Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope

by Celestron

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 18 x 7 x 14 inches ; 3.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001TI9Y2M
• Item model number: 21035
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #3 in Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 19, 2009

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Celestron 21035 Travel Scope 70 is a compact 70mm refractor telescope optimized for portability and convenience. The telescope, the tripod, and all the accessories fit conveniently into a padded backpack style soft carrying case. The complete accessory package includes a 45 degree correct image prism, a 20mm eyepiece for 20X magnification, and a 10mm eyepiece for 40X. The fully illustrated instruction manual is supplemented by a copy of "The Sky X" astronomy software that turns your PC into a virtual planetarium.

With a focal length of 400mm and a focal ratio of f/5.7, the Travel Scope 70 compares surprisingly well with popular f/5 "Short Tube 80" refractors but at a much lower cost. The Travel Scope 70 uses a number of plastic components to keep the cost and weight down, including a plastic focuser and plastic lens shade, but the all glass lenses deliver beautiful views of backyard birds during the daytime and lovely views of the Moon and stars at night.

The Travel Scope 70 offers daytime views that compare with more expensive spotting scopes. The 20mm eyepiece gives 20X magnification and a 2.5 degree field of view, with plenty of crisp detail when I’m looking at backyard birds. The travel Scope 70 is also quick and easy to set up at night. The deep orange glow of the recent Lunar Eclipse was simply gorgeous, and I was even able to take some pictures using the Travel Scope 70 and a PowerShot camera. When I look at Jupiter using the 10mm eyepiece (40X magnification) I can easily see four moons near the planet. And rich field views of the Milky Way are often at their best in a small scope with a wide field of view.

The tripod included with the Travel Scope 70 is described as a “full size photo tripod”, but I like it best as a table-top tripod with the legs kept short. The tripod is designed to be light and compact, but that means the legs are thin and wobbly when fully extended. --Jeff Phillips

Pros:

• Light, portable, and affordable
• Excellent wide field views
• Padded backpack style case
• High and low power eyepieces
• The Sky X software included

Cons:

• Light weight tripod
• Plastic finder and focuser

Product Description

Travel Scope 70 was designed with traveling in mind. Highest quality materials used to ensure stability and durability. Minimal maintenance

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent, Simple Telescope, March 6, 2010

By 

J. Tobin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope (Electronics)

I bought this telescope so that I would have something to look at the sky with when I travel to observatories in the northern and southern hemispheres. For the price this telescope is a pretty good value; it's portable (nicely fits into my suitcase) and reasonably powerful. It's great for looking at star clusters which need a wide field of view to fit the whole thing into view. This was the first telescope I've had where I could fit the entire Pleiades cluster into the field of view. At home, it's a great telescope since it's fast to set up and take outside for a few minutes. You may not think about it, but the amount of work to set up a telescope will translate directly into how much you use it.

The only con that I see with the telescope is that the tripod it comes with is fairly unstable; it's a regular camera tripod. It may be a bit frustrating trying to center on objects since it's a bit wobbly and hard to precisely center on something since it flexes a bit as well. Centering with the higher magnification eyepiece is even more tricky. I found that a different tripod I had for my camera works a bit better. Someone buying this for casual use may not notice, but the image quality does degrade toward the edges of the field of view; that's to be expected since it has such fast optics and wide field of view.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice, October 26, 2010

By 

DefiantCls - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope (Electronics)

It is a nice telescope for the fledgling hobbyist or for those that need to leave the city to see the stars. Easy to set up and maintain. The tripod that comes with it leaves much to be desired though. Its simply too light and will make the telescope jump as your trying to view through it. It is also hard to make fine adjustments. Expect to buy to better tripod.
That said the telescope is decently powered with its 2 eye pieces. Celestron is using the standard eye piece size so if you want a little more magnification just buy the appropriate eye piece. They are easy to find. Overall I expected as much and am pleased with what I got.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gift, December 25, 2010

By 

Veronica - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Celestron 21035 70mm Travel Scope (Electronics)

I have to say, I am very impressed. The packaging was perfect, and the delivery was very fast with this product. This made the perfect gift for my 11 yr old son, and he loves the fact that it came with its own travel bag, so that he can take it with him every where he goes. Oh, and I looked at the sky from it as well, and the stars and the moon could not look any more beautiful. I am very happy with this item.