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My god, I am absolutely flawed by the snobbery happening here. This is a beginners section of the forums, an all you guys can do is post toxic comments without a shred of evidence to back up what you are 'claiming'?
I own this exact model and use it as my main scope. Did I at any point say it was the most incredible scope in the world? NO. HOWEVER, it is a fine scope that will give many hours of pleasure.
Three nights ago (last time we had clear skies here) I spent a couple of hours floating around in space with this scope. I started with Neptune, clearly seeing two bands (and one more with averted vision) and four moons. I then headed over to m41, then m79, then NGC5139 and finished up with Mars. In between I looked at various starfields that piqued my interest. AND, all of this from my back yard in suburbia with rubbish old 'H20mm' style eyepieces from the 70s/80s. Whack in some decent EPs (which are always a good investment regardless of what scope you own down the road) and the story just gets that much better.
I had a lovely time, shared some of the prettier clusters with my wife when she walked past and went to bed relaxed and content.
What more do you want from a beginner scope? Oh, I know, how about the time before that when I took it over to a friends place and we set up his 12" Lightbridge dob next to my scope. We then had a great night of 'cat and mouse' where he'd find something in his scope, then I'd try and find it in mine. We'd then swap and he'd find something in my scope that I would try to find in his etc. etc. 6 hours later we were both exhausted and both more than a little taken-aback by how many things could be found with this 'turd' as one of you described it.
Having ACTUALLY USED THIS MODEL, here are some hard FACTS:
GOOD
1. Works well from light-polluted areas
2. Holds collimation VERY well when being transported or shifted inside/outside. It's also very light which makes this easier.
3. Brings stars down to a pinpoint, shows plenty of detail on the moon and planets (seen so far) and nebulae, enough said on that.
4. The focuser, while rack and pinion, is made completely of metal (as are all other components on the scope) and is tight with no 'wobble' at all. It also tracks very smoothly when focusing.
5. The mount is VERY solid, not at all wobbly as one of you described.
6. The wooden tripod works well and responds very well to having the feet 'nudged' our slightly after the legs have reached full travel. This puts a little tension on the legs and tightens everything up. I do this with all tripods regardless of 'stiffness'.
7. Metal parts everywhere, not plastic.
BAD (well, depending on your perspective)
8. Takes 0.965" EPs. However, one cheap adapter later and 1.25" EPs can be used. This works very well and I've not had any issues using any that I've tried so far (including Naglers and TeleVue plossls).
9. The finderscope is small and can be fiddly to align properly. However, once aligned it works well enough.
Is this scope the latest and greatest thing out there? No. Will you be able to find the faintest of DSOs? No. Will your mates n*ts retract and his p**is run away screaming because you have the biggest scope? No.
However, will this scope let you see many, many things in the sky that will entertain and amaze you for years to come? Yes. Will you save a huge amount of money buying it and be able to put this money towards good EPs that you will use for the rest of your life? Yes. Will you have an insane amount of fun seeing how far you can push this little gem? Depends on the person, but for me YES. Will you get incredible value for money? YES OH YES.
Using this model of scope I have engaged many students at my school in astronomy, at least 10 of which have gone out and bought their own telescopes and have started their journey through the stars.
If this scope was local for me, would I spend $85 measly dollars on it? YES, YES and... YES.
Perhaps a few of you should take a step back and think about WHY you got into astronomy in the first place - I'm pretty sure it wasn't to impress your mates. It MAY have had something to do with enjoying that incredible tapestry that shines above our little, insignificant, lives.
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