[mental4astro (Alexander)]

These little scopes are a hit and miss affair. The mirrors on the whole are spherical rather than parabolic. This makes them not really suitable for high power observing. The quality of individual mirrors can be variable too.

If you keep this in mind, don't expect too high magnification, and enjoy low power, wide field viewing, then these can be surprisingly good.

I picked up one of the Celestron FirstScope 3" dobbies. I quickly came to see its strengths and shortcomings. Then I found the perfect use for this little chappie - as a big finder.

I've coupled this little reflector onto the 'back' of my 17.5" dob. This dob has three finders on it - by design, not folly. For this big dob, and as I only use it as a push-pull scope, this big finder works very well when using very detailed charts.

I totally agree that these little scopes will need to be individually fine tuned. As they are made so cheaply, part of the cost saving is cutting corners during assembly and component selection. You will need to give these some considered TLC.

But there is one more tip to pimping these little fellows - ditch the eyepieces that come with it. They are very poor quality. Use half decent plossls or even a humble Kellner, and you will be very surprised at the performance of these modest little scopes.

Alex.

PS, In the photo, you will see in the background, hickny's 13.1" dob also with one of these 3" Celestron FirstScope's as a big finder.