Celestron's "Firstscope" - First view

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Years ago, I longed for that little Edmund Scientific Red scope. I still remember the S&T ad.

I know Dobs are good no frills beginner telescopes, but the hobby needs a manufacturer, who can make a telescope similar to the Edmund Scientific Red scope or "Portaball" type scope which was well made, optically acceptable, and comes with a simple RDF and 1.25" Crayford focuser.

[netwolf]

Stephen I agree, the Edmunds scope was a good one. From reviews i have read of new nad used units, they are tough little scopes. The particular review i linked mentions the scope being dropped and still retaiing collimation. I would like to think the hioptic model is the same but i kind of doubt it.

Sorry to the OP, as we have diagressed from the original subject.
I was actually thinking of reccomending the little 99$ scope i saw to a few friends who enquired with me for a childrens scope. But I think i will hold off on that for now. Its a pitty. The Orion Starblast 4.5" is a bigger version i think of the same scope, but has had better reviews.

edit here is one review on the 4.5"
http://www.astromart.com/articles/ar...?article_id=93

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

gaa_ian had one of the red Portaball. It was a great little scope. Don't know if you could swap eyepieces though. Certainly that blue one you posted Eric is the same as the Celestron "Portaball" (cant remember the model 'name') and the eyepiece screws in. To put in other eyepieces you have to unscrew the silver barrel of an eyepiece and then screw it into the scope holder. bit of a pain really. The optics on these weren't too flash either. Ian's Portaball was much better.

[netwolf]

Paul I think the Edmunds one was 4.5" while the one Eric posted is a 76mm.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

I'm pretty sure the one Ian had was around 75 mm as it was almost identical to the blue one. Not sure what brand it was, hopefully Ian will see this thread and post some info.