NexStar 127SLT

As a former professional astronomer and user of other amateur telescopes I bought this to try and introduce my children to observing and am mainly comparing this to a 6 inch Newtonian reflector with an equatorial mount which has served me well in the past, but is very large and heavy to set up, so an easier alternative was called for. The first night I used this I was hampered by cloud, so could only do a basic setup and some initial lunar observing, but I was pleased to find that this was easy to set up in a short period of time, using the quick setup guide. The lunar views I got were excellent and my kids (and even my wife!) were enthralled with the first views of the moon that we obtained. The second night, although cloud was again an issue, I managed to set the scope up fully. the set up was easy, following the instructions, although it is sometimes tricky to remember that the arrow buttons are only used for controlling the movements of the scope from the handset and not navigating the menus, however they were largely self-explanatory and made the initial setup easy. I would advise using a custom site for alignment using a smartphone with GPS (almost ubiquitous these days) to obtain the precise location, just remember you will need the location in degrees, minute and seconds of arc, rather than decimal. This is quite easy to find with a quick internet search on a smartphone however. Exact times from a reliable source, such as a synced smartphone is also required, along with your time zone. Once these are in you can choose to align the scope using any three bright stars or other celestial objects (moon or planets), simply align the object in the finder scope, then centralise in the eyepiece and align using the handset. This was done in minimal time, even with poor visibility due to cloud and the computer accurately aligned the scope at the first attempt with no need for firmware updates or similar for the handset. Following alignment I used the sky tour to find appropriate objects and after checking that the sky model was correct (it was able to find the moon without difficulty in the solar system mode) I used the handset to move to Andromeda, which was visible as a fuzzy patch, despite poor visibility and quite bad light pollution. The tracking seems to work fairly well and will keep an object in view for a significant amount of time (quite sufficient for real-time observing using the eyepiece), but did exhibit some element of drift, so would not be suitable for deep sky astrophotography, but this is to be expected with an alt-azimuth mount, as compared to an equatorial setup. Unfortunately, the sky conditions deteriorated further preventing any more testing on other objects, but overall this telescope is easy to set up and provides a quick means of finding astronomical objects. As a starter scope at a reasonable price it would seem that it is difficult to beat. In terms of power, I did buy the external battery pack which allows extended observing and this seems to be the best way to power the scope as while using the internal 8xAA batteries would avoid any problems with cord entanglement, the lack of battery life may limit it without a substantial supply. Cord length and wrapping would be even more of an issue with a mains powered supply and could be problematic for anything more than a small distance outside. The scope does need power to operate though and cannot really be operated without it, which is definitely a downside if you were wanting the use it in an unpowered alt-azimuth mode. Overall, this seems to provide a good observing experience for the aperture and price and is highly recommended for a beginner. Obviously, you could get a larger aperture without the goto function for the same price, but this really wins on convenience. I look forward to may happy nights observing with my kids in the near future.

I'm not professional, these are just my impressions. WARNING 1: this might be a begining of an expensive hobby! You will likely want accessories, filters, eyepieces, and maybe larger aperture for deep sky. Search for what you can see with a telescope (especially if you're interested in Nebulae/galaxies) if it's you first one to manage expectations. WARNING 2: you won't see details and colours you see in pictures online including mine (except maybe for Moon). Cameras are far more sensitive and have longer exposures than our eyes. Search Orion Nebula or M81 through a 5, 8, 10 inch telescope for example to have an idea and compare with pictures. Overall, I'm very happy with the telescope, optics seem quite good without noticeable chromatic aberrations, tracking is OK with options to fine-tune during use. After using this, I'm curious to try something with a larger aperture to see more details in deep sky, but it doesn't mean I'm enjoying this telescope any less. For me it hits a good balance of power, ease of use, and portability. Though 8-inch aperture ones would probably last you much longer if you're going to get into the hobby more seriously, those are much more expensive and heavy. You are paying a premium for goto functionality and compact design compared to some other 5-inch options, but I found goto to be very helpful especially at first. This vs a Dobsonian: Observing with a tripod is so much easier especially when what you're looking at is low. Optical tube is much more compact compared to Dob of comparable aperture and f-ratio, but later would probably be cheaper. As far as I can tell, a typical Newtonian reflector would be far less tolerant to collimation issues than this design. Learning with this is certainly easier. If it's your first telescope - be prepared you won't see the colours and details you see in pictures online. Those are captured with cameras with longer exposures and higher sensitivity than human eyes and are heavily processed. This being said, I got this picture of Orion Nebula with an old unmodified DSLR through this telescope in a single exposure, no stacking or additional hardware. What can you see? Moon - amazing! Very bright, very sharp clear small details, no weird colours. Planets - they appear about small pea-sized, rings of Saturn are clearly visible, as well as bands of Jupiter (in colour). You can get them bigger with additional eyepieces or Barlow lenses, but with ones I got (admittedly not the highest quality) I couldn't see more details - same thing just bigger and a little blurrier. Deep sky objects - probably the coolest thing to photograph, but visually seeing it for the first time it's amazing how dim those are in general. I could see Orion Nebula and some other DSOs. In Orion Nebula I could see general shape, but no colour when observing from Peak District. You can probably see more from a darker site, but I haven't tested it. Overall the aperture is considered small for visual DSO observation, but I could see something. Moon, snow, atmospheric conditions (e.g. turbulent air) will all affect your observation. Relative positions of earth to other planet also affects the details you see. Mount, focuser etc: I've read complaints about the mount not being sturdy enough online. It's definitely more shaky than a heavy Dobsonian, but for me it's perfectly useable. You do need to wait a couple seconds after adjusting focus for it to get stable, but you absolutely can get clear view and pictures after that. GoTo depends on how good your alignment is and has couple clever features - there is a "precision goto" option in the menu where it first navigates to nearby easy to see object for you to correct error and then it goes to actual target. Mount doesn't fold flat with optical tube as SE model does. The tripod is a bit bigger than a typical photo tripod when folded. If you're thinking of getting this and using mount for later optical tube upgrades, search for mount limits - you probably won't put much more onto it. I've read online people ignoring limits and putting 6se and even 8se on it, but it will be even shakier and I have no idea how long it will last if you did it and I doubt warranty will cover it. You need to align red dot finder and the telescope before observation, otherwise finding anything is very difficult. The mount is Alt-Az, as opposed to equatorial if it makes difference for you.

This telescope is my first, and a great way to get into astronomy, have had it a couple of months now. And it is so much fun, it was so simple to get going, I had it up and running in ten mins on my first go!!,the planets and moon through this are great, Jupiter is my fave, looks like a white pea with a couple of reddish lines going through it, and 4to7little dots next to it(moons), don't sound great but remember this is a small low priced telescope(great value for the money),you are not gonna see loads with this. But, it will teach you so much about the night sky,and it's really portable, i carry it in a big bag, and it takes only ten minutes to get it out and running, the goto is not 100percent accurate, but it points you in the right direction, and your own brain works out the rest( makes you feel useful), the eye pieces you get are quite good, get a Barlow and it's all you need, I bought some really expensive ones, but on the intention of a much bigger scope in a year or 2, they don't make a great deal of difference with this low powered scope, it really is a great learning tool tho, and I'll never get rid of it, as it will great for my 2 year old in a few years time .And highly recommend it as a beginners only telescope

I decided to buy this telescope due to the Nexstar 'Easy to align in just a couple of minutes' mount. However what they don't tell you is that you need to get updates to the firmware from Celestron and I can say this is a hair pulling process. For starters their software is archaic, the amount of forum posts you will find of people being unable to install the latest firmware is shocking and not having it disables half of the features, it is not easy to install and in some cases does not install at all. I have spent months trying to get this thing to work and it doesn't. The telescope itself is brilliant, clear and I love it. But the mount's software is pathetically bad. Do not buy!!!

After spending a number of decades as a backyard astronomer using binoculars, I have finally taken the plunge and bought a telescope. So what are my thoughts after 7 clear nights observing? Well firstly if you are thinking of doing the same DO IT. This telescope is good value for money. The instructions to put it together are short, clear and simple. It arrived on time and was very well packaged in 3 (yes 3) boxes plus the obligatory polystyrene and bubble wrap. Once put together my telescope now lives on its tripod and is easily portable by an over 60 year old. As a complete telescope beginner, it got me up and running immediately. - Except that unlike the description there were not batteries supplied - however having an outdoor power supply, I had ordered the power adaptor. The finderscope once aligned (alignment was easy) is very helpful. The two lenses supplied give good views compared to my hand held ancient but very good 16x60 binoculars which I am still using really as a wide angle view. - largely because of my hand shake when holding the bins... However I am looking to upgrade the lenses as quickly as money allows... The telescope is not however completely removed from vibration and t movement, but is much better if the tripod is not extended fully. However wind will wobble it as will human interference... annoying. So after a few sessions - as a total telescope beginner - largely because of cloudy skies or semi cloudy (rather annoying) skies what have I seen/was impressed with using only the lenses supplied (which most reviews suggest are not the best)? 1. The telescope will seperate Saturn and the rings - just - using the lenses provided. 2. Jupiter and the 4 moons look similar to a binocular view, but sharper and some banding on Jupiter can be seen. 3. The moon (advise you to get a moon filter) is stunning. 4. Views of clusters such as the Sword Handle/double cluster in Perseus, the Hyades, the Pleides, the Leaping Minnow in Auriga are good. 5. Scanning through constellations such as Cygnus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia similar to viewing the Milky Way through binoculars has been fun. 6. Binary stars - Albeiro in Cygnus, 30/31 Cygni, Epsilon Lyrae have been good. Again only with the lenses supplied, what have been disappointments? a. M31 - but also not great in binoculars. b. M27, M57, but I suspect they might be better with better lenses. c. Annoying having to re focus when you change lenses. (looking to get the Baader zoom asap) And what simple errors have I made? i. Not always waiting for my eyes to become accustomed to the dark. ii. Expecting to find things in the 9mm lense first - much easier to start with the wide angle 25mm. iii. Making sure that the telescope does not get stuck on the tripod when viewing objects nearly overhead. iv Assuming that everything will look better at a higher magnification - it doesn't. v. Standing up to observe using the telescope - does my back in - so I am now using an adjustable stool... Overall a good purchase and I am very pleased with it... However I can see that like the binoculars it will become addictive and will "demand" more money for lenses etc. etc...

It's one of the best planetary scopes you can get that combine the portability & price. Most beginners also find it reasonably easy to use. The pros: - Very portable, easy to setup. You will probably get to use it more than larger telescopes. - Great at planets. Couple it with an inexpensive webcam and process through Registax and you will get impressive photos of Saturn, Jupiter etc The cons: - Not well-suited for "large" deep space objects, such as open clusters. I upgraded from a smaller newtonian and I was underwhelmed by some of the DSO views, due to the limited field of view. There is a way to fit an (expensive) f/6.3 reducer, however the thin 1.25" barrel limits your field of view, so the reducer is not really a solution. - Not sturdy enough tripod gives a lot of vibrations (when you touch the focuser, when the wind blows etc). See tips below. So, overall, this is a very easy to set up and use scope that is great for viewing and even photographing the moon, sun (with a filter) and planets. If you have looked through a wide-field telescope the deep space object performance may disappoint. I would say this is a great telescope for an urban location, as the GOTO will be useful when there are few stars visible to use as pointing guides and also planets are anyway the best targets when there is light pollution. Tips: - The Celestron Vibration Pads are a good investment, halving the vibration if you are setting up on a hard surface. When using the vibration pads you can also try putting some weight on the accessory tray, I had good results with the vibration pads + at least 5kg weight on the accessory tray. - A good and inexpensive choice for an eyepiece that will improve your planetary viewing is the skywatcher Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) 6mm (or even the cheaper "Ultrawide 6mm"). It provides 250x (which is the max you would ever want to use and it is usable more often than not - depending on seeing conditions), a generous field of view and eye relief. - An illuminated reticle / crosshair eyepiece will make the initial alignment easier/faster. - Don't even try the batteries. Get an AC adapter. A generic will do, although I have to use a rubber band on the arm of the mount and pass the cable through it before plugging it in so that the cable is not pulled when the telescope is moving around (the more expensive Celestron AC adapter screws on, so no issue). - Get a solar filter and it will give you something to do with your telescope during the day! The least expensive solution is to get the Baader solar film and create your own cardboard holder (instructions are widely available). Careful: NEVER point at the sun without a solar filter IN FRONT of the main optics. I am attaching a couple of photos of Jupiter shot through the movie-crop mode of a Canon 550D, just for an idea.

This is probably a good product if it is possible to get past the set up procedure. The handset delivered with the product is faulty with the messages on the screen only being partially readable and then only if the handset is held at a 45 degree angle - clearly faulty and this should not have got past the production quality checks. Coupled with the poorly written Quick Set up instructions (e.g. referring to features like the 'Undo' button on the handset, that do not exist on this model) my first experience of Celestron products has been a frustrating one so far. I will be in touch with the retailer to get a new handset to replace the current faulty one but assuming this means a return of the handset, the 'scope will be unusable until a replacement is provided. Ah well, I guess it would make a passable hat stand in the interim (if I had a hat). Other than that, vaguely pointing around the sky without the benefit of the much vaunted 'tours' and 'database of over 4000 objects' is fine (images are clear) but not what I bought the product for and would have been possible with a model half its price.

This review is for the NexStar 130 SLT specifically. As a complete novice to astronomy - I took a bit of a gamble, set myself a budget and decided I'd get the best telescope I could for the money that I had. The fact it come on a mount which can automatically identify and target points of interest in the sky was a bonus for me also. Setting up: I personally found it incredibly easy to set up. Everything fit in place without any parts that felt like they were an ill fit. The mount has a spirit level measurement thing on the top and because this mount tracks things in space, it is important to make sure you level the mount out perfectly to get the most out of your experience. The 'Star Align' function is awesome, simply use the handset to point the telescope at 3 bright objects in the sky, wait for it to confirm that it's identified what those 3 objects are and then you can select from a rather comprehensive list of items and the telescope will move and point where the selected object is. Really is easy! There are other methods of setting up the alignment but for out of the box speed, I found this to be the fastest. What can you see? Well, I purchased a 2x Barlow and looked up at the moon using a 9x lens. I spent about an hour viewing the various craters and scarred surface. To me, the optics appear really good. I didn't notice any issues with viewing things. I'm sure more seasoned astronomers will be able to comment about the pros and cons of this telescope but for a beginner it certainly impressed me massively. I then put a 6x lens in (lower the number, the higher the magnification but at a trade off with field of vision...I think?) and pointed the telescope at a bright star in the sky. Yeah - it wasn't a star, it was Jupiter! I could actually see the 2 orange/red rings of the planet as I looked through the eye piece. Yes it was small but I could definitely make out it was Jupiter. I was highly impressed. Overall, as a novice to this field, I love my telescope. I've barely scratched the surface of what I can view but I really look forward to looking up at the night sky (when the cloud goes!). For me, it feels well made, gives nice views and the options for using the automatic finder function is really useful too.