Customer Ratings & Reviews

Phenomenal telescope, words of advice, get better eye pieces including a Barlow lens

We are extremely pleased with our telescope!! I've wanted one for years and i have so enjoyed so far!!

Starsense 130mm Explorer" is your partner to navigate the Night Sky.

Love this set up! Easy to yaw and the software on your phone that the scope uses is great! Easy to set up and use. I was looking ag the rings of Saturn and the Orion Nebula in no time!

Its so frustrating to wait all that time for my telescope, to find out that the tripod is broken, i dont know, im suspecting that its either was used before or it was broken during the shipping.

This is my first real telescope and my first time reviewing one so take my review with a grain of salt. As someone who recently took a strong interest in astronomy and look all over for a high quality but still affordable telescope you options do become rather limited in the affordable range. This was the highest end Telescope Best Buy sold on their website (going strictly by the 130mm number and price compared to the other Celestron telescopes on here) and the price was just at the limit of the money I wanted to spend for my first telescope. And I will say I am loving this telescope a few months later. Comes with everything needed to get started observing the stars and planets. I would recommend using the moon on a clear night to really get a full grasp on what you can see with it. Now keep your expectations in place, don’t buy this telescope and think you will see Saturn and Jupiter like they appear in pictures from Hubble or Voyager. But you will still be able to see them and with the two eye pieces with plenty of clarity in a way you just can’t with the naked eye. It comes with two eye pieces with different magnification and it’s a good place to start. You can buy more eye pieces which I will be doing shortly for more viewable and filters. So I can’t speak on them yet but with what is included for the price and ease of use and for beginners just starting out. And the app which once you get it aligned and learn how to use it with the telescope helps finding objects in the sky with extreme ease. Overall highly recommend this for people just starting out.

It was a Christmas present for my adult son and he loved it. He set it up easily, it took some time and he used a youtube video to help him.It is bigger than I thought and very sturdy. We used it on my deck and were very happy with it. The app that he put on his phone worked great, He is going to buy stronger lenses, it comes with 2, I am very happy I bought this, my son spends most of his time in the mountains, he wanted one he could set up in the bed of his truck and use. He stated it was perfect and just what he wanted. It is high quality and worth the money!

I’ve enjoyed seeing Jupiter, Saturn, craters on the moon, and stars and clusters. I’d say you’ll need better eyepieces than the ones they give you. The app is pretty handy for finding your targets, however, I do have some trouble getting it aligned since I live in the city and skies are not always clear. The tripod works well, has a tray to put things on, very basic. I did have to buy the pads to suppress the tiny shakes coming from my balcony. This is great for beginners, I feel that you might be able to find cheaper alternatives for 5 inch newtonians, but if you prefer Celestron, this would do well.

Call it the upper end of the lower end maybe, but it's not a bad place to be. Decided to buy a telescope and discovered that our local store had this one in stock. Having had very good experience with our local store, and seeing this had decent reviews certainly helped simplify the decision. Have had it out one night, but it seems to work exactly like I expected. It does take a little set up, but the instructions are pretty good about that. There are also a couple of youtube videos available that explain and show. I find it easy to set up and to move around, and the app does a pretty good job of finding itself even in a partial overcast. The attached picture was taken with a hand held cell phone camera in below freezing temperatures, through a light overcast. The image seen by eye through the eyepiece is considerably better.

I'm a Beginner in a big city and I just saw Saturns rings and Jupitar spot on my very first night. Tons of light pollution. I was really just practicing the first day I received it so I would be prepared for when I would take it to the darker gorge near Portland this weekend.... and WOW!! The app said that Saturn was easily visible (because it knows where I am, the time, and what is visible at my location by using my iPhone). I clicked on it, followup the arrows. It beeps and said look through the telescope.... and there it was. Holy cow! I can't wait to go to the darker area tonight!!! This is the first time I have ever used a telepscope.

This scope is fantastic for beginners. So easy to set up and configure with your phone. I have several telescopes and this is by far the easiest to get going for those with low patience who just want to see something. It has great viewing capabilities even in the city. What isn't apparent from the literature is that it also has the capabilty to use 2" eyepieces which greatly increases its flexibility. This is a great scope for the price and i highly recommend it for anyone with low patience or young kids that just want to see planets, moon, or galaxies.

I love it. It was easy to put together. After I figured out how to align my phone to the telescope, finding what I wanted to see was simple. All instructions to align are on the app. Simple to use. If you’re new to this like I am, I suggest getting filters. The moon is bright! A lunar filter will save your retina.

Really well made telescope. Easy assembly, and it views the stars ✨ very well. The app is a bit confusing for us beginners, but we are working on it.

Awesome product at a reasonable price. Still somewhat of entry level but a nice step up. Christmas gift for my son, and he loved it. We used it and got amazing shots of the moon. App works great with his iPhone.

I use this all the time, the stability on is great. I always take it with me to go camping and traveling. It is very easy to take apart and put together. I’m happy I got it for the sale price when I did get it. Very reasonable even not on sale. 10/10 always recommend to my family and friends

High quality telescope. Easy to assemble. In adequate instructions for use by a novice. Needed to use You-tube videos. The associated phone app is wonderful and enhances star-gazing.

I received this as a gift and couldn't be happier as a beginner star gazer. I can see Jupiter's 4 moons clearly, and it's interesting to see the different orientations each night. I have not seen the stripes or the red dot of Jupiter. Saturn is small, but the rings are easily visible. Once I aligned the phone properly, I really enjoy the list of visible items in the app and I can find them easily when guided by the app. The best thing I did was add a zoom lens from Celestron- 8-24X. You can center the object at low power and then increase the zoom to enlarge it.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase. The scope is well constructed and fairly easy to use. I was hoping for better images of planets, but it still produces decent images for the price. Ypu won't see much detail on Mars or Mercury, but tou can see the rings of Saturn and make out some detail on Jupiter. The starsense app works like a charm. My only complaints are the eyepieces that come with it are very mediocre and the scope was not collimated, but that could be from shipping. Other wise, it's a good buy. Or should I say best buy? Haha. On that note, best buys in-store pick-up was quick and effortless! No issues at all.

It’s a great telescope but I felt pretty let down by the description and information. It comes with a 10x and 25x lens and a Mount to put your phone. I assumed the Mount was also one that allowed photos but all it is for is to have the app up to align the telescope with specific objects. If you are viewing the moon this telescope as it is works great! Very clear and detailed images. If you want to view planets you need a different lens which is sold separately for about $100. If you want to take photos you need a separate part not included that is another $20-30. I missed the planetary alignment because I didn’t know this information in time, so that’s a bummer. But I hope now with these extra parts I’ll be able to do what I want and see more than the moon.

For an entry level telescope I'm quite pleased! First night out was able to see Moon's of jupiter and rings of saturn, even a slightly blurry Andromeda! The star sense app is easy to use and makes finding targets a breeze for someone who isn't super telescope savvy. The only reason it gets 4 stars is the base is a bit cumbersome and heavy. The fine motion controls are nice but i wish there was a lockdown feature to help keep it aimed. Sometimes it seems like just breathing on it moves the telescope drastically. Worth mentioning it did need to be columated out of the box but a simple laser columator got the job quick and easy. It doesn't come with a collumation cap or Cheshire so I'd recommend picking up one of these with your telescope. once aligned ive barely had to adjust it even after some long drives out to star gaze. Overall a nice package! A good base to start your telescope journey that will be able to teach you how to locate objects and will be ready for upgrades when you are.