Customer Reviews

Celestron 52303 Regal Refractor 100mm F-ED Spotting Scope

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So far I have been very impressed with this spotting scope. I spent 2 months reading various blogs and going o stores and looking through scopes from a $200 Burris to a $1300 Kowa, and Nikons. In the end I knew it would be worth spending the extra for a real ED optic (using real fluorite glass), but I wanted to keep the price down. This scope is very clear and has an very large objective lens to gather light which aids in seeing detail. They also make the same scope in an 80mm and 65mm for hikers and birders. I bought the 100mm scope for target shooting and wanted every bit of help finding tiny holes on paper, but have not gone to the range yet. I have used it in Yosemite to view the mountain tops and the moon though. I could see birds sitting on trees on top of Yosemite and the moon appears almost 3 dimensional. The moon is so bright through the scope that you almost squint and this is only half full. Most zoom eye pieces are optically good for the first 70% of their range with the top end of the magnification being very dark and a strain to look through. This Celestron IMO, is good for about %85 of it magnification which is very good.

Remember that this scope is BIG, because of the 100mm Obj. and comes without a tripod. This is actually a good thing since the cheap OEM tripods would never hold this thing very well. Get a good tripod & head. The supplied case is fitted tightly and can stay on the scope while in use.

[...] - Celestron has revised their slip case for this scope and the new version now fits correctly. They courteously shipped a free replacement to me. Good customer service. I have upgraded my rating to five stars.
[...]
Have used Celestron C-5 mirror-scope for ten years (we are birders). Have had Kowa TSN-883 Prominar ED 88mm for a year (wife's toy) and it is a great scope. The C-5 is great for lots of light gathering but falls short in depth of field, flops the image right to left, and, lacking mass, tends to shake even with a sand-filled drape over it on a massive tripod. I elected to replace the C-5 so checked a number of scopes and chose this one. The other reviewer covered lots of ground which I won't repeat (yes, it's big, etc.). I find the light gathering to be slightly better than the Kowa (100mm vs 88mm, so it should) but slightly less than the C-5 (100mm vs 127mm). However, the extra mass of this scope on the same tripod greatly reduces shake and, with the right-reading image, makes for better viewing pleasure compared to the C-5. This scope compares favorably with the Kowa, which is good especially considering we could buy about four of these for the Kowa price.

My reason for the four star rating is because of the included mount and slip case. A milled aluminum adapter is included to allow the scope to be positioned at its balance point on a tripod. On the surface, this appears positive. However, I soon found the scope will not fit into the slip case with the adapter in place. I also noted that the balance point was near enough to the scope's built-in tripod 1/4" mount that, by moving the (Manfrotto) quick-release plate to the 1/4" hole closest to the front of the scope and moving the plate's set screw to the "aft" hole of the plate, that this was near enough to the balance point that the friction of the pan-head on the tripod held the scope steady without having to over-tighten the pan-head mechanisms. Even so, the slip case fits so tightly around the front of the scope it is nearly impossible to insert or remove the scope from the slip case; it's not a "don't buy" reason, just frustrating to use.

This scope also has the same "feature" most other angled scopes have, namely a "finder" line cast into the body of the scope. I've found them to be ... um ... useless! I built a bracket to mount our Leupold Gr 10-20X40mm Compact Spotting Scope to use as a finder scope for the Kowa. I have a Celestron 10x celestial finder scope on order to use with this one. Celestial scopes generally have them as does our C-5. I will add photos to the Kowa product page showing the bracket and finder scope I made.

I consider this scope to be an outstanding buy for the price. If one can live with the size and weight of the scope plus that of a tripod that will bear its burden, I can't think of a better scope to have at hand. If it is too big, Celestron now has smaller versions available (I have not checked any of them). I plan to include photos on this Amazon product page ... soon.

This is a big scope, but it offers bright, crisp images that smaller scopes can't deliver. They just don't have the light-gathering capability of a large scope. The ED fluorite glass really presents sparkling images. I am a range officer at a large, active shooting range. In this position I have the opportunity to sample a huge variety of spotting scopes that the range members use. Regardless of price, I haven't sampled any scope that equals the image quality of this large Celestron spotting scope. The images of distant targets are presented so clearly that it's like standing next to the target. Buy smart and buy once!

The model 52303 is a great scope. I have not found any chromatic aberration in it at all powers. Starting at 22x it has a 50 degree field of view which expands to about 62 degrees at 67x. There is a very slight amount of curvature of field at all powers. The images are sharp but you will notice that Schlierren
turbulence is more obvious when looking at objects on the horizon. If you wish to switch between bird and nature watching and astronomy it is a pain to keep turning the focuser. Birding central focusing binoculars are way better than this scope. For birdwatching I use the Adlerblick 8x42mm binocs.

I purchased this machine to do astronomical viewing with the understanding that it would never come close to my 2800mm F.L. Meade 7 inch Maksutov, my 1200mm 6 inch F/8 Celestron refractor or my 20 inch SkyDesigns F4 Newtonian. It will shine when doing the Milky Way, the moon and planets, comets and nebulae. It is sharp to the edges of field and gives pretty good star images. The CR-6 Celestron gives sharper images but is harder to use as a scanning scope. It is complementary to my Fujinon 70mm binoculars which yield a 16x magnification.

So now I have all these scopes including this semi-apochromatic fluorite refractor. No telescope is perfect. A collection of instruments is necessary to fully enjoy nature. I give this scope a 4.5 out of 5 for general use.

I am very happy with my new spotting scope but, since I work for my university, I need the original VAT invoice in order to get the money I expended on it refund
The billing address is

UNAM/Facultad de Ciencias
Av. Universidad No.3000
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
C.U. Distrito Federal
Delegación Coyoacán
C.P. 04510

I would appreciate very much if you could send it to me to my e.mail address:
graciapgp@yahoo.com.mx

Thank you very much for your kin consideration to this matter.

Sincerely

Gracia Syed