Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA

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Brand and Model:Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
Price ($USD):239
Type:Achromatic Refractor
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:80mm (3.1")
f Ratio:f/5
Focal Length:400mm
Finder:6x30 LER
Electric Power:drive optional
Mount:equatorial
Tripod:wood /w tray
Weight (lbs):< 30 /w mount lb
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:Includes one 25mm SMA widefield eyepiece,

Mirror diaganol and T-Mount on focuser

Telescope comes with slow motion cables on both axis..

One of the mounting rings includes a piggy back camera mount



More reviews of this scope can be found under the

Orian Short Tube 80 which is very similar..




Vote Highlights Vote
Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
Nice scope for quick peeks, but not for anything planetary. Moon is ok, of course color, but thats expected. You get nice tight stars, but a slight flaring to them. Possibly pinched optics, don't know.

Overall, a good value. But should have been on a nice alt-az mount.

john k.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:7 Mount:6 Ease of Use:8 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=581317

Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
This is not a perfect scope. However, in terms of its portability, stability for its size (wooden tripod) and image quality for the beginner/novice, and most important, the price range...how can you do better? Not much! To understand its pitfalls, please go to yahoo and type in "80f5" to review all the chatter about this scope to address some of its perceived deficiencies. If you've got a 10 year old, this is great. If you are older, but you feel 10 years old and do not aspire to become an astronomy nutcase, spending thousands on a "light bucket", then buy one of these today. I do know a place that presently has a number 'em available, even though this Celestron Model has been discontinued. E-mail me at hmg@megsinet.com and I'll set you up with the supplier at a closeout price.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40659

Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
Purchased this scope on a dealer close out, at first I just wanted a half decent portable scope that would be easy to take on trips. Well after the first time I tried it out which eas on a weekend ytip to the mountains in NH I must say this little scope does very well. I had to losen up the retaining ring on the lens cell cause it was so tight it was producing a star test of pinched optics and once that was done it star tested well for an achromat and even better than allot of larger china scopes I had. I compared it with my MN56 and there was false color but it was not bad on jupiter, it did snap into focus and did produce allot of detail on the planet, up to 5 bands. The MN56 was brighter and 6 to seven bands were visable. On saturn there was no false color and you could even split the rings well with ome moon shown but here's were the 56 did much better with up to 5 moons on saturn. On the moon is were the 56 did excell, no color just black and white, the 80 did well but you do have that little bit of color around the limb but yiy could resolve real fine detail on the craters without false color getting in the way. The highest power I have had the scope up so far has been 145X with a 13.8mm SWA and a 5X powermate but the best all around power is at 110X with the 18mm SWA and the 5X and it does a great job with the 24mm konig and the 5X. The mount is ok, a little crude but it works well and the supplied EP is ok. The finder does well and the diagonal had to be re set cause it was way off in the holder. I feel that is one thing I'll replace allong with some more Konig ep's. A decent scope and a real fine ring for a portable go anywere scope or for a 1st timer. Recomended

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40658

Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
This package, now being closed out, is a great deal for those who understand this scope is designed for low/medium power, wide field viewing. The little GEM is more than sufficient for the ST-80, especially when not extended to it's full length.

This is my first scope in a few years after selling my old Celestron/Vixen 80mm refractor/SP. Not the same quality (save for the optics, perhaps) but I am very pleased so far. Needs some good EP's to bring out the capabilities. For about $220 complete, these are a steal!

Why not a 10? C'mon it's a $220, Chinese refractor!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40657

Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
I was looking for a portable scope that I could use during travel and for a quick view use at home. My 8" dob is just a bit much for those quick viewings in the evenings to blow off stress. Of course, I thought of Televue, but couldn't justify the price. I saw a few on-line reviews of this scope and couldn't pass it up.

Talk about value - You get a scope that retails for about $250 and a mount that retails for $175 in a package that cost only $229 through Astronomics! I've purchased Orions AZ-3 mount, making it even more portable. I'll use the EQ mount with motors and camera attachments for wide angle photography.

The little scope is simply fantastic. Thanks to the short focal length, don't expect high magnification, splitting doubles, globular clusters, or "up close" planetary views. Star tests are mediocre - there appears to be a screw in the light path. (Holding the focuser track) However, the little scope out-performs my expectations in many ways. I've spent many hours simply wondering around through the milky way. You get fantastic views of open clusters, nebulas, and asterisms (like the coat hanger) even when I get poor views through the 8" dob.

When it's all said and done - I've used this little scope more in the month since I got it that I"ve used the dob in the last three months.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40655

Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
After having this scope all summer, I must give it a 10 (the scale on the voting page does'nt have 11). My first surprise was how crystal clear the images were... WOW! Celestron's ad states that you shouldn't push mag too much or you'll suffer from false color. I must state that I have yet had an unpleasant view through this instrument (color or not). Then we come to the mount. When I first set up the mount, I was pleased that this was the area they decided to keep costs down. Cheap-lookin', standard ol' 'FREE TRIPOD' style. Once I had it out under the stars... I ate my words. ROCK SOLID! This cheesy little mount is absolutely perfect for this OTA (visual observing)! For general observing, this mount damps out immediately, has smooth slow motion controls and has the capability of taking on a RA motor drive. $289? This scope is the perfect starter scope or life-long friend to anyone wanting to get great WIDE views of astronomical objects. It even resolved the 'hole' in the middle of the ring nebula. For my own personal preferrance, I got rid of the screws and wing nuts (tiny and easy to lose in the dark)that hold the accessary tray and tapped out the tray holes to fit the threads of some large knob screws I had laying around and fixed two line-levels 90 degrees from one another on the EQ head for more accurate leveling. Then I build the little beauty a nice, comfortable travelling case and... you get the picture. I love this telescope!

D'Thaniel
Door County, WI

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40654

Celestron Firstscope 80 equatorial WA
I gave this little scope a Ten for value because I think the current closeout price represents a real bargain. Celestron has a new Nexstar series scope coming out with short tube optics so these scopes are on clearance. I have
seen them advertised for between $229-$239 at several places on the web.
At this price I just had to jump on this deal despite some misgivings about reports of false color in the optics. I am very glad I did. The optical
quality of the scope greatly exceeded my expectations. Yes you can get some
false color, but even the well respected Televue Ranger and Pronto scopes (at several times this price with no mount or eyepiece) are reported to have some color around very bright objects. My scope exhibits no observable color under most conditions. False color rises to a noticeable level only when two or more of the following triggers occur. Bright, high contrast object with a widefield or high magnification eyepiece (with poor field flatness), and or, eyepiece viewed off-center or poorly focused. When I use a good quality orthoscopic 4 mm eyepiece, and focus carfully, I can look right at Jupiter or the Limb of the Moon with almost no color. This is exactly the performance I would expect from a very well corrected F5 Achromatic Refractor. Folks should understand that this is not an APO scope so the chromatic aberations present will not properly cancel if you use an eyepiece with poor field flatness or shift your eye out of the proper viewing position and/or focus poorly. For a fast F5 optical system it's all they can do to null out the false color within a narrow range. This is why even the big-bucks simi-apo and acromatic scopes can still show some false color. In my opinion, the scope i purchased is not only very well corrected for the money, it's very well corrected for an F5 achromat period. Another indication of the high quality of the objective is that it holds magnification well. Under good seeing, with a 3mm eyepiece, I can fairly well resolve the Cassini Division in saturns rings and easly make out the shadows of Jupiters moons on the planet as they transit. If planetary viewing is your main focus you could do a little better with a longer F ratio or higher cost instrument in this aperture range (but not much). The Rich Field performance of this scope is where it really shines. Lowest available magnification with the supplied 25 mm eyepiece is only 16X which can take in huge vistas with a nearly optimal brightness level (exit pupil 5 mm). You could go as low as about 11.5X with an optional 35mm eyepiece before hitting a 7mm exit pupil and starting to "waste aperture". If you are a beginner and want "goto" computer control you might want to pop for the extra money and get the Nexstar version, but for a low cost starter or second portable scope, I don't think you can beat this for the money.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40653

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