starter scope extraordiare

[inspectapart]

I have been looking through telescopes for around 35 years and the closest I ever came to owning a "starter" scope was when I purchased a 4 1/2" TAL reflector many years ago. I suppose that could be classed as a starter scope, although I thought it quite a sophisticated piece of kit back then. Since then I`ve owned and used all sorts of scopes from the mighty little Questar to the do all celestron 8" sct  through  4" apo refractors and 7" Maks.  

Some time ago I stupidly sold my questar. This was an act I have regretted it ever since. Recently I have been looking to buy another questar but I have been unable to get my hands on one at the price I want to pay, so I decided to have a look at the "cheapo" versions on the market to give me back a lightweight travel scope. Well,I have to say, that the scope that I purchased this week was a real eye opener. 

After doing a bit reading up I decided on the Celestron C90, and what a great little scope this has turned out to be at £165 delivered complete with travel bag.

It arrived from FLO in 3 days. After unpacking I quickly popped it onto my old alt az tripod and slapped in my wiilliam optics bino viewer with a pair of Televue click stop zooms. I swung it around to Venus which is a really nice target at the moment.  A Lovely half illuminated disc presented itself, I was very surprised, in fact if my memory serves me well, the view provided by the C90 was pretty close to the Questars that I`ve owned in the past. Crisp focus and clear sharp optics. 

I know the Questar is a wonder to behold and it has that fabulous control box and built in barlow / finder, but it costs a hell of a lot of money for basically the same views that I am getting from this Celestron gem. All I can say is move over Questar let the little fella through!! This scope is a revelation for the money, it has very good optics and it looks like it`s built to last.

So, if any one out there is looking to buy a cheap well built good quality starter / travel scope, in my humble opinion, look no further than the C90,  

Bob.

[Alien 13]

I have one and its a little gem, lunar views are very impressive, the supplied correct image diagonal also gives it the added option of daytime use.

Alan

[Putaendo Patrick]

Modern optics have improved enormously, so I'm not at all surprised that a C90 can give the Questar a good run for the money! I'd love to have a Questar, but to be honest, more as a beautiful object rather than an astronomical tool.

[Cosmic Geoff]

I can't fault the optics in the C90's big brother, the 127mm Mak - when equipped with a quality eyepiece.