Around a month has passed since I got my scope and I have used to for about 10-12 short and long sessions. I’m now in a position to write a review of Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope
. I will try to make it as detailed as possible.
Many of the reviews i have found on the internet of this telescope are the one's written by experts having 10" and higher scopes,
Here are some of them:
Review at Astronomy Forum
Cloudy Nights Review and comments.
Some other reviews:
At telescope reviews
Costco review
Very obviously they will not like this scope much. They forget the fact that no one who is an expert is going to buy this telescope, its not meant for the one very experienced with telescopes, then why review it as an expert. The person who is looking for this scope is the amateur first buyer, just like me.
. I will try to make it as detailed as possible.Many of the reviews i have found on the internet of this telescope are the one's written by experts having 10" and higher scopes,
Here are some of them:
Review at Astronomy Forum
Cloudy Nights Review and comments.
Some other reviews:
At telescope reviews
Costco review
Very obviously they will not like this scope much. They forget the fact that no one who is an expert is going to buy this telescope, its not meant for the one very experienced with telescopes, then why review it as an expert. The person who is looking for this scope is the amateur first buyer, just like me.
I purchased a used Celestron 31045 AstroMaster 130 EQ Reflector Telescope from eBay; it's is not very common to find someone selling a used scope on eBay but may be luck was on my side. The telescope arrived home in a heavy package, heavier than I had expected, around 15 Kilograms. I unboxed it and you can see the unboxing video here. These were the included parts as I remember:
1. Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) (dark green metallic)
2. OTA Lid (Plastic, light black)
3. Eyepiece cover (plastic, black)
4. Dovetail bar (metallic orange color).
5. OTA holders (rings) (light black)
6. German Equatorial CG3 Mount. (heavy, same color as rings, with RA setting circles and slow motion gear of metallic orange color which looks great)
7. Tripod (Steel)
8. Mount to tripod locking knob
9. Latitude adjustment screw.
10. Counterweight bar (steel).
11. Counterweight safety screw (metallic orange color).
12. Two wedge shaped counterweights with locking screws.(approx 1.2 kg in weight, not sure)
13. Accessory tray.
14. Two slow motion cables/knobs.
15. One 20 mm erecting eyepiece (plastic casing).
16. One 10 mm eyepiece (Metal casing).
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| Recieved parts of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ |
I guess I am not missing out anything but will check once more and update if that’s the case.
So I received these parts and started assembling the equipment. First I expanded the tripod and extended the legs to full length and tightened the knobs in all three. Tripod is lighter than it looks in the images or videos, but sufficiently strong. I placed the mount on the tripod next, attached the latitude adjustment screw, then the dovetail bar, and attached the counterweight bar next, then the weights and the safety screw. Next I placed the OTA and tightened the screws. Balanced the assembly on declination and right ascension and it was ready. This whole process took me around 15-20 minutes, and it was easy. For the first time I got stuck once when I forgot to attach the latitude adjustment screw but the official celestron video of how to assemble helped me out and I was back on track. I would advise all first timers to have a look at the video and then go ahead assembling the scope; it makes the process easier and flawless.
In the first observing session I did not know how to polar align the equatorial mount, and I did not bother about it either, was just too excited to have view from the scope first. I removed the eyepiece cover and inserted the 20mm Eyepiece, then aimed at the moon and with some difficulty was able to point it in right direction. It took some time and I cursed the red dot finder as it was’nt so helpful. This red dot finder is perhaps the most criticized part of this particular make telescope, but it’s not that bad once you get used to it and use it correctly. Please read how to configure and point a red dot finder correctly in the next post.
The moon appeared majestic and in extraordinary detail, even with my camera at 40x zoom I had not been able to view such immense detailed view of moon at just 33x with the 20 mm eyepiece. At first view itself the telescope boasts its power well. I was impressed and ready to insert the next 10mm eyepiece with 65x magnification. The view became even better. It was impressive. I tried viewing terrestrial objects too after that and actually I could not locate what I saw through the scope from the naked eye. This was amazing too.
The first day itself I aimed it at Jupiter; it was difficult as the star pointer was mis-aligned but I had no idea, scope that it could be mis-aligned and can be aligned to point correctly. More about using the red dot finder here.
So finding Jupiter was tough but I did not give up and finally viewed it in the ocular. With the 20 mm eyepiece I could see the four Galilean moons and Jupiter clearly. On the first day I forgot to change the eyepiece to 10mm, as a result of over excitement. But later I have observed Jupiter, and you can make out the upper band of Jupiter (after the lower band and the great red spot vanished last year) and the four satellites clearly Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. I should also mention that the focusing knob moves very smoothly and it’s very easy to focus.
So finding Jupiter was tough but I did not give up and finally viewed it in the ocular. With the 20 mm eyepiece I could see the four Galilean moons and Jupiter clearly. On the first day I forgot to change the eyepiece to 10mm, as a result of over excitement. But later I have observed Jupiter, and you can make out the upper band of Jupiter (after the lower band and the great red spot vanished last year) and the four satellites clearly Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. I should also mention that the focusing knob moves very smoothly and it’s very easy to focus.
In the next few sessions I learnt how to polar align the telescope, which, opposed to the common conception is quite an easy process. The Celestron Manual which accompanied the telescope describes 3 methods of aligning the telescope to Polaris, after polar alignment it is easier to view and track objects, without the knobs and mount coming in the way, or leading to some direction of motion which is not possible. That used to happen with me when I used it without polar aligning it first. I really thank the equatorial mount for the ability to view objects and I am glad I did not choose a alt az mount telescope, for I can now figure out how difficult it will be to follow an object with such a mount. At high zoom the object moves out of scopes view in 8-10 seconds. You have to keep rotating the RA knob to follow it. An alt az mount must be very difficult to use.
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| The CG3 German Equatorial Mount of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ |
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| Counterweights Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ |
The counterweights are so beautifully shaped it adds to the looks of the telescope. None of the telescopes have so good looking counterweights. Along with the metallic orange gears, screws and dovetail the telescope is a beauty.
The piggyback camera mount is also helpful and I have taken few nice pictures of constellations using it. The front lid has a small aperture covered with a cap which can be opened and helps in reducing brightness of very bright objects such as the moon.
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| Piggy back mount on Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ |
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| Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ Lid |
Till now I have had about 10-12 observing sessions. Some of them lasting all night, and I am very satisfied with the telescope. I have seen the Orion Nebula M42, Saturn and its rings, Venus in its phase and various star clusters such as the Pleiades. All this with only the supplied eyepieces. Celestron specifies maximum usable power of this scope as 307x. Which is a lot compared to the maximum I have seen with it at 65x (with the supplied eyepiece). I have ordered a solar filter and Celestron accessory kit with various eyepieces, filters and Barlow to extract the maximum out of this scope. Definitely expecting a lot more to explore with the upgraded eyepieces.
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| The supplied eyepieces of Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ |
Nothing can be made perfect, so it is with the Astromaster 130. The tripod could have been stronger and sturdier, every time you rotate the knobs it shakes for about 3-4 seconds before stabilizing which gives eye strain. The extension of the legs slightly bends out away from their axial line, which was not what I had expected, but it might be the case with all such tripods. The focuser is not very firm and moves sideways slightly. Yes, I will also mention that the red dot finder is not as good as a finderscope could have been, but not as bad as the degree of criticism it has received. The setting circles could have had vernier scales, as in some skywatcher telescopes for more accurate pointing and lastly the telescope supplied accessories are highly insufficient, one has to buy better eyepieces and a Barlow lens compulsorily to enjoy the scope fully.
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| Red dot finder Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ |
Overall, for a beginner I think it is one of the best scopes available and huge value for money considering that certain nexstar series scopes and certain meade telescope of the same aperture have very high price for very few added features. I would rate this scope 7 out of 10.
More images at : This page
Thank you very much for taking the time to make this review.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to get one of this telescopes. Where I live the telescope is at $196 with a 20% discount, so I believe it as nice purchase for the price, since I would think that just the mount will be around $120.
I have a 4.5" reflector already and I don't expect to see too much of a difference with this telescope, but, I really like the mount, since I got a Dobson mount on mine and many, many times I haven't been able to find my objectives, quite frustating considering that I have some very dark nights where I go, as you mention, whitout having a EQ mount or a GE mount is so hard to find things in the sky.
Once again, thank you for you review and now you gave me all the information that I was planning to get before getting the Telescope. Best Regards.
First of all, great review. I also own an Astromaster, so here are my thoughts and some tips:
ReplyDelete1)This is a awesome telescope especially for beginners. Most of the bad reviews it receives I have noted come from people not using it correctly. It comes with detailed instructions on how to align it and how to align the view finder(which people are also not doing or aligning correctly, claiming it doesn't work). My guess is people are setting it up without reading the instructions aligning it right, or they read the material and misunderstand how to do so correctly.
2)The ONLY bad thing about the telescope is the tripod. The legs and butterfly screw are very durable but, the mid-piece that holds the collection tray and keeps the legs together are plastic, you have to be careful with it. The telescope and German Equatorial mount combined are heavy and put a lot of stress on the tripod. Mine broke after two days but Celestron, being the awesome company that they are, sent me a new piece. I recommend buying a non-plastic heavy duty tripod.
3)The tripod needs to be set up on a solid surface, like concrete or plywood. The collecting mirror inside will vibrate when bumped if set up on softer surfaces, like grass or dirt.
4)Astromaster makes a motorized tracker specifically for this telescope and I highly recommend it. It takes practice getting the speeds adjusted right but much, much nicer than having to constantly adjust the fine tuning knobs.
5)Celestron, who make these telescopes, also has a great package that comes with 6 different lenses(my favorites are the 2X Barlow and 32mm lens combined) and 7 color filters(has instructions on which filters are best for what you are looking at). It comes in a nice case and with foam cutouts to hold the materials. I got mine for under $100 and highly recommend it.
6)The scope also comes with a piggy back mount to place a camera on it for astrophotography photos. If you like star gazing I recommend getting into astrophotography, it's very cool.
Good luck with your observations!
- C.A.S.
Thanks BiggerThanClouds for mentioning the points i missed. As mentioned in 5 i purchased the accessory kit too and found it very very useful. Will be posting a review of that too shortly. It has made the scope so much more useful. I too love the 32mm, it's the best.
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