Celestron – AstroMaster 70AZ Telescope – Refractor Telescope – Fully-Coated Glass Optics – Adjustable-Height Tripod – Bonus Astronomy Software Package

This is genuinely so good if you’re on a budget. it is super super clear. the first night i used it, it was cloudy but some stars decided to pop out for me. granted this isnt like a $20,000 telescope so it does just look like a dot, at least with the lenses provided but its super super cool. it was pretty simple to put together except for the finderscope. that one i had to figure out on my own. you have to remove the base of the finderscope from the finderscope itselff. and then slide them together. but other than that its super easy. you have to line it up too dont forget that. that part was a bit annoying but im used to it now. its relatively stable. its got a decent weight to the base. overall a great product at a cheaper price. I would go with this one if you’re looking for one!

I love this telescope. It's my first scope but I've borrowed ones in the past and knew this one would be good to learn with because it is not overly complicated and is VERY easy to set-up. I had it put together in less than 10 minutes. The longest time was getting the disc battery into the back of the red light finder (battery is included) and thinking I had a problem when it was just that I had not screwed the battery cover all the way down. The scope is also light for easy transportation by anyone. I bought this in combination with the $20 PowerSeeker accessory kit which was a perfect match. The telescope comes with 20mm and 10mm lenses in storage containers similar to clear film canisters. The powerseeker kit comes with 15mm & 9mm lenses, red & blue filters & a moon filter in a hard black case. The filters screw onto the end of the lense that goes into the scope - easily with no issues in diameter. If you reorganize the filters to fit all of them in one spot in the case you can put all the lenses from the scope and kit in the case. It was a great deal considering the moon filter alone costs ~$15 if you buy it by itself and now I have more lenses and easy storage. I had the scope out for the first time last night after I set it up. I easily found Jupiter, sighted it in with the red dot finder (move your head until the two red dots make a single point and put that point on the object you want to look at), and then looked at it with the 20mm, adjusting the focus knob only a little. I switched over to the 9mm and saw to my amazement Jupiter's orangish colored cloud bands as well as all 4 moons quite clearly. The moon wasn't up so no comments on that but for a first night out this was pretty impressive. The only negative is that although the scope swings easily from side to side if you loosen the azimuth angle stop, it does not move as easily as I'd like up and down to track stars and planets as the earth spins. This may just be a break-in issue and was not that big of a deal. I had no issues with the stand (I was actually impressed with how well it was made for a telescope this cheap) but I had it at it's lowest point as I like to sit on the ground on a blanket and spread my stuff around me.

When you buy your first telescope, like the same 70mm one marketed under several different names, this one is a huge upgrade on the quality of components at little increase in price (I got mine used like new from Amazon for $110 after tax), then you look it up and realize the refractor crew, or more experienced telescoping community, totally dumps on this one, however I really like it. The red dot is a big upgrade from one of those very entry level finder scopes that's impossible to focus. The mount is much more stable although it's a little short in my opinion, I got a 6mm eyepiece but I'm not sure it was worth it... Well see once the upgraded diagonal comes in. I can easily see the bands on Jupiter, rings of Saturn, and Orion nebula. I have seen the crab, bodes, and cigar nebulas although they ask only appear as a smudge, which is to be expected. Haven't tried Andromeda yet due to my location and season. So I'm my opinion it's a 5 star for the 110$ I got it for, but full price I would not likely purchase it. To be fair I wouldn't know what to get new at the 180 price point, but you would think they could throw in one of those cheap cell phone mounts or that better powerseeker tripod.

I have been using this telescope for about a year now and it never bores me. You can easily watch the below celestial objects -> Moon in a very high definition -> Mars -> Jupiter with jupiter's moons -> Saturn -> Venus -> Orion Nebula and many many objects. Pros: -> Very helpfull viewfinder -> The First light software is very helpful -> Sturdy design -> The 90degree prism makes erect images -> Very nice focal length Cons: -> Tripod is very very bad. The movement of the telescope up and down while tracking will be of a big challenge The horizontal rotation is fine. But when u move up and down while u r watching through the eyepiece, it will become very difficult to track due to the spillover movement in the tripod's rotators. WHen u tight your telescope, it gets tight in a different position. With this tripod, it almost becomes impossible to tight the telescope exactly after tracking something. You fix it and the telescope will move and gets fixed somewhere where u can see only blank sky. For such a company like celestron, this tripod is a black mark. -> Heavy vibration on the tripods. The nuts and bolts and joints starts sounding unusually after some days of usage. If you plan to buy this, better buy it along with vibration suppression pads or else it will not be fruitful in long term From a telescope perspective, this is a very nice investment for a beginer to intermediate astronomers. You will enjoy the fun of it when you see it in refractors. My suggestion to celestron is to fix these tripods to avoid frustration on these nice telescopes. The goodwill of telescope is lost because of the bad quality tripod. Overall, this is a product I am enjoying every day. Please be very choosy between reflectors and refractors. And please dont see sun using this. Even with a solar filter, i suggest NO. Refractors get in a lot of light focus which sometimes makes the UV rays even come out of solar filters. Nice product except for the Irritating Tripod. :)

I got this telescope about a month and a half ago. I waited to write a review so I could have some time to use it a few times. If you're even remotely thinking about getting a telescope and you're a beginner, don't hesitate and just get it! Looking at all the telescopes on Amazon can be overwhelming, so take the guesswork out and get this one. It's super simple to set up and extremely easy to use. Some of the fancier telescopes require calibration steps, yes the views they produce are superior but it's intimidating for beginners. However this one is ready to go, just point and look. I would highly recommend aligning the laser, which is super easy and takes only minutes. It's a nice tool, point the laser on the object you want to view and it's in your in your eyepiece when you look through the telescope. That simple. The moon looks amazing through this. Tonight I finally found Saturn and Jupiter. I could see Saturn's rings very clearly and 3 of Jupiter's moons. I could even see faint color bands on Saturn. I would recommend an app for your phone such as sky view or sky Safari so you can identify what you're looking at or see what time each planet or star comes into view. Sky Safari will show the trajectory of objects complete with times or the trajectory. It's a great tool to have. I'm beyond pleased with this telescope and the price can't be beat.

This telescope was purchased as a gift for our six year old daughter. Having owned several telescopes Through my teenage years and into my early twenties I expected to have a beginner set that would allow you to see the craters of the moon and perhaps look at some star clusters not visible to the naked eye. I know product descriptions mention seeing Saturn's rings but I assumed some embellishment of the products abilities and decided to purchase the gift because the setup looked sturdier than the last telescope we purchased for our daughter, which didn't last very long. My expectations were too low and were exceeded the first time we used the telescope. The value in this set can't be beat. This same exact telescope is being sold at my local Best Buy (I'm not sure why it's at a tech store) for $159.99. It comes with two eyepieces (45x and 90x) and has an electronic star finder which is really helpful in finding stars at night once you align it properly. We looked at purchasing several sets locally before we decided on this telescope and the features were far and away greater than similarly priced models we could find in our area. The set is a little advanced for a 6 year old but we wanted to get a set that could stretch her understanding and her current care of her belongings. The excellent part about it is that the set can grow with her. After playing with it a few times I decided to read the user manual. To those having difficulty with different parts of the telescope I highly recommend going through the manual as it really has several tips that resolved small concerns I had (like an inaccurate viewfinder). While reading I came across the mention of several accessories that can be purchased to expand the use of the telescope. Not only does this telescope come with eyepieces that allow our daughter to enjoy it right away there are several things that we can purchase in the future to make this telescope much more advanced. This telescope has great flexibility in its ability to grow with the astronomer. This set has by far the best potential of any set I've ever owned because of the additional accessories that can be purchased for it.

My only issue with this is that it seems to be weak in keeping itself in a steady position. It sinks as you have it pointing in the sky and you constantly have to readjust and it makes it very hard to focus on anything. The laser is super cheap and will bring very very easily. I recommend stepping up to a high quality telescope since they are slightly higher in price and seem to be more quality and we'll bulit than this one. It at least does it's job and viewing the night sky, it's just difficult with the not so steady mount

I have had this telescope for about a month, and for the first time hobbyist I really feel like I got my money's worth. I got this specifically to see the lead up to the Saturn and Jupiter conjunction in December 2020. In my backyard, with moderate light pollution, I can clearly see Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and four of its moons, and on really clear nights the cloud bands on Jupiter. I have been able to see the Orion nebula and Andromeda galaxy, which are awesome to find and see but aren't going to look like the fancy photos you have seen. You can see a hazy cloud essentially, which is really rewarding but just wanting to give an accurate expectation of what is possible with this scope. You can certainly see a lot of detail on the moon surface as well, including ridges, craters, and shadows. Also great for terrestrial viewing. During the day, while practicing with it, I was able to make out individual people on a mountain summit 18 miles from my location. It really is quick to just yank out and set up with no adjustment needed after you set the finder scope. If you want to do any photography, or see a ton of detail in deep space objects it isn't the greatest because it lacks the equitorial scope for long exposure pictures and the smaller diameter limits the detail you can get for low light objects, but if those are your interests you are going to spend quite a bit more. Certainly worth the money for what it is and I am very pleased with my purchase.