FirstScope Telescope

I see right now that it's listed at $25.00. That's a steal. This product is great for people just starting out. Easy to use. Very sturdy base. Just look down the barrel toward your target just a little below it. Then, swivel back and forth, raise a little, swivel again, etc, and you will find it pretty quickly. The lenses that come with it are adequate to see detailed looks at the moon, Jupiter's moons (won't see Jupiter's bands)and can see the easy nebulae and double stars. I haven't tried it yet on Saturn's rings, although I suspect the rings would be difficult to see if you weren't in pristine conditions. You could order this for $25.00 and stop. If you wanted to upgrade to Plossl lenses, (I did), I would recomend a 20-25 mm which makes finding objects a total snap. I would also recommend a 12.5 mm and maybe a 6 mm. I tried a 4 mm plossl to try and see Jupiter's bands and the telescope simply could not focus enough to use it. I had the same experience trying Barlow lenses. Simply couldn't focus except with the 20 mm. I read somewhere that Celestron had a certain Barlow of their own that would work on this telescope, but don't order any other ones just for this telescope, because it probably won't work. A neighbor who was moving gave me his deceased father in law's Celestron 60 EQ Refractor. I tried the 12.5 Plossl and could see Saturn's rings clearly with it. I doubt you could see that with the FirstScope, although, like I said, I haven't tried it on Saturn yet. The plossls sure came in handy on that free scope. Not sure it's worth the money or not to get plossls just for the firstscope, although they do make the viewing experience significantly better with clearer views and much bigger lense holes to look through. The ones that come with it aren't bad, though. They are adequate. For the price, you can't beat this scope. It's very portable and lightweight also. Great for taking on trips to places with no light pollution. Would easily fit in a carry on bag for an airline. I highly recommend it. Update: I determined that the secondary mirror collimation was a little off. The directions online show you to align it with your eyeball (looking through eyepiece holder with no eyepiece. However, that doesn't get it perfect, and if you want to see Saturn's rings or the bands of Jupiter, it needs to be perfect. I used a collimation cap that came with another telescope and I got it aligned perfectly. A huge improvement. It's really hard to find a collimation cap to buy though. I only see laser collimaters for sale, and they are much too expensive if this is the only Reflector Scope you own.

"Santa" got my 5 year old son this telescope for Christmas. This evening was probably the first time since Christmas that the temps here near Cleveland, Ohio have been somewhat mild with clear skies and an almost full moon. Being later in the evening my son was asleep so I thought I'd set up the scope and make sure it was all adjusted so when he got to use it for the first time it would be all ready to go. First off there is really NO set up to speak of. Take it out of the box, put in your eyepiece and away you go. I set it up on the trunk of my car, almost the perfect height for an adult. Within seconds I had sighted and focused on the moon. Breathtaking! I mean the detail you could see was amazing and this was only with the lower 20mm lens. Using the "Star Walk" app on my iPhone I noted that the bright "star" to my right was actually Jupiter. I quickly sighted and focused in on that planet. Instantly a bright dot came into focus with to my surprize 3 smaller dots all in the same plane. Galileon moons! 3 of the 4 on the first shot. Anxious to see more I swapped out the 20mm for the 4mm lens. I quickly found out that viewing objects through this lens is much trickier and even minor adjustments to the telescope blows your target object out of view. However within a mintue or so I had Jupiter back in my sights. Again it was a bright dot, perhaps a tad larger than with the 20mm, and now I could resolve all 4 of the Galileon moons in plane with Jupiter! I was at a loss for words, it truely was amazing to think I was standing in my driveway and was looking at a planet and 4 of its moons more than 390 million miles away!!!! And all this happened in the span of 15-20 minutes. I can't wait to set this telescope up for my son to see his reaction. I know he's going to love it. I'm already thinking of getting a barlow lens to double the magnification, along with perhaps a moon filter to take some of the glare off that bright orb. Would HIGHLY recommend this telescope for child or adult alike just getting started in this hobby. And at the price Amazon had them listed at before Christmas we ultimately purchased 3. 1 for my son, and 1 each for my two young nephews. They love theirs as well!

OK. First off. This is not a Takahashi Sky 90. It isn't an Obsession UC22" Dobsonian. I own both of the aforementioned scopes. Plus a Tak FSQ106EDXIII. I am an amateur astronomer. Heck, I even have my own domed observatory in the back yard. So I didn't expect this little scope to afford views like I was accustomed to. I bought the scope for my neighbors 8 year old son. But before I passed it along to him, I decided to try it out on the Heavens. Out of the box I was far from impressed. Sure, it is only a 3" reflector. But the optic problems it was plagued by were enormous. The eyepieces are crap, sad to say. But worst of all, the optic train is even worse, at least my model. Most reflectors have the ability to collimate the optics. That is, align everything with respect to the eyepiece. This scope does not. No way to move the primary mirror, and only "fake" alignment screws on the secondary mirror. On top of all this, the secondary mirror (the mirror that reflects the image from the primary to the eyepiece) was installed crooked. This definitely didn't help any. First thing I did was remove the secondary (small) mirror from the focuser and re-glue it so that it was lined up better. This was done by "eyeballing" but it made a vast difference in the view. Easy to do with some contact cement. This is about all you can do to help the optics in this little scope. This may have just been my scope, but I didn't have time to send it back. Once I made this change, I was impressed. Remember, you're not going to get Hubble views out of this scope. Even after the fix there was a lot of astigmatism and coma in the eyepiece. Stars showed lots of pincushion artifacts just outside of the center field. But when I trained the scope on the Orion Nebula, there it was! With a bit of averted vision (not looking directly at the object, but sort of off to one side) I was treated with the classic nebulosity. The Pleiades were brilliant, and I was easily able to make out the shape of the Andromeda Galaxy. Jupiter's four big moons were obvious, though the cloud bands took some imagination (but there was light thin clouds disturbing my view from Earth). The Moon was very impressive. Even when I changed to the 4mm ocular, the Moon showed lots of detail that should make any kid bubble with joy. The craters were very impressive. Though I did not see myself, I am sure the rings of Saturn would be easily visible. I remember, as a ten year old, looking at Saturn with my brothers 60mm Sears refractor. I was enthralled and it set the stage for a life long desire to explore the Heavens. Since then I've owned an Edmund Astroscan and 6" reflector, two Celestron C8's, a C11, a home made 13.1" Dobsonian reflector, and my current Takahashi refractors, and my new 22" Obsession scope. All of this because of my first back yard views with a Sears piece of junk. This scope is far better in my opinion. Remember, you're not necessarily getting a top notch telescope. The build overall is impressive however. A finderscope would be nice, but I had pretty good luck just sighting down the tube and hunting. But a scope like this might just be the one thing to spark curiosity in a young mind. And there just isn't much of that going around these days. If you have a youngster that you think might like an introduction to the night sky, this is the perfect little gem. Sure, far from perfect, and might even need a bit of tweaking if you are brave enough. But even out of the box it gives descent views of the brighter celestial objects, plus the Moon and bigger planets. And it is easy to carry and a breeze to set up. Go for it!

I would recommend this scope for people with an interest in astronomy that don't want to make a huge initial investment in an expensive telescope. It would also make a great first telescope for kids. I just received my FirstScope a few days ago and have had a chance to use it twice so far. The first night I was able to see the Orion nebula and Jupiter along with it's moons and was very pleasantly surprised at the clarity. However don't expect it to look like pictures you see on the internet. Jupiter was a bright white disc with four very small white dots orbiting around it. It isn't much but when you realize what you are looking at with just this little telescope it is pretty amazing. I haven't had a chance to view the moon yet but last night I was able to view the Pleides as well which was beautiful. I haven't used a telescope in a very long time but I've always wanted one but have been hesitant due to the price. If you're interested at all in astronomy there is no reason not to pick one of these up to see where it takes you. As some other reviewers have mentioned I have already ordered a 2x Barlow and a 9.7mm Plossl eyepiece to improve the optics. The eyepieces that the telescope come with don't seem that bad but I don't have anything to compare them to. So far I think this is a hobby that I will be sticking with and the eyepieces can be used in other telescopes later on down the line so I don't mind putting a little bit more money into it. I did not order the accessory kit and don't have a spotting scope so at first it was very frustrating trying to find specific objects but with a little practice and patience it really isn't that bad. You can look down the side of the tube to get yourself pointed in the general direction and find what you are looking for with the 20mm eyepiece and then swap out with the 4mm if desired. The smooth motion and stability of the stand helps immensely when you are searching for your target.

The Celestron First Scope looks great and appears to be of high quality materials and fine workmanship, but ergonomics and optical performance were disappointing. Ergonomics are good when viewing at high elevation angles of 60 to 90 degrees, but at lower angles of 45 degrees or less, one has to lean over the top of the scope to view the eyepiece which is awkward and frequently results in bumping the scope with chest or stomach. Mounting the eyepiece on the side of the tube rather than the top would seem much better. The focusing control works very smoothly, but is located to the left of the eyepiece which is inconvenient for right handed individuals. Again, a side mounted eyepiece would have allowed either left or right handed focusing. Also the pivot point on the scope barrel should be located closer to its center of gravity for easier and smoother elevation adjustment. Optics: When viewing a half Moon, craters were readily visible with mediocre sharpness. When viewing planets, image quality on my scope was totally inadequate to see any detail such as color bands on Jupiter or the rings of Saturn. Three of Jupiter's moons were visible like tiny stars all in a row. No focusing position using either eyepiece provided sharp and clear planet images even though mirror alignment appeared correct during my initial checkout. Daylight terrestrial images looked fairly sharp, but of course are inverted. Unfortunately eyepieces with inverting prisms which are available as accessory items are not well suited or recommended for Newtonian reflector telescopes. So to summarize: Pretty good for viewing the Moon and maybe star clusters but not well suited for viewing the planets or terrestrial objects.

I purchased this telescope for my 10 year old son for Christmas this year based SOLELY on customer reviews. This was the fourth telescope I had purchased for him after all three previous Celestron telescopes broke within a day. Let me make one thing clear, I have no idea what to look for in a telescope, so I had to trust the customers on this one. I was not going to go with Celestron again after our previous failures. The first three I purchased came from very prominent retail chains, and I did not order them online. I thought that if I was purchasing a telescope, I would need to go to the stores and check them out first. That is NOT how that really works. With that being said, all three previous versions of the Celestron failed miserably. The legs broke off of the scope and when my son tried to look into the scope, the entire thing just fell on the ground. For a while I told my son that we were not going to buy anymore telescopes. I told him if he wanted to look at the stars, he would just have to use his eyeballs. That sounds like a terrible mom. Therefore I began looking this year and saw the Celestron FirstScope. My first thought was "not another Celestron". I noted that it had very HIGH customer feedback, but even still my disgust for Celestron kept me from buying until two weeks before Christmas. Finally it came and I couldn't wait to take it out and see if it was going to fall apart in my hands too. After all, it is FREE SUPER SAVER SHIPPING and if it broke... well... it would just go in the trash! So I went out that night after my children were in the bed and searched for the moon. Wow... I could actually see the craters of the moon without having the lens (or whatever that is) fall off in my hand. I felt like I had found a needle in a haystack! So, my son got the FirstScope for Christmas and it has not broken yet. Thank Heaven because no matter how much I love my children, I was tired of weeding through telescopes to find a deceint beginner scope for my son. With all that said, if you want a beginner scope buy this one. It is not made for anything more than that. Maybe one day when my son works for NASA we will have the task of searching for a scope where we can view Pluto with our eyes closed. Until then, this one WORKS!

This would have been a great little scope for casual observing, and an utterly fantastic value for the $30 that I paid for it. A small dob is a much better choice for a beginner than the usual worthless junk grade 60mm refractor that many stores push, and a kid sized (or backpack sized!) 3" dob is a really neat idea. Such an instrument, with a Telrad and a copy of _Binocular Astronomy_, would make a great introduction to a child or new amateur. Regrettably, however, this scope is constructed in such a way as to prevent the mirrors from being adjusted to proper collimation. Worst of all, the secondary is mounted on a skinny single-arm rod that only connects to the tube at one point. Even borrowing the "real" eyepieces from my Nexstar 5, I was unable to get the instrument to come to proper focus at all. It's a real shame; even a two-point mounting bar for the secondary, a la Coulter Optical in the early 90s, might have gotten the collimation good enough to make the scope usable. As it is, however, nothing will come to point focus, everything looks fuzzy, and the scope is almost as much of a deterrent to an eager beginner as the aforementioned 60mm refractor that I had hoped this could replace. Pros: * Adorably cute * Small and portable * Much more stable than the cheap tripod that comes with low-end 60mm refractors * 1.25" focuser, not 0.965", allowing upgrade path to eyepieces you'd actually want Cons: * No way at all to adjust the primary * Secondary mounted on a wobbly skinny arm * Won't come to focus * Included 20mm Huygenian and 4mm Ramsden eyepieces really aren't great * "Accessory kit" is overpriced and of low value If some other manufacturer, or Celestron, were to make an actually *good* 76mm Dobsonian, it would be wonderful! Sadly, this telescope isn't it. With a crosshair eyepiece, this might have some value as a cheap finder scope for a big Dobsonian, but otherwise, give this one a miss.

I've been wanting to purchase a telescope for quite some time but I wasn't ready to plunk down big bucks without being absolutely certain I'd use it. To that end, I decided to start small and go from there. Unfortunately the choices are very slim for scopes under $100 and the pieces of junk you find in most retail stores are, well, junk. Enter Celestron and its model 21024 FirstScope. Before going any further let me stress how inexpensive this scope is -- twenty five dollars. That's it! Twenty five dollars buys you this scope with two eyepieces. Even if you only end up using it once, it is money well spent. But despite the price, it feels anything but cheap and it comes basically ready to use right out of the box. Simply unscrew the focuser cover, unpack the eyepieces, slide an eyepiece into the opening, tighten the screws and you're done. The mount is so smooth and tight and the materials so high quality you can't help but wonder how is it possible Celestron can make this scope and not lose money on it. The only reason I see from a business perspective to market such an inexpensive but well made unit is to use it as a loss leader and bank on your next purchase to be another Celestron, and let me tell you, based on my experience so far, I think they have it right. Someone else's review nailed it when they said you could basically throw away the eyepieces and this scope would still be a steal, but I see little reason to do that. Using the included 20mm eyepiece I took a look at a waning crescent Moon and was able to see a great deal of shadow detail on its surface, while keeping track of it by gently pushing the tube. I haven't tried the other eyepiece yet, but I'm anticipating an equally good experience. Overall, the FirstScope deserves five stars because it is so well made yet so inexpensive that it's hard to justify buying anything else if you're just getting into backyard astronomy. After using this scope just once, I can't wait to get back out there and start looking into space again. I know I made the right decision and will be looking into getting more powerful eyepieces as my next step. Go ahead and buy one. You won't be disappointed.

Good value as an intro to astronomy for young children. Well packed and not too big for storage.

If you're not too ambitious, its a wonderful little gadget. Its small, its neat, its simple, and it looks good, just the sort of thing you would actually use, unless you want to turn your house into an observatory. Its portable, so you can easily take it out into the garden and stick it on a table. Try carrying a normal telescope with a tripod about. You just wouldn't. It'll finish up in the garage collecting dust. The Dobsonian movement is surprisingly simple, but effective. The telescope has an f4 aperture, so it produces bright images. Thats important. But most of all, the engine room as it were is the eyepiece. I immediately bought a Celestron barlow lens - very nice lens - which means I can get much better magnification from the longer focus eyepiece, and any lens down to about 10mm. The 4mm lens is a very small lens to look through especially if you're wearing glasses. Longer focus lenses have wider apertures, and therefore are more comfortable to use. All in all a very worthwhile telescope system. All thats missing, is a clear night sky!

So, I'm an adult and I bought this for myself. I just can't afford to buy a "regular" telescope but I wanted one so badly that after a long agonizing comparison of the "cheap" telescopes, I decided on this one. It took me a moment to figure out how to see anything but that's because I was testing indoors and I finally realized I was too close to what I was looking at to actually make anything else (or quite possibly I was focusing on the white ceiling)! No matter, straight out of the box this was easy to figure out even without instructions. There is 1 sheet of minimal instructions included however you can download the manual from the Celestron website (and to save you some aggravation, I'm including the link in this review): [...] I haven't tested it outdoors yet and I will likely update this review after I have done so however, this is a great price for a starter telescope, especially if it is intended for a younger person (child) or a complete novice (like me). It comes with 2 lenses for magnification however there is a very affordable add-on pack that can also be purchased. This thing is lightweight and sturdy and made for a table top. I don't have a table to use outside so I'll be improvising but a patio table would work perfectly. From what I can see this is a great choice for a first telescope. This telescope can be used to look at terrestrial (land) objects or wildlife, like birds. If you look into the scope from behind it, the image will appear upside down (this is unimportant when looking at extra-terrestrial objects, ie. stars, moon, planets) however if you stand to the side but in front of the telescope and look into it, you will be able to see things "right side up". Indoor storage: If you have a shelf space, that's great. Since this is a table top model rather than a floor model, you'll need somewhere to store it. The scope can be flipped up to minimize the space it will take up, it's about 7.5"x7.5" in terms of width and depth and I have yet to figure out where to store mine but if you have room on a bookshelf, that would be the perfect space.

This is one awesome telescope! I bought it for 4.5k inr, and I've had great fun! It's really difficult to get photos from it, but it provides amazing clarity when seen with eye. Craters on the moon are very nicely visible. I can see some sort of colour on Jupiter, but you shouldn't expect to see the banding. 4 Galiean moons are visible as well. Saturn and it's rings are visible as well. While you can see planets through it, you should keep your expectations low. Planets are really far after all. Jun-Aug are the best if you want to see Jupiter and Saturn. Moon is best seen 2-3 days after no moon day. The "Hassle free packaging" is not needed. It costs around 1.5k extra, and my telescope arrived just fine with the normal packaging.

Good for kids