Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ Motor Drive Telescope (Black)

Amazing is just not enough to describe what you see and feel looking through the eyepiece. Venus was my first stop, "wow" was the word that came out when the image got focussed for the first time. I could see the phases of venus with just the 20mm eyepiece. 10mm made the image a bigger one and astonishing. Moon was playing hide and seek with the clouds but when it was well above the horizon and shining brightly, I was spell bound with its beauty. Honestly you could spend hours just looking at the moon. 10mm eyepiece gave an even closer look at the Carter's, the shadows casted by the craters and the mountain ranges on the moon. Jupiter looks like a 2mm ball with very faint bands of methane distinguishable if observed for longer durations. The four moons of Jupiter are just a very minute dots if observed very minutely. But I felty it requires more magnification power to observe Jupiter with it's methane bands and the giant red spot. (May be collimation issue is there) Couldnot see the most beautiful planet Saturn as clouds came in hope to see it when conditions are perfect. These were my first experience of amature astronomy with my first telescope. I don't write reviews at all but this Celestron Astromaster 130eq is such amazing piece that it made me to write such a review. Though there are some points which I would like to list to get the most out of the telescope. 1. Lots of patience is required to be able to see what you actually want to see, trust me patience will give you all that you want from this telescope. 2. Try to see the videos and go through the instructions manual before beginning assembly of the telescope as it's quite critical for one who has no idea of any such kind before. 3. Lot of things has to go right to get the perfect views, if not getting the perfect view wait for the perfect condition to occur. 4. The equatorial mount is very heavy and of solid built quality but the pointers are just not right and you can't be sure which degree u are setting on it. 5. The tripod is also of heavy construction but if expanded fully it feels more shakey so I don't expand it. 6. The secondary mirror was dangling loose when I first unpacked the telescope which totally dishearted me but I did manual collimation as per the instructions manual provided and it was fairly accurate but will eventually require a lazer collimation which again costs around Rs 6000/- to get more sharper images. 7. The telescope is very heavy (around 16kgs) and very difficult to move it around in assembled condition. It gave me body pains the next morning after my first setup and observations. 8. There are no cromatic abbrations as it is relfector telescope and the optics are of very good quality Those who are still reading this review and disheartened because I didn't post any pictures of moon or Jupiter for them I just want to tell that pictures just don't do justice to what you can actually see with your naked eye because human eye has 1000 times better dynamic range than any camera. Even I have gone through all the pictures posted in the other reviews. Trust me you are going to see 1000 times better with your naked eye that any of those pictures. If you want to go for this telescope go for it without any hesitation as it will finally give you and out of the world experience.

(This is my second purchase of the Astromaster 130EQ, although my previous one was an older generation model.) This is a really good and reasonably affordable telescope for casual observation of the moon and larger/closer planets- Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. One can observe double stars and Pleiades easily and they look beautiful. Deep sky objects are a challenge under urban/suburban skies. Using an appropriate Solar filter, sun observation is also possible to view surface details and sunspots. I have not tried astrophotography with this telescope yet. Here are some pros and cons: Pros: 1. The new generation model comes with a Celestron StarPointer red-dot finderscope, which is a huge improvement on the previous models which had an optical finderscope. Additionally, the mounting rings of the telescope come with a screw, onto which a cheap cellphone mount can be fitted, and used as an additional guide, using the TELRAD function on the Stellarium app. 2. I purchased the model with a motor drive (130EQ-MD), which makes tracking objects easy, without needing to fiddle too much with the RA and Dec knobs (see below). The motor drive assembly itself looks old-school, like it was built in a school hobby shop. But it does what it's supposed to do reasonably well. 3. Assembly is easy and the instructions are clear enough. Necessary tools are provided. Consulting YouTube videos makes the process easier. Cons: 1. The tripod and CG-3 EQ mount are this telescope's biggest and only weakness. There is a significant amount of play in the locking screws so that even the slightest touch, such as when making fine adjustments, makes the apparatus wobble and can sometimes even move the target object out of view. 2. The plastic parts of the tripod are somewhat fragile and my previous 130EQ's tripod broke due to this. The earlier model came with 4mm, 20mm and Barlow 2x eyepieces, while this one comes with only a 10mm and 20mm eyepieces. 3. Not really a con, but the telescope and, especially the mount, are heavy and optics are sensitive, hence the assembled apparatus has very limited portability except in and out of a house. This telescope is not meant to be moved around too much. Overall, this is an affordable and easy-to-use telescope for those looking to start out in serious amateur astronomy without burning a significant hole in one's pocket. I would highly recommend purchasing the Astromaster 1.25" accessories kit, for additional eyepieces and useful filters, along with this.

Totally worth it purchasing celestron astromaster 130eq telescope. It’s easy to operate the telescope after knowing quick guide. For the first time i watched the moon so clearly and closely with just 10mm eye piece. I haven’t used barlow lens till now, it’s beyond my imagination of the views if i use barlow lens. Perfectly recommended to the amateur astronomers. Watched the moon soo clearly with moon spots but i havent got the perfect video to record it but i just got a glimpse. Everything’s perfect with the product and packaging.

Seller is not supporting. GEM is defective but seller is not responding though the product is under warranty. Celestron is also not responding. I feel I was cheated by the Amazone and its seller.

I recently purchased this scope through TigeRetaiL_SLP and the product was amazon fulfilled. The astromaster 130EQ is a standard entry level telescope and is widely known across the globe. This scope along with it's close rival Celestron powerseeker 127(which is also available on amazon for almost the same price) are usually the scope of choice for people beginning their journey in stargazing. I received a sort of faulty piece with the declination cable slightly jammed but I'd still give it a 5 stars because I got it at an amazing price of 15999. You should go for this model if you want to do some serious stargazing in a low budget. Anything less than this is not recommended if you actually want to enjoy stargazing for a long time to come instead of just looking at the moon and packing your scope away for it to collect dust in your store room. You should not go for this scope if you plan to use your scope for astrophotography at a later point in time since the mount is not stable enough for a good astrophotography experience with a dslr. It comes with 2 eyepieces, a 20mm one which produces erect images and is suitable for terrestrial viewing and a 10mm one which produces invert images and is for space observations. Also note that the finderscope provided with this scope is different from the one shown in the product images. What to expect: 1, This scope is decent for planetary observation. 2. With the eyepieces provided, you will be able to see the moons of jupiter with ease. To bring about the planetary details you will need to buy additional accessories since the provided eyepieces only use a fraction of the maximum possible zoom capabilities of the scope. 3. You will be able to observe a fair amount of deep sky objects including most of the objects from the messier catalog. Another thing worth noting is that it uses equatorial mount instead of alt-az mount which can be a bit troublesome if your primary focus is terrestrial viewing. The only difference between the astromaster 130eq and astromaster 130eq md is the additional motor drive which you receive with the 130eq md model. Note that you can choose not to connect the motor to the scope if you don't like it. Doing that will make it identical to the astromaster 130eq. I wonder why the version with the motor drive is sometimes sold at a lesser price. If that seems to be the case while you're making a purchase, go for the model with the motor drive without a second thought. They are completely identical. Also make sure you're aware that telescopes in this price range do not produce NASA like vivid images. Overall, this is a very good scope to start your stargazing journey if you have a limited budget. The only close competitor for this scope at this price range on amazon.in right now is the powerseeker 127 but if you'll look on the international sites, you will realize that the powerseeker is usually a lot cheaper than the astromaster. This is however not the case for Indian e-commerce sites as of now since their prices are comparable, atleast at the time of writing the review. This makes astromaster 130 the scope of choice, atleast for Indian buyers for now.

Sfor More visavlity ,you need to have more lences

Here are some exciting experiences you can have with the AstroMaster 130: 1. *Crystal-clear views* of the Moon's craters, mountains, and phases. 2. *Breathtaking views* of planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus. 3. *Deep-space exploration* of nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies like the Orion Nebula, Pleiades, and Andromeda Galaxy. 4. *Observing double stars* and binary star systems like Albireo and Mizar. 5. *Witnessing celestial events* like lunar eclipses, planetary alignments, and meteor showers. With the AstroMaster 130, you can also try: 1. *Astrophotography* to capture stunning images of the night sky. 2. *Planetary observation* to study the details of planets and their moons. 3. *Deep-space exploration* to discover new objects and wonders in the universe.

The telescope is decent,but for that price range it's one of the best.you can see the planets along with some bright deep sky objects,but they appear like grey smudges.Its quality is ok but the stand is skaky.its an advisable scope for beginners as most dobsonians have gon up in price lately.