Celestron CR150-HD

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Celestron CR150-HD
The optics in this scope are excellent for an f8 achromat! I would rate the optics an 8-8+ with an Astro-physics APO being a 10. These optics easily outperform the image quality of every 8" schmidt-cassegrain I've ever looked through! There is the expected purple halo on Jupiter and Venus, but not bad for an f8 scope. Everything else is a high quality image. Deep-sky is impressive for 6". This scope had straight lines in a ronchi tester. It handles magnification to about 400X. At the (2) star parties I've attended, the public has declared it to have the best image quality of any scope there. There were (2) 8" schmidt-cass. and numerous 6"-17.5" dobs at these parties as well as the 90mm ETX's. The redesigned and upgraded CG-5 mount and dual axis drives are very good,; however, the tripod will need to be upgraded and the excellent vibration suppression pads made by Celestron are a necessity. This is the reason for my rating of a 7.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39877

Celestron CR150-HD
This is a great scope for the money. It has very good contrast and the scope is fantastic for planetary viewing. It's not to bad for deep sky either. The mount is flat out to small for the OTA. I'll give it a 8 for the OTA and a 4 for the mount that has been paired with this scope, for an over all total score of 6. If Celestron had given the OTA a better mount, I would have rated this a solid 9.

Overall Rating: 6
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Celestron CR150-HD
Great scope for the money. Excellent optics for an achromat. I routinely see E and F in the Trapezium from the suburbs of Washington, DC. Went to 480X on the Moon before the image began to degrade. There is some false color on the Moon and Jupiter but nothing that intrudes on the sharp image. Compared to the top-of-the-line apochromats, I would rate this scope an 8. But when I add in the quality received for the bargain price, I have to give it a 9.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39879

Celestron CR150-HD
I own one and have no regrets in buying it. It's a great scope for the money.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39881

Celestron CR150-HD
Achromat has only mild secondary spectrum on bright objects. Sharp and contrasty images. Excellent 8x50 finder. Mount is marginal mount because of CG-5's aluminum legs. This scope is the best 6" refractor value available today (April 2000)

Overall Rating: 8
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Celestron CR150-HD
OPTICS, REALLY GOOD PIN POINT STAR IMAGES, SECONDARY COLOR ON VERY BRIGHT OBJECTS ISNT BAD AT ALL, HALF THE TIME I REALLY DONT EVEN KNOTICE IT. THE MOUNT IS A LITTLE WOBBLY ON HIGH POWER.

Overall Rating: 1
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Celestron CR150-HD
As a system the rating would be a 7, but this OTA just begged for a stable mount. I sold the CG-5 and bought a used Starfinder DC model. A few holes for the rings, and a taller pier made it all come together. Optics are excellent in mine, and now it is stable enough for a decent star test. Pattern the same on both sides, show a little purple "halo" around really bright object's but that was expected. Great scope, I turned down a 16" starfinder as a trade.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron CR150-HD
GREAT OPTICS !! I PUSED MY SCOPE TO 340+ ON THE MOON, WOW, ONE OF THE BEST VIEWS IVE EVER SEEN, NO IMAGE DEGRADING AT ALL, CRYSTAL CLEAR. I THINK I COULD HAVE GONE CLOSE TO 400 EASILY. GREAT SCOPE & DONT HAVE TO SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. PINPOINT STAR IMAGES. YES, THERE IS SOME SECONDARY COLOR ON SOME VERY BRIGHT OBJECTS, BUT IT ISNT BAD AT ALL. IVE HAD MY CR-150 FOR ABOUT 2 MONTHS, & AM VERY PLEASED WITH IT. THE ONLY PROBLEM I DONT REALLY LIKE IS THE MOUNT, A LITTLE LIGHT FOR THE TUBE WEIGHT, BUT IS ACCEPTABLE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON THIS SCOPE WRITE ME AT: ( DAVID, 6401 EASTRIDGE # 305 ODESSA,TX 79762) ILL TRY TO ANSWER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron CR150-HD
refractor heaven with color error that is tolerable due to extreme sharpness and contrast in images. $4200 cheaper than Astro Physics 6".Color error can be greatly reduced by 11A yellow filter.Awesome fun scope,on too light mount.Buy as tube assembly.Nice big finder too.Highly recommended-saving for one now.

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron CR150-HD
Great optics for a very reasonable price. The mount needs to be replaced with something like a Vixen GP-DX to steady high power jitters. Chromatic aberation
is not that bad for an f-8 system, and Aries industries will be bringing out
"Apo converters" for these scopes this summer to take care of false color if
it bothers you. Both planetary and deep sky is excellent with 6 inches of clear
aperature and no central obstruction to degrade images. I would give this scope
a rating of 8+

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Celestron CR150-HD
The CR-150 performs better than one would expect. Chromatic aberration is less that I would have expected, and sharpness is better than I would have expected. If all we were measuring was value, I would rate it a "10".

However, while it controls color well, and has good sharpness, contrast is average at best. The contrast is somewhat better than you find in an 8" SCT, which allows this scope to compete effectively with the SCTs on many objects.

I have been using the scope for imaging, and I find that with the addition of a Yellow filter and an IR Blocking filter, you can take some excellent CCD images with this OTA -- which amazes me.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron CR150-HD
I ordered the ota in march and put the scope on an old pier mount. This rock solid mount brings out the true potential of the optics. With a 50mm Orion eyepiece, you see ~ 1.85 degree field of view. Imagine what that means under a dark sky on M42 and the Seven Sisters. I was amazed at how nicely M81 and M82 fit in the same field of view! Having 6" of unobstructed light harvesting brings out the ghostly glow of these two beauties. It was spine chilling. I can't wait for Saggitarius to swing aroung so I can turn it loose on our own galaxy. It is a joy to observe double and triple stars in their natural colors. I pair the scope with tele-vue eyepices of 4.8, 7, and 12mm. I have all 12 of the meade series 4000 color filters. I recommend using a light blue or yellow filter when raising the magnification to split close doubles. I quickly replaced the 1.25" diagonal with a meade 2". Celestron is smart to put a 9x50 finder with this- they should follow this by using the 2" diagonal as STANDARD
equipment. WARNING this scope is top heavy. From the pictures in the ads there is NO WAY the tube would fit in the middle of the rings. I have an 8" sct and am very pleased with it as well. This is a perfect compliment for more visual oriented work. I am looking foward to seeing Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn at opposition. When I first saw a crisp half moon and turned the telescope up to it with the tele-vue 12mm combined with both a green and orange filter I saw the most beautiful golden moon with brilliantly defined shadows I've ever seen. Right now I don't have 5,000 dollars to spend on an Astro Physics. I do not feel that I have bought a lesser product. If you want all the advantages that a refractor has to offer, then this telescope is the one.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39893

Celestron CR150-HD
My CR150-HD arrived from Adarama in two large cartons in
mid May. After assemble and testing I have found.
The Celestron 150mm 6" diameter Refractor really is an
incredible value. The CG-5 Equatorial Mount works smoothly.
But the adjustable aluminum tripod that was furnished with
the CG-5 Equatorial Mount is totally inadequate for this scope
and mount's weight. This tripod is also way to short in
height even when fully extended for a telescope of this
length. Add to this the fact that in order to balance this
scope mount combination the scope must be mounted toward the
front of the tube, which just add's to the inadequate tripod
height problem. If one of the customers mounts the OTA the
way Celestron shows it mounted on there web site and the
cover of the Instruction Manual, it could even be dangerous.
As it would have to be totally out of balance and front
heavy.
I trusted in Celestron to provide a better level of product
testing then this. And to provide a good usable product.
I should have bought the Sky Watcher version of this scope
and saved some money. What did I pay Celestron for, DECALS?

The scope and GEM unit are very satisfactory,
but the inadequate tripod has kept me from enjoying it.

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Celestron CR150-HD
After spending some time with the

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron CR150-HD
After spending some time with the CR150-HD I can only say that I love this
scope. OK so I had to get another tripod fabricated to replace the shaky Aluminum unit provided by Celestron. But it was well worth the trouble. I have
other refractors that cost me a lot more, but they don't show any more detail.
And as far as false color I have not found any worth complaining about.
Just keep in mind that this is a large heavy unit to move around if you have to
travel to a viewing site.
But it's worth it !
Rating 10 even after having to replace the Celestron tripod.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron CR150-HD
I've had my CR150 since Winter '99. The tripod went directly to the attic, and I mounted the CG-5 on an old Houston Fearless tripod. Solid as a rock. The
1 1/4" star diagonal was the next to go (I seriously doubt that it's even worth it's $30 replacement cost)and was supplanted by Televue's 2" Everbrite. The images are razor sharp, and the first time I took it to a dark sky site I was really impressed with it's deep sky performance......it picked up all the galaxies in the Virgo Cluster with no problem, and the scope showed images of M97 (the Owl Nebula- Mag 12) with superior definition, brightness, and contrast, much better than you would expect from a 6" scope.....I bought this scope mainly for planetary observing, and it's performance really shines on both Jupiter and Saturn! I've heard a lot of people on the Net bash this scope (you probably have too) and I must say I couldn't be happier with it- unless someone wants to loan me 6 grand for an AP!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39897

Celestron CR150-HD
Good telescope for the money. Except for some false color at high power the scope performs very well on all objects. The mount requires some improvement. . but still it's thousands cheaper than any APO. I'm happy to have purchased one.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron CR150-HD
CR-150 HD Celeston / SKYWATCHER 150 /BRESSER PHONIX /HELIOS EVOSTAR 150 are all exactly the same.. bar badges!! So compair prices!!
This scope is very good and have used it since March this year and as listed on this site I have found the optics impressive!
It is front heavy, this is due to the 'Dew Tube' Its made from 18 swg steel and weighs almost 2 lb !! Replace with a light plastic one (I used thin black Polyprop sheet, rolled and plastic riveted together,an off the shelf 'DewWrap'works too..
The tripod supplied is hopeless but can be simply modified to make do.. here are the two main problems to put right.Firstly..
The 6 lugs at the top of the legs are made from plastic and don't fit the extrusions very well...so all the weight and twisting is put on the two screws on each lug!!These lugs should be removed,bonded back in place with epoxy glue and rescrewed tightly.
Secondly..The lower legs bend like a banana under weight and flex all over the place..Remove these and insert close fitting hardwood (to the legs full length)and again bond in place using epoxy glue or in this case liquid nails. Once dried these legs are nice and rigid.
So all in all this is a very nice package.
Martin

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=39899

Celestron CR150-HD
Great scope, good equatorial head (after de/relube), poor tripod.

Bill G

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Celestron CR150-HD
ADDING to my review of this scope '9'..has anyone fitted the MOTOR DRIVES to the supplied mount (CG5)..if so can you give me and other CR-150 HD users your opinion on this page??
Thanks
Martin

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