Customer Reviews

BARSKA 40070 Starwatcher Compact Refractor Telescope with Table Top Tripod And Carrying Case

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am a pretty advance amateur-astronomer and have used a few different telescopes. I bought this as a "travel scope" and to use as a guide-scope for astro-photography.
I suspected it would be plastic and rather "cheapo" looking, and I was right... it is!
But, it is not wobbly or bad to handle, surprisingly sturdy and good optics considering the price.
You do get what you pay for when it comes to telescopes and expecting to see "Hubble" images through this scope is bound to make you disappointed.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the crisp image this scope gave when looking at the moon.

The supplied barlow (3x) and eyepieces are laughable to a "serious" amateur-astronomer but they do actually perform very well. Unfortunately a 4mm eyepiece is too powerful for a scope like this, it would have made more sense to ship it with a 8 or 12 mm instead. The barlow is plastic but the lens is actually of quite good quality and does not stretch or blur the image noticeably around the edges. If you already have a set of eyepieces you can throw the supplied once in the garbage without any regret, if not, the supplied ones will work pretty good but don't expect any 300x magnifications to work, that's utter bull and shouldn't even be mentioned...
Make sure to use the 45 degree diagonal as you will not get focus otherwise...

You will get stunning views of the moon using this scope, you will also be able to see the bands on Jupiter and the rings on Saturn as well as track their moons.

I would rate the image quality of the scope to 4 stars considering the price but the poor quality of the eyepieces and the finder-scope takes it down to a 3 star.

I purchased this scope based on positive reviews on a couple of web sites that cater to amateur astronomers. I wasn't disappointed. A couple of things prevented me from rating it a 5. The 45-degree diagonal and the tabletop tripod are better suited to terrestrial viewing. If you plan on astronomical use you'll want to use a full-sized tripod and add a 90-degree diagonal at some point if you don't already have one. Also, a 2x barlow lens would have made much more sense than the 3x. On the plus side the scope is sturdily constructed and has good optics for the price. I live in the heart of St. Louis and haven't been able to take it to a dark viewing area yet, but from my backyard the moon was excellent as was the Orion nebula, and Mars presented a nice sharp disk. The stock eyepieces are fine, but using a 9.7mm super plossl the results were great!

This telepscope is a very good telescope.very powerful and clear.easy to use even for a beginner.the only complaint may be the tripod is small and you need to have a sturdy base to set it on for it is too small to use by itself.but if you have a sturdy deck or outside patio or just happen to have a full sized tripod of your own this makes an excellent telescope for astronomers of all ages and skill levels.

This product looks and feels cheaply made. The table-top tripod it comes with is not very sturdy to begin with and it is next to impossible to solidly attach the telescope to it. As a result you end up with a set-up that is extremely unsteady and next to impossible get a good view of anything. The finder scope is impossible to adjust reliably so one should just forget about trying to align it with the main scope. In fact, it is probably best to leave it off entirely. The eyepieces have a very unsubstantial plastic feel to them. On the one I received, the carrying strap for the included bag had one of the snaps broken off. I contacted Barska's Customer Service a via email and was told to "send a picture of the damaged area". I did that and never heard from them again. Not worth bothering about, really. One more thing: The enclosed Astronomical Software will not load on a 64-bit computer. I assume that if you still have a 32-bit machine it will work, but since all my PC's run on 64 bit systems, I was out of luck. All in all, spend a few dollars more and get a decent scope for star gazing. Attached to an old camera tripod, it DOES make a decent spotting scope, but is not the purpose I bought it for...

I think this is perhaps the best value for the money to be had in a small, short tube, inexpensive portable scope. Images are crisp and clear for both terrestrial and celestial viewing out to about 60 - 70X, not bad for a scope this size. The included 1.25" lenses and 45 degree diagonal work well enough. One can, of course, use higher quality lenses and 90 degree diagonals for a better viewing experience.

A big advantage of this scope is that the included tripod has fine motor controls for horizontal and vertical movement, making it much easier to track celestial objects as they move across the sky. It appears to be identical to the Celestron Tabletop Tripod that sells alone for $20.95 here on Amazon. It's made of light plastic, but the controls work well enough. Most other short tube scopes in this price range that I'm aware of don't have tripods with this capability.

The Barska 40070 is definitely worth your consideration!

I purchased this telescope with a specific purpose in mind. My office overlooks a golf course where a PGA event is held. I bought this and a USB camera eyepiece, to watch the golf tournament on my laptop. Worked great and I was able to accomplish my goal for under $100.

This is a great inexpensive telescope that would be suitable as a starter or 1st telescope, worked well for the purpose I got it for.

Overall it's not too bad.
I was looking for 300-400mm focal length range for guide scope.
This one seems to be right on that criteria.
Besides, there were 2x m5 tapped hole on the mounting block for anyone who like to mount this on flat surface. Actually , it served me good as well.
Those of you who have used 3 screws for mounting&adjusting may know that it's not so easy; it may even be pain to use 3 screw adjusting system, because it's extremely sensitive.
Optical quality is not too bad, especially for this price range.
Overall performance is good; I liked focal lenth and mounting block with 2x m5 tapped hole for easy mounting on flat surface.
However, I hoped that the finder scope was replaced by red dot finder.
Tabletop tripod was just ok, but even without it, item was worth buying.
But, I wanted to ask maker of this to replace the 6x25 finderscope with red dot finder, please.
Because , the small aperture 25mm scope is almost next to useless.
Overall, it's good if not quite good.

Hello, I am just learning about the night sky, and the BARSKA 40070 has become my best friend in this new hobby, so far Im enjoying it so much, I like the fact that comes with 2 lenses so you can aim the star, planet, constellation or the moon and interchange them for a closer look. the only lack on this product is the tripod, it's useful but too short, I mean it keeps the telescope standing but not very confortable for long periods of stargazing. however, Im planing on get a new taller tripod that can fix that problem, and let me keep enjoying myself every night in the backyard. bottom line, I am really happy with my purchase, the delivery was fast, in perfect conditions, and its really easy to put together. If you are looking for something cheap, not for a professional use (deep space) that helps you learn about sky, even take some pictures, this is the right telescope.

Very good telescope for the money.The only problems that I had with the telescope were,trying to get the alinement with the three screw setting.The telescope would not keep from shaking.I ended up putting A red dot finder on it,also the #4 eye peace is just to strong .3x Barlow Lens should have been A 2x Barlow Lens.I give it 4 stars.

Given this was the very first telescope I have used, I urge those who are experienced to take my input with a grain of salt. I had substantial trouble using the higher magnifications to see anything, especially with the Barlow. Perhaps I need more practice calibrating the miniscope with accordance to the larger one. But the reason I give it a higher rating is simple. Using the lowest magnification to look at the moon for the very first time in such detail left me in awe.