Customer Reviews

Galileo FS-80/K-800 800 x 80mm Yoke Mount Reflector Telescope

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was thinking of spending about $50 on a telescope, after a few minutes I found myself looking at a $300 goto telescope. I've never really used a telescope before, I quickly realized that the hardest thing about shopping for a telescope is figuring out what your budget is.
After I watched the video for this telescope, I decided I could afford to spend a few extra dollars on it. If this had cost $30 more, I would only give it 3 stars.

The good: It is a nice big telescope for the price. I have been able to see the moons of Jupiter, and can just barely make out a couple of bands, but don't expect to see the big red spot with this. Saturn has not been out yet, but I am looking forward to pointing this telescope at it. The views were stunning when I looked at the edge of the moon where the sun was setting. I have seen shadows filling lunar craters with my binoculars before, but the view from this telescope took my breath away. I also really like the Mars Eye finder. It took me about half an hour to calibrate it, but once calibrated it works very well. A better battery cover for it would be nice. For me the 20mm eyepiece is more rewarding. The lower magnification brings in more light. It was easier for me to spot Jupiters moons with the 20mm eyepiece the 6mm eyepiece. This telescope was pretty easy for me to set up. The only tricky part was calibrating the Mars Eye finder. There is a fine adjustment for the vertical plane that works marginally well. It is lacking any decent horizontal adjustment. The accessory tray is nice for changing eyepieces. Without my glasses I cannot see much, especially in the dark. I can get the eyepieces back and forth to the focuser with this tray very easily.

The not so good: The packaging was not very good. I could hear parts shaking around in the box when I brought it inside. There was a slight dent on the side of the scope. It was very small, right where the mount attaches to the telescope. The scope that I got was white, if it had been gray I may not have noticed it.
The mount is not very good at all. Most reviews of telescopes in this price range seem to say the same thing. When using the 6mm eyepiece you need to wait about 5-6 seconds after touching the telescope for it to quit bouncing around. If you try to adjust the focus, you need to start over. The 20mm eyepiece takes about 2-3 seconds to get steady enough to look at. I cannot imagine trying to use the 6mm eyepiece on a windy night, or with any type of Barlow lens.
The software included is about 10 years old, and it shows. It may be useful if you want to use it on an older computer, but if you have a newer system I would strongly recommend Stellarium. Stellarium is free, just Google it.

Overall I do not regret this purchase at all. It certainly does require a certain amount of patience. At this price range it is easy to get nit-picky about certain details that higher priced telescopes may overcome. But dollar for dollar I feel this is a very rewarding telescope.

Length:: 3:38 Mins

I will say that my experience with the Galileo Telescope is a bit of a work-in-progress. While I find the viewing to be powerful - I have a significant problem with the mount/tripod. It takes me time to simply find the moon. The issue is that the it is difficult to get the telescope to "sit" on the spot that you want.

Having said that it is important to recognize that while there are problems it is a decent telescope at a great price. It will require some patience in the set-up, but depending on your tolerance for trying to find targets.

Pros-

- Great value
- Decent power (See the video)
- Two lenses - low power and a higher powerful
- Assembly is relatively quickly
- Lots of extras with the software and Mars finder

Cons

- Tough to find stuff in the sky!
- Poor tripod makes it much more difficult to sit on a target

Final Verdict- While it requires patience this really is not that bad of a telescope especially at the price.

3 1/2 stars

I purchased this as a gift for my 7 year old who is all about space. I figured I would need to get the telescope aligned with whatever we were looking for first, then let her use the eyepiece. Unfortunately, this telescope just requires too much time and attention to get the objects of interest in place, in focus, and then by the time I put her eye to the eyepiece, the earth's rotation has the object well on its way out of the field of view. So with my daughter, I ended up using the lowest magnification almost exclusively. There are easier telescopes for kids available at the lowest magnification.

All that said, after she goes to bed, I've had a lot of fun with this telescope. The tripod is not as stable as I would have liked, so there is a lot of movement in the image, but otherwise its been fun!

I bought this telescope for myself because i always loved space. When buying it, i read the other reviews on this scope and saw the one about the bad mount. This is true. Once you get the scope lined up with the object you are viewing, if you so much as touch the scope the image wobbles like crazy. Needs a different mount. Other then that the viewing looks great. The moon looks amazing and it alows you to even see the moons of jupiter. Awesome scope, bad mount.

The only reasons I'm not giving this one or zero stars are a) I got it during an Amazon lightning deal for only $50, and b) it's my first telescope so I have nothing to compare it to.

Maybe my expectations were too high but I'm really disappointed in this scope so far.

The power of this scope is modest at best, but at this bargain price that is certainly forgivable. However, the most frustrating aspect of this scope is unquestionably the mount. I found it steady enough once locked in, and it allows for very good fine-tuning on the vertical axis via a tuning screw, but making small adjustments horizontally is a nightmare because you have to just grab the telescope and rotate it. Don't bother trying to make horizontal adjustments while using the 6mm eyepiece -- you'll lose your object every time because you can't move the telescope in small enough increments.

Some reviewers say they've seen Jupiter's moons with this scope so apparently it isn't worthless, therefore I'm going to stick with it for a while. (Besides, if I return it the shipping cost would be almost as much as my purchase price was).

But as the adage goes: you get what you pay for.

UPDATE: After using this scope a couple of times and doing some comparison shopping on other scopes and mounts I've reevaluated my score. I think instead of 2 stars I'd give it 3.5 or so based on value alone. Despite its flaws I really don't think you could do better for the price.

I received this as a gift from my husband. This is my first telescope that I have owned. The first time I used it, I had no problems seeing the craters in the moon. Beautiful! I have not spent too much time outside with it yet because it is still winter here in Michigan. I am very much looking forward to using it a lot more.

Pros:
It is very light and easy to carry
Very easy to set up
Eyepieces are very easy to use and focus

Cons:
Changing position while viewing may be difficult for someone who doesn't have a steady hand, but I am sure that is true of any telescope.

I would definitely suggest buying this telescope for any beginner. (especially those who want great views of the moon) I also would suggest buying a star map/field manual for those individuals that aren't very knowledgeable about constellations or planetary objects.

This was a great gift idea for someone just starting out. The software was easy to follow along and the item came almost fully assembled, only had to attach tripod. So it made it all very easy.

With Mars now being as close to Earth as it's going to get for the next hundred years or so, I thought why not buy an inexpensive telescope. After e-shopping for an hour or so I decided on the Galileo FS-80. I ordered it on a Monday morning and recieved it the next night 6pm. Talk about fast delivery from Amazon! Set up was super easy and fast. The Mars red eye or what ever it's called, works great. My sons and I are looking forward to clear skys this weekend. A best buy for the money. Looks and works like a telescope costing hundreds more.

It was so nice to focus my new Galileo telescope to this star that turned to be Saturn with his rings at the end, and over a week later at early morning I could watch Jupiter with three of his moons. Amazing for the price. I hope to see mars soon.

Good for starters, doesn't include good instructions so make sure you have a basic understanding how a telescope works and/or is adjusted.
Also the software that comes with it, is really crappy. The interface looks like it was made for windows 95 and is not that helpful.
But the telescope is very nice and has clear optics.