My Thoughts/Review On The Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25'

[DaveyLeo10]

I've asked a lot of questions on these forums and never really gave anything back so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25' which I've owned for just under a month.

First of all I did ALOT of research before making my purchase, which is why I love this forum. I was going to go for the 8' but I was strongly advised (by plenty of people) to pay that bit extra for the 9.25' due to the mount being more stable with thicker tripod legs.

I made my purchase through Wex Photographic and it arrived the next day in two very large boxes, seriously, they will take up all the space in your front room!

It was really easy to put together, the instruction manual is there but it's only really for reference. Basically the whole thing is in 3 parts (2 if you leave the scope on the mount). 

The tripod legs fold out easy and with the bubble level it really doesn't take much time getting it level and the height you want. I didn't see any markings on the legs as they slid out though so getting them the same length is trial and error.

It's really easy to put the mount on the tripod. Simply line up the holes by turning the mount until you hear a click then it's simply a case of turning the plastic knobs. 

To put the scope on the mount all you do is make sure the manual screw on the side is tight then slide the scopes dovetail in and find the right balance then turn the screw underneath the dovetail connection. 

You have to line up your red dot finder which isn't too difficult to do. I've seen some people complain about having just a finder as a red dot and while I can understand why people don't like it for me personally I think it's good. If you know where to look then the red dot is very accurate and if you don't know where to look then you have a hand controller and app to help you.

That's it you're done!

Now for my thoughts on the Nexstar Evolution 9.25'.

Now I'm no expert, this is my first big scope but I was confident I'd be able to handle it, which I have been.... Every chance I can get!

The first thing I noticed was how perfect everything was, it's a stunning piece of equipment and when you look at it for the first time you will say 'wow'.

I decided to let it charge for a few hours till it was dark, the fact that this scope has a battery almost makes it a must buy already. I've never had any problems with battery life, they say it can run for 10 hours (I haven't tested that). If you go past that then you can control it manually but that can be difficult.

First thing I did was load up the Celestron Sky Portal app on my smart phone and connected it to my telescope. The app is really good, you can control your scope with it to get it aligned and then just click on any target you want to see and the scope will go to it.

I did have one little annoyance that has happened a few times. Sometimes the app will lose connection to the scope and it just won't get it back which means you have to align again, same goes for if it crashes to. However that's usually after a couple of hours of use. I also found aligning using the remote control was much easier and more accurate. 

You get 2 eyepieces a 13mm and a 40mm plossl, they compliment the scope really well and they are the eyepieces I use the most often (I have bought a few more and a x2 Barlow).

Looking through the eyepiece the stars really pop, they're clear pinpoints that really stand out against the dark sky. The whole 'What can you see?' Question is asked a lot and my answer is based on my conditions, I live in Liverpool in the city so as you can imagine there is a lot of light pollution. 

That being said I'm happy to say I've been impressed with what I've seen, the moon is always stunning, the only planets I've been able to view are Uranus & Neptune though which just look like slightly fatter blue stars.

Deep sky I've see M13 The Hercules Cluster which is a little faint but the more dark adapted you get the more stars you can see although the core is just a fuzzy blob.

Andromeda is a big fuzzy blog with a bright core, now it doesn't sound it but it's actually quite impressive to see.

The ring nebula looks like a grey smoke ring just hanging in the sky, it's faint but that's deep sky objects for you!

The tracking is very impressive, the gears don't make a sound as it tracks the object across the sky, now I don't have a wedge or anything like that so its just tracking it from its standard alignment.

In terms of astrophotography I've taken a few pictures. I use a Canon 60Da which is a great camera.

Here's an unedited single 20 second exposure of the Dumbell Nebula though the scope using the Canon (using a focal reducer).

http://postimg.org/image/4qch845p5/

Here's a picture I took of the moon using the scope with no focal reducer.

http://postimg.org/image/p12n8czjl/

In terms of the telescopes weight it's heavy (about 24kg) I have arthritis so I'm not your 'normal' healthy adult male but I can lift it if I needed to carry the whole thing over a short distance. Like I said earlier on its in 3 parts, you can remove the scope itself (has a handle) from the mount and then take the mount (also has a handle) off the tripod. The tripod has a big support/accessory tray which you can leave attached, just move it between the legs and fold the legs in. You can also leave the scope attached to the mount, just point the scope to the flood (using manual control) and you can carry it attached to the mount.

All in all if you've got the money then this really is the Telescope to go for. There honestly isn't anything I can say I don't like about it. I've never felt out of my depth using it which is surprising because it's looks deceptively complicated!

If you have any questions ill be happy to answer (if I can!) 

David

[FenlandPaul]

Great review, David, and glad you're enjoying your new scope. Thanks for sharing.

[laudropb]

Very good review. Most enjoyable to read. How much battery time to you get out of it ?

[Mr Spock]

That's a great review and I'm pleased you are enjoying the scope. I have a C9.25 on an EQ6 and the views are most satisfying.

[DaveyLeo10]

I charge it before every session but the longest it's gone is 6 hours without a charge and it was still going strong!

Glad you enjoyed the review!

[Notts boy24]

Hi there guys, great review Davy

I own the same telescope since December 2014. Since owning the Celestron Nexstar Evolution 9.25" i must say i have had no issues at all. An all rounder telescope so to speak with great new techinical innovation. It has so many cool features which makes this telescope so easy to use and set up.

One of the great features is once the telescope is set up correctly, main tripod leg facing north, leveled, markers lined up on azimouth & altitude on the mount, aligned to 3 stars or planets. Using your Android or iPhone device with the SkyPortal App installed, it then allows you to align to 10 more calibiration stars. The more stars you align to the more accurate the tracking illiminating the use for an Auto Guider. It works really well. I managed one singke expisure time of 3 min 48 sec using just 4 calibiration stars. I get a longer exposer time using a HD ProWedge.

Please check out my YouTube channel to see my current setup and deep space images. I'm the local amateur astronomer at the school outreaching to the younger generation.

YoyTube channel Notts boy24

Windell ☺