Customer Reviews

Celestron CPC 800 XLT Computerized Telescope w/Tube and Tripod

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

 

 

This has got to be the easiest to operate serious astronomical telescope out there. I am very impressed by the design improvements made on this compared to other competitive models. The overall look is sleek and looks very sturdy without having a bulky look. I like the way the hand controller is stored on the fork arm as it faces you so that you can see the red lit hand controller without having to move. Very convenient. Also, the oversized clutch knobs to adjust the telescopes direction manually is a very good feature.

But what is really most impressive is the new SkyAlign technology and the sophisticated easy-to-use electronics. Previous alignment systems require for you to point and align it at a bright star that the telescope chooses randomly. There is a chance that the bright star you decide to align your telescope is the wrong bright object. With the new SkyAlign on this telescope, you choose any 3 bright objects in the sky, Moon and planets included. There will never be a shortage of bright objects at any time in the nightsky. It also guarantees that you are going to have an accurate alignment.

When I first turned on the telescope, the built in GPS unit links up to provide the telescope with the time and location. Next, I pointed it to a bright object. The instructions on the hand control display was very easy to follow. After pointing the telescope to a bright object, I pressed enter then I used the telescope hand control to point the telescope to a secod bright object on the other side of the sky. After pressing enter, I decided to point it at the moon, the most recognizable object in the night sky. After pressing enter, the hand control indicated to me that I pointed it at Vega, Jupiter and the Moon. That was just amazing. I then asked the telescope to go to Saturn. The telescope took off and after a few seconds stopped and placed Saturn right in the middle of the eyepiece view. With over 40,000 objects in its database, I was able to view several galaxies and nebulae that I was never able to locate before, all in one night.

Overall, a very impressive scope with superb optics (high transmission XLT), nice sleek look and sophisticated software.

I assembled the telescope it was pretty straight forward, i had to wait for 4 days to tested due to weather conditions, so the night number six i saw Sirius out of my window and I pointed the telescope there and notice that the telescope was OUT OF COLLIMATION. After some minutes I did the collimation of the secondary mirror and then I was ready for the Computer and GPS test.
I chose to align the Telescope using a single star aligment (Sirius) follow the instructions of my nexstar computer and in few seconds it was align .....so the computer said.
Any way to test the alignment I order the computer to go to M42, in just few seconds the telescope moved and the moment of truth was just a blink of an eye in front me.
I just look and focus the scope and it was the M42 right center of the field of view. Let me say that I was so surprise that I could not believed that in the first try the CPC 800 did its works close to perfection.

Still there are many things to test from the OPTICAL point of view but I do not think I will be disappointed.

Any way I recommend this telescope to anyone interested in doing some serious astronomical observations.

I also suggest people to go to YOUTUBE and check all the information in there on how to COLLIMATE the telescope, the instruction manual is not the best for that , rumor has it that one Video is better than a 1000 words.

Received mine from local dealer. The corrector plate was full of smudges in the inside. A replacement unit was quickly sent with a Celestron Quality Assurance certificate. This replacement unit has severe tracking problems. The objects are not kept centered in FOV. I'll not request for a third unit because I simply don't know if I can trust Celestron quality policy anymore.

Pros

Outstanding alignment system

Cons

Tracking capabilities.
Lack of quality control.