Celestron Star Hopper 8"

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Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Great starter scope. Aluminum tube option is nice.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37819

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Rating is based on price/performance. Cost was $500 (including shipping). Scope is easy to set up, cools down quick, has built in balance, and is easy to collimate. Views are nice - Jupiter's moons are different sized dots and I saw the Veil Nebula from a non-dark site with an O-III.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37823

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Adjustable balance leaves something to be desired -- too much trouble to
shift tube for different eyepieces. Better to add Orion sliding weight!!

Optics are much better than I expected. Comparable to my Meade LX-200
10 inch SCT. M42 was much better than expected from a fairly dark suburban
site.

Very impressed with the optics -- focusser was perfect!!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37825

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Great from a dark site. the rockerbox is stable, balance is not affected by heavy eyepieces, a little coma. hard to colimate. Best served with a telrad. Can see all messiers except M101.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37828

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Optics on this scope are excellent. Much better than one could expect
from a mass produced scope. I was at a star party,and this scope gave
comparable views to 10" scts and other similar aperture newtonians. All the
galaxies in Ursa Major looked very nice. Could make out some spiral structure
in M51. For a first scope this is the one I'd recommend with no hesitation.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37829

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Good optics. Terrible mount. I rebuilt mount-Dob style. Good value for the price.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37830

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Good, but not excellent optics. Great value for the price, but you get what you pay for. Poor mount. I rebuilt the mount and that makes the telescope a pleasure to use. Single stalk secondary can be akward to adjust. Focuser is adequate. Easy to columinate. Good star test. I have had many hours of pleasure using this 'scope.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37831

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Good star test, great contrast, works well mechanically

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37832

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
I agree with two previous reviewers; the particleboard mount swells up and is unusable after three years of dew. Try this and you'll have a terrific scope: a new lighter waterproof ply mount with proper teflon/formica bearings (you don't need that heavy balancing system) and a rotating tube (the scope is always very comfortable to use!); move the mirror back in the tube and put in a low profile Crayford focuser, a Novak four vane secondary (keeps much better colimation), and line the tube interior with black velvet. The difference in image contrast, smoothness of use and comfort are amazing if you have an unmodified scope to compare it with. This is now one of our club projects for Starhopper owners.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37833

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Great for the price and perfect for those just starting out! Good optics for low to medium power, easy collimation (peephole included, finger knobs on both mirrors), easy balance system, fast cooldown time, good focuser, black-painted Sonotube with tube rings.

But you get what you pay for and serious amateurs will soon tire of the following limitations: thick single stalk spider (can't offset secondary, loses collimation easily between sessions, large contrast loss), mount sticky in azimuth, optics marginal to poor for serious planetary and double star viewing, balance system can't handle that much weight at front, 1.25" focuser instead of 2", inside of tube is GRAY not black.

Also, I recently ran NEWT to see how much illumination the focal plane was getting. At stock positions of mirrors and focuser, NO part of the focal plane is 100% illuminated.

Fortunately, all the above deficiencies are easy to remedy. You'll need to spend some bucks. Get a JMI 2" low-profile focuser and a Protostar or similar diagonal assembly mounted about 1.5" towards the front, get new mirrors ($$$), use Teflon pads on mount, line inside of tube with black flock paper.

Of course, with all that you might as well construct your own scope. But the Star Hopper is a GOOD value and a GREAT starting point for the budding amateur astronomer.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37834

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Mine has greatoptics. I have seen Mare on Mars with as good definition as a hand figured scope. But Celestron like all mass production companies is variable in quality.

I have replace my mount with a capped DOB that includes a place for elevation screw. This lets me elevate to lattitude. Includes slo-mo gear. Now hav also a DAR 2" 2 speed helical focuser. I use my Meade 40 mm super wide and riegel finder to get to objects.

Jonathan Cassidy, VP AAAA
cjonath1@nycap.rr.com

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37835

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
I've had my Celestron dob for 2 years now and I'm quite happy with it. I have the sono tube design so it weighs a little but so what, the optics are exellent. I've made a few modifications since then and I'm not about to give up the scope anytime soon. I can make out fine details of the planets and deep sky.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37836

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Scope performs well. Cooling time from 30-45 min. Great views of the planets, deep sky objects such as the Ring Nebula. Seeing the Cassini division is the norm.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37837

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Performs very well for the price tag

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37838

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Good optics, mediocre mount, poorly designed secondary mount. Needed work to get motions smooth, rubber feet on base where inadequate and had to be replaced. The single stalk secondary was horrible and needed to be replaced, secondary had prominant rail marks, and was also replaced. Focuser was adequate, but was replaced with 2" size. Wish I'd spent a little more and gotten one of the semi-custom dobs now available.

Overall Rating: 6
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37839

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
At one time I owned a Starhopper and thought it was pretty good. Good that is, until I tried a Discovery scope and an Orion XT scope. In retrospect, the Starhopper is inferior in every way to either the Discovery or the Orion XT. I sold my Starhopper and have never looked back (other than to write this review!)

Overall Rating: No Vote
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Celestron Star Hopper 8"
I have owned or looked through a lot of dobs but this scope has the best optics of any i have owned. I can push it to 400-500X on good nights and see razor sharp images. Detail on planets is comparable to a 10" galaxy mirror i once had. I realize optics will vary from scope to scope but as for this one it is awesome. Steal for the money.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37841

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
I've had a lot of dobs. I like this one the best. When I first got the scope I found the optics were so bad that I couldn't even focus it. I was sick. I called celestron and they told me to send it in. I got it back in a couple weeks. Thats fast in my book. They redone the mirror. It is now the best optics I've had. I won't tell you what I compare it with, you wouldn't believe it anyway. I tip my hat to celestron.
There is really nothing I can find to fault about this telescope. The mount is held togather by big screws,nice. It's pyrex glass with enhanced coatings. Metal
mirror cell,Good focuser,oversize tube for better cooling, Good balance system.
The only thing that's sud standard is the finder. I've looked through two other starhoppers and they were excellent also. Who says you need an expensive refractor or long focal length reflector.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37842

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
Excellent starter scope for the budjet minded, lots of bang for the buck, but ample room for improvment. Have had mine more than a year now, have since modified mount, secondary, and focuser. Overall I've been pleased. Mount is adequate but required minor modification to improve motions and ground clearance, mirror cell excellent, optics very good, balance adjustment cumbersome and inconvenient, needs a 2" focuser option and better spyder. This scope met my immediate needs but did however leave me longing for something better. In hindsight, I somtimes find myself wishing I had waited till I could have afforded something nicer, but had I done so, I might never developed the interest in this hobby, that I have now.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=37843

Celestron Star Hopper 8"
I love my Celestron Starhopper. But, the funny thing about these reviews is that they're relative. So, I'm not going to rate this telescope. Comment only. (I'm a beginner to this hobby, so of course I'm going to be blown away by 8" of aperture, especially after being accustomed to my first telescope, a 4½" reflector). But anyway, I do recommend the Starhopper. Mine is the "sonotube" model, which is usually perceived as being inferior to the metal type, but I prefer the sonotube. I find the telescope easy to use, easy to collimate. The only thing I would change about it is the focuser, I wish it was on the other side of the tube. Just my personal preference, not a big deal. The base is nice and sturdy, I have had no problems with it. I primarily use Meade 4000 EP's, but I'm replacing them with Harry Siebert's EP's. Also, I get much better results with Celestron's barlow as opposed to Meade's. Sorry, I'm too much of an amateur to provide specifics on my opinions, but I do know a superior image from an inferior one. Good luck, and clear skies to all!!!

Overall Rating: No Vote
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