Comments on: Celestron 31042 AstroMaster 114 EQ Reflector Telescope

By: G. Gonzalez

G. Gonzalez — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 09:01:53 +0000

Good beginning-to-intermediate telescope I bought this as a Christmas gift for myself and my 7 year old son (OK, mostly for me). It’s put together very well. As a Newtonian, its hollow, which makes it feel somewhat odd, but certainly doesn’t have that “plasticy” feel. Feels nice and sturdy. The stand is great and makes for an overall good setup. It’s been cloudy throughout all of January, so we haven’t had much chance to actually use it. We did manage to get out and find Mars during a rare (albeit cold) clear night. The finder scope is nearly impossible to use, though. We spent about an hour just trying to point it at Mars, and by the time we got the planet aligned with the scope I couldn’t seem to be able to adjust the finder scope to actually be useful. I’ll play with the finder scope more on a warmer night – perhaps I’m just doing it wrong? Overall, though, I’m quite satisfied. A definite upgrade from the “toy” telescope I bought from a department store years ago. Also, it just looks like a scientific…

By: Jesse Block

Jesse Block — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 08:43:23 +0000

Very good bang for the buck 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…

By: DapperFatty

DapperFatty — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 08:29:12 +0000

Not Too Shabby (4 1/2 stars) This telescope is great but daunting. This is my first telescope. It was very easy to assemble, and the instructions are very simple to follow. it is also very light weight and pretty compact making it easy to travel with. I live in Mesa, AZ and there are a few mountains around here that I can hike up, and taking this with me is no trouble at all. Red Dot Scope: The Red Dot Scope has proven itself pretty much useless. I cannot tell where i’m supposed to put my head in order to have it lined up with the view of the scope itself. it is slightly adjustable, but I have not been able to line it up with what I see in the scope. Because of this i usually find myself just pointing the red dot at an object and then moving the scope in mini circles while looking through the eye piece. *(Tip: if you are looking for a bright object you can pull the eyepiece all the way out of focus. This will make the object look like a big bright disc with a cross in it. When you see this…