Comments on: Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope

By: R. Currier

R. Currier — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:38:00 +0000

Avoid this telescope at all costs. I had great hopes for this instrument after reading stellar (no pun intended) reviews in Sky and Telescope. Such high hopes, in fact, that I sprang for next-day shipping. For some reason UPS decided to hold my package for 'extra processing' and my next-day shipment turned into a third-day shipment. I think UPS must have tossed the box under the wheels of one of their brown trucks.

If you enjoy looking at dim, blurry spots of light that resemble what I imagine a Christmas tree at 100 metres viewed through a glass pane smeared with Vaseline looks like, you'll enjoy this scope. I tried both the low power and high power eyepieces. The low power showed the secondary mirror and it's armature no matter what I did. The high power was unusable.

As a groundtruth, I took my Nikon 10x50 binoculars outside with the Firstscope and let my wife try both. With the Nikons, the Milky Way elicited a gasp. Thousands of bright, sharp stars. Jupiter was crisp and the moons were visible. Through the Firstscope, the Milky Way was a dim collection of blobs. Jupiter was mishapen, dim and the moons were barely visible.

I accept that there is an off-chance that I received a bad 'scope. My fear is that I did not, and that all those that purchase this telescope as a first attempt at sky gazing are going to be very, very disappointed.

My advice: stay away from this telescope, save your money, and go for one of the more traditional beginning 'scopes.

By: kev6677

kev6677 — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:23:46 +0000

This scope is really a toy, great for maybe a child the images are clear and sharp however, the moon is tiny and any other objects in the sky are not clearlly visible.Also because of it's design it can be tedious trying to angle the scope to see objets in the sky. Other than the very small size and price this is useless as a 'FIRSTSCOPE' they should be selling this one at "toys are us".

By: Estie L. Fisher

Estie L. Fisher — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:23:45 +0000

I hopeing all review are right ,we have not used this item yet,,it is a christmas gift for my 8 year old daughter.

By: Go Sox

Go Sox — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:30:38 +0000

On 5/10/09 Amazon has this item listed for with "List Price" of $73.98
and their Price: $56.35 so "You Save" $17.63 (24%).

However, the real list price for this is $49.99! (Check the celestron website).

I find this very strange and possibly illegal.

By: Bad BAd Cook

Bad BAd Cook — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:05:25 +0000

THIS REVIEW IS NOT ABOUT THE CELESTRON TELESCOPE, BUT RATHER MY ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE ONE FROM AMAZON. ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO AMAZON SENT ME AN EMAIL WITH COUPON CODE B4VTPW6R FOR $15 OFF THIS TELESCOPE IF ORDERED FROM AMAZON, THE OFFER EXPIRING ON AUGUST 31, 2009. I TRIED TO ORDER TODAY, AUGUST 30, 2009, AND I GET A MESSAGE STATING THAT THE PROMO CODE HAS EXPIRED. WHAT, IS AMAZON USING SOME OTHER CALLENDER SYSTEM? AND YOU CAN'T CALL ANYONE TO COMPLAIN. AND THERE IS NO PLACE TO EMAIL THEM ABOUT THESE TYPES OF THINGS. I TRIED TO SEND A QUESTION ABOUT MY ACCOUNT AND ALL I GET IS A FORM EMAIL BACK TELLING ME TO LOOK AT THE HELP PAGE. THIS IS JUST NOT RIGHT.