NexStar 127SLT

As a former professional astronomer and user of other amateur telescopes I bought this to try and introduce my children to observing and am mainly comparing this to a 6 inch Newtonian reflector with an equatorial mount which has served me well in the past, but is very large and heavy to set up, so an easier alternative was called for. The first night I used this I was hampered by cloud, so could only do a basic setup and some initial lunar observing, but I was pleased to find that this was easy to set up in a short period of time, using the quick setup guide. The lunar views I got were excellent and my kids (and even my wife!) were enthralled with the first views of the moon that we obtained. The second night, although cloud was again an issue, I managed to set the scope up fully. the set up was easy, following the instructions, although it is sometimes tricky to remember that the arrow buttons are only used for controlling the movements of the scope from the handset and not navigating the menus, however they were largely self-explanatory and made the initial setup easy. I would advise using a custom site for alignment using a smartphone with GPS (almost ubiquitous these days) to obtain the precise location, just remember you will need the location in degrees, minute and seconds of arc, rather than decimal. This is quite easy to find with a quick internet search on a smartphone however. Exact times from a reliable source, such as a synced smartphone is also required, along with your time zone. Once these are in you can choose to align the scope using any three bright stars or other celestial objects (moon or planets), simply align the object in the finder scope, then centralise in the eyepiece and align using the handset. This was done in minimal time, even with poor visibility due to cloud and the computer accurately aligned the scope at the first attempt with no need for firmware updates or similar for the handset. Following alignment I used the sky tour to find appropriate objects and after checking that the sky model was correct (it was able to find the moon without difficulty in the solar system mode) I used the handset to move to Andromeda, which was visible as a fuzzy patch, despite poor visibility and quite bad light pollution. The tracking seems to work fairly well and will keep an object in view for a significant amount of time (quite sufficient for real-time observing using the eyepiece), but did exhibit some element of drift, so would not be suitable for deep sky astrophotography, but this is to be expected with an alt-azimuth mount, as compared to an equatorial setup. Unfortunately, the sky conditions deteriorated further preventing any more testing on other objects, but overall this telescope is easy to set up and provides a quick means of finding astronomical objects. As a starter scope at a reasonable price it would seem that it is difficult to beat. In terms of power, I did buy the external battery pack which allows extended observing and this seems to be the best way to power the scope as while using the internal 8xAA batteries would avoid any problems with cord entanglement, the lack of battery life may limit it without a substantial supply. Cord length and wrapping would be even more of an issue with a mains powered supply and could be problematic for anything more than a small distance outside. The scope does need power to operate though and cannot really be operated without it, which is definitely a downside if you were wanting the use it in an unpowered alt-azimuth mode. Overall, this seems to provide a good observing experience for the aperture and price and is highly recommended for a beginner. Obviously, you could get a larger aperture without the goto function for the same price, but this really wins on convenience. I look forward to may happy nights observing with my kids in the near future.

I'm not professional, these are just my impressions. WARNING 1: this might be a begining of an expensive hobby! You will likely want accessories, filters, eyepieces, and maybe larger aperture for deep sky. Search for what you can see with a telescope (especially if you're interested in Nebulae/galaxies) if it's you first one to manage expectations. WARNING 2: you won't see details and colours you see in pictures online including mine (except maybe for Moon). Cameras are far more sensitive and have longer exposures than our eyes. Search Orion Nebula or M81 through a 5, 8, 10 inch telescope for example to have an idea and compare with pictures. Overall, I'm very happy with the telescope, optics seem quite good without noticeable chromatic aberrations, tracking is OK with options to fine-tune during use. After using this, I'm curious to try something with a larger aperture to see more details in deep sky, but it doesn't mean I'm enjoying this telescope any less. For me it hits a good balance of power, ease of use, and portability. Though 8-inch aperture ones would probably last you much longer if you're going to get into the hobby more seriously, those are much more expensive and heavy. You are paying a premium for goto functionality and compact design compared to some other 5-inch options, but I found goto to be very helpful especially at first. This vs a Dobsonian: Observing with a tripod is so much easier especially when what you're looking at is low. Optical tube is much more compact compared to Dob of comparable aperture and f-ratio, but later would probably be cheaper. As far as I can tell, a typical Newtonian reflector would be far less tolerant to collimation issues than this design. Learning with this is certainly easier. If it's your first telescope - be prepared you won't see the colours and details you see in pictures online. Those are captured with cameras with longer exposures and higher sensitivity than human eyes and are heavily processed. This being said, I got this picture of Orion Nebula with an old unmodified DSLR through this telescope in a single exposure, no stacking or additional hardware. What can you see? Moon - amazing! Very bright, very sharp clear small details, no weird colours. Planets - they appear about small pea-sized, rings of Saturn are clearly visible, as well as bands of Jupiter (in colour). You can get them bigger with additional eyepieces or Barlow lenses, but with ones I got (admittedly not the highest quality) I couldn't see more details - same thing just bigger and a little blurrier. Deep sky objects - probably the coolest thing to photograph, but visually seeing it for the first time it's amazing how dim those are in general. I could see Orion Nebula and some other DSOs. In Orion Nebula I could see general shape, but no colour when observing from Peak District. You can probably see more from a darker site, but I haven't tested it. Overall the aperture is considered small for visual DSO observation, but I could see something. Moon, snow, atmospheric conditions (e.g. turbulent air) will all affect your observation. Relative positions of earth to other planet also affects the details you see. Mount, focuser etc: I've read complaints about the mount not being sturdy enough online. It's definitely more shaky than a heavy Dobsonian, but for me it's perfectly useable. You do need to wait a couple seconds after adjusting focus for it to get stable, but you absolutely can get clear view and pictures after that. GoTo depends on how good your alignment is and has couple clever features - there is a "precision goto" option in the menu where it first navigates to nearby easy to see object for you to correct error and then it goes to actual target. Mount doesn't fold flat with optical tube as SE model does. The tripod is a bit bigger than a typical photo tripod when folded. If you're thinking of getting this and using mount for later optical tube upgrades, search for mount limits - you probably won't put much more onto it. I've read online people ignoring limits and putting 6se and even 8se on it, but it will be even shakier and I have no idea how long it will last if you did it and I doubt warranty will cover it. You need to align red dot finder and the telescope before observation, otherwise finding anything is very difficult. The mount is Alt-Az, as opposed to equatorial if it makes difference for you.

As a novice to telescopes but not astronomy, this telescope is more bang for buck than you can imagine. Managed to attach my DSLR successfully and use the SkyAlign feature to capture the Moon and Venus in all their glory. Its a sizeable piece of kit and works better with a power cable rather than batteries. The tripod is great, solid and has a spirit level to help you ensure you have a level platform too. Definitely need to invest in some new eyepieces, but will do that later. Need to get accustomed and get the best out of what I have first. Best investment made and glad that I did!

It's one of the best planetary scopes you can get that combine the portability & price. Most beginners also find it reasonably easy to use. The pros: - Very portable, easy to setup. You will probably get to use it more than larger telescopes. - Great at planets. Couple it with an inexpensive webcam and process through Registax and you will get impressive photos of Saturn, Jupiter etc The cons: - Not well-suited for "large" deep space objects, such as open clusters. I upgraded from a smaller newtonian and I was underwhelmed by some of the DSO views, due to the limited field of view. There is a way to fit an (expensive) f/6.3 reducer, however the thin 1.25" barrel limits your field of view, so the reducer is not really a solution. - Not sturdy enough tripod gives a lot of vibrations (when you touch the focuser, when the wind blows etc). See tips below. So, overall, this is a very easy to set up and use scope that is great for viewing and even photographing the moon, sun (with a filter) and planets. If you have looked through a wide-field telescope the deep space object performance may disappoint. I would say this is a great telescope for an urban location, as the GOTO will be useful when there are few stars visible to use as pointing guides and also planets are anyway the best targets when there is light pollution. Tips: - The Celestron Vibration Pads are a good investment, halving the vibration if you are setting up on a hard surface. When using the vibration pads you can also try putting some weight on the accessory tray, I had good results with the vibration pads + at least 5kg weight on the accessory tray. - A good and inexpensive choice for an eyepiece that will improve your planetary viewing is the skywatcher Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) 6mm (or even the cheaper "Ultrawide 6mm"). It provides 250x (which is the max you would ever want to use and it is usable more often than not - depending on seeing conditions), a generous field of view and eye relief. - An illuminated reticle / crosshair eyepiece will make the initial alignment easier/faster. - Don't even try the batteries. Get an AC adapter. A generic will do, although I have to use a rubber band on the arm of the mount and pass the cable through it before plugging it in so that the cable is not pulled when the telescope is moving around (the more expensive Celestron AC adapter screws on, so no issue). - Get a solar filter and it will give you something to do with your telescope during the day! The least expensive solution is to get the Baader solar film and create your own cardboard holder (instructions are widely available). Careful: NEVER point at the sun without a solar filter IN FRONT of the main optics. I am attaching a couple of photos of Jupiter shot through the movie-crop mode of a Canon 550D, just for an idea.

Lots of accessories available and I am looking forward to using it when we have some clear skys. I purchased the used option which was £100 cheaper and it came brand new and boxed.

Just received this telescope, August 2020. Not much of an issue to assemble as a lot of it is pre assembled. Not managed to fully setup as the weather conditions are pretty poor. You can however setup the red spot finder in daylight and the info to do this is on utube. I will come back to this review once fully setup, but this is my initial thoughts. As this is 2020 i am really surprised that the software is for manuals, and control is on a cd (Windows). I would not want carry around a laptop to use with the scope as a tablet or a large screen phone is far more manageable . I may be wrong but there does not appear to be many Celestron apps on play store. As for the telescope itself, why does it not have wifi and Bluetooth built in to control and find stars etc ? It is 2020 !! To have to pay extra for these basic add ons i believe is wrong . I hope when being used as attended the optical performance will be good but i believe the electronics needs a major redesign. Even my home aircon is connected to the wifi !!

Absolutely brilliant telescope!. Just no clear skies to use! Only so cloudy not been able to set up properly!

I decided to buy this telescope due to the Nexstar 'Easy to align in just a couple of minutes' mount. However what they don't tell you is that you need to get updates to the firmware from Celestron and I can say this is a hair pulling process. For starters their software is archaic, the amount of forum posts you will find of people being unable to install the latest firmware is shocking and not having it disables half of the features, it is not easy to install and in some cases does not install at all. I have spent months trying to get this thing to work and it doesn't. The telescope itself is brilliant, clear and I love it. But the mount's software is pathetically bad. Do not buy!!!

Ay izlenimi çok iyi kusursuz gösterim yıldız haritanı varsa neredeyse tüm yıldızları görebiliorsunuz jupiter ve uydularını net görebilirsiniz zoom yapmanız gerekiyor beğendim efso bişi

Powerful telescope. Seen alot of planets.

In my opinion, this is an excellent beginner/intermediate or advanced grab and go scope providing crisp images, ease of use and many desirable software capabilities. I recommend it. My training is in the physical sciences but not specializing in Astronomy or Astrophysics. I have always had interest in the stars from childhood and from having been a navigator in a destroyer during my naval service where I used them to navigate by. Several years ago when I retired I purchased two 1960s vintage equatorial mount 60mm refractors at garage sales and I have been using them while I did some research and reading to decide on the best next telescope to purchase. I decided on a Maksutov-Cassegrain due its reputation for crisp, clear images and on Celestron NexStar for its quality reputation and the features of its GoTo/tracking software program. The deciding factor was that it was on sale at a large discount. I did consider Meade and Orion scopes before deciding on this particular Mak. This year (2013) I took some of my tax refund dollars and purchased the Celestron NexStar 127 SLT Mak and also purchased some of what I consider to be essential accessories. The purchase price of the tube and mount are only part of the price for a complete capable system. Beyond the sock items provided in the initial package, you will need lenses, filters, adapters, etc to fully exploit the capabilities of the mount, software and optics. In other words, to see the most, coolest stuff. By the time I have purchased all of the essential accessories to do this, they will cost almost as much as the telescope itself. I have used the telescope every clear night for the last several weeks and I am very pleased. The NexStar program and alignment are easy to use and provide a better that ballpark result when going to an object. I did purchase the GPS unit, the Celestron accessory kit with additional lenses and filters, the house current and car battery power adapter chords, the USB interface cord, and the light pollution and oxygen filters. I live in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale so light pollution is a factor. The filters help. So far everything works beautifully. My only two complaints are not vital but more nuisance -that the GPS can take some time to synch -- be patient, I was not and had some self inflicted difficulties the first time I used the Mak. -the tripod can be a little wobbly. I will eventually get a heavier tripod, the GPS is what it is. I will try adding some five or ten pound weights to the tripod to see if that stabilizes it sufficiently. I am not done with accessories. Next on my list is a hard case for the tube and a canvass bag for the tripod and accessories so I can safely carry the system to the dark sky sites and star parties. I do want to try some web cam photography of solar system objects so a webcam purchase is in the future. Further down the road, I will get a digital camera adapter, a collimation lens and some higher quality viewing lenses and perhaps a dielectric diagonal. Though I want to eventually get a large GoTo Dobsonian and I always lust after a nice, large Apochromatic telescope with a solid EQ mount for astrophotography,for now I am very happy with my NexStar 127 SLT Mak. I will update as I do new things with the Mak or as I learn new things that may be of interest to buyers. May your skies be clear and dark. Iñigo de Oña Nome de plume

This is just wonderful, heavy to get up to the room but so worth it on these moon and starlit nights when all is calm and quiet

Comme toujours avec Amazon, rapidité de livraison rien à dire. Pour l'instrument, très bonne qualité d'optique vu le prix. Le goto nécessite quand même assez de précision à la mise en station pour du suivi photo. La monture est très sensible et les vibrations évidentes. Il faudra alourdir pour stabiliser mais en utilisation loisir et initiation cet appareil saura révéler les passions. Rapport qualité prix imbattable. Je suis très satisfait.