Celestron Nexstar Skyalign 114GT-SA Telescope

My husband (who has had a great deal of experience with telescopes/astronomy)thinks this is a good scope for him to use anytime with our kids. His telescope is much larger, and a real pain to transport or move around, therefore we do not get it out often. It is low enough to the ground that they can look through the eyepiece without having to stand on a step stool. We mostly look at the moon with it. It is however an older model -- there is newer technology for the computer interface available. Over all a good telescope for the money.

I received this thing, and it had obviously been returned by someone else. The box was beat up , the packaging shoddy, and it was partly put together. The tripod is pretty sturdy, but that's about the highlight. It was easy to put together, but I think that was mostly because someone else had done it and threw it back in the box. I assume this was originally priced at [$]for the computer components, because even with the high-power lens, you're not going to be "wowed" by even some lunar craters on a full-moon evening. The power cord between the battery pack and the motor fits very loosely and if you bump it slightly the computer disconnects and you have to reset the whole thing using an archaic user interface. Once I got the scope aligned, I tried finding objects. It never found anything on its own without me having to manually adjust it after it motors itself. Don't buy this for your kids or grandparents, or for yourself, unless you have the patience of Job. [...] I'd send it back in a second.

I bought this same scope a few years ago, the only one I've owned. Being a total novice initially, it teaches the night sky with the built in software and slews to the objects as well as stays on the objects (with user vigilence). Easy to learn and makes learning easy. If you've never seen the rings of Saturn, you need this telescope.