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Celestron AstroMaster 130


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Hi,

My father recently passed away and he left behind a Celestron AstroMaster 130.

The tripod stand is broken in the middle, the part that joins the 3 legs.

Its seems to have all the parts.

Is this a good model?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, but not sure where else.

Thanks

Rezarf

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I have that scope and it is a good starter scope in my opinion - I have had some great nights with it. There are a few issues with it and the instability of the tripod stand is one - mine broke there too and has had to be repaired and reinforced. Also the Red dot finder is very difficult to use and i have replaced that. Having said all that, the scope has a lot of positive too, and if you are able to repair or replace the mount/tripod then I'm sure you will enjoy using it.

Hope that helps :smiley:

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Hello and welcome to SGL. As stated above, the Astromaster has a lot of plastic components that break easily. There is a shop on ebay that sells spares for the Astromaster http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REPLACEMENT-Celestron-Astromaster-130-Tripod-Bracket-/190639348187?pt=UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item2c62fd99db

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Hello and welcome to SGL. As stated above, the Astromaster has a lot of plastic components that break easily. There is a shop on ebay that sells spares for the Astromaster http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2c62fd99db

I would rather repair and reinforce myself - it's broken 2 or 3 times now so don't want to spend money on a new one that might break :grin: On one occasion I spent a night with the tripod legs tied together - surely something (more sturdy) like that would get you started. There's a sticky on this forum for balancing and setting up that I used at the beginning - that would get you started.

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I have one and I think its a decent scope. I dont really agree with above comms on it- too harsh (apart from the tripod middle section which is too flimsy yes) Ive made a nice solid wood tripod to replace all below the head section.

The main bits tho are fine & unlilely to break with normal care/ unless you throw it around: its well designed/ clearly from a good US Co & considering its only £150 its adequately made and the optics are good. The RDF I can use just fine, with a bit of practice, and the motordrive works great IMO too. Its just fine.

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It was my first telescope and was a brilliant platform to start from. The tripod is a bit flimsy and the finder is pretty awful, but a couple of easy fixes and a good red dot finder or even better a telrad, and you'll have a great time with it. :)

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I'm using one currently, and while I agree with others about the mount being a little unstable, it's not a bad telescope to get started with. From the outset though I'd recommend buying a 2x barlow. If it wasn't for buying one of those I'd probably have lost interest quite quickly.

So long as when you start to use it you realise that you will not be able to see images of the planets that match the probes, and nebula that match hubble photos. The atmosphere removes all but the faintest trace of colour. Only with astrophotography will you be able to get colour images of the planets and nebulae through movie stacking.

I wasn't expecting much when I bought mine, and because I had low expectations the first time I saw the Orion Nebula and Saturn and Jupiter I was gobsmacked!!

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