Review: Bushnell Northstar 4.5" GOTO telescope

iceman (Mike) · #1 10-01-2007, 09:16 AM

Colin Hutchison (colhut) has written a review on the Bushnell Northstar 4.5" GOTO telescope.

You can read the review on the IceInSpace Reviews page, or directly by clicking on the link below:

Bushnell Northstar 4.5" GOTO telescope

Thanks to Colin for writing the review!

You can contribute reviews, articles or other content for IceInSpace by contacting me!

iceman (Mike) · #2 10-01-2007, 09:47 AM

Review uploaded.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #3 10-01-2007, 10:01 AM

Thanks Colin. About as much as I expected

Good on you for doing the review. I think reviews of ""consumer grade scopes is just as important as reviews of any other "astronomy" grade scopes. That way when a newbie askes about these scopes we have somewhere definitive to send them for info.

CS

janoskiss (Steve H) · #4 10-01-2007, 11:52 AM

Great Colin. Very informative review. I'm sure it will prove useful for many looking for their first scope.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #5 10-01-2007, 12:33 PM

That was a very informative, well written review.
Thanks.

ColHut (Colin) · #6 10-01-2007, 03:45 PM

I would add that I have since purchased, modified, and fitted an electric focuser which alleviates the problem of "focus wobble" - they really do make a huge difference on a light mount like this.

thanks for the encouragement

Colin

PeteMo (Pete) · #7 12-01-2007, 02:33 PM

Great review Colin.
You mention similar problems that I encountered with my Tasco SR4 eyepiece and the crappy plastic 3 x barlow. I also found that using better eyepieces and getting a 2 x barlow made a world of difference.
Also good to see budget gear reviewed.
Thanks

John Saunders · #8 31-01-2007, 09:59 AM

Good review, Colin.

I would like to confirm what you have said from my personal experience of the same telescope, only I wasn't as patient as you. The flimsy mount was immeasurably frustrating as was the alt/az buttons and their pre-determined range of movement. The focussing was equally annoying, because, as you have said, once you tried to focus you moved the whole scope.

You did forget to add how utterly useless the instruction booklet was for a total newbie user such as myself. As a result I didn't get as far as trying to align the go-to system.

On a positive note, I did find the view through the scope quite good (excluding the barlow) once I was able to position the scope and get it in focus, that is!

My time with the Northstar was limited to one frustrating night - the next day I took it back to the shop and exchanged it for a slightly more expensive one with an EQ mount. I feel that the Northstar had a better view, but the stable mount with slow motion hand controls of my current one is worth more than whatever advantages the Northstar had.

Reviews on other websites make interesting reading as well. Thanks again for your comprehensive review.

John Saunders

ColHut (Colin) · #9 03-02-2007, 02:16 PM

Thanks very much. I agree about the manual. I would add that I was so new to this thing I had to ask the shop assistant which end to use! The first one I got was English only and specific I think to Australia. There had been a misprint and none of the numbers appeared on the Legend. Bizarely, when I exchanged the lot, I got a new manual. It was in a million languages but directed specifically for the northern hemisphere (including 4 charts showing the best Northern stars to align with) I down loaded the latest from the web which turned out to be the same as the one I had.

cheers

jacktbear69 (Mike) · #10 01-02-2014, 09:27 AM

Great review Colin. I have the same complaint with the stiff focuser, as well as the eyepieces supplied and 3x Barlow. All have been replaced. I must say that even Kellners are way better. I found however that my unit was way out of collimation. Being a newbie to this, with no instructions for this procedure in the manual, I did my research. Used a Catseye centerspot kit for the primary. The first crude, but very useful film container cheshire type of collimator. This enabled me to rough collimate the secondary. I then purchased an Orion crosshair cheshire and had great results. I just now upgraded to the Hotech laser and did a fine tune collimation. Afterwhich I compared it with the Orion, and they were both aligned. I think the collimation was the first thing which should be checked. I recieved my Bushnell as a gift, and have never looked through any telescope before in my life. I learned a lot by having this first scope.