Celestron Nexstar 8 Se Telescope Argenté

I purchased the telescope over the phone, the lady I spoke to was very helpful and she explained all about the scope and answered all my questions. The telescope arrived the next day and it took me about two hours to set up, this is my first telescope and I am more than pleased with it. FIVE STARS to Castle Cameras, I would recommend and purchase from them again. I decided to purchased from Castle Cameras as I have dealt with them before and used to live in Bournemouth and now live in Devon. Also they were most helpful and competitive on their prices.

Great piece of equipment, not so easy to set, best two peoples its heavy. Man when you look through wow

I will start this review by saying that I am not an expert. I got this telescope for my son and there is no way that we can manage to focus properly. The image is always out of focus. We absolutely are unable to obtain a clear and in focus image. I don’t know why. Definitely the focusing knob has a serious issue. It doesn’t seem to be precise and it’s not just a matter of going backwards and forwards with it, it just doesn’t work the same way you would focus with the camera. The magnification is a lot less than I expected (remember, not an expert in telescopes) the moon appears as a whole in the eyepiece and by adding a different eyepiece (I got a £300 9mm) the image is incredibly dark and in this case the focusing issue is way bigger. I definitely need to investigate these issues, but for now it seems to be a big waste of money.

I was no longer able to lift my 10" reflector to set it up outside so I donated it and purchased the NextStar. So much lighter and easier to carry, and what a difference with automatic skewing vs having to manually locate the tube of my 10" on an object. And the precision of the NextStar optics makes up for the smaller mirror diameter. This scope is a delight.

A great telescope, very clear and relatively easy to use. Alignment can be tricky - definitely, definitely purchase a power lead to go with the telescope (can be found online for £15). Batteries don’t last long, and when they begin to drain it throws the alignment completely.