Customer Reviews

Celestron NexStar 5 SE Telescope

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

 

 

This is a very nice telescope. I have been using it the past week and have viewed the Moon, Venus, Jupiter. Overall the optics are excellent. But there are a few issues, which had I known earlier I may not have purchased this scope.

1. Celestron advertises that the scope can be used with 8 AA batteries. This is not completely true. The batteries drain very quickly and will probably not even last one viewing session (say 30 mins).

2. Without power the telescope cannot be moved along the azimuth (left-right direction). So you cannot use it at all.

So essentially if you want to take this telescope out of the city to some dark sky location you have to buy a powertank (or maybe run it off your car). I would have liked a design that allows me to use the goto feature when I want it but still be able to slew the telescope manually, without power.

Why do I still give it 3 stars. Well, Celestron tech support is very responsive (over e-mail). The telescope itself is excellent (optically). I have gotten very good views of planets. It has been a little too cloudy and light polluted (I live in a city) for me to try seeing nebulae.

Details:
The DC motors that slew the telescope are very sensitive to the voltage and current of the power supply. If you use the telescope for 20-30 minutes after that the batteries drain down and the scope becomes unusable (till you replace the batteries of course). Celestron tech support told me that they recommend using the battery only as an emergency back up!!! Strange that they don't mention on their website that batteries are only for "backup" and you have to run the telescope on wall socket, or a "power tank".

It was cold as heck out, but I've owned my Celestron NexStar 5 SE telescope (my first scope) for three days now and the sky was fairly clear; so out I go. I whip through the Sky Align auto alignment process and then ask the telescope to show me Saturn (FYI: I had already aligned my finder scope during the day, something I highly recommend). There it was, rings and all, as advertized near the center of my eyepiece. Awesome!! I took a quick peak at Mars and then went back inside before my fingers fell off from frostbite. I am hooked!

I have nothing new to add to the reviews already online. The included software will not load on my computers, after making contact with Celestron I found a new release is in the works. The telescope optics are all I thought they would be. If I was intrested in deep sky I would have ordered a larger unit for the increased light gathering, but for planets and casual star gazing it is fine. My choice was between physical size and portability. I find this unit to fit my needs perfectly.

Since I was new to Astronomy I selected a scope that I thought would meet my early needs and not be too complicated. The 5 SE scope has been a great purchase for me. My only stumble was telling the NexStar computer I used EST time instead of the Standard time we use during the winter. I couldn't align the scope which was frustrating. Once I figured out this bonehead move it's worked flawlessly since. Its ruggedly made and gives you a since that this is a quality telescope. Looking back I would probably buy a slightly larger Celestron scope (perhaps a six or eight inch scope) as this would give me additional, future, options as I build my skill set. Nonetheless this is a quality instrument and I know I'll spend more time outside with it once the weather warms a bit. The entire family has enjoyed including my three year old granddaughter...you should have seen her face once she saw the moon up close!

Nice... wish I lived under a blacker sky. My only complaint is that I wish the controller display was large-format TFT LCD for my tired old eyes. Otherwise, love it.