Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope, Mak70 Telescopes for Adults Kids 1000mm Focal Length 70mm Objective Lens, Beginners Astronomy Telescope with Slow Motion Gimbal Tripod

I consider myself a "professional amateur" in the sense that I've had formal training in and am far deeper in the astronomy hobby than most, and for over 40 years. Even though I have loads of equipment, I bought this on a whim out of curiosity. Over the course of 3 weeks, this scope just earned its place as my grab-n-go, goto, and photography scope.First, I'm very attracted to the Maksutov platform as it is both compact, and the design has optical properties that make it inherently "all purpose". Deep sky scopes are often f/4 to f/6. Planetary scopes are usually f/15 - f/20. Maks usually run the range f/10 - f/13, so they are a "middle ground" that lets them swing both ways. My first attraction was that this scope had an unusually long focal length for its size. When I did the numbers for the 70mm, I came to f/14.3 which surprised me. I immediately thought this scope might be better suited for my astrophotography interests. I did some googling around to find that a few others were already playing with the 60mm version doing exactly that and getting better results than I would have expected. So I decided that the 70mm was worth a shot for the price.I was pleased from the point I first received the box. Has a nice box outer box (laminated cardboard) with plastic handle. Every component is individually boxed inside. It's trivial to repack and carry this way if you don't have anything else. The all important main tube is well made with easy access to culmination screws, accessory ports, etc. Mine was grey instead of the white shown in the ad, but still looks great. The metal stand was heavier and sturdier than I would have expected at this price point. It's solid enough to use for terrestrial photography, but still very compact. The alt-az gimble surprisingly has micrometer drive adjustments on both axies. Nice touch!OK, sure we know they have to cut corners somewhere to get this price point if they are giving you a decent main tube and stand. Well, the diagonal prism and eyepieces have all plastic bodies instead of the usual metal. They view finder is primitive, but functional. I tried all the pieces as is and was blown away the first night out. Specifically, on M42 (great nebula) using the 20mm eyepiece I could easily see 4 stars in the trapezium cluster. You have no idea how many low end scopes fail this test. I dropped in the 10mm eyepiece and the trapezium became 5 stars! Now I'm really getting interested. Despite the small size of this scope, I could easily see the nebulosity and dust lanes in and around M42. I slewed over to a bright star and did the diffraction rings test in and out of focus. I was amazed how clean and sharp the diffraction rings and disk were. I replaced the original diagonal and eyepieces with much higher end stuff out of my collection and it only gets better. Again - blown away. Beat every scope in this class I've used over the years, except for a Questar - and that's really saying something.Attached, I have a 1,000 meter image of the antenna on a hospital building across town. This was done using eyepiece projection with my cell phone and the projection kit they include in the package. I found the projection kit to be better than most in how it secures to the scope. You can make out the mortar in the bricks and start to see the words on the warning signs near the electrical stuff. The sunspots photo was taken using a CCD imager and a objective solar filter (a 90mm diamter cap is needed). Sorry, the CCD software does some funky dithering that may create a grid effect when viewed at the wrong zoom level. Just try to expand or shrink the image to see it smoothly. With little effort, this was one of the best sunspot images I've captured over the years and I can take it to twice the resolution shown.I'm not saying this scope is perfect, but it offers a lot for the price. If you're a beginner, everything you need is in the box. Even if you're super experienced, this scope might still fill a niche with your current kit. Did for me. I use mine with an iOptron motorized tracking mount. Imaging stuff like the ring nebula (M57) that requires magnification is no problem for this beastie. Cannot wait to go after some challenge objects as the results I am getting are better than the two other small scopes this unit just displaced.

If you are looking for a telescope to get into astronomy, THIS IS IT! I can think of very few things that have brought me as much joy as this little scope, it's perfect for everything I have wanted to do so far.With it, you can see clear details of the moon, Jupiter's moons and bands, Saturn rings, split binary stars, and even see messier objects like the plieades. I even made out Uranus with it. For the price the visual quality is great and perfect for simple stargazing.Additionally, it is so easy to carry around and set up. The scope comes off it's mount with ease and the tripod folds up well. The tripod is stable for its weight and size. This scope is so easy to take on a walk or throw in your car to go somewhere.I can't understand any negative reviews of this scope. The truth is they probably just don't know how to use it. I have been using this for a few months now and I feel that there is so much for me to see with it yet. I would advise getting a better eye piece to go with it, I picked up a nice 50 dollar one with variable zoom.Now stop reading reviews and buy this scope!!!

This Mak has really good optics! It's only drawback is that it is slightly limited by the smaller (70mm) aperture. My scope came fully collimated, with all accessories.The scope itself is a bit heavy for its size, as is the metal tripod mount. Also, the scope is mounted on the side of the mount. So when you carry it by its tripod, it's a bit top and side heavy. The metal tripod itself is decent - light but sturdy enough. The finder scope works well (inverted image), and once it is aligned, you can pinpoint a planet fairly accurately, even with a high-power eyepiece in place. The fine controls work great for tracking planets at high power as well. I don't quite like the focuser placed where it is on the body of the scope, however. Focusing causes the image to jitter.The supplied 10 and 20mm eyepiece lenses are decent enough. The eyepiece bodies are made with composite plastic instead of metal, which is strong enough yet lighter. The supplied 1.5X Barlow lens is actually a part of the phone adapter, so you have to unscrew it from that if you want to use it separately. The 90 degree mirror diagonal supplied with the scope is for astronomical use and produces an erect, reversed image. You will need to purchase an additional correct-image mirror diagonal if you want to use this scope for terrestrial viewing.The image with the supplied 20mm lens (50X) is great! Bright and sharp, and largely free from the chromatic aberrations found with a refractor spotting scope (there are slight chromatic aberrations from the meniscus lens). However, with the supplied 10mm eyepiece (100X), the image begins to darken a bit, and becomes less pleasant for viewing, although it is still usable. Alternatively, I have had good results at 100X using a 3X Barlow lens and an SVBONY wide-field 15mm eyepiece. A good-quality 75X can also be achieved with the 1.5X Barlow lens and the 20mm eyepiece. The 1.5X Barlow with the 10mm eyepiece (150X) does not produce good results, however, resulting in poorer image quality and a narrower depth of field. Alternatively, a decent 120X is achievable using a 3X Barlow lens and a good 25mm eyepiece. This little scope really can't be pushed to much higher than ~120X, though, although I have taken it to 200X using a 3X Barlow with a 15mm eyepiece, and the image does retain its sharpness (although darkened). The only 'flaw' in the optics of this scope that I noted was a slight double-image effect when observing a crescent Venus. But I think this is due to the obstructing secondary mirror (true with all Maks). This image-doubling effect was not noted for Jupiter or the moon. Lunar images are sharp and crisp. Images of stars (and Jupiter's moons) are sharp as well.Overall, I recommend this scope both for terrestrial and astronomical use, with the caveats listed above.

I was excited when this telescope arrived and was impressed by the way it was packed, but when I opened all the boxes I discovered that the Barlow lens was missing as well as directions. Now I would be able to put the thing together watching a YouTube video, but my skills don't include grinding or manufacturing lenses. So my wife helped me put everything back in the boxes and I'm sending it back from whence it came. Now I'm stuck wondering whether to reorder it, or not. Probably not.