finder.