I have noticed recently in some bargain/electronics stores a 50mm telescope on sale for less than $50. Yeah we all know about these department store telescopes (dst's) but the really concerning thing is it had the Celestron name on the side. The scope had 3 of those 24.5mm diameter eyepieces one of them with a 4mm focal length, 3x barlow and 5x24 finder. I have owned celestron stuff in the past and can vouch for their quality so why are they putting their name to a product of dubious quality and usefullness? Is the 50mm dst an accurate pointer to the quality and design philosiphies behind their current product range?
They are probably flogging off a cheapie to cash in on the general buyer Micko. Duck Smith sells thousands of their crummy ones, so Celestron probably saw a market they could jump on. They may not even be Celestrons but some slave made $2 item from a back alley factory in China with Celestron ordering them with their name printed on them.
It can't do the image of Celeston any good. It would make me look twice at any Celestron product now. Could you imagine Takahashi or Questar selling plastic 50mm scopes.
True. If I was a parent who had bought one of those El Junky Celestrons for my kids, then I wanted to step up to help their hobby, I obviously wouldn't buy another Celestron. It would remind me of the cheap & nasty they started with. I would look for another brand that didn't sell toy telescopes.
It could possibly damage their image! (the cheapie probably doesn't have a good image - pun intended).
It may be going a bit too far into the cheapo market!
Don't look much better than the 'store bought' ones, does it?
BIG Q is, why? Will disappoint a lot of kids. L.
ps. Not too sure about the goto, either!
the problem is that as long as they sell them they will keep making them... they are toys and you would buy it for someone who wanted to actually look at stuff.
That chinese guy who bought Celestron must be trying to get his money back real quick, as a Celestron fan all my astronomical life I am so disapointed that they have gone down this road
L.
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