Comments on: Celestron 31042 AstroMaster 114 EQ Reflector Telescope

By: Jesse Block

Jesse Block — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:05:40 +0000

I bought this as my first telescope to explore the sky and I am VERY pleased. It's a high quality scope, and the mount and tripod are the kind you get with higher end models. Mine came with an incorrect piece, I contacted the Celestron, and I had a new piece in 3 days. Very nice service. I to had problems finding stars at first, so I went to an astronomy forum and found out the correct way to do it. From there, I haven't had a problem finding anything.

The 2 main things are 1) calibrate your finder first and 2) use the right eye piece when looking for something (this scope comes with a 10mm and a 20mm, so you would want to use the 20 to find and 10 to magnify once you found what it is your looking for). I have found Astronomy is not a hobby where you can easily learn stuff through trial and error, and most frustration comes when you try just that.

The only thing it's lacking is an eyepiece that goes to it's full magnification. I'm buying a 5mm for this, but if they included that, they would have to up the price. So all in all, this in my opinion is the best bang for the buck telescope out there for beginners on a budget! Rating: 5 / 5

By: John L. Montes

John L. Montes — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:30:03 +0000

The telescope was definitely easy to setup with the quick setup guide, was ready to go in 15 minutes. We looked at the moon first with the 20mm supplied lens, saw lots of detail, craters etc. The user manual could be simplified a bit related to more of the technical setup/balancing methods.

The second night out we viewed Jupiter and at least 3 of the 4 moons with the supplied 10mm eyepiece after initially getting it into the field of view with the 20mm eye piece. The Jupiter images looked white, will probably have to add filters and a different eye piece to the set in order to bring out more of the color and gas cloud bands of Jupiter.

This is our first family telescope and the kids really enjoy it. Rating: 4 / 5

By: R. Ortiz

R. Ortiz — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:33:39 +0000

This item was a good buy for our 10-year old, especially at the reduced price I paid. Set up was somewhat difficult for a beginner, and the weights provided were not enough to fully balance the telescope. However, good enough if you keep in mind that's not fully balanced. When the said up was complete it looked great and worked well.

The major problem we have is locating the stars...even when we seem to have the telescope pointing straight at a star, haven't been able to locate them. The powerseeker is of limited help. I presume this will come with experience.

Overall a good buy. Rating: 3 / 5

By: Richard Greenhalgh

Richard Greenhalgh — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:43:15 +0000

This scope may be fine for low power terrestrial viewing, but the mount is way too spindly for any high power celestial work. The star finder is pretty much a joke as well, I guess that’s why the better telescopes use an actual finder scope. When I first got it the optics were so far out of alignment I had to buy a collimation tool and set it up before I could even use it. The interior of the tube was also full of plastic flash and other debris and had to be cleaned out. If I wanted a telescope kit, I would have bought one.

The bottom line is, you get what you pay for. So do yourself a favor, spend more and get more. For ease of use, get the largest Dobsonian scope you can afford and just enjoy it.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Szalasi Ferenc

Szalasi Ferenc — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:36:09 +0000

Before I go into this review, I never own a telescope before. I tell you, I was looking for a telescope to watch the moon only. For that purpose this telescope I think is perfect. Now I purchased this telescope for under $130.0 so for that much money it is a good telescope. Comes with two eyepieces one 20mm and one 10mm I purchased a 2X-3X Meade Barlow lens, to make these eyepieces stronger. If you just use the 20mm eyepiece to find your object (because the red dot star aiming device on it is pretty much a joke. I spent a lots of time with it, and it was spotted right on the moon, but it wasn’t there in your eyepiece.), and than change it to the 10mm it is fine. With the 10mm eyepiece the moon is nice clear and sharp. Now when I installed the Barlow lens in with the 10mm eyepiece, even with 2X magnification I had hard time to make the picture sharp and clear. May be I’m not a pro. yet, but I think if you go below 8mm this telescope will not handle it well. Below 8mm you still will get the picture, big and close, but not as sharp and clear than with the 10mm eyepiece alone. Like I said I’m a beginner so I might made some errors here and there. I still will get a 7mm eyepiece just to give an other try. So to get the things short, If you looking for a telescope to watch the moon, than this one is a perfect one for that purpose. But I don’t think this telescope will give you some cool view of the Saturn, or other closer planets. If you want something what will give you enjoyable time to find farther planets with a nice view, than save your money to buy something in the 4 digit price category and not the 3 digit.
Rating: 3 / 5