 | OK for its price
rating: 3
This is very inexpensive and has a larger aperture than common 60mm refractors. However, both the telescope and the finderscope are somewhat wobbly, making it difficult to find objects. It is possible to use the 4mm eyepiece, but with much difficulty.
-Relatively sharp view of the Mares and major craters of the moon.
-Saturn is visible as a small ellipse with the 20mm eyepiece and as a tiny, pale circle with rings with the 4mm. As stated before, using the 4mm eyepiece is quite difficult, but not impossible.
-Orion's nebula can be observed, but not too clearly with the 20mm eyepiece and 3x barlow lens.
Overall, it is not of the best quality, but somewhat superior to many of the cheap 60mm refractors. Recommended if it is not possible to buy anything more expensive.
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Run Away from this Scope!
rating: 1
This scope is not a good starter scope for anyone interested in astronomy. Here's why:
1. The objective is too small, only 76 mm, 3.0 inches, so it is too small to bring in the light necessary for even a beginning look at the universe. I suppose it is marginally adequate for the moon, but that is it. The planets will appear as very small disks. One will be able to see Saturn's rings, but the image will be very small. Forget it for deep sky objects, clusters, galaxies, etc.
2. The mount is a cheap one and will frustrate rather than aid the viewing. A better mount is an equatorial mount which makes it much easier to track objects.
3. The 4mm eyepiece is too powerful for this scope. The observer will find it hard to look through (very small eye opening), and will in most cases cause blurred images. The 20 mm eyepiece is the only functional eyepiece. The barlow is a 3x, which again is too powerful for this scope.
Even for the low price, don't be enticed by this scope; it has too many flaws. Save your money for a larger scope with a better mount.
Jim "Konedog" Koenig, astronomy buff
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