Celestron G-8

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Celestron G-8
Excellent optics, same as other 8" Celestrons, usable at 430x with good seeing, a lot of value for $999 with dual axis drives. I overhauled the mount and reassembled with thinner grease and now it is quite smooth. The motors have some backlash (careful adjustment of the gears will minimize that) but track accurately. The supplied prism diagonal is bargain basement; the 6x30 finder and Kellner EP are cheap but not bad.

I can carry the entire assembled scope outside in one trip. The high rating reflects value for money; other than a Dob, I can't imagine how you could see so much for $1000.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39537

Celestron G-8
I have had many telescopes thru the years, and can honestly say I have never been very impressed with what was offered on the market for $1,000 to $2,000. Until now,! I can tell you, the optics on the celestron g8 scope are as fine as I have seen on scopes costing 3 times as much. The CG5 mount is very stable on firm ground, I will tell you, I did have to disassemble the mount and use a lighter grease ( white lithium ) is recommended, to get the smooth action I have come accustom to. But it was worth the hour it took. Mine came with dual axis drive. and after adjusting gear tension, tracks just fine even, for astrophotography. This scope purchased thru (Astronomics.com )is an excellent bargain at $999.00 and with the money you save you can even afford acces. recomended acces. Polar axis finder, lanthinum vixen telephoto lens its like having 20 lenses in 1 lens. and if you own a 35 mm camera a( T ring adapter) and bracket for your camera for astrophotography. Again I have owned many scopes in 30 years of astronomy and cannot say enough about my celestron g8 the difraction limited optics star test was textbook with multiple defraction rings in and out of focus with the star coming to pinpoint clarity. Most impressive. you can search many, many, months looking for the perfect scope, be my guest. For myself I have found the scope I wish to own for the rest of my life. bye. Thanks again to the folks at Celestron and Astronomics .com Mr. Nickelson. If you have futher questions, please e mail me at defcon7y2@hotmail.com Thanks!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39538

Celestron G-8
I am very please with my G8 since I got it. Especially the views it provides in my urban city which is seriously light polluted.
Ofcourse it can't match the mighthy Meade LX200 overall. But at $999 it's a great first scope for me. Simple yet powerful for an amateur to view the heavens. Nothing is lousy on this scope everything works perfectly to my beginner expectations. But it can also do some serious astrophotography too man. With it's 8" aperture it can produce pretty decent images.
Besides it's much compact than a huge 8" Dob! LOL.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
The optics on my G-8 are wonderfull. The star test reveals identical and concentric diffraction circles both inside and outside of focus at 400x. With some work, the CG-5 mount can be made rock solid. I dismantled the equatorial head end and cleaned and regreased the components. I also replaced the aluminum legs with home made oak legs. The difference is astounding. Damp times are usually less than a second! You can use the CG-5 mount with other tube assemblies as well. The 8" SCT optical tube is sharp and will show you so much in the night sky it's unbelieveable. Planetary performance is just excellent. This scope is a great buy for $1000.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39541

Celestron G-8
This is my 2nd scope. All I have to compare it to is Celestron C102HD. Haven't gotten it out to dark skys yet, but from what I can tell, I am impressed at what I got for my $999. I decided on the G8 after reading your reviews. Am impressed with the optics, even from moderate light polluted suburbia. Planets are clear and sharp. Am also impressed with the mount. Seems steady enough to me, maybe a little stiff. Yes, the tripod allows some shaking but it seems to dampen pretty quickly. My limited knowledge/experience with star tests may be of little value, but mine seems perfect. Don't have the motors yet. Plan on adding after I get used to it. Overall, am very happy with it so far. I like this better than the computer go-to scopes. The fork mounted C8 or LX10 might be better, for more money, don't know. But I doubt it.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
I'm giving it a 10 because I think the C8 OTA is one of the finest commercially available pieces of equipment. They also seem to hold up well in use: a lot of the inexpensive dobs seem to degrade quickly and become frustrating to use. HOWEVER, the CG-5 mount is a hunk of junk. The person who wrote on the CG8 review that one should sell the CG5 mount and get a Super or Great Polaris was right on the money. Yeah, sure you can regrease the CG5 and put new legs on it. But you will still have a poorly machined mount. The optional polar scope is cheap, inaccurate, and difficult to align. It's like a cheap finder only worse. Once it is aligned, it won't stay aligned after you pack it into your car. By contrast the Vixen Great Polaris mount is well machined, needs no alignment, does not get out of alignment. It has an illuminated polar scope that is a pleasure to use: blocks out stars of magnitude inferior to polaris. Newcomers to astronomy tend to underestimate the importance of the mount. It is AS important as the optical tube. The G8 gives you a first rate optical tube, worth paying for, and third rate mount. On the optics: you will split the double double in Lyra cleanly and consistently under a wide variety of seeing conditions at 200x; you can see moon and shadow transits on Jupiter; the separation of the Great Red Spot from the main belt, a number of other bands and details; Cassini's division, bands on Saturn, etc. A very fine deal. But buyers are well advised to buy the OpticalTube Assembly only (possible at most dealers)and get either the Great Polaris or Losmandy G8 mounts for superior viewing performance. If you buy the G8 and keep the aluminum tripod and mount you wil find that the Celestron dampening pads work very well: vibratoins will cease. BUT, they worsen torque. If you are using RA and Dec coordinates you need a mount not to twist when you turn the scope around. Otherwise it drifts out of polar alignment. I think the C8 is an excellent way to get into astronomy and with a better mount you're basically looking at $1500-$2000 in entry costs versus about $800-$1200 for a good dob. I think the SCT design features are worth the extra money. As a closing note, aside from the mount an excellent upgrade is to 2" diagonal and eyepieces, the views are stunning.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39543

Celestron G-8
With dual drives and DSC's and slight modifications to the CG5, This is a very good scope - one I plan on keeping for a very long time.

1st night, M51 - the "bridge" clearly visable. M13 resolved to the core. The Ring with 10mm and barlow - incredible.

Nebulosity on the Pleiades - this is what I got into visual astronomy for.

This is a lot of scope AND mount for the money. Make sure you get a Rigel or other "quick finder" and you are ready. I find that the Celestron drives (that now have brass gears) work well for me.

You can carry this unit assembled. (I'm 50 and it works for me). Additionally, there is a very large owner group so you can always find someone with the "answer" your are looking for.

I would suggest a new diagonal and the focal reducer (for the flat field). Remember the FR gives you two scopes in one - 2000 for planets and 1000 for DSO's!

Great Scope and good mount, tripod will need some work.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 4 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
Excellent scope for the money indeed... You can and shall use it as a fishtank
prior to it`s duty as astronomical telescopa!

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Celestron G-8
Excellent scope for the money indeed... You can and shall use it as a fishtank
prior to it`s duty as astronomical telescopa!

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Celestron G-8
£Celestron G8 wanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¨

Looking for this Scope to bye. Who has one to sell???????'

I'm from Switzerland and i defenetly want one!

m.perracini@datazug.ch

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Celestron G-8
Celestron G8 wanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¨

Looking for this Scope to bye. Who has one to sell???????'

I'm from Switzerland and i defenetly want one!

m.perracini@datazug.ch

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Celestron G-8
why would the G8 optical tube be better than the average
C8 etc? Is there some difference in design? I looked through
one last summer and admit I was struck. I accounted for the
scopes good performance by fresh optics and tight collimation,
but maybe I was missing something more? How do people like the
scope for stellar performance?
jw

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Celestron G-8
I bote it at pocono optics in feb 2000 I like the telescope but the cg-5 mount is a bit shakey.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
Great scope, mediocre mount. I have since replaced it with a Losmandy GM-8 and am very happy. Disassembly of the head and regreasing is mandatory and very helpful as well as replacing the aluminum legs with wood ones cuts dampening time greatly.

My optical tube has a significant amount of astigmatism but in all honesty, I'm not able to tell if it's the scope or my own eyes since I have been seeing this astigmatism in EVERY scope I look in lately. At first sharpness was horrific. As soon as I dumped the original prism diagonal for a Meade 2" mirror, I was impressed. Now the double double is an EASY target, even on a crappy night and without allowing the scope to cool down. Bofore they just bled together. Great starter scope. Definately recommended.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
I've owned this scope for approx. 18 months. The optics are very good; the mount and tripod are adequate to good for this sized optical tube, assuming visual use, which is all I do with it. Alignment of the optics using a star test is essential, especially after first receiving the scope. Like the previous entry, the double-double bled together when I first got the scope. After I did a careful alignment, the improvement was dramatic, even with the standard diagonal. Portability is good to very good for an adult, less so for a child. My yard has a lot of trees and I'm constantly moving the scope around to look at objects in different parts of the sky. I think this scope has very good value for the visual observer.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
I've had my G-8 for about two years now. My rating is an 8 only because of the CG-5 mount. That rates a 2, and is only good for holding bird feeders. I've never been able to get the polar finder orientation right according to the instructions provided. It vibrates far too easily and takes minutes to stop. I went through the rebuild process and improved tracking and smoothness, but the basic mount itself is beyond help.

The OTA is wonderful, and anyone should purchase it separately, and get a real mount. I've dragged it all over Virginia, and only had to touch up collmanation a few times. I've replaced the finder with an Orion 8x50, and added a small LED one also. Although I got a piggy-back camera mount, I've never used it for photography, although it does make a very useful handle for the OTA.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
I started with ETX70at as a gift and immediately upgraded to the ETX90ect. Two months later and I wanted more. I searched the net and alas came up with Eagle Optics in WI - where I live. They sold the G8 & mount for $850 and I bought it. I love the optics and portability for a large scope. However, I am still very novice and while working the declination knobs on the CG-5 mount, I somehow tangled the gears and it's stuck at 46 degrees. Fortunately that is very close to my latitude. Otherwise, I have a Telrad finder and added a 9x50 finder. I just bought a 2" diagonal and a new 2" lens is on the way. I do have lots of light pollution here so getting in some of the deep space objects is difficult.

All in all, great scope. I still consider upgrading to Meade's LX90 if I see one cheap enough. If not, I'll be set with my current scopes.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39556

Celestron G-8
very sharp images, from my light polluted backyard it does very well. Mount could use some work. I have added RA & DEC motors, more eyepieces and dew heater plus shield.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron G-8
Just an update. I already rated this scope as very good. Like everyone else, I found the ota excellent with a mediocre mount and terrible tripod. Had trouble even focusing due to shaking. The answer? I bought a set of solid oak legs from Al's Custom Oak Legs for the CG5 mount. They work absolutely great. They cost $175+shipping. I recommend them as a very good fix for the shakes, and they look good too. Now if I can just get up the nerve to take that mount apart.

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Celestron G-8
I love this scope. OTA superb! Great optics! Easy to assemble, setup and move around. Very portable. Purchased in May 2001. Have upgraded CG-5 mount. Very stable. Tripod is too light and shaky for this size scope and mount. Added bb shot into hollow aluminum legs to cutdown vibrations and add stability. Also bought Celestron vibration pads for tripod feet. A precision instrument overall. Very stable with some slight vibrations. Spectacular views of the moon, planets and deepspace. Highly recommend. Added dual axis drives which track great. Pinpoint sharpness in observations. I rate it a 10!

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