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Costco Members: Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ w/ Eyepiece Kit & Smartphone Adapter Expired
$160
$199.99
+ Free S/H
Costco Wholesale has Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ w/ Eyepiece Kit & Smartphone Adapter (32046) on sale for $159.99 valid for Costco Members only. Shipping is free. Thanks danda821
Note, must login to your Costco account w/ an active membership.
Note, must login to your Costco account w/ an active membership.
Original Post
Written by
Edited November 21, 2020
at 08:00 PM
Costco will have Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ Telescope Bundle Kit $40 off starting from 11/24.
Features:
German Equatorial Mount with a Quick and Easy No-tool Setup
Fully-coated Glass Optics for Clear, Crisp Images
Includes 4 eyepieces: 20 mm, 15 mm Kellner, 10 mm and 9 mm Kellner
Includes 3 filters: #80A Blue Filter - 1.25", #25 Red Filter - 1.25" and Moon Filter - 1.25"
Includes a Smartphone Adapter so you an Capture Images and Video Through the Scope Instantly
https://www.costco.com/celestron-...73974.html
Good reviews at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-...B000MLL6RS
Features:
German Equatorial Mount with a Quick and Easy No-tool Setup
Fully-coated Glass Optics for Clear, Crisp Images
Includes 4 eyepieces: 20 mm, 15 mm Kellner, 10 mm and 9 mm Kellner
Includes 3 filters: #80A Blue Filter - 1.25", #25 Red Filter - 1.25" and Moon Filter - 1.25"
Includes a Smartphone Adapter so you an Capture Images and Video Through the Scope Instantly
https://www.costco.com/celestron-...73974.html
Good reviews at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-...B000MLL6RS
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Except for the moon, you wont' see anything "bigger". You'll see a whole bunch of stars you can't see with naked eye.
... and it takes practice to find anything at all. Not for kids or the impatient.
It's fun and it looks great. Great gift, unless you expect the person that receives to actually use it. My wife lets it stay in the living room. I was surprised by that...
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Every single person I know who bought one without it (3 people so far) used it for a single night and then uses it for interior decoration. It can be rewarding to target a star on your own, but it is a real pain and it is only on target and in focus for a short time. If you're thinking of showing friends and family "hey, there is Mars" or "that's in Orion's belt"... good luck, it'll be a whole lot of fiddling, and "wait a minute".
This type of telescope will enhance planets and comets a little, but not what you might expect vs some other types of telescopes. It will give you lots of light amplification. So you will want to target star clusters and things like that. Think The Pleiades, Orion's Nebula, etc. The moon and the sun also look great through it. I've never used it for daytime activities (other than sun viewing) so can't speak to birdwatching, etc. But I would think it would not be good for that. It would be very difficult to aim at quick things, but slow things are easy to track once you find them. I found the built-in viewfinder to be pretty useless; I took it off and don't even know if I have it still.
The adapter for the cell phone does work well but requires some serious trial and error and fine tuning. But most of the shots in the pictures are taken with that adapter. All are with cell phone so if you have a fancy camera you will get much better results (probably with the planets too). I included 2 shots of the 2017 solar eclipse (whatever I paid for this setup it paid itself off just that day alone) and also one from a lunar eclipse and another that was just a closer shot of the moon.
Tl;DR: I would recommend this scope if you budget is $200 or less. I would also recommend it, or perhaps something much cheaper, to give to a little kid or to someone who has never had a telescope and may use it only once or twice.
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-...th=1&psc=1
Am I missing something ?
I don't think I need a computerized mount but I would like to be able to use something like StartSense app to help. What about the Celestron - StarSense Explorer 114mm or 130mm? Looks like the 114mm (BestBuy) is about the same price as this 130mm Astromaster.
Every single person I know who bought one without it (3 people so far) used it for a single night and then uses it for interior decoration. It can be rewarding to target a star on your own, but it is a real pain and it is only on target and in focus for a short time. If you're thinking of showing friends and family "hey, there is Mars" or "that's in Orion's belt"... good luck, it'll be a whole lot of fiddling, and "wait a minute".
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Except for the moon, you wont' see anything "bigger". You'll see a whole bunch of stars you can't see with naked eye.
... and it takes practice to find anything at all. Not for kids or the impatient.
It's fun and it looks great. Great gift, unless you expect the person that receives to actually use it. My wife lets it stay in the living room. I was surprised by that...
I bought it for kids last year and returned it. Its great telescope but not for kids or impatient. Too bulky to get it up, hard to handle, and not gonna see anything real big. I returned it.
Still good deal for those who are in to it.
Features:
German Equatorial Mount with a Quick and Easy No-tool Setup
Fully-coated Glass Optics for Clear, Crisp Images
Includes 4 eyepieces: 20 mm, 15 mm Kellner, 10 mm and 9 mm Kellner
Includes 3 filters: #80A Blue Filter - 1.25", #25 Red Filter - 1.25" and Moon Filter - 1.25"
Includes a Smartphone Adapter so you an Capture Images and Video Through the Scope Instantly
https://www.costco.com/celestron-...73974.html
Good reviews at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-...B000MLL6RS
Every single person I know who bought one without it (3 people so far) used it for a single night and then uses it for interior decoration. It can be rewarding to target a star on your own, but it is a real pain and it is only on target and in focus for a short time. If you're thinking of showing friends and family "hey, there is Mars" or "that's in Orion's belt"... good luck, it'll be a whole lot of fiddling, and "wait a minute".
That's because this is an EQ mount. They typically aren't for beginners. Unless into astrophotography, I'm not sure if even experienced users tend to like them. Although this may sound contradictory, EQ mounts make it easier to track targets. However they can also be such a pain that owners simply never take them out to begin with. There is also the problem that even if an AZ mount, if a cheaper scope, the mounts tend to be horrible.. shaky and hard to control. Basically comes down to: super cheap scopes usually have horrible mounts and cheap EQ scopes can be a nightmare.
Motorized mounts aren't all they are cracked up to be either. I have one ... yes, they can be neat. But sometimes they can be a major pain and not worth the time setting up.
An AZ mount, if good, or a dob, is super easy to track. For a dob, *nudge* and that's it, there you tracked your target.
Now there is nothing wrong with goto or pushto, but it's not like it's mandatory. So long as the scope has a decent mount, it's not that difficult to keep a target in the eyepiece. Of course it varies based on the speed of the scope -- a fast scope will be much easier than slow ... perhaps for a f/11 mak, yeah, I'd recommend tracking.
I don't think I need a computerized mount but I would like to be able to use something like StartSense app to help. What about the Celestron - StarSense Explorer 114mm or 130mm? Looks like the 114mm (BestBuy) is about the same price as this 130mm Astromaster.
The 114mm starsense explorer is a bird jones scope (meaning it uses a spherical mirror and a corrector ... and the cheaper models like that one don't do a good job with it). It'd be a pain and probably close to impossible to collimate.
The other models should be fine though. And in regard to the starsense app, it only works with a mirror mount AND with the unlock code. You can't just buy a scope with a phone mount and expect to use the starsense app.
As for explorer models, anything but the 114mm should be okay. There is an 80mm starsense refractor at $180 if budget is an issue.
Found this review on space.com which also says it's probably the best scope for $200 and since half of that goes to astronomy education, I'm sold.
https://videos.space.co
There is a huge thread over at cloudy nights on this scope. So if you get it, check it out, as they can offer tips on improvements (like an inexpensive shroud) and answer any questions you may have. A lot of folks over there really love that little scope.
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