i purchased this telescope a couple of weeks ago and i got to say that i have been having a blast. The setup was no longer than 10 min, and it took me less than 2 min to center my first target, iv been using the tripod on marble floors so idk how well it would work on not-so-stable surfaces but for me, its good. The telescope came with 2 eyepieces the 10mm and 20mm, at first i thought i wouldn't be enough to see any sky objects, fortunately, i was wrong, the first night i was able to spot saturn with the 10mm eyepiece, even though it looked really small i was able to distinguish the rings, i even took pictures (which look bad in comparison of what i see with my eyes) the next day i was able to see jupiter (as small as saturn) and i could see the stripes and 3 tiny ... Morei purchased this telescope a couple of weeks ago and i got to say that i have been having a blast. The setup was no longer than 10 min, and it took me less than 2 min to center my first target, iv been using the tripod on marble floors so idk how well it would work on not-so-stable surfaces but for me, its good. The telescope came with 2 eyepieces the 10mm and 20mm, at first i thought i wouldn't be enough to see any sky objects, fortunately, i was wrong, the first night i was able to spot saturn with the 10mm eyepiece, even though it looked really small i was able to distinguish the rings, i even took pictures (which look bad in comparison of what i see with my eyes) the next day i was able to see jupiter (as small as saturn) and i could see the stripes and 3 tiny dots next to it which were the moons i was also able to see mars which looked like a slightly bigger orange/red star. this was ALL with the 10mm eyepiece without a Barlow lens. even though i purchased this telescope i think there are better telescopes for the price range so i encourage viewers to keep looking for better options. The telescope and the tripod are pretty lightweight i carry it around my house back and forth and its not trouble. About the packaging and shipment, i live outside the US and the telescope box arrived in great condition. I think its a great purchase and something you will definitely enjoy using.

I’ve only used a telescope a few times in my past. I’m no expert. I’m just someone that has a casual interest in space and celestial stuff in general. Being that this would be my first telescope, I wanted something that could be set up and put away quickly. Something that I can just piddle around with for 20-40 minutes at a time. As many have noted, the scope itself is simple and good enough to fit that bill. As many have also noted, the mount that is included w/ the scope and tripod leaves much to be desired. My first time out, I got some good looks at the moon and Jupiter. Jupiter itself was a little bright and fuzzy, but its moons came into focus and it felt pretty cool to know for a fact that this brightest star in the sky, wasn’t a star after all. A couple of ... MoreI’ve only used a telescope a few times in my past. I’m no expert. I’m just someone that has a casual interest in space and celestial stuff in general. Being that this would be my first telescope, I wanted something that could be set up and put away quickly. Something that I can just piddle around with for 20-40 minutes at a time. As many have noted, the scope itself is simple and good enough to fit that bill. As many have also noted, the mount that is included w/ the scope and tripod leaves much to be desired. My first time out, I got some good looks at the moon and Jupiter. Jupiter itself was a little bright and fuzzy, but its moons came into focus and it felt pretty cool to know for a fact that this brightest star in the sky, wasn’t a star after all. A couple of days later I got a good glimpse of Saturn and could distinguish the ring encircling it. I bought the pared down extra lens set and got better looks at everything, but the shortcomings of the mount became that much more evident. Most of my time in between these great sights was spent fiddling with the mount and tripod- getting the target in focus, waiting for the image to stop bouncing, then losing it, due to Earth’s rotation (can’t do much about that). The poor scope-to-mount weight distribution of and the slop clumsiness of the AZ mount itself really tried my patience. I’d lock on to a view and as soon as I’d let go, the scope would settle and the view was lost. After the positive experiences and reading enough about others’ frustration with the mount, I decided to pony up for a better mount. It cost more than this entire setup, but it will get plenty of use w/ this scope and perhaps my next scope, once I’ve outgrown this one, but that’s farther down the road. I’m much happier with the scope on its new Twilight 1 mount. That mount’s slow motion worm gear controls make this scope a lot more fun to use, but at a high cost.

I have had this telescope for about a month, and for the first time hobbyist I really feel like I got my money's worth. I got this specifically to see the lead up to the Saturn and Jupiter conjunction in December 2020. In my backyard, with moderate light pollution, I can clearly see Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and four of its moons, and on really clear nights the cloud bands on Jupiter. I have been able to see the Orion nebula and Andromeda galaxy, which are awesome to find and see but aren't going to look like the fancy photos you have seen. You can see a hazy cloud essentially, which is really rewarding but just wanting to give an accurate expectation of what is possible with this scope. You can certainly see a lot of detail on the moon surface as well, ... MoreI have had this telescope for about a month, and for the first time hobbyist I really feel like I got my money's worth. I got this specifically to see the lead up to the Saturn and Jupiter conjunction in December 2020. In my backyard, with moderate light pollution, I can clearly see Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and four of its moons, and on really clear nights the cloud bands on Jupiter. I have been able to see the Orion nebula and Andromeda galaxy, which are awesome to find and see but aren't going to look like the fancy photos you have seen. You can see a hazy cloud essentially, which is really rewarding but just wanting to give an accurate expectation of what is possible with this scope. You can certainly see a lot of detail on the moon surface as well, including ridges, craters, and shadows. Also great for terrestrial viewing. During the day, while practicing with it, I was able to make out individual people on a mountain summit 18 miles from my location. It really is quick to just yank out and set up with no adjustment needed after you set the finder scope. If you want to do any photography, or see a ton of detail in deep space objects it isn't the greatest because it lacks the equitorial scope for long exposure pictures and the smaller diameter limits the detail you can get for low light objects, but if those are your interests you are going to spend quite a bit more. Certainly worth the money for what it is and I am very pleased with my purchase.

I bought this for my husband and we love it. I bought extra lenses and we had an easy enough time figuring everything out (this is our very first telescope). It's perfect for both celestial and terrestrial gazing. The only thing is that a piece of the tripod just cracked off without any mishandling. We went to move it one evening and it snapped off in my husband's hands. We were surprised as he did nothing drastic or heavy-handed. We went straight to Celestron to see what we could do. Celestron's customer support was prompt and easy to deal with and they shipped us new pieces.

I'm an amateur, but this telescope so far is pretty good. It's very light and easy to assemble with the assembly instructions. We took it out last night (October 20th, 2023) to look at the moon. The one problem we immediately found was in the finderscope. There is kind of like a laser inside the scope that paints a red dot at the center of its lense. You align that red dot with your target and supposedly that aligns the telescope with what you want to see. For me I tried looking at the moon but I didn't see anything. I thought it was broken, but I performed a little experiment where we pointed at a distant ground object (a trash can at a park). I looked through the telescope to see a car parked in the parking lot nearby. I couldn't see the moon because the finder ... MoreI'm an amateur, but this telescope so far is pretty good. It's very light and easy to assemble with the assembly instructions. We took it out last night (October 20th, 2023) to look at the moon. The one problem we immediately found was in the finderscope. There is kind of like a laser inside the scope that paints a red dot at the center of its lense. You align that red dot with your target and supposedly that aligns the telescope with what you want to see. For me I tried looking at the moon but I didn't see anything. I thought it was broken, but I performed a little experiment where we pointed at a distant ground object (a trash can at a park). I looked through the telescope to see a car parked in the parking lot nearby. I couldn't see the moon because the finder scope did not accurately pinpoint my target. I was able to look at the moon by taking by taking note of the distance the red dot has to be from the object in order to be able to see it. I tested this by first looking trying to locate the trash can on the telescope and eyeball the distance it was from the red dot in the finder scope. It was really off. I used this condition when targeting the moon and it worked, I saw the moon. The finder scope was a major problem. I don't know how to replace it or if other finderscopes are compatible. I don't know if everyone has this problem. Everything was fine except the finder scope.

The mount is sticky and irritating especially at higher magnification. The optics are amazing. It is hard to get it stuck in the right spot to view an object but for stuff in the solar system it is absolutely worth it. There is some flex in the tripod, so you will move it to an object you want to view and the field of viewing will bounce back, so you have to mess with it a bit to get it centered. Ultimately I'm glad I bought it because it's worlds better than the binoculars I was using before. If you have the patience to get the AZ70 in the right spot, even with just the 2 lenses it comes with, you'll get a clear image of Saturn with the gaps between the rings and planet and even the shadow of the rings on the planet if the air conditions are good. You can make out ... MoreThe mount is sticky and irritating especially at higher magnification. The optics are amazing. It is hard to get it stuck in the right spot to view an object but for stuff in the solar system it is absolutely worth it. There is some flex in the tripod, so you will move it to an object you want to view and the field of viewing will bounce back, so you have to mess with it a bit to get it centered. Ultimately I'm glad I bought it because it's worlds better than the binoculars I was using before. If you have the patience to get the AZ70 in the right spot, even with just the 2 lenses it comes with, you'll get a clear image of Saturn with the gaps between the rings and planet and even the shadow of the rings on the planet if the air conditions are good. You can make out the cloud bands on Jupiter and LORDY the moon looks amazing. Not so great for deep space objects, I was able to find andromeda galaxy and the eagle nebula but their presence is underwhelming in the 70mm aperture. Also this scope is very impressive looking, like the stereotypical "telescope" most people think of when they think telescope. It is long and big and the tripod looks super cool even if it is less than optimal. For the price I think it is a decent buy and you will see lots of detail on planets and the moon. I can't emphasize enough how cool the moon looks in this thing, I wasn't even interested in looking at the moon until I pointed this thing at it but now...In conclusion: the mount the tripod kinda suck but the scope its' self is great for resolving binary stars and getting good views of planets and the moon.

The Celestron Astromaster 70AZ. Nice telescope 70mm lens, 2 x eyepieces a 10mm and a 20mm a star finder light and the 90° fitting to use for the eyepieces. The tripod isn't bad either... it has a tray for your eyepieces and bits. We bought ours to view the rings of Saturn and you can see them quite clearly but the image was small, as you might expect from a budget priced telescope. We could also see Jupiter although a bit blurry although it's many moons were quite clear next to it. Overall the 70AZ is not a bad telescope for a beginner like us but we had some misgivings with the telescope itself. On our telescope, (they may not all be like this) but the rotating wheels axel unit attached to the base to adjust the focus was skewiff while mounted on the tripod which ... MoreThe Celestron Astromaster 70AZ. Nice telescope 70mm lens, 2 x eyepieces a 10mm and a 20mm a star finder light and the 90° fitting to use for the eyepieces. The tripod isn't bad either... it has a tray for your eyepieces and bits. We bought ours to view the rings of Saturn and you can see them quite clearly but the image was small, as you might expect from a budget priced telescope. We could also see Jupiter although a bit blurry although it's many moons were quite clear next to it. Overall the 70AZ is not a bad telescope for a beginner like us but we had some misgivings with the telescope itself. On our telescope, (they may not all be like this) but the rotating wheels axel unit attached to the base to adjust the focus was skewiff while mounted on the tripod which made it look odd, there was no way of straightening this, it was like as if the person who assembled it didn't make sure it was straight before they glued and rivited the end mechanism onto the tube. There was also some very sticky lubrication grease which we got on our hands from the inner chrome focusing tube (we think) and had to use methylated spirit to get it off our hands in the early hours of the morning after viewing Jupiter and Saturn for the first time. The metal ring on the end of the telescope was loose and wouldn't stay put while removing the dust cover, there wasn't even any way of securing it, so there were a few issues we had with it sorry. If you don't have the floor space to keep this sort of telescope on it's tripod, this may not be the type tou want taking up room. Unfortunately we sent the whole thing back, we may get an equivalent at a later date because we did enjoy using this briefly but as soon as we decided to return it we packed it all back up in it's box ready to go back. Remember that no two 70AZ identical telescopes will be the same but this was our experience, don't let us put you off. We hope our information helps, thankyou for reading.

The telescope itself, for the price is very nice. Nice quality of view. Easy to use. Easy to cary. Sturdy while not heavy. The finder scope/ red dot is garbage. Which is to be expected. Separately, the finder scope, sells for around $20. A decent riffle red dot starts for at least $100. Every time I turn it back on the dot appears on different spot. I mean way different spot. The good thing is the mount of the finder scope is very good and stable and aligned enough with my telescope so I can just look through the round view finder of the finder scope, with the red dot off, and get pretty close to what I’m seeking. I also tried the bigger finder scope/ red dot that Celestron sells for around $50, still garbage. My plan is to add a dovetail to picatinny adapter and ... MoreThe telescope itself, for the price is very nice. Nice quality of view. Easy to use. Easy to cary. Sturdy while not heavy. The finder scope/ red dot is garbage. Which is to be expected. Separately, the finder scope, sells for around $20. A decent riffle red dot starts for at least $100. Every time I turn it back on the dot appears on different spot. I mean way different spot. The good thing is the mount of the finder scope is very good and stable and aligned enough with my telescope so I can just look through the round view finder of the finder scope, with the red dot off, and get pretty close to what I’m seeking. I also tried the bigger finder scope/ red dot that Celestron sells for around $50, still garbage. My plan is to add a dovetail to picatinny adapter and add a cheap riffle red dot that I don’t use. Because, even a cheap riffle red dot that’s goes for $40-$50 is going to be alot better than this. Or I’ll just keep using the one that came with the telescope, with the red dot off. It’s not that hard to find the moon and planets. It might be harder for other celestial objects that are dimmer

What came to me was certainly not in "new" condition--the box itself had a GIANT sticker stating "thanks for giving this product second life by buying renewed"--Celestron Warehouse. Celestron ultimately gave me the option to send it back (not going to work for a Christmas gift) or to give me 25% back. I chose the later as Santa was going to have it set up for the kids anyway. The scope is great for beginners (which is what our family is). We have seen Jupiter with its moons and bands; the rings on Saturn and a lot of the moon. We bought a 2X barlow lens to go with the included eyepieces. This telescope has a maximum magnification of 164x. Nothing too crazy, but easy to use; generally just disappointed in the new vs used issue.