Customer Reviews

Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We used our scope for the first time recently. I had read the manual and a lot of online materials before we received our scope so I was somewhat familiar with how to use it. I input our location using our place's longiture and latitude and used the unit's "two star" alignment setting since I could only make out two bright stars in our light-polluted location (Tokyo, Japan). After this, I input "Jupiter" into the hand controller and the scope slewed to the planet and placed it right in the center of the eyepiece's field of view. My family and I spent the next hour letting the scope swing around to various stars and binary systems that I couldn't see with my unaided eyes but showed up beautifully in the eyepiece. I recommend taking a look at Albireo in the list of "named stars" on the hand controller very highly.

I knew that a telescope, much like a camera, is a device that needs accessories. Therefore, before I bought the scope I purchased (used) a 9mm ocular, a barlow lens, a better star diagonal and a battery pack to power this thing. The car battery adapter I purchased with the scope. A lot of people don't use a case so I can understand why Celestron didn't include one with this to keep the price down. One of those plastic storage boxes should work well if you use the foam that comes with the scope to keep it in place.

The optics of the telescope and the special coatings on the optics are a great improvement over what I experienced 20 years ago with my first 5" SCT scope. The images are sharp and this scope is suitable for both planetary viewing and deep space objects. However, the deep space objects will require you to find a dark site to be really visable. Our first night of viewing included a look at M13, a globular cluster. It was there but the local light pollution required me to use "averted vision" to see it.

I highly recommend this product for those who want to get into Astronomy at a reasonable price. There are bigger scopes out there but the prices and size of these telescopes make this one a great compromise on size, performance and "bang for the buck." I don't think that you will be disappointed. You will need a few accessories but buy those as you need them.

This is my second nexstar scope. My first was a six years old refractor. This one is a vast improvement. Optical quality is excellent, the tripod is rock solid, and the sky align technology can't be beat. Also, the quality of the included eyepiece is really nice.

For the reviewer who thinks it should ship with such accessories as a carry bag, etc...well, in a perfect world, yes, but none of the other major telescope vendors include such things. Until it becomes competitively necessary for them to give away for free what is now a lucrative accessory market, they won't.

Nice scope. You won't be disappointed. Good mix of optical quality and portability

I have owned several scopes over the years: a Meade ETX-90, an Orion 6" DOB, and a Zhumell 10" DOB (which I returned - read on).

When I recently renewed my passion for astronomy earlier this year (2010), I started pulling out my little ETX-90 on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the aperture size and long focal length really limited my viewing to Saturn. I decided it was time to go for something with a bit more power. I bought the 10" DOB I mentioned above. It wasn't passed than the third trip outside, precariously carrying the OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) while "butting" the door open and avoiding hitting my dining room table, that I decided I needed to return that monstrosity for something more portable (by the way, it was a wonderful scope! If you can store it where moving it isn't a problem, it'll do the job!).

Enter the Celestron NexStar 6SE.

When the scope arrived, I opened the box and pulled out the parts. Having watched the instructional video on how to assemble the item earlier in the day, I didn't even need to look at the directions to get it put together. The tripod was solid and had little play. The OTA was easy to "drop" onto the pins on the tripod, and then I only needed to lock down the three knobbed screws to mount the scope completely. I did need to align the viewfinder, which was easy enough by lining up on Venus.

I had forgotten how much I liked the GOTO system (my old ETX-90's mount had long ago stopped functioning). For the 6SE, I used the NexStar alignment method on my first attempt, which simply required 3 bright objects in the sky - I did not need to know what the objects were (you will, however, have to enter some other info like your latitude and longitude, time zone, date and time. Your latitude and longitude is easily found online). It was now time for the first viewing. I selected my old standby, Saturn. The scope slewed very quickly to the object, even going back and forth a bit to account for any play in the gears. When I looked through the low powered eye piece (25mm), Saturn was just left of center (likely my fault on the initial alignment). I then manually centered the planet and replaced my eye piece with a higher powered piece - a 9mm lens. All I can say is wow. I live a few miles from the Pittsburgh International Airport, so light pollution is a real problem for me. But, Saturn came in as crisp as I have ever seen it, and 4 of her moons were very easily discernible.

However, planetary viewing isn't so difficult with even the most basic scope. I decided to try a few more difficult targets. I could see that The Big Dipper was out, so I typed in M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy. After a few quick moments of slewing, I took to the eyepiece again (back to the 25mm, btw), and there were two "eyes" looking at me (M51 is actually two galaxies). Of course with bad seeing conditions and a 6" scope, I could not make out any of the "arms" of the galaxy, but I could easily see the telltale fuzzy eyes. I was quite surprised I was able to resolve them that easily with the smaller aperture on this scope! I don't remember my old 6" DOB having that easy of a time, but maybe that was due to the GOTO capability of this item.

Next, I turned my attention to M81 and M82, two other galaxies very close to The Dipper. They came in great, with M82 showing off its profile nicely even with my (relatively) bad seeing conditions.

Finally, I hit M3, which is a brilliant globular star cluster. The cluster was a wonderful view in this scope. Switching to a higher power eye piece caused many stars to shimmer in and out of view - it was jaw dropping.

Anyway, I wanted to point out that, if you need a portable scope that is capable of showing you some wonderful astronomical sights, this scope fits the bill. Although another reviewer is right in that the stock eye pieces aren't incredible (nor are any other stock pieces!), you would certainly be happy with this scope for the occasional "quick" viewing session. Heck, put a few additional dollars (well, a few hundred!) down for some better eye pieces, and you'll be thrilled for years to come!

One final note: due to the design of the Schmidt Cassegrain scope, you are almost required to buy a dew shield, unless you live in Phoenix or some other really dry area. Here in the northeast, my scope fogged up very quickly. I was able to build a temporary dew shield with some black construction paper that worked fine, but that's no long term solution. Astronomy is certainly not a cheap hobby!

Overall, I am very pleased with this scope. And, unless you are more than casually into this hobby, I think you will be, too.

This is my first telescope. After doing quite a bit of research, went to a star party to solicit opinions, I thought this would be a good starter to get me really interested in practical astronomy (vs. watching Discovery channel and read books). I have had it for over a week now, while I am impressed with some of the stuff I saw with the scope, but I am rather disappointed with the standard package. The $1000 price should have included some additional essential accessories. I ended up spending an extra $300 on additional accessories and am expecting to spend another $300 for some of the nice-to-haves.


PROS:
1. portability - light weight (27lbs total with tripod)
2. finder scope - not sure if it's standard, but the red dot in the finder scope, when aligned properly with the scope, works very nicely
3. clear and clean images - so far, i've only been able to see the moon and jupiter, and plenty of terrestrial objects and the images are very impressive.


CONS:
1. standard included accessories suck!!!
- a. low magnification eyepiece! the 25mm eyepiece gives you a total magnification of 60x. The only thing you can see clearly with any details is the moon. Jupiter, as big as it is, I can barely make out the details, although it's very cool seeing the 4 big Jupiter moon (hey, I am new at this, it was still exciting).
DE-CON: Spent $110 on Amazon for a 13-piece accessories kit (Celestron) which includes a 2x barlow and a range of eyepieces and filters. This should really help with magnifications (I haven't received the kit yet).

- b. NO AC adapter! Be sure to have plenty of 2AA batteries floating around. A brand new set (8 required) will last about 1hr+ with somewhat frequent slewing. I have a high balcony, with plenty of skyview, it would have been very nice to be able to plug the scope into an outlet to play around with it for a few hours before taking it to the field.
DE-CON: Spent $20 an AC adapter and $50 on a Celestron 12V PowerTank (both from Adorama). The AC adapter is HUGE!!! Good thing is that I don't have to carry it anywhere. The 12V PowerTank does not have a detachable red flashlight, but it seems to work well providing power.

- c. Image diagonal NOT erected! While the images you see with the included diagonal is right-side up, it's right-to-left (reverted).
DE-CON: Spent $35 on an erected diagonal. OK, given that the included diagonal and the erected diagonal are EXACTLY the same in construction with the exception of the Amici prism, I am not sure why Celestron doesn't go an extra step for (probably) a few bucks more vs. $35+shipping. I know orientation is meaningless in space, but geez, now I have no use for the included diagonal.

- d. NO carrying case! I can't believe that something this precious doesn't come with even a canvas carrying case. The cheapest case I can find is the JMI case for this scope and it requires that you use the same packing foam that the scope came in - for $160!!!. I ended up just putting the foam in one of my suitcases and carry the scope that way. I'm looking for a hard-case rolling suitcase. With all of the extra equipments, I may go for a large suitcase to fit everything in one (except the tripod of course).

2. So far, it's a dog trying to use SkyAlign in the city (Philadelphia, PA ...yes, it PA Celestron, not PE). The best I have been able to do was to get SkyAlign to match the patterns of the Big Dipper, but alignment still fail (yes, I have followed instructions and tried using Jupiter, the Moon, and another "bright" star, but alignment always failed. I have yet to take it into a rural area, but I am sure alignment will work then. Point is, I need to learn more about the sky to use the other alignment methods if I do my observation in the city.

I also bought an LPR (Light Polution Reduction) filter, another $60 investment, hoping that it will help with the light polution. The filter did cut down quite a bit of city light, but leaves a greenish tint. I am not sure if it's worth the money. Will wait and see when I try it out with the additional eyepieces.

As for the nice-to-haves, I am planning on getting a stereo binocular viewer ($200). This means I'll have to pickup a second lens kit (another $110).

BOTTOM LINE: Expect to spend A LOT of $$$ on accessories to make the scope truly useful. I just think celestron should have included a second shorter focal length eyepiece and an AC adapter with built-in rechargeable battery for this price. I like the scope so far, but not happy that I have to spend so much more money for accessories. If you get the scope, I highly recommend purchasing the PowerTank and the lens/filter kit simultaneously. I'll try do another review once I have and tryout all my accessories.

We purchased the Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope in time for my son's birthday in August. He is a serious student of Astronomy with great encouragement by his high school teacher. The Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope is a terrific investment and the perfect education outlet. The 6" telescope is working just fine for us, but knowing what we know now, I would have purchased the 8" Celestron NexStar, only because the viewing capabilities with the 6" are so incredible, we can just imagine how much more we would be able to see with the 8" telescope. My son takes the telescope with us on Boy Scout Troop expeditions now, which has proven to be great way to wind down the day.

The only trouble we have had with the telescope is achieving the initial alignment. We can find bright enough objects in three different directions, and the "on board" computer seems to work pretty quickly, but so far we only get a message saying that the alignment process failed, after several minutes of "computer contemplation." My son is certain that this is something he can remedy. Getting the viewfinder aligned with the lens should be a first step priority.

On our first night out we had a brilliant full moon to work with, and seeing inside the impact craters was truly amazing. But on the same night we found Jupiter, and with a 2X Barlow lens we could see the planet, in color, including the cloud bands around the planet. My six-foot baby boy was doing the Happy Dance at 2 AM on a quiet gravel road. He woke up all the critters, and we had to go home!

Analysis:

Let me start off by saying... buy the powertank, you are pretty much forced to buy it because there is no other reliable power source unless you are close to an outlet and even then you will need to buy the ac adapter. Your hands are tied.

So my first impression of this telescope was how easy it is to use. You basically input the time, date, and bunch of other common stuff associated with your location. Then, you point it at 3 really bright objects in the sky and try to center it as much as possible in the eyepiece. Lastly, confirm your 3 selections and you are ready to go. The alignment is a bit off regularly and you do have to adjust but the mount pretty much gets you in the general vicinity of the object you are looking for and with some practice you can find it. I so far use the "Tour" feature on the remote. It has a bunch of popular objects that people would want to see, like the Orion's Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy.(Check some pictures that i have posted, taken with the Canon T2i it is possible).

I am pretty satisfied with the portability of the telescope because i can move it all by myself and it doesn't break much of a sweat.

I want to say that the optics of this Nexstar 6SE are absolutely amazing. You can see a lot of stuff and if you are a beginner like I am you will be able to learn a lot and improve with this telescope.

When you get bored of just looking through the eyepiece you can try your luck at astro-photography. I think this will keep me busy with this telescope for a while. I use the Canon T2i with t-ring and prime focus adapter.

However, I really cannot stop thinking of whether or not i should have gotten the 8SE instead to gather more light. But, with that being said if you are a beginner and are unsure if astronomy is for you, start off with the 6SE and see if you are really into astronomy. If you aren't you have saved yourself some dough otherwise if you become really into it you will end up upgrading sooner or later.



Pros:

Good sharp optics
Easy to use mount
Simple to setup
Able to piggyback a dslr
Rebate card arrives very quickly about 3 weeks

Cons:

Requires a power source
Super loud mechanical mount, I swear people can hear you from a mile away.... don't want to wake up the neighbors
The mount is not very good for astrophotography and you cannot take exposures for longer than 10 seconds objects become blurred.

I give it 4 stars because of the bad mount. Otherwise, it is a really good telescope.

I bought the 6SE through Amazon and also bought the Celestron lense/filter collection and the AC adapter. Everything arrived on time and intact, despite UPS's best attempts to damage the telescope box. Kudos to Celestron for their packaging. Collimation was perfect right out of the box and didn't need adjustment.

I've used the scope on virtually every clear night for the last month and am very impressed. Sky Align is a breeze. The only times it has failed I either forgot to enter the correct date or time. After that it is a matter of finding 3 bright objects in the night sky and centering them in your eyepiece. HINT: I use the 27mm eyepiece to initially find each object (after using the finder scope) and then add the 2X Barlow to more accurately center the object. I usually pick some star in the Big Dipper, Capella, and for the time being Jupiter as my alignment objects. Works every time I input the right info. There is a bit of a learning curve so don't expect the unit to bend to your will until you've learned the system. The 'Identify' feature is great for a newbie astronomer like me: Point at the object and NextStar tells you what it is. I've spent a lot of time viewing Jupiter and images of it and the 4 visible moons are clear and crisp using the provided 27mm eyepiece as well as the 9mm and 15mm eyepieces I purchased separately, all 3 alone and with the 2X Barlow. Tracking is not all that accurate unless you sync to the object (in the 'Align' menu. Then it is much better. A list of Strengths and Weaknesses as I see it:

Strengths:

1. The price and low cost of accessories.

2. The clear images.

3. Ease of setup and alignment.

4. Portability of the SC design.

Weakness:

1. The provided level is junk. I use a 4" builders bull's eye level for much better accuracy.

2. You must remove the telescope from the tripod for leveling. Leveling with the scope attached to the tripod produces an error of approximately 1.5 degrees. In that respect it would have been nice if Celestron built an accurate level rather than the logo into the base.

3. The AC adapter turns with the scope so it is possible to unplug it or entwine your tripod during a night's viewing. If you unplug you lose your alignment, so always have batteries installed even if you use the AC adapter. A nice future upgrade would be to install the plug for the adapter in the non moving part of the base. It merely requires 2 contacts on 2 spiral tracks between the movable and stationary parts of the base.

4. Unless you use the Sync option, alignment seems to deteriorate over the course of a couple of hours. I am careful with the initial alignment as detailed above so I do not think that is the problem, rather something in the software. This is evidenced over the course of an evening by slewing back to an object (Jupiter in my case) using the GOTO Planet on the keypad. Over a period of time each return is farther to the left of center and lower in the field of view.

5. Keeps me outside on cold nights exploring the skies rather than inside by the fire.

Still a 5-star product I am very happy with.

I am a rank beginner. I've looked through other people's telescopes and was under the impression that unless you were a highly skilled astrophotographer taking long exposures, the most you could hope to see would be the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars with anything less than a ten inch telescope. But now four months after buying my own telescope those objects are the least of my joys.

I see nebulas in color, other galaxies as smoky whisps, and star clusters which look like they were created for science fiction. And I have also seen Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto--yes, Pluto, through a six inch telescope in horribly light polluted New York City skies.

Amazing doesn't begin to describe it.

As for buying a go-to telescope versus that larger aperture Dobsonian some old veterans insist is the thing to buy, I wont argue with them but offer this for consideration. If you live in a horribly light polluted area like I do, you don't have many guide stars and constellations to go star hopping by, and therefore will find it frustratingly and discouragingly difficult to find those deep space objects you want to see. In that case you might end up only looking at the easiest targets--like Saturn and Jupiter. So my personal recommendation for those in a similar situation is to get a go-to scope like this one. You will naturally 'learn the sky' as you continue, whereas if you can't find those objects in the first place you might not continue at all.

Besides, with a go-to telescope, you can do both--find objects by star charts AND use the computer to guide the telescope to the target and stay on it while your friends line up to look through your eyepiece rather than having to realign the telescope to keep the object in view or each individual or as you stare through your eyepiece at a single object for an hour.

Note also that this telescope is capable of long exposure astrophotography. It will stay on the object while your shutter is open.

If you have been watching the night sky for years, and thinking about maybe buying a telescope of your own, this is the one to get.

The Celestron Nexstar 6SE is a hidden gem of a value. The optics are superb. I set up next to a ten inch dob at a star gazing and the views of the 6SE were just as good as those in the dob. The whole set up is light enough to easily be carried out into the yard for quick viewing, but also heavy enough to give necessary stability. The diagonal is high quality, unlike those that come on more expensive telescopes and need to be replaced. The hand controller is easy to learn and selecting deep space objects or planets is easy.

What I didn't like about the 6SE is the alignment process. Sky Align (choosing three stars) simply doesn't work most of the time. This is a common complaint that you will read about on the Celestron forums. If you know any stars, in particular Polaris, you can do the two star align, which works much better. Also, the scope is a little sensitive once aligned in that unless you use an up and to the right alignment on the last star you'll find the alignment to be a bit off. Celestron could benefit from Meade's learn mode and area search feature.

The other thing I didn't like was the one arm quick release. On the plus side it is a breeze to attach and dismount the OTA (optical tube assembly). But, this design has serious shortcomings too. I was always careful to make sure the OTA was properly balanced in the arm and the lever tightened as far as it would go. The scope always seemed stable, but one evening I bumped the legs lightly and the OTA came loose and fell from its mount. I was luck enough to catch it with one hand before it crashed on the concrete of my driveway.

All in all for what this telescope cost you will be hard pressed to find anything comparable. I would have given it five stars but for the two negatives I discussed.

I've tried several cheaper scopes before deciding to spend the extra money on this one, the cheaper scopes, are either too small, or they have quality issues with the tripod or mount. Not this one. This one is built to be as sturdy as possible. The tripod is rock solid and made of thick metal. It has rubber tips at the end to minimize vibrations. The quality in this scope is immediately apparent when comparing to cheap ones. They did not skimp on materials. One really cool thing about this scope its that the mount and tripod are interchangeable with other optical tubes it connects to one rail on the side. So later on you can switch this tube into an upgraded mount, and put a different kind of tube onto this one, or vice versa.

The 25mm eyepiece good quality and is a perfect match for this scope for general viewing, but be prepared to buy a kit of other ones because you'll want more, or if not a kit I recommend at least a zoom eyepiece and a 2x barlow for starters. If you spend a long time gazing at the moon get a moon filter because its very bright through this scope.

Images are incredible and detailed.

Don't even mess with AA's or just use them for backup. To use this scope you'll want an AC adapter or a large battery pack. This scope requires power to move.

I really haven't had this long enough to use it to its full potential yet but everything I've seen so far is very impressive and I find myself looking forward to those rare clear nights when conditions are perfect for scoping out the universe.

I've ordered a camera adapter as I want to get started with astro-photography. I will update the review once I try that out.

This scope has a lot of good reviews and although it was a hard investment decision for someone relatively new to the hobby but the scope is very user friendly and I don't regret the purchase one bit.