CELESTRON Travel Scope 70 any good?

[StevieDvd]

At £50 would this be better than a pair of binoculars for casual grab & go? I have a decent camera tripod already as it seems the tripod is the weak link for this scope.

It will be in addition to using my new Nexstar 4se during cool down times etc.

If they are pants! I'll wait until I find a short cheap refractor that'll fit on the nexstar mount for the occasional dso viewing. A sub £100 budget is all I'm expecting to spend on a refractor for now.

So my other idiot question is a whether the dovetail mount is a universal one?

Thanks

Steve

[russ]

There is a review here:

Celestron 70mm Travel Scope Review - Review

And i think some folks on SGL have bought them and been pleasantly surprised.

I noticed our local Curry's Superstore were selling them for £25 clearance.....so maybe worth a look there first. Has to be worth a punt at £25.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I bought this scope a few months back with the idea of taking it on holidays with me.

I have to say that for the price it is a good little scope. It does exactly what it says it does. It gives very nice wide field views. The moon looks fantastic also.

It is not designed to show you planets in any detail. They all just look like stars.

The tripod (as you say) is the weak link in this setup. But for very casual observing on holiday etc its OK.

Because the tripod is the weak link, the scope does not work well at high magnification. It even struggles with the 10mm EP supplied.

However.............it performs extremely well when mounted on a better tripod. I use mine at home on my Horizon 8115 tripod. You can even up the magnification on the scope when on a good tripod.

I'm pretty sure the dovetail is universal because even though i dont use the dovetail, the screw tread on the bottom of the dove is universal and fits my 8115 tripod. The same tripod i use to mount my Canon 450D.

In summary: Its a nice scope for the price. Know its limitations as well as what it can do well. If you plan to mount it on a better tripod (as you do), then i really cant see you having any complaints.

I'm just starting to use mine for imaging. It holds my 450D very well.

As russ says............."pleasantly surprised" as to just how good it is. It also has an erect prism which is great for observing nature, landscapes etc.

P.S.~~~it is very well made and finished. It has a nice bit of weigh to it and feels solid even though it is very light.

I hate when i buy stuff and it feels cheap and plastic. This scope does not feel cheap or plastic (because it isnt made of plastic).

P.P.S~I just remembered something negative about the scope. The finder scope that you get with it IS cheap and plastic. I really didnt like it. I found the images blurred and im sure the nail on my baby toe weighed more then the finder scope. I quickly gave the finder away to a fellow SGL member.

I personally tend not to use finder scopes or RDF's etc.

[StevieDvd]

Thanks for the replies, I'll probably take a punt and get one especially if I get a good price.

All we need now is some decent weather as even the best scopes have issues with UK cloud

Cheers

Steve

[nightfisher]

i think my local asda were selling these for £25.....wish i had snapped one up now

[russ]

It was on clearance sale on the web for the same price. Amazon had it at that price for a while, not checked to see if they still do. I was tempted, quite liked the idea of making a 70mm finder for the 12" dob.

[LukeSkywatcher]

£25?

Damn i could have saved myself a few quid by buying from the UK, but i was on a tight deadline and didnt want to risk it not arriving when i needed it.

I bought mine from the only astro store in Dublin and paid 95 euro (including delivery).

STILL.............i got it on time and all for less then 100.

As it happened.............the cloud from Ireland followed me from Ireland to Lanzarote and i didnt really get to use the scope.

However i did get to show an 8 yr old kid (whose grandparents i befriended) the Moon. He was totally blown away.

That made it all worthwhile.

[Bladeflyer]

Always been tempted to get one of these to use as a guide scope with my ED80. Definitely can't go wrong at £25!

[StevieDvd]

Did not find any for £25 but best I got was £44.96 with free delivery from Dixons.

If I don't get on with it I know a family member who will probably want it so no real reason not to have a play

[SplintUK]

PC world (?) seem to have them about £49 at the minute... PC World = Dixons = Curry's so I guess that sort of makes sense....

[StevieDvd]

Same group but Dixons is online only now IIRC and can often be a few quid cheaper than Currys & PCWorld.

[x6gas]

Got mine from Amazon. As has been said, throw the tripod away as it really is useless but the scope isn't at all bad and fine as a guidescope on my setup....