Celestron 21045 114mm Equatorial PowerSeeker Telescope
by Celestron
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List Price: Our Price: $104.36 You Save: $85.59 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Celestron 21045 114mm Equatorial PowerSeeker Telescope
Customer Review: Not bad
Summary: 3 Stars
This was my first telescope purchase and didn't do too much research prior to the purchase. Seems to be a decent telescope. The biggest flaw in my opinion is the cheap site. I have to move the telescope outside for viewing and have to adjust the site every time. This can be difficult doing at night.Customer Review: OK telescope, but ...
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this telescope for my son as a starter telescope. The price was quite reasonable and it seems like a reasonable telescope. Well, appearances are not all that they seem to be. We put it together, which was quite simple, and noticed a couple of things right away. The instructions are reasonably clear and assembly was quite easy. The tripod is a bit wobbly if you don't tighten everything up and the rotary base of the telescope has a bit too much slack. That makes aiming a bit tricky. The finder scope pretty useless. The finder base has two elongated holes in it for the mounting and is always getting knocked out of alignment. It also feels really cheap, especially since the plastic base used to mount it to the telescope is hollow underneath and can't really be tightened adequately without breaking it. Still, what do you expect from a telescope that cost under $100.
There are also some shortcomings in the hardware. The biggest problem is the elevation adjustment screw. The screw started to gall after only three uses. Fortunately I had some very high tech (and high cost) teflon grease (it's called Krytox and it's $35 for two ounces)that pretty much stopped the galling. Also, there is excess slack in the rotary base that fits into the tripod. If you tighten it enough to pull out most of the slack, you can't turn it. Not a good start.
The big disappointment was looking at the stars and moon. After setting it up and aligning the finder scope, the stars were horizontal smears and the moon was fuzzy: lunar features were indistinct. Checking into it, I found tat the collimation was completely off. The secondary reflector was far out of position and the main mirror was adjusted to compensate for the problems with the secondary mirror. After about 3 hours of fidgeting with the secondary mirror, taking the main mirror off twice and putting crossed strings on the end of the main tube to aim the secondary mirrors, and purchasing a laser collimator, the telescope is now pretty clear. Distant stars look like points of light and not smears and details are now in focus on the moon. We haven't tried much else yet, but a starter telescope should have reasonably clear images so that a neophyte doesn't get discouraged right away by poor image quality. I expect to spend another $100 or more on optics to get some standard screw-on filters and eyepieces that will accept standard filters instead of the "it-fits-Celestron-only" variety that Celestron sells. In retrospect, I would look for a somewhat better quality telescope rather than spend my way up to what I should have bought in the first place.
Customer Review: hmmm.....
Summary: 2 Stars
I don't know whether the following people that gave this scope 5 stars were paid by Celestron or not...all I know is that I gave this scope to my father for Christmas knowing that he has wanted one for years. From what I gathered, it was going to be a great scope for a beginner and you can grow from there and blah, blah, blah. All in all, don't buy this scope. Save up and buy a nicer scope that does not shake as much. Maybe it is just because we are beginners...so correct me if I am wrong and forgive me for being frustrated...but it seems impossible to locate anything legit other than the moon. The moon is amazing to look at, but please, we want more. ;)
If we master anything, and my opinion has changed with in the next couple of months, I shall post a different opinion, but until then folks I am sad to say that this was a waist of money...but even more so a waist of anticipation and excitement.
Customer Review: Too many negatives
Summary: 2 Stars
While the optics of this scope are good, there are quite a few bad things about this telescope. The tripod is shaky, unstable and cheaply produced. The finder scope is flimsy and almost unusable.
The users manual that comes with this scope is not written for beginners. Important topics such as balancing the telescope, polar alignment and collimation (aligning the mirrors) are glossed over and totally unsuitable for a beginner.
I would recommend spending the extra money to buy an Orion Spaceprobe 3 or SPaceprobe 130.
Customer Review: Do not buy this telescope!
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased one of these telescopes and almost immediately regreted it. The 4mm eyepiece that comes with it is completely useless fo anything but the absolute perfect viewing conditions. The conditions needed for this eyepiece to be useful are very rare. I would recommend that you not go smaller than 5mm for this telescope. The mount is garbage! The finder scope is junk as well. Celestron views this as an entry level telescope and has equiped it with pieces designed to prompt you to quickly replace them, preferably with their products. I have spent over $350 in improvements and I'm not done yet. The mount is extremely sloppy and unstable. The controls get in the way constantly when trying to view objects low on the horizon. The gears inside are very cheap and do not move smoothly. This makes it extremely difficult to locate objects using the Right Assention (RA) and Declination, (Dec) setting circles. Speaking of the setting circles, they are very crude. There is not enough detail to the degree markings on the circles. This forces you to guess at the settings and then search for the object that should be in your eyepiece. The finder scope mount is very loose, making adjustment an exercise in futility. There is almost 1/4" of play between the mount and the bolts that attach the finder scope mount to the telescope tube. The slightest bump puts you out of business, unless you can manage to re-set the finder scope in the dark. The cross-hairs inside the finder scope are invisible at night. Even if you have the finder scope perfectly aligned, at night you still have to guess where the center of the cross-hairs are at. Even if you manage to keep the finder scope from moving on you, you still have to align the finder scope to your telescope. The adjustment screws are not spring loaded and are also cheaply made. You are lucky indeed if you get it aligned properly. The focuser only accepts 1.25 inch eyepieces. This is great from the standpoint that 1.25 eyepieces are cheaper than 2 inch ones because it takes less glass to make the smaller ones. The disadvantage is that if you want eyepieces with wider fields of view, and trust me you will, you need a focuser that will accept both 1.25 and 2 inch eyepieces and accessories. Here is a link to an article I wish I had seen before buying the Celestron Powerseeker 114 EQ, or any other telescope for that matter.
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PLEASE, read this article and do some research before you buy! Find the local astronomical society and go to their next meeting, send them an email, call the president of the club or better yet, attend their next "Star Party". It is the best way to find out what you like, and more importantly, what not to buy. This is especially important with eyepieces, (they can be the biggest part of your total investment). Here's a link to the astronomical society, where you can begin your search for your local club.
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Take the advise of someone who found this out a bit too late. It is better to spend a bit more initially than to buy a cheap telescope and have to improve it almost immediately.