Celestron Astromaster 130EQ (+/-MD)
Hi,
Just my five cents' worth as someone whose first scope was (indeed still is) an Astromaster 130EQ MD (single axis motor drive).
- It's not catadioptric; there's no Barlow in the optical path (unless you choose to put one there).
- The build quality of the simple rack and pinion focuser sucks. Badly. Lots of image shift when you alter focus, asymmetric response to the knobs, and trying to hang anything off the focuser (particularly a camera!) is just bad news all round. Unfortunately, due to the non-standard nature of the focuser/eyepiece assembly mount on the tube with this telescope, you can't replace the focuser with a better Crayford, even if you wanted to.
- Having said that, after playing with some bigger, sexier, much more expensive telescopes, for observational viewing, the 130EQ can show you some very nice views for such a low-end scope.
I'm upgrading to something else in the very near future, mostly due to the need to connect a camera in a robust manner and be able to track accurately for photos. But as a cheap introduction to astronomy, the Astromaster 130EQ has been a very handy tool, both for observing celestial objects, and for learning about how to find one's way about the sky, polar alignment, collimation, and determining what to look for and/or avoid in future instruments.
Cheers,
Chris
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