Customer Reviews

Celestron C150-HD Telescope

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

 

 

It had been years since last getting a new telescope, so I spent a lot of time researching what to get this time. In reading magazines, talking to other astronomers, and studying the facts, the C-150HD seemed to be a pretty good choice for planetary objects versus deep sky viewing, and quality versus price.

If your budget can't take you to an 8 inch or bigger scope, but you don't want to settle for something less (and for heaven's sake, stay away from cheap stuff) this scope is a good choice.

As for an optical instrument, Celestron's quality is great. It is not the "best in the world" but you should be pleased.

There are those who seem to think that things in space look like the pictures in magazines. Those pictures are taken with CCD cameras and the deep, rich colors are the result of time-exposures. Now, don't be discouraged! The views you'll enjoy through this scope are superb! You can resolve the better known deep-sky objects.

...With a 6mm lens one can resolve Jupiter's red spot. Saturn is spell binding with a wider field lens. The moon is right next-door!

Deep space you ask? How about the beautiful and famous Orion Nebula? A sight to behold. Bode's Galaxy and the Crab Nebula can be seen through the C-150HD if you have a bit of patience and a decent chart.

I would love to see a heavier mount and tripod (on any portable, one-man scope)... but would not want to have to carry a heavier one around. This tripod/mount is sufficient for stability.

The price can get the beginner a good instrument, and the quality will let the more experienced enthusiast have a good time through the night.

If you are bitten by the astro-bug... you'll end up wanting something bigger someday. Eat your spinach and don;t quit your day job, though, because they are heavy and very expensive.

The Celestron C150-HD is a nice, solid scope for the serious beginner. I was happily pleased with the production and optic quality of this scope, since this particular model is made in China and there have been issues with China-built scopes in the past. However, I found all the parts and components to be very high quality for this price range. The tube is a painted metal tube, not pressed paper/particle board. This helps decrease the time to come to ambient temperatures, and has less potential for water damage or crushing. The mount is nice and smooth, and I've found it to be a very stable platform. Yes, it probably could be another 5-8 pounds heavier, but I have not had any issues regarding stability or shakiness at all.

The scope comes in a single box with all the components to assemble the mount, as well as accessories. It took me about 1.5 hours to assemble, using tools included in the box (a small wrench, and phillips screwdriver). The mount includes an accessories tray to hold eyepieces and filters. The accessories included are a decent Celestron 20mm Plossl eyepiece (threaded for filters), 6x30mm finderscope, and slow motion controls for each axis (RA/Dec). Setting circles are pre-installed on the mount assembly, and Celestron sells an optional single or dual-axis motor assembly for auto-tracking of the sky once polar aligned (Orion also sells a drive for their EQ-3 mount that will work with this mount for 1/2 the price). The mount also includes a threaded sight hole to accept an optional polar alignment finder. The tube assembly comes with a dust cap, as well as caps for both ends of the finderscope and eyepiece. The mount legs can be retracted or extended, adding nearly 3 additional feet in height. The focus knob is firm but not stiff, and has very good travel. It does not disturb with a light touch, so images can accurately be focused. It accepts 1.25" eyepieces.

This is probably about the largest scope I personally would use as a "portable" scope. It weighs about 35-38 pounds. Setup time is about 5-10 minutes. If compact travel is needed, the mount is probably too large. The tube assembly does easily remove with two screws, but the bulk of the mount remains assembled unless you want to take additional time/effort.

I have previously used a 4" Scmidt-Cassegrain, and am very pleased with this as a quality upgrade to my previous scope.

I enthusiastically purchased this telescope. The images with the 20mm eyepiece that was supplied with the scope were fine (50x magnification), but every attempt to increase the magnification resulted in blurry images. I tried a Televue 17mm, University Optics 12mm, Celestron Ultima 12.5mm, Meade Research grade 7mm ortho eyepiece, all great eyepieces, but the images quality was poor.

I have a friend who is a life long astronomer (he sells dobsonian tracking platforms and has owned a dozen large telescopes). He spent over an hour attempting to realign things (star testing, and laser collimator) - he finally gave up. The problems include - the focuser is very sloppy, and the tube flexes so as the telescope is rotated in the mount the alignment changes. The screws for adjusting the alignment of the secondary mirror do not move in any predictable way making adjustments impossible. Even after careful alignment the images were bad at high power.

The tube is only 500mm long - it's 1000mm focal length is achieved with an internal barlow lens in front of the secondary mirror. This adds two more surfaces that scatter light and degrade image quality further.

I like the CG-4 mount ... it is the only good part of this telescope. I have read similar experiences in the Astromart Forums. This scope will look good collecting dust in your front room, but the views it provides will disappoint you. I am donating this to a school so they can "see" what a telescope looks like. The scope is unusable for planetary viewing - and the Messier objects are too small at 50x magnification.

My opinion of Celestron products dramatically fell as a result of this purchase.

"Let the buyer beware." Before buying this telescope, you need to know exactly what you are getting. Celestron apparently marketed two entirely different telescope optical tube assemblies (OTA) under an identical catalog number (31056) that covers this telescope. The earlier version telescope has a C150 1000mm focal length, f/7 OTA (with a Barlow-type lens in the focuser draw tube to help shorten the actual length of the OTA) while the later one has the Advanced Series C6-N 750mm, f/5 OTA (without the lens in the focuser draw tube - hence, a true Newtonian) - both on the CG-4 mount. Both versions have apparently been discontinued by Celestron. However, some retailers still have stocks available. The advertisements for this telescope often confuse the details of the two OTAs together in the same ad (after all, same catalog number). They are simply not the same. All of the negative reviews I've seen regarding this telescope seem to have to do with the C150 version (which may well explain why Celestron changed the OTA). I have the C6-N version, and, so far, it has been excellent. While Celestron no longer offers the C150 OTA at all (which is perhaps a sign), the C6-N is still available on the computerized/motorized version of the CG-5 mount. My recommendation: Before you pay your money, check with the seller which version of the telescope he/she has to make sure you are getting the C6-N OTA, not the C150.

Alternatives:

If you're willing to go the extra mile, I would recommend Meade ETX telescopes. I upgraded from my C150-HD to a Meade ETX-125PE!!
(...)

The CONS:

The tripod is a piece of junk, its badly designed, its too light for the scope and the plastic becomes brittle and can easily break. For a nice telescope, and mount, they sure dropped the ball with the tripod itself. I've had Celestron replace 2 legs on the tripod. I've had the telescope almost "fall" twice because the tripod became brittle and plastic parts "snapped" in cold weather. The last straw with the tripod was when the metal screws broke inside the leg during one evening.

The tripod cannot stand mild temperature changes or rapid temperature changes such as those on a cold fall evening. If you live somewhere warm, then the tripod will work ok for you.


The PROS:

I've used this telescope since late 2002. Its a great telescope if you're willing to take the time to learn how to set it up, and use the mount correctly. I've seen nebulas, galaxies, stars, double stars, saturn, mars, jupiter and venus very well with this scope. Now when I bought it it came with a huge set of celestron eye pieces for $99 extra which definately enhanced the experience. Its great for looking at things like saturn, and jupiter. You can see the rings, moons and make out faint patterns in the atmosphere on saturn (very very faint), don't expect much colour without filters though. Jupiter I could make out the spot, and some of the patterns but it wasn't that great detail like you'd see in a book. I could make out the polar caps on Mars.

Keep in mind that these are all very small (pinky fingernail sized small). The best thing I've seen with the scope is a couple of nebulas which weren't too hard to track.

Between the extra eyepieces, and Starry Night Pro software on the laptop, I've been able to find most things I've wanted to see. If you're a part-time astronomer (eg. you might head out for a few hours once or twice a month) then this is a good place to start if you don't want to spend too much money.

I have a 250mm reflector and if you expects see things in the eyepiece like you do in a book well be prepared to be dissapointed. in teelscope of this size you won't relly anything so don,t spend your money on it!!