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My son has a Celestron FirstScope from his grandmother, a purchase based on the Amazon reviews. I can see why it has those good reviews, it seems like super value for a little while.
Pros:
* Small/cheap/light
* It is reasonably stable and easy to get on target, a big plus for beginners/kids
* The focuser works OK, although the grease in ours went bad within a couple of years (thick, tacky).
Cons:
* The eyepieces are not good. They belong in a McDonald's toy, especially our 4mm.
* The scope optics are not good. With a very good eyepiece, I can kind of tell that Saturn is not round. With the included eyepieces, I have no idea what I'm looking at.
* The 4mm included eyepiece a lie - our scope is not remotely capable of that usable magnification. With a good eyepiece, you can clearly see the different parts of the mirror come into focus while trying to find the best compromise. The Nat Geo one seems to be promising even better magnification. There is just no way if it has the same spherical mirror.
* Out of curiosity I tonight tried a 24mm Televue plossl in it - I think the views through our basic Synta 50mm straight-through finder are much cleaner and reveal more.
It is the kind of thing that might inspire someone with means to get something good. For someone without means, such as a young child, I think it is a bit of a cruel gift. It hints at what it might be like to own a telescope.
- Jayeson
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