Explorer Reflecting Telescope (114mm)

We actually haven’t had any opportunity to use this until tonight. Totally useless, couldn’t even get a clear view of Mars. Don’t waste your money… we are out of return time, if I’d had the opportunity to try it before tonight, it would have been back in the post for a refund.

The optical quality is quite good. I have an older same magnification telescope but a smaller aperture and I can clearly see that the new telescope collects more light as expected with its larger aperture. The Tripod is not the best and not very stable but again for the price I paid this is great value.

For a low price this telescope delivers high end results at least in my opinion. I love looking at the moon and other planets and this takes good pictures with the cell phone attachment. I bought this one to give to a friend because we liked ours so much.

I only bought it for the OTA, as I already had a better mount to put it on. I have no idea what the quality of the tripod and mount are, or how well they work. I only looked at a full moon through it, and am pleased with the image quality. My only complaint is about the red dot finder. It's so useless, they might as well not provide one. The glass or plastic, whichever it is, is horribly distorted so you can barely recognize what you're trying to look at. There are two adjustment screws to align it with the scope, but they couldn't bring it anywhere near being aligned. I'll keep the scope 'cause the image seems good, and I'll try to contact the seller about the red dot, maybe it's a defective one. I'll edit this if I'm able to contact them and get some resolution.

I was so excited when the telescope 114mm came in. I couldn't wait to get it together. Only to be disappointed. I can see more with the naked eye than this when it comes to looking at the stars. The one I had back in late 70s was cheaply made but whole lot better than this one. Even with a barlow lens. I should have saved my money and got better quality telescope.