Celestron FirstScope?

[doinurmop]

Hello! I am back, this time with a little bit of a bit a question for people who have used the celestron firstscope, or people who just know their stuff. Basically with a bit of bending of my budget, the firstscope fits it pretty easily (possibly with a barlow) I only found out about it since I was looking around on flo, and looked in their "beginner telescopes" section, and saw it there.

SO since it fits my budget, even if the weather has been terrible lately. I've always thought its good to plan things ahead.

Anyways my question is simply.

For planetary viewing, is it any good? does it give nice enough views? least with the eypieces included

I dont expect much out of it for like, deep sky viewing, but in a general sense, what have you experiences been with it?

Hopefully it'll end up being in a literal sense, a good choice for my Firstscope, haha...

Thanks in advance!

[Ricochet]

What is your current budget? In your last thread you said £200-£300 and the firstscope is quite a bit cheaper than that. Increasing aperture increases both light gathering for deep sky and resolution for planetary so I would suggest something >100mm as a starter scope if you can still afford it. 

[doinurmop]

1 minute ago, Ricochet said:

What is your current budget? In your last thread you said £200-£300 and the firstscope is quite a bit cheaper than that. Increasing aperture increases both light gathering for deep sky and resolution for planetary so I would suggest something >100mm as a starter scope if you can still afford it. 

Welllll, due to some recent realizations of "oh wait i cant actually fit that big of a budget" I had to lower it down quite a bit.

Not mention i've never even had a telescope before, so I was in the mindset of having something smaller and more portable, which the firscope came into mind

As for my current budget, with a bit of bending I'd say around.. £60, which the firstscope by its self fits into that of course.

[Red Dwarfer]

I have a Celestron FirstScope and it is great on the waxing and waning Moon and at 300mm focal length it gives a good widefield view of the sky ... It will show the Moons of Jupiter and Saturn`s ring system too ...

My advice would be to get a second hand one on ebay and order two Kellner or Plossl eyepieces to replace the ones that come with it as they are very basic Huygens design .

[doinurmop]

4 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

My advice would be to get a second hand one on ebay and order two Kellner or Plossl eyepieces to replace the ones that come with it as they are very basic Huygens design .

That might actually be a good idea, found one on ebay already for like £20.  If I ordered that soon enough, I can probably use it while I wait for the eyepieces arrive, depending on their pricing.

Edit: actually the main price im seeing for firstscopes is pratically £20 all around. I can definitely say its a good idea to get one second hand then

 

[Red Dwarfer]

2 minutes ago, doinurmop said:

That might actually be a good idea, found one on ebay already for like £20.  If I ordered that soon enough, I can probably use it while I wait for the eyepieces arrive, depending on their pricing.

 

I think mine was £35 second hand on ebay ... this link has a good range of second hand Kellner and Plossl eyepieces ...

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

[doinurmop]

1 minute ago, Red Dwarfer said:

I think mine was £35 second hand on ebay ... this link has a good range of second hand Kellner and Plossl eyepieces ...

http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

Astroboot? havent heard of it. 

Assuming its legit, ;^), the prices here for the eyepices are actually really good

Taking into account postage, I may actually end up spending less then I planned, which is always good :^)

[doinurmop]

Using ebay and the astroboot website

The firstscope (£19.99 on ebay)
+ 2 1.25" Plossl eyepieces, 20mm and 4mm, same magnification to replace the provided ones (£26.20 with postage)

Leaves me with a nice saving of £13.76. (Total £46.24)

So I'm sure that should all be fine budget wise

[LukeSkywatcher]

My first scope was a Celestron Firstscope. I think its different to what they now sell today as a "firstscope". Mine is a 90mm aperture,1000mm focal length refrator on an EQ 1 mount. I never used it much simply because i didnt get on with EQ mount. The scope itself was great. It gave great view of the Moon and inner planets..........as well as the bigger DSO objects.

About 10 yrs ago, i bought it new from the only Celestron dealer in Ireland cuz i know a few of the guys that work there. I paid about 350 euros.

[doinurmop]

3 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

My first scope was a Celestron Firstscope. I think its different to what they now sell today as a "firstscope". Mine is a 90mm aperture,1000mm focal length refrator on an EQ 1 mount. I never used it much simply because i didnt get on with EQ mount. The scope itself was great. It gave great view of the Moon and inner planets..........as well as the bigger DSO objects.

About 10 yrs ago, i bought it new from the only Celestron dealer in Ireland cuz i know a few of the guys that work there. I paid about 350 euros.

Judging by your description, and the price, its definitely different now.

Think I'm deffo gonna get it as my first scope though, especially with that second hand price,  I doubt Im gonna regret it

Heck even if all I can do is look at the moon (mainly due to the weather) I'll be fine with that for quite a while ,I love looking at the moon without a telescope, getting a nice close view would be lovely.

[MasterC]

Hey,

If you monitor ebay, you will certainly be able to get a good starter scope for you budget.  I just had a quick look, and there are a few sub £60 'scopes available.  Dont expect a 6" and bigger bad boy, it will look more like a 60-90mm refactor, or possibly a slightly larger Newtonian.

If in doubt, and its been said a lot here, but some binoculars!  They are amazing, giving you a good view of the stars, moon, planets, DSOs.  Damn sight cheaper too.

Basically, its not all about having a telescope.  Though they are lovely.