Customer Reviews

Celestron 21024-A FirstScope Telescope with Accessory Kit

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I was looking for an affordable and portable telescope so that I can easily set up without taking too much time. A friend recommended this so I decided to purchase this (for $50, I can't go wrong). I was skeptical at first but that went away when I unpacked this. The telescope is 3" which is better than the 60mm telescope one usually sees in this price range. It came with 2 decent eyepieces (2 decent eyepieces by themselves already costs around $40 - $50). It was easy to put together as it was ready to use out of the box. For the price I paid, the base was well made like a dobsonian. It had a smooth swiveling motion so that I can easily point it at celestial objects and tracking it by gently pushing the tube. I was able to see Jupiter and its moons, Saturn, craters on the moon and on a clear night the Orion nebula. The images were brighter when I compared it to my friends 60mm telescope becasue this is a 76mm telescope. I am very pleased with my experience with this telescope and the price is great. It doesn't take long to set up so when I feel like just going outside to take a look at a celestial object, i can easily do it. My 9 year old daughter loves it too. Definitely a telescope I would recommend to anyone who is interested in looking at the night skies.

I bought this telescope to gain some experience with telescope optics before spending "real" money on a more powerful instrument. In that capacity, this really is the perfect thing to buy. Celestron really did go to some trouble to design a decent telescope, but for under $50, you can expect to bump into the limitations fairly quickly. If you are trying to learn about telescope optics, this is actually a good thing -- you will learn as much from what this telescope cannot do as from what it can.

However, if you buying it to do astronomy (rather than to learn about optics), some advice :

1) Do *not* buy the accessory kit. There is no way you can get your head into a position where you could use the spot finder. Unless you are a squirrel.

2) *Do* buy some better eyepieces and a Barlow.

With the included eyepieces, Jupiter is a fuzzy orange circle. With a better eyepiece and a Barlow, I could see the bands, the Great Red Spot and the poles.

The weakness of this telescope is the included the eyepieces. However, in my opinion, you could throw them in the garbage and the FirstScope would still be a bargain. Eyepieces are replaceable, and you can use them on just about any other telescope.

After reading another reviewer state that he could see the rings of Saturn with this inexpensive scope, I immediately bought one for my son who is 8. He is really starting to get an interest in space, and growing up with an amateur astronomer father, I am overjoyed. It's a nice starter telescope and has been really easy for him to use. I like that it doesn't take up a lot of room and you can't beat the price. It's also nice that it commemorates history's greatest scientists and astronomers, my son has actually looked a few of them up on the internet to find out more about them! Very pleased.

For years, I've been wanting a cheap, wide-field, very portable 'scope. This one fits the bill perfectly. It's really inexpensive, has a really wide field, good optics, and is extremely portable. All of which -- along with its extreme ease of use -- makes it ideal as a first telescope for those just discovering the joys of astronomy.

The eyepieces that come with it deliver good images. But, the 20mm Huygens low-power "wide field" eyepiece that comes with it simply won't do. It's a narrow apparent-field-of-view eyepiece (20 degrees) that only delivers a 1.3-degree field of view. This would make finding anything but the brightest objects (basically the moon, Jupiter and Venus) an exercise in frustration. The 4mm symmetrical high-power eyepiece, in contrast, is fine. It delivers good images in an adequate .4-degree field of view.

Anyone buying this 'scope would be well advised to buy a better low-power eyepiece, such as a Kellner, RKE, or Plossl, in the 20mm to 28mm range. Most astronomy sales outfits grossly overcharge for these eyepieces, but you can find bargains at the surplus optical sites (run a search for "surplus optics") -- I just bought a 27mm Kellner for $12.50 plus $5 shipping from one. One of these better eyepieces will yield a 3-to-4-degree field of view, which makes finding an object easy just by pointing the 'scope in the general direction and sweeping until you find it.

From my heavily light-polluted backyard, the views of the brighter nearby clusters (Beehive, Pleiades, etc.) are wonderful in this 'scope -- its field of view is wide enough to allow you to view the entire clusters. I can't wait to take it out of town next year to check out the summer Milky Way.

Finally, don't bother with the accessory package. The eyepieces are almost certainly cheap Huygens eyepieces with very narrow fields of view; the finder 'scope is a toy that's useless if you have a decent low-power eyepiece; and there are good planetarium programs on the 'net (such as Stellarium) available for free. You'd be much better off buying a decent medium power -- roughly 10mm to 13mm -- eyepiece from a surplus optics site.

I ordered the 'scope March 30 and received it April 7. Not bad for a product which was supposed to ship at the end of April. Some damage to the outer carton thanks to FedEx, but both 'scopes (I ordered two) were undamaaged. No assembly required - just slip in one of the eye pieces and it's ready to go. The manual (one paragraph) was not needed, but a person new to astronomical telescopes will certainly want to get some better documentation. The 'scope is better than I expected for $50. It appears to be well made - the eyepieces are not really good, but what can you expect for this price. The alt/az movements are good. The alt has adjustable tension. Az is probably adjustable via the main axis nut, but I didn't mess with it - the movement is fine as-is.

Unfortunately, we have had no clear nights in the Pacific Northwest since the 'scopes arrived (what else is new). A quick test on trees about 200 meters distant resulted in good views. Note the secondary mirror does cause a dark spot if your eye is not aligned correctly.

I'm looking forward to clear skies, but the long range forecast is not good.

Mike


April 21 - OK, last night was the first clear night since I got the 'scope. I viewed Saturn, and although the 'scope short focal length means lower magnification, with the included 4mm lens (approx. 70X), the rings were visible. The 'scope handled well, and handled a large, heavy lens I have with no problems. I had my 10" dob out also, and of course the dob gave a better view, but I enjoyed using the little 'scope for scanning the sky. No moon up when I was out, so could not see how it looks. The 21024 mount is stable, and moved smoothly. I tried the included lenses, and then some better lenses from Meade and Orion. These performed better, but the included lenses are not bad for a first scope.

Mike

I belong to a pretty vibrant online astronomy community, and had seen some of our members chat about this scope. While I wasn't really in the market for a new scope,[...], it was too good to pass up.

I've written a full review on my blog, Faint Fuzzy, which can be read here: [...]
Review Summary:

PROS: Surprisingly good construction, very good views for a starter scope of this aperture
CONS: Eyepieces leave somewhat to be desired, they work acceptably well on the moon.

For the money, this is a solid little scope for those evenings when you don't want to lug out the big guns and just want a quick peek at some brighter objects. For kids or newcomers to the hobby, this little scope and a copy of Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--and How to Find Them will get them jump-started very nicely.

For years I've been telling people, in person and on my web site (findascope dot com), that you simply cannot buy a decent, minimal telescope for under $100- and then Celestron came out with the 21024. This is the first telescope I've seen that's so cheap anyone can afford it- and yet will still deliver decent views of the heavens. The Dobsonian-type mount is sturdy and vibration free, unlike many shaky mounts seen on telescopes costing 2x or even 10x what the 21024 delivers. Optical quality is good, and with a 3" mirror it should deliver usable images up to a magnification of 150x in good conditions, using the 50x per inch rule.

With a focal length of 300mm, the supplied eyepieces will provide magnifications of 300mm/20mm = 15x and 300/4 = 75x. You'll find that for most uses the 20mm eyepiece is actually more useful, as many of the most interesting objects in the night sky- galaxies, nebula, and star clusters- are quite large. For viewing the planets you'll want to use higher power- either the supplied 4mm eyepiece, or perhaps (as one reviewer suggested) a better "Plossl" type eyepiece from Celestron or another supplier. A 2x Barlow lens will double the magnification available from the supplied eyepieces, but maximum magnification isn't always useable. Buying better eyepieces is always a good way to spend your astronomy dollars, as you can use them when you move up to a larger telescope.

You'll also want a good guide to the night sky. My favorite is a book entitled Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--and How to Find Them. It's intended for owners of small scopes, and will teach you to navigate the night sky by hopping from object to object.

I have always been a star gazer, and I wanted to be able to share the hobby with my nephew and niece. I found this telescope after some research, and heard some amazing things about it. I decided immediately to purchase it. I was excited to see how easy it was to use, and I wasn't disappointed. Even without a finder scope, I was able to easily find objects in the night sky by aiming down the left side of the tube using the finder scope mounts like a gun sight. This, combined with the 20mm (15x) eyepiece made it very simple to locate what I was looking for. My advice for someone just starting with this telescope: Practice locating your objects with the 20mm eyepiece over and over until you can do it efficiently. Once the object is in the middle of your field of view, you will be safe to throw in a higher magnification eyepiece.

Unlike cheap department store telescopes, the rotating mount is incredibly stable and only blurs for about 2-3 seconds when tapped. Also, the mount allows for easy tracking with its butter-smooth rotation. I could not be any happier with the ease of use of this powerful little telescope.

Now, the good part:

With a small telescope like this, don't be expecting Saturn to fill the field of view, but do expect to see the rings with the 4mm eyepiece. You will have to focus very slowly and carefully for the best results. Jupiter is also an awesome sight through this little guy, with 4 moons very visible. Also, viewing the moon is a pure pleasure through either of the two packaged eyepieces. The craters are clear, and the contrast is great. It also resolved the Andromeda galaxy fairly well in lower lighting away from the city. Just a quick pass through the arm of the Milky Way provided an amazing view of thousands of stars.

For even greater views of the brighter objects (Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Andromeda galaxy) I use the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow Lens (1.25") which effectively doubles the magnification of any eyepiece. This is one of only two Barlow lenses that Celestron recommends for this scope due to its short focal length. I was surprised by how little light was lost when using this barlow, and the views are even more incredible.

There are only a few complaints that I can muster. The main mirror is not adjustable, so collimation of the optics is not easily possible. The eyepieces are adequate, however you may want to invest is some higher quality Plossl eyepieces for easier viewing.

All-in-all, you will not find a better telescope for the money ANYWHERE. I am accustomed to 6-10 inch telescopes, and this little 3-inch blew my socks off. It stays in my car nearly everywhere I go, and I'm not afraid to take it out with crazy kids all over the place wanting to look through it. My wife loves it, my niece and nephew love it, and admittedly...I love it. I can't wait until my kids get their introduction to astronomy with this gem. Celestron really went out of their way to create something special. What a way to jump-start the minds of this upcoming generation!

For less than $50, you get a great little scope in a compact package.
Set it on a table and explore the night sky. The lower power eyepiece is good for searching and the higher power eyepiece will fill the entire view with the moon (though it's quite bright)

As simplistic as aim the scope and view the skies. This telescope is an premium value for the beginning astronomer especially considering the price, but more so because of the painless operation due to it's almost child-like design. It is exceptionally maneuverable and surpassingly portable making constellations easy to find, anywhere. The names of many significant astronomers and scientist are cleverly wrapped around the optical tube reminding the viewer of the 400 years of history behind this scopes design. While surveying the skies, one can analyze every crevice of the moon and even the larger of Jupiter's satellites. When not in use, this telescope works great as a decorative piece to add atmosphere to any desk or bookshelf. Overall- a great buy.

I don't however, recommend purchasing the accessory kit that compliments this scope for the sole reason that it is unnecessary. The lenses do make a nice edition to those that come with the FirstScope, but neither are more powerful than the initial 4mm; the finder scope included proves a pain in the neck to use, literally. If one is compelled to buy the accessory kit it would be for the wide range of magnification options as well as the moon filter, but once again, these are unnecessary. The money could rather go toward a Barlow lens, which can double the use of each eye-piece.