Celestron – AstroMaster 102AZ Telescope – Short-Tube Refractor Telescope – Fully-Coated Glass Optics – Adjustable-Height Tripod – Bonus Astronomy Software Package

Excellent beginner scope! First night saw Saturn and its rings! Optics very clear, hope to see Jupiter soon! Don’t get anything less than 4” diameter on a refractor! I may later step up to a 6-8 reflector but not yet. This scope is great! Really easy setup right out of the box, well worth it.

Did a lot of research on the best telescope to buy, low maintenance with excellent images. Refractor vs Reflective was the question Refractor won hands down when you put everything together to get a well-rounded scope on a budget. Also bought a filter so as to take pictures of the moon, 2X Barlow lens and a 3X. Settled with the 2X as that is perfect. I also added a zoom lens where I can go from 7-24mm. My daughter loves this thing and we're always sky watching together. The image below was taken using my iPhone 15 Pro after I adjusted the exposure perfectly. It was amazing taking this detailed picture with such a simple setup. We have also seen Jupiter and 4 of its biggest moon, Mars, Venus and Saturn. Something happens to your spirit and mind when you see them for the first time with your own eyes. It's almost like they're whispering something to you like Hey! we were here the whole time. WOW! We forget we live in space and rotate around a star (Sun). What we do is pay attention to when objects are closest to the earth to get the most out of this telescope. Worth every penny. Now I want to buy the $1400 8SE from the same company since I want something that gathers more light, yet still small and easily portable. Dobsonian Reflector equivalent is a no go.

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.

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.

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.

Update: I dropped a second star after trying to use the scope to look at the moon. This year Jupiter and Saturn were both visible, so I started first on them. Nine months later, Saturn is now a daytime planet and Jupiter sets in the early evening, so I set my sights on the moon. Since I also bought a set of upgraded gold-line eyepieces, I expected to see a nice sharp image. I was very disappointed. Nothing was truly sharp. I tired every trick I knew. I went up and down the magnifications of my gold-line eyepieces. I tried both of the original Celestron eyepieces. I tried a moon filter. I tried adding my 80A filter to the moon filter. I put a cut-out over the large objective lens to reduce total light and increase contrast. I cleaned my eyepieces. I took apart the telescope and cleaned the star diagonal and the objective lens/lenses (The objective uses double lenses). Nothing helped. I began to suspect my eyesight and pulled out my binoculars and found my binoculars and gave me me a nice sharp image at one-eighth the cost. I'm still leaving this telescope 3 stars because I was impressed by it's ability to capture light and see distant faint objects, including Jupiter's moons and Saturn's rings. However, the resolution and contrast were disappointing for a $300+ telescope. Original review I dropped a star due to the annoying telescope mount on the tripod. Even with the mechanisms unlocked, when I first got the telescope, the mount was very hard to rotate, both horizontally and vertically. Basically, it is so stiff that once you put enough pressure to overcome the friction, it suddenly shoots past your target. I will provide directions on how reduce this problem, but plan on buying an 8 mm hex key (or 5/16 inch hex key) and Super Lube synthetic grease. I had a beginner telescope since I was 8 or 10 years old and shared it with my kids from time to time until it fell apart somewhere in my late 30s. I'm now past 60 and wanted to be able occasionally look at the moon and planets again, without breaking the bank. I first bought a $150 80mm Hexeum telescope, but returned it a few days later, realizing that I would have to spend lots more to replace every eyepiece and and drill some holes to install a better finder scope. So, it took a big breath, and bought the Celestron 102AZ for $300. When it arrived, I pulled the large refractor scope out of the box and was impressed. The telescope is best described as advanced beginner or pre-intermediate. I put it together and adjusted the finder scope while it was still daylight. After nightfall saw Jupiter and at least 4 moons and Saturn with its rings and at least one moon. The red-spot finder was a big help in targeting the planets and the eyepieces were pretty good for inexpensive Keller lenses. I also bought a 2X and a 3X Svbony Barlow lens to make the images bigger. I was impressed by the quality of the images, even with the beginner eyepieces. Now for the tripod. I know some reviewers expect a heavier tripod, but i found it sturdy enough, especially after trying the lightweight tripod that came with the $150 Hexeum telescope that I returned. However, the telescope mount was very, very stiff for both horizontal rotation (azimuth) and vertical up and down (altitude). I tried oiling various parts with WD-40 and light oil, but that solution failed. After email correspondence with Celestron and reading about similar complaints online, here is what I found. Between the tripod legs, under the mount, there is an overtightened bolt that attaches the horizontal rotating plate to the base that attaches to the legs. Turn the mount upside-down, then use an 8mm (or 5/16 inch) hex key (same thing as an Allen wrench) to loosen the bottom bolt counter-clockwise about a quarter turn. If that's not enough, turn it a hair more. Now flip it back over and try rotating the mount horizontally. If unlocked, it should turn smoothly and freely with almost no friction. The altitude (up and down) mechanism is a little harder to fix. The altitude mechanism attaches the telescope to a horizontally split tube that rotates around two parallel black disks, one on each side of the altitude mechanism, The disks are hidden by an orange cap on one side and grey metal on the other side, but they are visible though the horizontal split (or gap) in the mechanism. You may need a bright light or flashlight to look in the gap and see the black disks. The twisting handle, called the pan handle, reduces the size of the horizontal split (gap), causing the tube to grip onto the disks. Unfortunately, even when completely loosened, there still too much friction on the disks. To reduce the friction, buy some Super Lube Multipurpose Synthetic Grease, then take a toothpick or skewer and dab some grease on the edge of the black disks, which can only be reached through the horizontal "split" or gap in the altitude tube. After you dab in some grease, loosen the pan handle lever and rotate the altitude down and up, over and back in order to spread the grease. I had to dab the grease on the edges of the gap a several times and at multiple altitudes. Although the altitude rotation is not as smooth as I would like, it is a lot better with the synthetic grease. One more detail. Unlike the Hexeum telescope, the Celestron AstroMaster 102AZ does not come with a free carry bag. A decent carry bag is not cheap but is a worthwhile purchase to protect your telescope, especially if you ever need to store the telescope, move to a new apartment, or travel with the telescope.

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. :)