Celestron CR150-HD

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Celestron CR150-HD
I am makng a comment in addition to my earlier rating of 9. I tried a little
experiment that seems to work: I took a skylight and an ultraviolet filter normally designed for a 35mm camera and threaded them together and threaded them on the inside of a meade 2" mirror diagonal. I find that this helps supress some of the chromatic aberrations in the telescope. I studied the absorbtion characteristics of these two filters and felt that it might help. The skylight I have absorbs the most (~6%) around the yellow-green wavelengths and the uv strongly absorbes the violet wavelengts. I read an earlier rating that stated something about aries industries bringing out "apo converters" for these scopes. If anyone knows more about this please post a comment to let me (us) know. The little trick I tried cost me only 34 dollars and I honestly think it works. I continue to be pleased with the scope and its performance and value. I check this site about every three days or so to see what others think about it. Maybe we could start a discussion forum for the brave souls who took a chance on this thing and have been satisfied if not surprized at the sharp images by a f8 achromat...

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Celestron CR150-HD
TO THE ABOVE ..I have tried the skylight filter..and there is little or no difference.The UV I have not tried..a very light yellow or green filter helps somewhat..as do top quality eye pieces. But I am under the impression that the minor colour situation is just something that has to be lived with. Email me at nightsky95@hotmail.com for any updates and mods that I have tried regarding this good scope!
Martin

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Celestron CR150-HD
I own the Sky Watcher version of this scope an as of the intro of the S&T test report in the October issue I feel that people should really know how a good one of these works. First the star test and this was done on a still summer night with a trace of dew in the air but no turbulance at all in the atmosphere, just a really still evening no star twinkle at all. I used Vega in lyra as a bright star to test the scope on and now the results. At focus there was one very defined deffraction ring around the airy disk and a second one that was much dimmer than the first and this was done with a meade 6.7UWA ep and a enhanced coatings 2" star diagonal. Inside of focus produced perfect diffraction rings that was white and very well defined with the outermost ring with a slight bit of fuzzieness to it plus it was a little larger than the rest. The outside of focus produced deffraction rings that had a yellowish tint to them and they too were perfectly round and again the outermost ring was a little larger than the ones inside of it. This shows some slight spherical aberation but compared to other achromats I have seen and used is very good and easilly compares to some of the Vixen ED scopes but there is some more false color seen on the brighter objects with the 6" scope compared to a 4" Vixen ED. This is a real honest evaluation of this scope not some thing that is drawn up because I own one. On to the Moon and planets, well that's were this scope does avery good job, the moon does have some false color on the lim but it is very slight and if your not looking for it it might not bother you, the craters along the termination are black and white, no purple here just great contrast the way it should be with oustanding detail even at higher powers of 300X to 400X. The planets are what mr.Dyer didn't talk about in his review and jupiter does have a slight trace of color around it but the detail just jumps out at you with 6 bands seen with 4 moons that are disk like and the GRS is easily seen. Saturn is great too, no color seen on this planet and the rings just are split easy, you don't have to look hard at all there just split with 5 moons seen on this planet. Now here's were I really like it is when it comes to DSO's at a dark sky sight and thats were the contrast of this refrator really seems to improve the view, star clusters look as good in this scope as they do in 8" SCT's but we all know the SCT is easier to set up and rivals most comertial 8" dobs also. As far as double stars most that I have looked at the scope has clearly split but on doubles if the seeing isn't good well that's a given.
The OC on these scopes are not what you would expect from the better companies on the market but just make sure that you buy it from a dealer that will take care of you in case you happen to get a poor OTA. the finder is ok but I like using a a simpler devise instead. the focuser has smoth control and can be adjusted to your liking but a moto focuser is recomended. The mount is good but the tripod legs just are the worst thing going, you can fill them up with sand and that will help but a good set of taller wooden ones will make a great inprovment here plus adding the dual drives does help for visual use. I think if you want to go the way of CCD use you may want to up grade the mount to a CI700 or something heavy duty that will give you the steadyness you need for that type of use. But all in all its adecent scope and at the price range it can provide detailed views of the heavens and still have money to buy a big dob for the fainter fuzzy's in the DS range. I also recomend replacing the diagonal with one of the better enhaced coatings 2" type, this will help balace the tube better and allow you more flexability on 2" EP's plus improve the observing. hey its not a $5k OTA but for a price that allot of us can afford its a dam good scope and one of the better values on the market today so look a little past S&T cause they never check out another ota in the test to see if the one they had was defective so they trashed it instead of giving it a chance and they never looked at the planets threw the scope they just assumed. Belive what you personely look threw not always whats in these test reports cause many are jaded by the reviewer himself. I also recomend getting a really good set of the better EP's on the market plus a TV 2.5X powermate as well, it just improves everything you look at and the better EP's jsut make the big picture sharper. Clear skies

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron CR150-HD
Hi for every astronomer
i has a Astros-phi 6" refrator and cr150mm celestron i see my celestron
the same view,now i sell my 6"astro-phi because I not need it...Mnauel

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron CR150-HD
I have just purchased my CR150 and am waiting for it to be delivered. Although I cannot rate my own as yet I will give this telescope a 9 based upon being able to do some viewing thru a friends. For the money it is a fine unit, albeit the flimsy tripod assembly. This I am hoping to "fix" with some sand, vibration suppression pads and some other tweaking etc. I did not see any problems with the e.q. mount itself, pretty much the standard for this production type of unit made for the masses. The optics appear to be surprisingly good for a 6" in this price range. I only hope mine doesn't turn out to be a lemon. I'll know shortly. I have seveal eyepieces I anticipate using in this scope, a Meade 6.7 UWA, Meade 14mm UWA and a TeleVue 4mm Radian. It feel the 14mm will be the one I end up using the most overall with the Radian being used for the Planets and Moon. I'll comment more when I get it set up and have a few viewing nites to commment from. Anyway, everyone who has done a review to date on the scope seems to be pleased with it (other than that cheap tripod Celestron managed to include????) What's up with that Celestron. Why would you not include a "decent" tripod assembly with a telescope that is of great value to people who can't afford the big bucks for the various apos that are out there? How much more could it have cost to DO IT RIGHT!? I have heard a rumor that Celestron is discontinuing this scope and that is why they are closing them out at reduced prices with a few of the dealers? Yeah, that's why I went ahead and bought one! Rumor also has it that they may introduce it again, down the road, with a new mounting system and, supposedly, a GO TO system with it. If they do I hope they learn from the first time and DO IT RIGHT because that would be one hell of a system for us "beer budgeters" More later when I can speak with some authority. Anyone out there care to email me and discuss this telescope I can be reached at oquinn@aini.net Good viewing to all -- Terry

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron CR150-HD
FYI...just searched Celestron site...the CR150-HD does not even come up! Apparently it's gone from their product list. Get 'em while they're hot. Anacortes and Astronomics (there may be others) still have some at US$799 (Astronomics includes shipping within the lower 48).

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Celestron CR150-HD
I listed a few comments and gave a rating of "9" earlier based upon viewing thru someone else's scope. I'm the guy waiting for delivery on mine (hopefully by the end of this week??). One of the other reviews stated that maybe we could form a small discussion group and share ideas etc. on this particular scope. I listed my e-mail address but to date only one other person has listed theirs and I have corresponded with him and would like to share comments with other who are interested. We can all learn from each other and can benefit from those who have had problems that they have been able to rectify, such as with the "LOUSY TRIPOD" that comes with this unit. I too have checked out the Celestron site and could not find the CR150 listed anymore. There are several rumors going around about it and, even tho I passed a couple of those on earlier, no one has confirmed anything other than it seems to have been discontinued. Maybe I'll drop Celestron a quick line and ask them what gives and if there are any future plans for it. They probably won't tell me even if they did. By the way I will most likely be replacing the standard diagonal and purchasing either a TV Everbrite or an AP Maxbrite. Does anyone with this scope use the standard diagonal? If so is there anything that can be done to improve it's use until I can afford a better one? I know Celestron has given us a scope with pretty decent optics but on the other end has evidently thrown a bunch of cheap accessories in with it just to make it marketable to those who haven't done their homework, etc. Would sure like to hear from any of you who would like to share experiences with this scope. I'll respond and try not to be as "lengthy" as I tend to get. Good viewing to all! (even to those with AP's and Tak's). I hope their viewing is 5-6 times as good as our is because they spent the bucks and have earned that extra edge. Terry - Email is: oquinn@aini.net

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Celestron CR150-HD
Hello, just a comment to the above, I found the Celestron CR 150 still on the Celestron site under "new products" just a moment ago. If they do discontinue
it all I can say is I am really glad I got mine already because this is one heck of a telescope for the money. Yes, the lower tripod legs are really flimsy
when extended but there are ways to beef them up by filling with sand, or inserting metal reinforcements into the legs. I use a Orion 2" mirror diagonal
with mine and it is a big improvement over the provided 1.25 one included with
the scope. It's stuff like this that allowed them to sell it so cheap. Just
keep that in mind when you buy it, that you are getting a really good 6" o.t.a.
for the money and upgrade the rest of it yourself.

Overall Rating: 8
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Celestron CR150-HD
To the above comment: You are right, I found it there as you said. Just didn't look hard enough and was too quick to pass on a "rumor". Sorry about that everyone. I have also read the S&T review and even tho it's not a glowing report, it does have a few good things to say. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive and am writing everthing down so I can upgrade this scope as soon as I can. New diagonal, better tripod legs (or better yet a new mounting system someday) and maybe a Telrad, etc. I just want mine to get here so I can start enjoying it. Anyone else care to converse regarding this scope I did leave my email address above. We are starting to load this page up with "Non-Ratings" and with all due respect to Todd Gross we should start our own discussion group. Anyone interested. Martin from the UK and I have shared a few comments, so feel free to get involved and let's get to know one another etc. Terry

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Celestron CR150-HD
I just got this scope a week ago. As the astronumy law, it was cloudy, rainy, and full moon this week. But I still find some chance to observe the saturn and jupitor. The performance is very satisfied. The effect is only restricted by the seeing condition. I can saw a lot of details at 300x at moments when the air is steady.

The OTA is sturdy and the finder is nice. Only the tripod is bad. For $800, this scope is really the bargin. I am very gold that I bought it.

I just started an mailing list at:
http://www.egroups.com/group/Chinese_Refractor

I wish it can give us a chance to share our experience of these telescope.
Please join us if you have interest.

GY

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron CR150-HD
This is the first telescope I have owned that lives up to my expectations of what I thought I should be able to see. Classic textbook images of Jupiter and Saturn . Almost a perfect star test right out of the box. For $799.00 including shipping this scope is a super deal. This is probably the optimum size telescope for the light polluted ,overpaved concrete suburb where I live. My 10 inch dob is great after 1 am and my smaller telescopes; 60mm , 90mm and 6" reflector dont have the contrast of the 6" refractor. I do have a set of Orion Sirius Plossl's 25mm ,17mm, 10mm, 7.5mm and University Optics Ortho 12.5mm and 6mm eyepieces. With these few extra accessories this is the perfect scope for me. Thats why I gave it a 10

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron CR150-HD
I have previously listed a couple of posts above while awaiting the delivery of my CR150. It finally arrived and to my horror had a "flaw" in the objective lens. Looked like a seme-circular human hair, about 1" long, only thinner. I contacted Celestron and they have agreed to take it back and either replace or repair it. This was up until last nite at my local astronomy club star party. One of the members manufactures a line of refractors under the StellarVue name.
He is very knowledgeable and his refractors are in the 80-90mm range. He prides himself in his quality of optics in these refractors. Anyway, Vic wanted to star test my scope, knowing and seeing this "flaw". Afterward the star test he told me not to even think about sending this one back as it was one of the best star tests he had seen. Also after putting the scope thru it's paces and viewing Saturn and Jupiter at various power levels from 60x to 300X and seeing fantastic detail and contrast in both planets (the GRS too),he said again, not to send it back, that the optics in this one were some of the best he's seen. He had jokingly challenged me to a "shootout" that nite, putting the CR150 up against his smaller refractors and when the time came he stated the "shootout" was cancelled due to the big 6" refractor having such superb optics. Vic said he has never been impressed by Chinese optics in these type of refractors but had to give this one his approval, etc. The "flaw" does not affect the viewing whatsoever. There is no disstraction or anything negative from it. Several club members who own large SCT's and Big Dobs heard about "the 6" refractor down the row" that was giving off some really fine views of Jupiter and Saturn. One by one they came by and omitted the familiar "Wow". Several commented on how much better the two planets appeared thru this refractor than thru their scopes. So here stands one CR150 owner that's going to keep this "flawed" one and just go out and enjoy the pure pleasure it's going to give me. Never have I been so up (the anticipation of arrival), so down (the discovery of the "flaw") and so back up again (the great optics afterall), in such a short period of time. My prior rating of a 9, given by looking thru another CR150, now stands changed to a perfect 10. This is not an AP or a TAK. The 10 is because what you get for the money in this scope deserves a 10. Sure wish every CR150 was a good one so everyone that purchases one would be able to appreciate what it will do when everything is aligned and done right, "flaw" or not. I am a very happy camper and I'm afraid my other C150 reflector is going to get some cobwebs on it as it will be left sitting on it's own for a while now. Good viewing to all - Terry

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron CR150-HD
After combing the reviews on this site and others,I purchased the celestron CR-150 HD from one of the dealers advertising in the astronomy magazines for $799.00.(If I'm not mistaken there are two that have it for that price)...... I have also seen it advertised for $1,199.00. I went into this purchase knowing that there are some items that needed to be upgraded, but , the price was right, and I ordered one. I had the opportunity of testing the instrument out after assembling it on jupiter, saturn, the double cluster in perseus and m31, the andromeda galaxy. Prior to this telescope, I owned a celestron 8" schmidt-cassegrain on their super polaris mount. Using the supplied eyepiece and star diagnol, the images in this telescope of the planets blew the 8" sct away! The stars in the double cluster were pinpoint sharp and resolved nicely. Even though you can only see the central portion of the andromeda galaxy, the image was better than I have ever seen, even with the 8" sct. Note also, I was viewing on a not so clear night, from the severly light polluted skies over Brooklyn, NY. I am very happy with the optics, the mount seems very good; controls are smooth and when the adjustments and clutches are tight there is no play in it. The tripod, on the other hand, (just like you other guys said)has a very bad case of the wiggles and hampered viewing. I was only able to see the items mentioned earlier very briefly between vibrations. Definetely needs to be upgraded. There are a couple of mounts that this scope will work on, like the orion gp-dx, or the losmandy gm8, but if you are just looking to change the tripod, the Orion heavy duty pier will work with the CG-5 mount that the scope came with(I called them today to verify this)...thats what I am going to try...I will let you guys know if it works out. I give the scope and mount a 10 and....I'll leave it at that...

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Celestron CR150-HD
Probably the best $800 I ever spent. Will go toe-to-toe with my 12" LX200 to a point. Tripod is NFG. I found the leg to head attach bolts to be undersized. I drilled the bosses to 3/8", used 2 and 9/16" grip length 3/8 bolts and washers and it firmed up nicely. I think I'll try the sand trick too. Buy 'em while you can folks. Fix the tripod and you're good to go.

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron CR150-HD
This is in addition to my comments above dated 10/04/00: I ordered and recieved the heavy duty pier from Orion a few days ago and had the opportunnity to put it to the test last night....ROCK SOLID!!!!!!!!!!!! The CG-5 mount bolts right on to the top of the column with absolutely no modifications!!!!! From out of the shipping carton to fully assembled and ready to rumble in just a few minutes. This addition truly brings out the full potential of the optics of the CR-150HD by eliminating any twisting or flexing that would occur in a three legged mount, plus there are no legs to interfere with the counterweight assembly when manuvering the tube and mount assembly to different positions. There are three leveling bolts that provided more than enough "throw" to perfectly level the whole assembly as indicated by the bubble level on the mount.(worked perfectly in my backyard where the ground is not level at all!) If you are going to use this set up in sand or soft dirt you might want to look into putting something on the ends of the adjusting bolts so that they dont sink into the ground(celestron vibration suppression pads?) The pier brings weight of the whole setup up by 28 pounds... (It is best to remove the scope tube and counterweights when transporting) but is worth its weight in gold for what it does for the whole set up.. Viewing objects at about 180x, I gave the tube a nice sicillian slap...and the vibrations from the tube supressed in less than 2 seconds; Not bad at all!..A lot better than the original tripod, which, I plan on using as an ashtray.. So if you paid $799.00 for the scope and add $299.00 for the cost of the pier, you are still coming out ahead, because some places sell the scope for $1,199.00. This is the way to go gang! Next I am going to work on balancing the tube assembly so that it is not so low when viewing objects overhead..Some type of sliding counterweight set up...when I figure it out, I will let you guys know. Also working on the pole finder,which did not come with my scope or instructions on how to use it, to make that more accurate and easier to set up. Upgrade my previous rating of a 10 to a 20...10 for the scope and 10 for the pier and mount.....P.S.....Orion also sells the dual axis drive for their SP mount which is exactly the same as the CG-5 mount that we have.....Have fun! talk to you soon.... Tony

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Celestron CR150-HD
To THe Above Four Duplicate Posts ==
Read your comments regarding the pier. I am also looking at a pier for mine down the road. As to the balancing problem with the OTA and the weights that you mentioned, you may want to look at Ken's Rings and Things website. He has a 3N1 Bracket assembly that slides on to the focuser end of the OTA. It has a sliding weight bar underneath and an additional bracket on top to mount either your finderscope or a smaller refractor etc. It looks real sharp mounted on the CR150 and also allows you to move the whole OTA forward in the rings to achieve not only a better looking unit, but also a good balance of the whole assembly. I will be ordering one for mine shortly and will post comments on this page and the egroups site as soon as I get it set up and in service. The website address is listed on Ed Tings Scopereviews site as a sponsor listing. If you don't find it you can email me at: oquinn@aini.net and I will get it for you. All the best. Enjoy your viewing and your new pier assembly. Terry

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Celestron CR150-HD
To us who were waiting for the "apo converters" for these scopes to come out, if you look at Todd Gross's site under "scope news and rumors" they are here in the USA market now. For some reason he isn't saying who will be the first to carry them, even though he knows who it is. All he will say is they have an "O" in thier name. Keep your eyes out, everybody , and list it on this site if you find out who's got them for sale.

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Celestron CR150-HD
Hi everyone. I had a steel column made for the 6" refractor as a permament base. It is just three channel section girders supporting an 8" steel column of 3/8" mild steel. Brute force and ignorance you might say but my local window-frame maker made it for 20000 pesetas (about 120 $ ?) We also made a steel tripod which is portable too with sliding square tubular steel legs locked by two welded nuts on each leg. The CG5 is a worthy mount if you use tripods which can take the weight.

Motors: i have the RA and DEC motors fitted and they work well and have some good photos up to 5 minutes. I think I need to get the polar alignment sorted out though since I always seem to get drifting beyond this.

Great telescope, just throw away the tripod!
Can post pictures of the mounts if anyone is interested in making/improving them
Steve

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Celestron CR150-HD
1. On the Achro-APO converter, Markus Ludes is offering it for US$ 600 at www.apm-telescopes.com; for tech discussions with actual guy who's designing this thing at Aries, check out the Chineses Refractor group at www.egroups.com.
2. On comments vs. reviews...to keep this site from filling up with chat instead of the reviews it was originally intended to accommodate, perhaps those of you wanting to make comments could shift to the egroups site where you'll find a lot more people interested in these Synta scopes (in all their various names and configurations. Plus you'll learn a lot more about other's experiences with them, suggestions for improvements, etc.

I know...I'm breaking my own rule about the comments, but just this once.

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Celestron CR150-HD
Here is the post i promised earlier on the dual axis drives for the 6" refractor.They work very well indeed.But the instructions are almost a joke.I know how the idea behind how to install a drive system,yet it took me 3 solid hours to get them attached properly.I found I had to attach,then remove and reattach them dseveral times,which got old rather quickly.And I can't figure out why there is a plastic cover for the RA motor,but none for the Declination motor.The plastic battery holder is pretty flimsy,but at least it comes with a little carrying pouch.Not exactly Losmandy quality here!But it does work well,once you get past installation!Haven't had to use that included extra counterweight yet,either.
The more I look through this scope,the more impressed I am with it.I have to hunt for false color in mine.Anyone finding fault with these images needs deep pockets to be happy.I am delighted.But I do think the contrast could be improved a tad.Even still it outperforms my excellent 8" Celestar by a wide margin in image quality.And with no collimation too.In short,if you can handle this size instrument and always wanted a 6" refractor,spend your $799 at Astronomics or Anacortes,and get a GM8 Losmandy mount and drive for it.And smile at all the $ you saved.Take the money and buy a 2" TeleVue diagonal and some Naglers.Impress your friends.You may reach me,Jim,at ngc2359@yahoo.com if you have any questions or just want to yak.Hope this helped anyone wanting one of these (have you written that check yet?)

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