Going Back In Time With A Celestron 70AZ

[Mr Q]

I'm posting here because I feel this model scope is real cheap and a magnet for beginners. Being a visual observer for some 50+ years and starting out with a cheap 50mm refractor, I wanted to know how far scopes have come in all those years. Besides, the Celestron Co. lists it as $79 here in the U.S. and I saw some at a department store for $39 so I can't pass up a chance to reminisce to those first days of my hobby at 10 years old. I will post my reviews of this scope (mechanical and optical performance) to assist any beginner thinking of purchasing one as a first scope.

Any one with his/hers opinions of this scope, please post here. I have heard mixed reviews of this company and especially its bottom priced scopes and I'll be putting my 2 cents worth in as I check out this scope.

70AZ

P.S. Ant (the other one) - How close is this scope to your Mercury? Looks like yours.

[Mr Q]

I unpacked the scope and was amazed at the use of plastic body EPs, no finder scope (just a red dot finder) and the cheap box it came in (all folded and not sealed, which invites material theft in the store). Over the years I was led to the wrong conclusion that Celestron meant good quality for astronomy use but was shocked to see "made in China" on the box.

Mechanically, the scope seems fairly good but handling from a youngster will soon bring about a disaster from breakage of parts.

So from the above observations, I can see why the very cheap price but the real test is during an actual observing session which I am waiting to do (yea, clouds and new scope syndrome ).

On the "funny" side, the box claims magnification power of up to 500+ (with the use of the 3x barlow included and the 4mm EP)

Though most experienced observers would not go any further with this scope, I am determined to see what it can do under good sky conditions. As soon as my new scope clear up, I'll let you know.

[Rustmonkey]

Whilst I applaud the sentiment involved in this post, I take issue with a couple of your statements.

Firstly, you get what you pay for.....if you pay $39 for a scope then you really can't expect to get anything other than a toy. When I was was researching which scope to buy I did my homework by visiting sites like this and by talking to scope retailers. That said, my first scope years ago was also a cheap and nasty but it did give me my first view of Saturn and therefore lit the fire for my interest in this hobby.

Secondly, Your sweeping statement that " made in China" means that it must be rubbish is a little old school. It would be like me saying.." That's a typically arrogant American view"!!!!!! A sweeping statement that is unfair and not true. I think you'll find most of the astronomy equipment we use come from a company called Synta but are rebadged as Celestron, Skywatcher and maybe a few others. Check any of these boxes and you'll see " made in china" written on them.

I'd be more interested to see what you can do with the scope....i.e. tweaking it, modding it in order to get the best from it.

[Mr Q]

I agree. That's why I am doing what I am - as a warning to beginners to avoid cheap (price wise) scopes found mostly in department stores. But even cheap scopes can be (as you say) the spark that ignites the person's interest in the hobby. Of course, a lot of cheap scopes are given as gifts by people not knowing what they are buying but that's another problem.

My next step is to observe with it and see just how good or bad it really is. To be honest, I feel it will not perform well but am keeping an open mind and will give it an honest appraisal, toy or not

[Mr Q]

My new scope cloud curse finished and I got to check out the scope, first during the day and I was amazed at the sharp, crisp images even at 175x. There is some chromatic aberration (color fringes at edges of bright objects against a dark background) but not too bad. With a 4mm EP and a 3x barlow (525x!), the daytime views were still good for terrestrial use. For night use, the 4mm (175x) is about at the scope's limit for useful magnification. The barlow offers another three mag. powers but maybe only two for night use.

Tonight I gave the Moon a try and even on high power (175x) the images were still pretty good (better at lower powers) but the chromatic aberration was now really noticeable. On to Jupiter and with the seeing fairly good, the scope proved OK at 175x and showed some cloud banding and the moons were fairly sharp though the CA was more noticeable with the planet being much smaller than when viewing the moon. Trying a couple of close double stars, the claim of 1.6 arc seconds resolution (Dawes limit) was pretty accurate. Since the Moon high and very bright, didn't try for any other DSOs to test the scope's light grasping power but I am confident that the scope would detect stars to about 11th mag. in transparent skies. The coated optics should allow this.

So overall, the scope performed much better than I expected . Mechanically, the scope is fair. Optics, fairly good (for the price). Ease of use (slewing) was fair. Finder (red dot) poor. Set up was easy and quick. Portability is very good (scope on the collapsed tripod easily fits in my car's back seat), light and easy to store with scope on tripod. Tripod is fairly steady too.

I was amazed at the operating manual giving cautions on Sun viewing as well as stating the scope is a good starter scope that performs well for its price range and I agree . Too bad this statement is not easily seen on the outside of the box .

So the bottom line is, for its price, this is a good scope for beginners (especially children) and should prove useful as the beginner gains experience observing.

Wow! These (this brand, anyway) "department store scopes" have come a long way since the 1950s. Yea, it's not a quality instrument but definitely good enough to start out with and remain a useful grab-and-go scope when aperture upgrades are made latter

This scope can be checked out at the below link:

70AZ The only change to the one I just bought was the addition of a 10mm EP and the replacement of the finder scope with a red dot finder.

[Rustmonkey]

Know you can try to mod it.....I.e. take out the lens and use a permanent black marker around the edges. This will help reduce CA. Maybe flock it to aide contrast. Re grease the focus tube etc etc. See Dions YouTube vid on modding aST80 for ideas. I did it with my ST80 and the difference is very good.