60 reviews for Celestron – NexStar 8SE Telescope – Computerized Telescope for Beginners and Advanced Users – Fully-Automated GoTo Mount – SkyAlign Technology – 40,000+ Celestial Objects – 8-Inch Primary Mirror Electronics

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   BookWorm – March 9, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Works well!

   Very nice scope! Does what it’s suppose to do!

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Ish – March 9, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Great scope for an urban environment

   This is my first scope and I’m an absolute noob to astronomy. Even so, this makes viewing the sky real easy.Taking it out of the package and setting it up takes about 2 minutes. (Not including alignment.) I haven’t tried the SkyAlign process yet, but based on other reviews it seems pretty straight-forward. I will update this review after I try it. The reason I haven’t is that my backyard has two tree canopies that make it difficult to see a wide swath of the sky to be able to locate three stars without moving the scope to different parts of the yard.First thing I did was level the mount and align the finderscope. I located a distant light pole and centered it through the main scope. Then I tried to center the finderscope. At first, I was worried the finderscope would not align correctly because while the azimuth (left/right) could be adjusted easily, I had to turn the altitude knob to the max to get it just above where it needed to be centered. Overall, though the finderscope does align well.Since I didn’t do the skyalign I just pointed the finderscope at the moon and bam it was right in the middle of my eyepiece. (protip: use a moon filter, even a half moon was too bright without it.) With the 25mm plossl it filled the entire eyepiece. Really sharp image out of a magazine. Fantastic contrast. I also have a 15mm plossl and it gave me even more detailed views of the craters! Pretty awesome.Then I spotted Saturn in the sky. I use the SkyPortal app to see what is in the sky. Really easy to use. So I lined up the finderscope to Saturn and again it was right in the middle of the scope. This was my first time seeing Saturn with my own eyes in the sky. Now, it is not like the pictures you see in the magazine but it still AMAZING. It almost looked fake since it is surrounded by sheer blackness. It is a pale yellow in color. My seeing was not as good looking at Saturn but that could be to my urban location, summer heat, stock EP or all of the above Still, there were brief periods I could make out the Cassini division.One last recommendation, buy a power tank to use with the scope but still put batteries in the mount so that if the power tank cable comes loose you don’t lose your alignment info.

   16 people found this helpful

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   SuiborSuibor – March 9, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Very Pleased So Far!

   I had a Celestron go-to years ago and wanted to get back into astronomy with the Jupiter / Saturn conjunction coming up next month. I also wanted to get into taking pictures. This is the first 8 inch telescope I have had and it definitely catches a ton of light. These pictures were taken on my second night in the driveway, in a large suburb of Houston, TX. I can’t wait to get it out to a dark site within the next week or two. I have been very pleased so far. I did get the GPS unit, which makes it quicker to set up. The tracking is the only thing I have found a little frustrating. That said, I have not done a 3 star align yet, as I have been focused on the planets. I will point out that using solar system align on Jupiter or Saturn does require constant re-centering when on higher magnifications. Even with the tracking, If you don’t stay on top of it, you will lose it and have to go hunting with a smaller eyepiece to get it back. I am hoping that the 3 star align method will track better. In my tight driveway with a two story house looming high on one side and tress on the other, I have not been able to try that method yet. Tracking adjust is probably par for the course, but I did want to point out to anyone that thinks the telescope will keep the selected body in the center of the eyepiece that this has not been my experience. With a smaller eyepiece (25mm) solar system align will keep the planet in the eyepiece for 1 to 3 minutes, so the tracking is useful, it is just not perfect. The quality of everything seems great and the culmination was spot on out of the box.

   4 people found this helpful

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   An Z.An Z. – March 9, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Great amateur telescope

   This is my first telescope. I checked out reviews online, and I know 8 inch is much better than 6 inch. But I don’t have much space to store it and need my telescope to be more portable. It is a little bit hard to align red dot and the scope. But once aligned, it works great! Started with the moon for some practice. The view is wonderful.

   2 people found this helpful

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   BammiebBammieb – March 9, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Awesome Telescope

   The Celestron Nexstar 6se Telescope is fun, big and heavy, powerful, and really good optics. The night I first used it I used the Skyalign alignment and worked perfectly along with auto 2 star alignment. That night I saw Saturn In really good detail, and what was surprising was I was able to see Swan Nebula and Hercules Cluster all from a heavy light polluted sky.Optics: 10/10Goto: 8/10Tracking: 8:10Portability: 7/10Eyepiece: 7/10Battery Life: 4/10Strength of tripod: 10/10Magnification: 10/10Light Gathering: 9/10So this telescope is really cool and fun to use and I will buy an AC adapter later. This telescope is the best I have Ever Had and Is worth the $800.00Update 11/30/13:I live in a very heavy light polluted sky and no deep sky objects are visible to the naked eye. But when I look through the telescope I see the Orion Nebula(M42) very bright and clear. But when I type in Dumbbell Nebula(M27) I don’t see a thing except several tens of stars. To see it you have to image it, I took 10 images 10 second exposure each (10x10s) and stacked them for a total of 100 second exposure . The Nebula was big, bright, and colorful(you can see the image in the product image gallery). So to see brighter/faint deep sky objects in a light polluted sky you have to image them with a camera. the faintest thing I have ever detected in any image is about magnitude 12(244 times fainter you can ever see with the naked eye).

   794 people found this helpful

6. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Natalie – March 9, 2024

   3.0 out of 5 stars

   What I wish I knew before.

   I bought this knowing this would be my starter telescope. What I didn’t like is that it needed to be charged to use the telescope.If you think that you were were just going to use it without having to set up all the computerized parts then its just not going to work.First night I got it I was so excited because I did get a clear picture of the moon. I had a terrible time setting up star alignment . I could never get it to work.I then saw several videos online about how you have to update software and firmware. I wasn’t super excited to have to do all these things and figure out how before I could really use it. I updated the firmware and software and it just stopped working at all. I contacted celestron customer service as they were very nice and I explained exactly what I did and they said I would need to send it pack for repair. I returned it all together because I really don’t want to have to update a bunch on a telescope and then I had to buy an external battery to charge it. It just seemed like a lot for a telescope. I personally won’t get another telescope that fully is computerized.

   2 people found this helpful

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   G. Smith – March 9, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   Great scope with a lot of “wow” power

   We used our scope for the first time recently. I had read the manual and a lot of online materials before we received our scope so I was somewhat familiar with how to use it. I input our location using our place’s longiture and latitude and used the unit’s “two star” alignment setting since I could only make out two bright stars in our light-polluted location (Tokyo, Japan). After this, I input “Jupiter” into the hand controller and the scope slewed to the planet and placed it right in the center of the eyepiece’s field of view. My family and I spent the next hour letting the scope swing around to various stars and binary systems that I couldn’t see with my unaided eyes but showed up beautifully in the eyepiece. I recommend taking a look at Albireo in the list of “named stars” on the hand controller very highly.I knew that a telescope, much like a camera, is a device that needs accessories. Therefore, before I bought the scope I purchased (used) a 9mm ocular, a barlow lens, a better star diagonal and a battery pack to power this thing. The car battery adapter I purchased with the scope. A lot of people don’t use a case so I can understand why Celestron didn’t include one with this to keep the price down. One of those plastic storage boxes should work well if you use the foam that comes with the scope to keep it in place.The optics of the telescope and the special coatings on the optics are a great improvement over what I experienced 20 years ago with my first 5″ SCT scope. The images are sharp and this scope is suitable for both planetary viewing and deep space objects. However, the deep space objects will require you to find a dark site to be really visable. Our first night of viewing included a look at M13, a globular cluster. It was there but the local light pollution required me to use “averted vision” to see it.I highly recommend this product for those who want to get into Astronomy at a reasonable price. There are bigger scopes out there but the prices and size of these telescopes make this one a great compromise on size, performance and “bang for the buck.” I don’t think that you will be disappointed. You will need a few accessories but buy those as you need them.

   247 people found this helpful

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mr. Happy ReviewerMr. Happy Reviewer – March 9, 2024

   5.0 out of 5 stars

   This is possibly the best telescope you could get for personal viewing

   The picture you see is just me putting my cell phone in the eyepiece to take a picture of the moon. When you look with your eyes, the telescope is clearer than those pictures show. This is truly the best personal telescope I have ever used. You can get more powerful telescopes than this, but they get way more expensive. This is a monster of a telescope, and truly anything bigger than this becomes very difficult to move around and take different places. I’m glad I got this, and I would never get anything bigger than this because it would be an absolute pain to take anywhere.Please understand you will want to add a high quality zoom eyepiece to this, a power supply (at least an AC adapter, but a portable battery would be great too), a dew shield, and a solar filter and a moon filter would be great too. That will allow you to use the telescope closer to its full potential.Yes, this telescope is expensive, and the things you add to it to make it fully functional are also expensive. But the results you get after you do that are unparalleled. This is truly a system that is a joy to use.

   16 people found this helpful

9. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   maddy – March 9, 2024

   4.0 out of 5 stars

   Go To Tracking not as advertised……update–now it works with help from customer support.

   Pros: Four-stars for great optics and other hardware (tripod, etc.)Cons:1) Lucky me. I got a scope with the new USB hand controller. The only problem is–I doesn’t work. You are supposed to be able to update the firmware by connecting the controller to a USB cable and activating the Celestron Firmware Manager. The CFM software refuses to recognize my scope thru the USB port–so….no firmware update. The work around is to pay another almost $40 for an RS-232 cable and a USB to RS-232 adapter. I think I’ll pass–that probably won’t work either.2) The “Go to” system is definitely NOT as advertised. They say in the promo literature that you can align the scope on “any two or three” bright celestial objects–you don’t even have to know what they are–WRONG. When I go to align the scope it gives me a list of stars to use Aldebaren, Sirius, Polaris and about a dozen more. So–I DO have to know where they are and what they are. They say you can use the moon to align the scope as an object. My scope will not accept the moon. Also at random intervals the motion controls stop working for no apparent reason This is a real problem when aligning the scope, as you have to re-boot the scope and start all over again. If this system worked as advertised it would be a dream. As it is it can be a real headache. I should have given it two or three stars, but the optics arereally good.Update: I contacted Celestron, and they worked me through a fix that involved updating the firmware. The instructions in the manual were incorrect on updating firmware. The scope now works correctly. Celestron customer support is excellent.

   7 people found this helpful

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    jonk – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Get the finder scope aligned and this telescope is incredible!

    I am an absolute beginner with astronomy but l wanted a scope that would be fun to use and take some of the guesswork out of finding objects in the sky. I also wanted a scope of good quality that l could grow with. This telescope is it! I bought it from the Amazon warehouse in ‘like new” condition. It arrived as described thankfully. After assembling it I took it for a spin (literally) that night. I couldn’t find anything other then the moon and, by complete accident, Jupiter. It looked incredible but not being able to operate the Goto function was frustrating and almost led me to return it. The next day I youtube’d how to align the red dot finder and later that night took the scope out again for one more try. Once the finder scope was aligned this thing came to life! Within 10 minutes I had the Goto working perfectly and saw some pretty incredible things. Alot of people complain about the Goto functionality-how difficult and dated it is but it works really well and after aligning the finder scope and later purchasing the gps unit and celestron zoom lens, I have had extremely fun nights using this incredible scope. The 6se has really good optics too. I can’t recommend it enough. Once you get that red dot finder scope aligned you’ll have a blast searching the night sky. Hope this helps and don’t give up….

    3 people found this helpful

11. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Karen Seiden- Hinton author: Love and Loathing in Silicon ValleyKaren Seiden- Hinton author: Love and Loathing in Silicon Valley – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Very heavy

    I wanted to love this telescope, but it is too heavy to move from place to place .It weighs about 20 something pounds.This is a good telescope if you want to keep it in one place. I like the Celestron 127SLT better. It’s almost as good as this telescope, and I can move it aroundQuite easily

    One person found this helpful

12. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Buford Buttfish – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    This is not about the telescope – Celestron

    I suggest if you do purchase one, DO NOT go directly to Celestron for your scope. Amazon has a free return, Celestron does not (cost me $100+ to return an error on the order; and took over two weeks for a refund. I order the correct scope on Amazon, it arrived quickly and in the same box type that celestron uses.

    2 people found this helpful

13. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    EasTexSteve – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    This is great, once you figure it out.

    I bought this with the case, splitter cable, wifi adapter, AC adapter, and lens accessory kit. You WILL need the lens kit, and AC adapter unless you have an endless supply of alkaline batteries. I have some telescope experience with refractor scopes, but nothing as sophisticated as this. I’ll tell you right up front: THIS IS NOT A TOY. It’s all about the setup and initial star alignment before you start viewing. The tripod has to be LEVEL. Make sure you mount the telescope into the arm as far forward as possible. The spotting scope has to be adjusted DEAD ON. You need to learn the alignment process carefully. When you align to a star during the initial alignment, that star needs to be right smack in the middle of the viewfinder before you push the ALIGN button. And, if you bump the tripod at anytime during the alignment, or anytime during the night of viewing, you may have to do a realignment. But, the more of these you do, the faster you will get at it. When you enter your location info, you need to put in the exact latitude and longitude and elevation of where you are standing for best results. If you do all this correctly, the telescope will literally slew to any target you choose and it will be right in the center area of the viewfinder and track it accurately. And, it will do this all night long. You can change lenses once you slew to a target, and it will still be centered and in focus. The easiest way to accomplish the initial setup is to do it in the daylight before it gets dark. Also, do your initial focus during the daylight hours. Give yourself a couple hours or more to do all of this. Read, read, read the documentation. Learning this telescope requires patience. But, once you figure it out, you will be amazed at what you can view. And, I’m doing all of this with just the telescope without using any additional software or my cell phone. I’m fixing to get into all that at my next viewing session. About the AC adapter. They should have used a better plug and socket setup. If you wiggle it, it will lose connection and cause the telescope to reboot. The way around that is to use a small piece of gorilla tape several inches behind the plug and tape it to the top section of the motorized mount.

    13 people found this helpful

14. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Lennert M. – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    A very nice telescope for beginner and intermediate astronomer

    Received the SCT about 3 months ago at an awesome price. I have seen this telescope priced at $2K but I got it for $1200.00. Very few accessories included but from the savings on the scope, you can add in some accessories like a F/6.3 focal reducer, 60 mm finder scope from Svbony and a set of 1.25″ polossi eyepieces and filters. Was able to auto-align and view planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Venus. I was able to view the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion nebula using the focal reducer. Looking forward to expanding my knowledge of the night sky and sharing them with friends and family.

    3 people found this helpful

15. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Arch Villian – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Perfect for the beginner

    Well nearly everybody has a thing about the power, it sucks and you have to have the power tank or power outlet Period, It will drain the batteries is less than 30 min. Also no storage case for transport, So be really carefull. I found a soft bag for $200. and if your going to a star party or taking it out the back woods you should had one. So the telescope and optics are not bad, I bought the CCD device so I could take pictures, Wish I could come back and review after a year of use. thats when the real problems come out of a product. I think its a little expensive, but they have made it easy once the scope is alligned its a star party after that, woo hoo!. They have a pro model for only $300 bucks more and after checking it out I which I bought it instead, also the connection to a pc is a serial port (Gosh IF you can get an old compaq laptop that run MS-DOS but of course it wont run the software) most bargin laptops dont have a PCMCIA port so you can add a Serial port to your new laptop which by the way runs the software that allow you to connect to the telescope you will need this after looking and all the planets in the first night). Today in this modern world we use the (USB) port, printers gave this up about 10 year ago, hmm I wonder what else they use in here that 20 year old technology, (stepper moters, they slew the tube) yep thats why the power consumption is so bad (Who in there right mind would do such a thing), NOT a green product, you will go through a 20 pack of batteries in a night. Each time the batteries die you have to go through the same 5 minute alignment procedure, hopefull your not viewing a star of thats fading on the horizen as it will be gone before you can get back to where you were. Totally frustrating (How about D Batteries, er 2 car batteries ?), oh go back in the order that power tank or better yet pull the car up and drain its batteries then your stuck in the field, try to get a jump in the back 40 at 4:00am (What a story!, look for my adventure book on amazon.com)If your casual user I would try the little one for about $500 bucks. if your an astronomer then go on the pro series. GOD Please dont forget the power tank, its mandatory PERIOD.

    11 people found this helpful

16. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    B. LauB. Lau – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Nexstar 6SE and Astrophotography

    Analysis:Let me start off by saying… buy the powertank, you are pretty much forced to buy it because there is no other reliable power source unless you are close to an outlet and even then you will need to buy the ac adapter. Your hands are tied.So my first impression of this telescope was how easy it is to use. You basically input the time, date, and bunch of other common stuff associated with your location. Then, you point it at 3 really bright objects in the sky and try to center it as much as possible in the eyepiece. Lastly, confirm your 3 selections and you are ready to go. The alignment is a bit off regularly and you do have to adjust but the mount pretty much gets you in the general vicinity of the object you are looking for and with some practice you can find it. I so far use the “Tour” feature on the remote. It has a bunch of popular objects that people would want to see, like the Orion’s Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy.(Check some pictures that i have posted, taken with the Canon T2i it is possible).I am pretty satisfied with the portability of the telescope because i can move it all by myself and it doesn’t break much of a sweat.I want to say that the optics of this Nexstar 6SE are absolutely amazing. You can see a lot of stuff and if you are a beginner like I am you will be able to learn a lot and improve with this telescope.When you get bored of just looking through the eyepiece you can try your luck at astro-photography. I think this will keep me busy with this telescope for a while. I use the Canon T2i with t-ring and prime focus adapter.However, I really cannot stop thinking of whether or not i should have gotten the 8SE instead to gather more light. But, with that being said if you are a beginner and are unsure if astronomy is for you, start off with the 6SE and see if you are really into astronomy. If you aren’t you have saved yourself some dough otherwise if you become really into it you will end up upgrading sooner or later.Pros:Good sharp opticsEasy to use mountSimple to setupAble to piggyback a dslrRebate card arrives very quickly about 3 weeksCons:Requires a power sourceSuper loud mechanical mount, I swear people can hear you from a mile away…. don’t want to wake up the neighborsThe mount is not very good for astrophotography and you cannot take exposures for longer than 10 seconds objects become blurred.I give it 4 stars because of the bad mount. Otherwise, it is a really good telescope.

    52 people found this helpful

17. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    larry nelson – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent scope

    Celestron makes good scopes and has for a long time. The 6″ nexstar SE is a solid performer.Great for visual but limited for ap but can be done. Mine came from Focus Camera and arrived on time and in great condition. Came well collimated with excellent optics. Easy to set up and works great with 1.25 eyepieces. Great for planetary and can do planetary AP. This is not the scope for wide field and faint fuzzies but I love it’s versatility. Grab and go with enough aperture for any level. I’ve owned many scopes over the years and tend to grab this alot. When your ready for the next step pair it with a 10″ or 12″ dob -Enjoy

    2 people found this helpful

18. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Jason Mulek – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Simply Amazing

    This is just amazing. I have always wanted a more serious telescope and this thing ROCKS! The Nexstar hand controller took a little time to get used to and how to align the telescope – but once that was figured out its shocking how simple it is. I was overthinking it BIGTIME.This is a really amazing telescope. I have seen so much of the night sky and my kids love it.

    One person found this helpful

19. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Brian Wachter – March 9, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Supposedly a good one

    I bought this for my daughter (18) for a Christmas present. We were all excited to use it and explore space. Figured it was kind of self explanatory because the built in computer can find things automatically (yeah right). For days, we read and re-read the set up instructions…we used the level to make sure it was true, we found 3 stars (for triangulation) so the telesope could set itself and know where it was (on earth, I guess). No matter what setting we put it on, it was as clueless as us. It couldn’t even find the moon!!! I contacted tech support via email, and they simply sent me the instructions and used some words I didn’t understand. If I remember correctly (it’s been over 1.5 years now) I MAY have reached a live person but I didn’t understand that either. To top it off, they don’t have an authorized dealer near me that could have helped me with it. Basically, I have a $1000 magnifying glass that just sits in my loft looking like I’m a scientist…except for the fact it’s a major disappointment and a dust collector. My Samsung S-21 phone can zoom in on the moon and take a surprisingly good pic, better than this telescope that couldn’t find the moon and a clear night (motor just kept going round and round). All I can say, from MY experience, is if you aren’t familiar with telescopes, do NOT buy this thing.

    2 people found this helpful

20. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    a gadget lover – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Motorized scope is very useful even if you know the sky well

    The setup is simple. Some negative reviews were mostly from failed Sky Align procedure which I think is due to not doing it correctly. For me, I got it work right out the box:1. Assemble the hand control on a fully extended Tripod. I put it on my backyard grass and make sure it leveled ( I didn’t even use the level bubble as my grass is rather even). then assemble the tube.2. Enter the location. I use the GPS coordinates from my Smartphone. enter the date,time. Make sure you enter new date, time every time you bring the scope out as it doesn’t have an internal clock (it only remembers the last saved Date and time that you used the scope). It does remember the location so no need to re-enter this.3. I choose SkyAlign (3 star Method) and don’t have any problem with it. Make sure you choose 3 bright stars (or planets) as far apart as possible and not all from a region of the sky. For example, 3 stars from the winter triangle are too close. I think this is a common mistake that leads to Failed Alignment. Then you’re ready to go. Select an object and press Enter, the motorized scope moves the object. It may not be centered in the eyepiece but in the view. Use the directional buttons (change to middle slew rate about 5 0r 6) to center it. the Scope will continue to track the object and keep it centered.I’ve been watching the sky for a while with a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain on a Manfrotto tripod. Even though I know the sky well enough to direct my scope correctly to sky objects (Jupiter, Saturn, etc), tracking a planet (Jupiter for example) by manually re-positioning the tripod is a pain because Jupiter goes out of view every 10-15 seconds (because the Earth turns) on hi power view. So this Nexstar is awesome that its motor keeps tracking the object automatically to keep the object centered in the eyepiece. And it tracks very well. One time I went inside the house for 20-30 minutes and came back to see that the object is still exactly centered in the eyepiece. The tracking rate is really accurately in sync with earth rotation rate.I have had it for a few days, have seen Jupiter, saturn, mars, venus, several nebulas, galaxies, star clusters. I have also a 12.5mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow to reach a magnification of (2000/12.5)x2=320. 300x is usually the sky limit even though an 8 inch scope has a theoretical limit of 8x(50 to 60)=400x to 480x.In summary, a great telescope. Motorized scope is quite useful even if you know the sky well, at least for the automatic tracking of an object as stated above.

    8 people found this helpful

21. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Review – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    High quality telescope. Worth the buy.

    Great telescope. I got it as my second telescope after buying a dobsonian 6inch. I wanted something that was easier to store and put away when I’m not using it. It still takes up quite a bit of room but its a lot more flexible on where you can put it than a dobsonian telescope is. You will definitely need to buy the power tank so you can take it anywhere you want to observe. The tracking/goto system is sort of difficult to get set up but you don’t need it to enjoy the scope. I personally have never gotten it to track 100% accurately yet but I have only tried to track anything maybe 3-4 times since getting it. The telescope remote seems to have issues functioning in temps below 15 degrees F. The motor itself seems to run fine in very cold weather. Even works great with a solar filter to look at the sun with. I’m not sure I would recommend this to beginers I would say maybe try the 5 or 6 inch just for the greatly reduced cost. I would also recommend getting a dobsonian if you have the space for it over getting this. But if you are like me and don’t have a lot of space to store a massive telescope and want something that can be reasonably easily moved and set up. Then this is the telescope you want. Given the chance to do it all over I would buy this telescope a second time._________________________________________________________________________________ProsGood quality material. Everything looks and feels great.Good stand and motor. Motor works in both hot and cold conditions. As long as you keep the remote warm the motor seems to be able to go as cold as you are able to go with out freezing to death. I also used it in the sun for almost an hour and it worked well through that. (Make sure to get a good solar filter though)Great detail on the objects you are viewing. I get great views of the moon, Jupiter(And its moons), Saturn, nebula, and other objects. Its really amazing.Easy to set up and easy to store. (I’d keep the foam from the boxes you get so you can store the telescope in that on a shelf instead of spending 200+ dollars on a case for it.)Easy to use the basic features on it._________________________________________________________________________________ConsWhile it is easy to set up and move it can take awhile to transport and put together if you are a lone. If you are moving it from storage to your drive way it might take 2-3 trips. Its easy but it just takes time.The goto/tracking system is fairly difficult to use. This might be made easier with a better finder scope. The one that comes with it is kind of bad but thats normal.It takes much longer to set up than a dobsonian does. Maybe 15-20 minutes to move and assemble from a closet into the drive way.The remote does not function well in super cold weather. Under 15 degrees F you will only have maybe 30 minutes before the computer in the remove starts freezing up literally. You can help prevent this by putting the remote in your coat._________________________________________________________________________________Recommend items to have or buy when you buy this scope.”Celestron 18778 AC Adapter” Pretty much required to even use the telescope I’m not sure why this isn’t included with the telescope.”Celestron Power Tank” I HIGHLY recommend you get this with the telescope. It works great as a back up light/phone charger during power outages which I have used many times since buying it already.”Celestron 93230 8 to 24mm 1.25 Zoom Eyepiece” This thing is pretty much all you need starting off. You don’t have to unscrew other sights and let objects slip away. You can just put this thing in and see great detail and have the ability to quickly zoom in. The value this eye piece has is pretty insane.”Any phone telescope eye piece mount” Its a great cheap way to get some astrophotography pics of the moon and maybe if you know what you are doing some other objects as well.

    17 people found this helpful

22. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Goose – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Telescope

    I am new to stargazing and i was trying to decide between a 6SE and a 8SE and decided with the 6SE. On my experience i can tell you this telescope has not disappointed. I will explain but keep in mind this is my own experience. I am using the lens that comes with this telescope which is a 1.25 mmCity View:This telescope does great in city lights. During the week i use it in my backyard and it’s amazing the different things i am able to see with this telescope. I am able to look at jupiter and it’s clouds, Saturn (even though smaller than Jupiter) has great details from it’s rings and 4-5 moons. Mars you can see the red planet but hard to see it’s features, Uranus you can see a kinda gray dot and Neptune a blue dot. Don’t expect to see images like you see from the Hubble Space Telescope. That’s a 1.5 billion dollar telescope compared to $500+ telescope. But the images you do see and the satisfaction of finding the planets and stars is priceless. You will see details thought the lens just not like the pictures.In the city it will be hard to look at nebulas because it is just so bright. The only one that i have been able to see small details would be Andromeda Galaxy. What you will see is a blurry cloud. It is still amazing to find it.Outside of City:Outside of the city this telescope is amazing. Planets and stars look amazing. Clusters and Nebulas have better detail and you are able to see stars that normally you cannot see in the city environment.Set up:The set up is very easy. Tripods are very sturdy and i like how it has a leveler that you can attach to your stand. As for the Nextar at first it might be confusing to use if you have never used a hand remote telescope before like me but after practice and reading the manual it should be self explanatory. Make sure stand is balance when using the 3 star alignment and it should sync to the night sky and make it easy to track and find objects fairly easy. That is one thing i love about it. Once it aligns the menu displays items available to watch and you can just select from the list and the telescope will automatically find it.I did receive a defective hand remote at the beginning where i tried to update the software on my computer and it would not detect it. After contacting support (which took about 1-2 months of email conversations because they do not answer right away) They sent me a replacement.Overall if you are new to this, the 6SE for the price is a great telescope and you will not be disappointed. Save the money that you would have spent on the 8SE, and that money use it to buy other features like a powerbank, eye pieces, filters, and other amenities that you will need later on.

    10 people found this helpful

23. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Chandler Sowden – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Good product, but instruction manual has lots of problems.

    Celestron has always produced superior products, as is this one. The computer control makes it easy to find objects in the sky, but it requires a lot of setup. The tripod must be carefully leveled before attaching the telescope, then you must enter the actual time and date, then find up to 3 stars to get it lined up.Also, the manual was written in 2006, and the directions differ in some areas with the hardware. However, they did include a 2016 update that covers most of the differences. But I’m definitely happy with my purchase.

    One person found this helpful

24. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Bill Davidson – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Awesome scope…but WARNING

    Had to wait three weeks for clear skies to use it. First time I looked at moon at over 300 power. Awesome. Went to move scope to another location. I know I tightened the legs good but somehow one collapsed down causing whole telescope to fall over to the ground. Well the lens on the scope shattered, now a useless orange tube. At least I can still use my mount with my three refractor scopes as “go to”. Don’t assume the rings that tighten on the tripod legs are tight by feel. Make sure they are. Now back to saving up money to but another one!

    One person found this helpful

25. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    OliverOliver – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great scope, love it

    Great Telescope, can do a lot with it. I am just happy I got mine last year before the prices went up by like $300 or so for all of them. Now the 5se is not more the 6se and almost the price of 8seOnly thing I wish is I would of gotten the 8se when the price was lower 4 or 5 months ago.PS one thing I’d like to add in regards to some of the negative reviews on here a telescope is an investment in both money and time it is not something you can just buy turn it on and be an expert at it it takes effort it takes research it takes finding what applications work best. It also takes a lot of practice and I am by no means an expert I ended up buying the Wi-Fi adapter and also I bought the auto go to starsense camera to assist but by no means are those items 100% effective at finding your target every time. Astronomy and specifically astrophotography is about patience and enjoying what you are doing so many people buy a telescope and think they can just throw it in their backyard and take a picture like I did instantly no that’s not the case they do have fully automated ones that cost upwards of 3,000 Plus but that takes a lot of the fun and personality out of it. Each time you use it it will be different your results will come out different every time. You will experience frustration but sometimes that frustration pays off in something Grand with a great photo or seeing something very cool. So if you don’t have that for and then drive or the willingness to spend some time to learn don’t buy any type of telescope more than 150 bucks you will be severely disappointed and upset. If you do want to learn and have the willingness to spend some time and effort and to the practice and art of astronomy and astrophotography then by all means buy one but don’t complain and say oh it’s a worthless pile of garbage that does nothing. Celestron mix some great telescopes and they make some great cheaper ones if you’re not sure about the hobby yet buy one for $150.

    32 people found this helpful

26. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    BgSkyFlyr – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent Scope

    It shipped fast and got it in perfect condition, set it up and everything is working as it should. Beautiful scope and very nice quality, tripod is very sturdy and did some terrestrial views to align the Red dot finder. You will need to do the finder mod where you take a strip of notebook cardboard and slip it under the back of the finder base so you can adjust the finder red dot properly, there’s a video of this on Ytube. I will update again upon using it at first light. All electronics are working as they should so far. Only Con on this has been mentioned is the 8 AA batteries, definitely recommend the TalentCell 6000 MAH Lithium ion battery for this, Model : YB1206000-USB ( here on Amazon) and a 6 foot 5.5 X 1.2 barrel connector (both ends) cable Positive in the middle It may be a bit long probably a 3 foot cable would work but you need it a little long as it moves you don’t want it pulling on the cable, and this depends on where you place the battery. This will give you hours of usage from what I have read. Came with a very nice quick start guide and full manual and separate quick reference guide for the hand controller. So far very pleased with this purchase. I have been in astronomy now for 25 years and this is my first GoTo scope. I feel this would be no problem for a beginner to learn and use, it’s not complicated and the 8″ aperture is definitely the way to go if you can afford it. Lot’s of videos on YTube to help or forums like Cloudy Nights.UPDATE: Got to use it last night, Awesome scope, SkyAlign worked very well, I used Google Earth to get my exact coordinates, I live in the country and entered them in on the Custom site entry. I used the TalentCell 6000mah power supply, I used it for about two hours and had 4 led’s on the power supply left out of 5. Very happy with this scope, beautiful image and it was also perfectly collimated. I also purchased the GSO SCT Dielectric 99% 2″ diagonal for it, it also came with the 1 1/4″ reducer highly recommend if you want to use 2″ eyepieces! No problems with the extra weight, just make sure you move the scope as far forward as it will go to clear the diagonal from hitting the mount, had about 1/4″ clearance for views at Zenith. The bigger diagonal also moves the eyepiece up and back from the rear of the tube so your head will no longer bump the tube when viewing, it also gave a bit brighter and sharper view due to the higher quality mirror. Thank you Amazon for carrying this and shipping it to me so fast!!!!!

    7 people found this helpful

27. 

    Rated 2 out of 5

    Andrew – March 9, 2024

    2.0 out of 5 stars

    Okay Tube, Bad Mount

    I’ve used this telescope since June 2009. The NexStar 8 SE provides pretty good views, but the computerized mount is literally a piece of junk. I’ll tell you why.Problems with the mount:1. Battery compartment: Lots of space taken up for batteries, but batteries only work for a few minutes. This thing eats batteries, and doesn’t come with a power cord! Further, the battery compartment design is poor, with two battery holders dangling by their wires. The battery holders must be placed a certain way after batteries are installed into them. There’s only one way to place the battery holders and still be able to close the compartment cover, but there are a few ways to place the battery holders incorrectly. If you want to be able to close the battery compartment, you’ll probably have to look up the instructions on the internet. You’ll need to by the optional AC power cord (which is what I did since I’m always observing within an extension cord’s length of an electrical outlet), or the 12V cord along with a 12V battery in order to use this scope.2. Noise: I know everything seems louder at night… in the dark… when you’re supposed to be quiet. But slewing at moderate to fast speed with this thing is like a freight train coming down the tracks. It’s not a problem if you’re not near anyone, but the many times I’ve been in my backyard or up at the lake with this scope, I’ve worried about disturbing neighbors.3. No clutch in azimuth: This means you can’t move the mount in a sideways direction without using the power-hungry, fantastically noisy motor. You can move the mount in altitude manually, but not in azimuth. Truly a bummer.4. Spur gears: There’s a lot of slop in the gears, so when you begin to slew the scope it often doesn’t actually begin to move for a short period of time. No big deal, but it’s annoying.5. Time isn’t saved: As others have mentioned, having to enter the time each time you turn on the mount is just ridiculous.6. Cheap hand controller: The screen on my hand controller came loose and tilted within a couple of weeks of use. LCD screen doesn’t work well in cold weather. I know this is a common problem with these types of controllers, but cold weather is a common condition for astronomical observing. Celestron and all other manufacturers really should take this into account and install a heating element in the controller. (I know all the workarounds – use handwarmers, put the controller in your jacket, attach your own heating element, etc. – but they’re just not convenient.) There’s obviously no intention of minimizing power consumption with this mount, so adding a heating element wouldn’t be a big deal.7. Built-in bubble level: There isn’t one.8. Defective (at least mine is): I’m in the process of sending my mount to Celestron for warranty repairs because it no longer slews properly at slew speeds slower than 8 or 9 during alignment. So, at a slew speed of 5 which is the default for alignment, the mount doesn’t move at all. It’s too bad I have to pay for sending it in, when I’d really rather just get a better mount.Problems with the tube:1. Focus knob: The focus knob shakes and moves the mirror way too much. If I didn’t know better I’d think it was a defect. But I know better. It’s not considered a defect. It’s just a bad design that amateur astronomers apparently don’t mind too much.2. Accessory mounting holes: Ideally, you’d have a red-dot finder and 9×50 finderscope mounted to the top of the tube. You can’t do that with this scope unless you’re willing to get out your drill. There are mounting holes at approximately the 2 o’clock position and 4 o’clock position, so most people will probably use those using the topmost holes for the red-dot finder and the lower ones for the magnified finderscope. There should be another set of holes on the top of the tube somewhere between 10 and 2 for the purpose of mounting accessories.There are a few things I like about the scope:1. Portable: Compared to my 10″ dob, the 8 SE is quite portable, and this is the primary reason I bought it. I’ve been able to take it to the lake (where the sky is much darker) on many occasions.2. Tracking: Once aligned the mount tracks pretty well. I’ve left the scope tracking for over an hour, to find that the object of interest was still in the field of view when I returned.For me, the bottom line is that the NexStar 8 SE has too many problems, and shouldn’t be considered by anyone new to astronomy. Considering the design quality, the 8 SE is overpriced. You can get a bigger and better telescope for less than half the price if you’re willing to give up the computerized object locator and the tracking ability that’s inherent in such a mount. Trust me. If you’re a beginner in reasonably dark skies (meaning you can actually see and locate stars with just your eyes) then a computerized mount like this one will frustrate you far more than it will help you.

    161 people found this helpful

28. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Carlo Barlo – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Nice quality scope

    Pros: Good optics, solid mount and base, quality materialsCons: Sighting scope could be better, should get two eyepieces instead of just one, eats batteries fast a bit heavy for older usersI have used this scope twice now, have seen Jupiter, Mars, Orion Nebula Sirius and the moon, all beautiful and sharp imaging. Focuser is good, I didn’t have any of the issues some reviewers had. Tripod is very solid. I have to say I have not aligned it yet and used the computer features but it seems pretty cut and dry, my advice is to watch some YouTube videos before you try it. There are many good ones. Also, since this scope is heavy on the power requirements, you might want to get a good rechargeable external battery. The scope is a little bulkier than I expected, but its solid and if you get a good grip on it its easy to transport. I took it up and down 3 flights of stairs fairly easily. Scope came well packaged, although there was a ding on the exterior cardboard box, but no apparent damage. The red dot sighting scope is kind of cheapo, but adequate, even so, you will probably want to invest in a telrad sight. All in all a very decent scope overall. Happy with the purchase. Looking forward to a lot of nights of stargazing!

    One person found this helpful

29. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Veesa – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing product

    Amazing product

30. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amateur Telescope Maker – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Works Wonderfully!

    This telescope has renewed and refreshed my interest in amateur astronomy. I had given up on seeing much from my very light polluted back yard (rated Bortle 7) except for bright planets and the Moon. I can barely make out the major stars in the constellations most nights. I use this scope with a Celestron Starsense Auto-align and the Wifi Celestron SkyPortal WiFi Module along with my Galaxy Tab A running the SkySafari app. Hooking up everything and making it all work together was amazingly easy despite the fact that I am an old fuddy-duddy who barely uses a smart phone. Now I can actually look at galaxies, nebulae and double stars things in my backyard! Not to say that they look as good as from a dark sky location. They don’t, unfortunately. Despite the superb optics of the telescope it’s still difficult to make out detail in many deep sky objects. The scope will put the object into the field of view of a low power eyepiece but sometimes you can’t even see it because the object is dim to start with and the light pollution washes it out completely. That is just the unfortunate truth of urban living. Sometimes a light pollution filter is helpful but nothing beats a dark sky.I rate this product as top notch in every way. I am not sure about recommending it to a rank novice living near a city, though. I am very experienced with telescopes and observing astronomical objects. I know that I have to reduce my expectations because of the light pollution of the city. I am not sure a novice could get past that. This telescope has superb optics but I did have to collimate it to get best performance. A novice might find that process, along with others previously mentioned, to be daunting.If you can handle the challenges, and especially if you can get to a dark sky, you will find this scope to be very rewarding. With eight inches of aperture and a remarkably easy computer interface it is a dream come true! Don’t expect too much, though. No matter how superb this instrument is, it cannot give you Hubble images at the eyepiece. But if you keep your expectations moderate, you will be richly rewarded with this telescope system.

    2 people found this helpful

31. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    McMoo – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Scope

    Bought a NexStar 6 SE back in December 2012. Used often and it is a brilliant scope. The 23″ eyepiece provided is excellent, very clear. Very easy to set up and transport to viewing sites as well. I would highly recommend it.Things to note:You dont need a carry case, just get a $20 plastic box big enough to fit the bottom half of the packing it comes in, get one wide enough that you can fit in the Power Tank you will need as well – DO NOT USE BATTERIES.Consider some kind of heater – i have a ‘shade’ that wraps around the top of the scope with a heater attached to stop glare in the area, and kill off any dew if that is an issue where you are (rarely for me in the Caribbean)- powered again by the Power Tank.Use the auto two star align – the three star align is not reliable for some reason, always off target when slewing. With the two star align, i put the alignment object in the bottom left corner of the eyepiece, hit the button, then move the object right (to bottom center of eyepiece) then up to middle of my eyepiece to center it properly, then hit align button. Do the same when the scope slews to the second alignment object, and voila, your scope will slew to objects and center them in your eyepiece. It may drift out slightly the first time you slew due to play on the gears (it will head to the top of the eyepiece), but one correction and it then seems to track objects accurately for hours.Overall, the optics are outstanding for a 6 inch, especially with the supplied 23″ eye piece. I bought the celestron accessory kit with the eye pieces/2x barlow and filters and those are slightly darker than the supplied 23″ (still excellent for the price!!). Other members of my astronomy club are jealous of my scope as it is easy to transport, can take all the transportation (Still perfectly collimated after a year of frequent hauling up and down my condo stairs and transport to the sites) and still works like a charm. Excellent bit of kit indeed, and all for $1,000 with the power tank, accessory kit, vibration pads etc. I would say the supplied finder thingy is a bit cheap, and you have to really force it to its lowest setting, but its still working a year later as well, and if needs be, just buy a Telrad. OK, you can get a better 6 inch scope iom sure, but not any where near this price. So 5 stars from me.

    3 people found this helpful

32. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    TheDaveL – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent with a few upgrades

    This is a very nice ‘scope. I had a Meade of the same size (8″) quite a few years ago, and decided to get back into things. With the advancements of digital cameras and such, photography of the planets is much easier than it used to be…The only fault that I really found was that any adjustment of the focus knob, no matter how light, causes the telescope to shake crazily. The fix for this was getting the focus motor for it (search Celestron focus motor on amazon). With that, things get much easier. No more “touch the focus knob, wait for the shaking to stop, then check to see if you actually DID get focus”… There’s a learning curve, and having a camera to relay what is being seen to a laptop helps IMMENSELY, but it is fully worth it. The only other real option is replacing the mount and/or tripod, which is really spendy.That said, I was able to get GREAT views of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars with ease. And, I’m in a very light polluted area (well not as bad as some, but not ‘good’ by any means). The tracking and alignment takes some getting used to, but that, too, is to be expected.In all, it is a WONDERFUL device, and is recommended as long as the previously mention caveats are taken into consideration.On a final note: Get a couple of good eye pieces. The collection offered by Celestron with the barlow, colored filters, and 5 eyepieces is OK, but the only ones that I found worth using are the 13mm (to a point) and higher (17mm and 32mm are pretty good!). The really powerful ones (8mm and 6mm) were pretty disappointing both in their eye relief and clarity. So, instead of getting that batch, see about getting a good 12 or 18mm and maybe a larger one (32mm or so) for wider views, and add on a 3x barlow.Hope this helps someone!

    3 people found this helpful

33. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Donald R Thompson – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Alignment is impossible

    I have tried the alignment via Sky Align over 20 times and it has failed every time. The finderscope is horrible. You can see the object with your eyes but through through the finder its gone. If you eventually find it the red dot is so big as to make the alignment irrelevant. Connection via USB mini -nope…wont find it. Essentially this is a manual telescope. I would return it if I could. Horrible investment. UPDATE 9/18/2020: After hours of trial and error, i managed to get the scope aligned using Solar Align, then on to the challenge of trying to get the scope to work via PC. This took over 24 hours of time, first you need to make sure you have Java Runtime installed, there is no message or alert that this needs to be done so you have to just know it apparently. I found it out by trying to run CWPI and then searched for drivers, there is a driver option on the Celestron website but when you download it the .jar file will not function without Java. the Read me notes are the only way to know this. Once done and restart, CPWI will then actually find and connect with your handset. The diagram with the driver download shows two connections for the 8SE, a USB/RJ-45 for the Mount and the USB-mini USB for the handset. Nothing really mentioned about the RJ-45 so I purchased it in the troubleshooting and now dont apparently need it. Also, before you start all this -reset the scope to factory settings. Bottom line -this is not easy to get done by any means. The FAQ’s are very unhelpful. The user manual is not helpful, the interface for CPWI is not super easy to learn. Even Still -I am happy with my purchase now that I am up and running.

    5 people found this helpful

34. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    JT – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    A great telescope for beginners

    I purchased this telescope when I decided to get into astronomy at my ripe old age of 75. I thought the computerized version of a telescope might be easier than trying to figure out the night sky with a star map or a book. It took some time before figuring out how to align the telescope properly. The local astronomy product store told me it should take 5 minutes…I spent a half hour my first try with no luck. After a week, I was able to align things fairly quickly. The weakest part of this product is the red laser finder scope. The first option I purchased was a better finder. Once aligned, the computer was able to direct the telescope to various objects in the sky. Keep in mind that astronomy is an expensive hobby and upgrading the optics and other accessories for any telescope could easily cost the price of the scope itself. Regardless it is worth the investment. The Celestron customer service team and their online support is excellent. Every time I called or emailed CS I was able to get a quick and professional answer to my inquiries. They made it easy to navigate through all the intricacies of astronomy.

    3 people found this helpful

35. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    ‘stashgal – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Dump the red dot “finder”, scope itself is fine.

    The reviews for this scope I had read were all positive EXCEPT for the red dot “finder”.In light polluted skies, which are everywhere, the half mirrored glass reduces the brightness of the target star so it’s harder to see against bright polluted skies.Others who had bought this scope said to DUMP THE RED DOT FINDER, IT’S JUNK! Their right, it’s junk.There are NO optics in this finder to brighten the image & make it easier to see, it’s just a naked eye view finder.You will not be able to use it unless you put a SHIM under the rear of it’s mounting plate behind the screws, otherwise, all your attempts to get the red dot to line up with the target will be in vain.The telescope itself is fine.I had the scope all assembled & ready to go, the next job was to align the red dot finder with the scope.The manual told me to start by “using BOTH EYES~”!There I had to stop, I no longer have two eyes!So this fine scope has to gather dust until I can BUY A REAL FINDER SCOPE. I have a Telrad on order, at least with that I only need one eye to use it & I can start using my computerized Celestron next star 8se.The finder SCOPE won’t arrive until late April!Celestron, PLEASE stop putting that useless piece of junk, the red dot “finder” on your fine telescopes, put a real finder SCOPE on it or a Telrad finder.

    One person found this helpful

36. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Kindle Customer – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Scope is Great, but…

    When I received this scope and unboxed it I was very excited until I opened the box containing the optical tube. After taking the tube out and looking into the big corrector plate, I was shocked to see a smudgy deposit on the glass. Even worse, it was on the inside of the corrector plate. I wasn’t sure if it would negatively affect the performance of the assembly so I took it outside to test it out. Views were good, but it bothered me that I couldn’t clean that stuff off the corrector plate. I considered removing the piece to clean it but decided not to as it was brand new, warrantied and I assumed that if I didn’t reassemble it in a precise orientation then I would end up having to collimate it. I called Celestron customer service which was a rather lousy experience. After explaining my concern over the dirty optics, she proceeded to read to me straight from the Celestron website’s FAQ pertaining to my problem. I know this because I later checked Celestron’s site and found the very same article. She recited it verbatim. She tried downplaying the issue as though the optics not being clean had little effect on viewing quality. I told her that for a thousand dollar telescope I would expect the optics to be clean, certainly not to have smudging on the inside of the glass. Eventually I was told to email a picture of the dirty glass for evaluation by a tech to determine if it would require cleaning or replacement. I found a telescope dealer not too far away that offers cleaning and collimation and I will likely take it there to avoid dealing with Celestron any further. Unfortunately it will cost me about $150 dollars for their service. I was overwhelmingly happy with my first Celestron scope but after this I think that I will no longer give them my business. As far as the scope goes, it is probably awesome but I can’t say with absolute certainty until I get it cleaned up. The views while dirty were quite nice and fairly stable despite the single fork. The tripod is solid although the little adhesive bubble level is kind of cheesy. Highly recommend the scope, just be aware that Celestron’s cusomer service is lackluster.

    11 people found this helpful

37. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Michael Moore – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I Love this telescope.

    I’ve been looking at this telescope for awhile. Amazon had it discounted almost 500$. I couldn’t pass up the deal and I’m glad I didn’t. This is the kind of telescope I have wanted since I was a kid. Just hate I had to wait 50 years to get one. I love this thing!!!

38. 

    Rated 2 out of 5

    Anita Dickens – March 9, 2024

    2.0 out of 5 stars

    You’ll need to spend plenty more on upgrades if you want all the features.

    I bought this because I read you can connect your phone, SLR camera, that it has GPS, automatically finds stars, and planets. Tracks your objects as the earth rotates, interfaces with PC, wifi connection and so on. It was out of my price range, but when compared to other telescopes in online comparisons, it beat out all the competition. I pulled the trigger thinking I would have the ultimate consumer telescope. I was so excited when it showed up, and by time I was half way through the instructions I realized all the things I thought it did, it doesn’t do unless you upgrade. Sure it will track the objects as the earth turns, but first you have to sight it in on known points. This was tough for me in the city, and by time I had got a fixed point the tripods motor had drained the batteries. 8 AA batteries lasted less than 30 minutes! I read that was the biggest complaint, so I bought the AC adapter. If you are out in a field that adapter will be useless, unless you have an extension cord too. The amount of included accessories was a real let down. On beginner scopes aimed at kids you will find multiple lenses to get you zoomed in once you find your object, yet this telescope only has one. So for this telescope to be any good you to buy additional lenses, the GPS module, and AC adapter to get started. The telescope is a great platform to build on and create your own customized sky viewing tool, but if you’re wanting to see the ring of Saturn, or Jupiter’s red spot with it stock out of the box. Sorry not happening. Wish I would have researched another option more.

    2 people found this helpful

39. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Joseph Rosa – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Enjoyable

    Mainly purchased for planetary and moon viewing. Have researched this telescope for a year prior to getting it. Very happy.

40. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Larson – March 9, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Too expensive

    When you see those crisp colorful images of the planets ostensibly taken with this telescope, you must know that all of them were processed with special computer software. It’s a lie, essentially. In reality, what you can actually see through this telescope when you look at the planets are black and white round dots. You can see Saturn with its rings, but it’s very small. I purchased an additional Barlow lense and the kit with different filters and lenses that allow for the biggest magnification possible. Yet even with these powerful lenses when I directed the telescope at a house just a few miles away I could only make out general outlines, so what do you expect when trying to look at Mars that’s located thousands of miles away? You can put a bigger lense and a filter and have perfect viewing conditions, all you will see are just slightly bigger dots. And don’t let some experts tell you that it has anything to do with “collimation” or more expensive lenses or that you’re not doing it right. That’s all BS. The only object you can observe in detail is the Moon, but you can get the same detail with cheaper telescopes and less powerful optics. Because this telescope’s optics and magnification is one of the very best, I don’t see any advantages in owning it if you can obtain the same results with cheaper telescopes. I definitely didn’t intend to and will not be buying any computer software to process the images. I wasn’t interested in photography, just wanted to see the planets and the stars, and was disappointed. Some other cons of this telescope – the red dot which is a finder is way off target and as somebody else mentioned, stopped working pretty quickly. Even if you used their two star or three star finder, it’s very inaccurate. I tried to locate the planets manually, sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t, because they are very small and the image doesn’t appear the way you see it, but inverted and sideways. This telescope is also very bulky, cannot be managed by a kid due to its size and weight, and esthetically not very elegant to look at. So the final verdict is this – do you really need to pay this much money just to look at the moon a few times per month?

    17 people found this helpful

41. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Julianne Leary CardelloJulianne Leary Cardello – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great quality at a great price!

    This is my first real telescope. I’ve tried others that didn’t have a go-to mount and finding objects took a lot of time so I never got a lot of use out of them. This one is super easy to setup and get going. The picture of Jupiter was only about 2 minutes of use with a ZWO ASI224MC camera. It was my first ever picture, so I know with more practice and better seeing conditions it will only get better. I highly recommend this scope.

42. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Luke – March 9, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Problems connecting Celestron Nexstar 8SE telescope to my laptop

    I am having trouble connecting my Celestron Nexstar 8SE to my laptop which is running Windows 11. I installed the prolific driver and CPWI and the firmware updater CFM. I could not get them to communicate with the handset which I attached to the computer with a USB cable. I reinstalled the Prolific Driver (PL23XX_M_LongoDriver_Setup_408_20220725), and CPWI. It still did not work.I downloaded CFM updater again and ran the CFM Jar file. It says that it recognizes the USB ports on the computer but that the telescope is not connected. I get the same message in CPWI (Celestron’s telescope software).I followed the suggestion in the firmware update CFM: I turned off my telescope and plugged the hand controller into the computer. The hand controller says ” Verifying packages” then initialize. I turn on the telescope power while holding down the Celestron button and #7. The hand controller says “Menu Tracking” not ” Bootloader” as it is supposed to.So neither the CFM nor the CPWI can communicate with the hand controller.Could something be wrong with the hand controller?When I turn on the telescope with the hand controller only plugged in, it seems to work fine.Has anyone else who has purchased this unit experiencing similar issues?Any suggestions to solve this?

43. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    JessieJessie – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Starter Scope but…

    I’ve always wanted to get into astrophotography and I finally decided to get serious and do it about a year ago. I had no idea what I was doing and so I choose this scope to be my first serious one. While I highly recommend the scope and mount for casual viewing, I cannot recommend this for astrophotography. There are just too many slight imperfections in the lenses and the mount really needs to be an equatorial. I’ve gotten some really good images with this but it is also with a new mount, focal reducer, ASI, Focuser, Dew heaters, etc (you get the point). Knowing what I know now, I would of went with a little smaller, high quality refractor or the RASA version of this. But if you want something to set up in the backyard for this kids to look at the planets and moon then this is perfect.

    15 people found this helpful

44. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    MomWantsCoffee – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Poorly packaged

    I specifically purchased a “Like New- Item will come in original packaging” telescope. Yes the box was the original, but it was all cut up with 2 punched holes in it. Upon opening, the telescope wasn’t even shipped in it’s original packaging. Tube wasn’t in any bubble wrap nor styrofoam molding…just sent loose. The tripod was in it’s original styrofoam pad tho. Finderscope and 25x lens thrown in the box to find. I looked at the directions and compared what should be in the box. It was missing the “Sky CD” and the “NexRemote Telescope CD” and the RS-232 cable. I paid a little bit more as this listing stated it would arrive LIKE NEW and in the original packaging. Definitely NOT. I was at least able to try the scope out, but the focuser is really bad. It must be faulty as I can focus no problem on my kids starter 80m basic scope, but not on this one. The red light on the hand control is very weak and difficult to see in the night. The hand control buttons that are labeled on this model do not match the directions, so that can screw any beginner up trying to follow directions. I figured it out as well as my 11 yr old did so this isn’t even the correct hand control?What part of this was “like new” ? I’ve purchased “like new” and this is NOT it.I agree with everyone that says to get the Celestron Powerbank Lithium battery instead of just using the 8 AA batteries. The powerbank has a strap to velcro to a tripod leg or a strap to hang it from the accessory stand.First and most important, u need to align the finderscope and the eyepiece. If not, nothing will match up after. Second, align the scope with your location.We found out that when we changed locations around our yard, that u need to realign anytime you move the scope…even a few inches. BUT, with practice and currently trying the solar system alignment on visible Venus (easily spotted right now) getting it aligned again went smooth and quick. There are various methods and u can choose which one will work for you (they’re listed in the direction booklet)I have used manual Alt-Alz mount scope, GEM type (not for the impatient like me to master in the dead of winter) and just wanted a motorized one this time.Hopefully Amazon can send me one as correctly described in “Like New” condition to keep.

    3 people found this helpful

45. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    A Customer – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Don’t let size scare you from the 8″ SCT. It’s not too cumbersome

    First – for those who are debating between the 8 or smaller sizes – if you can afford it, get more light.Keep in mind these SCT’s are also losing about 30 percent potential light from the middle of the scope. So the amount of light this X-inch scope gets from a similar X-inch Newtonian design is notably less. And light is… almost everything.So, you can use the technology here with cameras to overcome this by gathering more light for your photos, but your eyeballs can’t do this. So if you like the idea of simply observing deep sky objects, I promise you, you want the 8″, even if you only use it for observing some of the time.A word of advice for those that struggle when they first get the scope. If your tracking does not seem to be working AT ALL, then do the following:1 – Check the direction you put it on the mount. I know that sounds funny, but I did it backwards, and so it literally could never line up. It’s SO dumb in retrospect, and I laugh at myself as I think of the clues I missed back then, but still… I put this here to help others, cause I’ve seen reviews that said things like “it couldn’t even find the moon!”. I know what happened for those people.2 – Get yourself a crosshair eyepiece. Trust me, it makes the alignment MUCH more accurate.3 – if you need any more accuracy, you can tune the gears to better pick up slack. You will need to DuckDuckGo that (I don’t use google, since they are marxists), but you will find plenty of people who can explain that process.There are accessories I think are absolutely worth it, and some that are only mildly helpful. If you are in a city especially, get the dew shield. It’s good even out where I am as a dew shield, but if you were so inclines you can make one yourself.DO get yourself an external battery. If I might be so bold as to suggest, grab this:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ME3ZH7C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1and use some velcro tape to build a “mount” on the side of the scope for it. You won’t tangle, it has enough charge to last several long nights of observing, and you won’t fight wussy double A batteries. This is pretty much a MUST have, in my opinion. It is revolutionary and compact.If you want to do astrophotography, you it is a must to get the focal reducer. Just trust me on this, you will want it. It’s hard enough even with that, because of how zoomed in you get. If this is your first scope, please keep in mind astrophotagraphy can be hard until you learn all the nuances, and even then, it’s still hard. That’s part of what makes it fun, though, so dive in and enjoy it.Finally, this one is a bit more divisive, but I suggest if you can afford it that you get the 2″ celestron diagonal with the quick release clamps for eye pieces. 2″ boasts much nicer visual experience, even though the celestron will have already cut that size down before you get to the diagonal. In other words, you already did a bending of that light down, but it’s just such a treat to use and I love the 2″ eye pieces. A real joy to use.

    11 people found this helpful

46. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Viki T. – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great… but buyer beware

    This is my 3rd attempt at this telescope. Order one was from Amazon, out of collimation out of the box, but worked for a days before realizing that the adjustment screws were stripped, one doing nothing, and there were shavings in the tube. Returned/refunded and repurchased with G&W being the seller. Sent a open box item as new. Didn’t even try, sent it right back. Picked adorama for seller 3 and received a new new telescope. Have a 130slt so I know the alignment issues using the goto software. Only choose solar system align or 2 star. Bucked in on Saturn, spun to the moon and aligned solar system using the moon. Electronically slew to Andromeda and immediately back to Saturn … well within the eyepiece. Works like a charm. There is ALOT of adjustment in the focuser, so if you can’t see right away take a few mins to dial it in. I think there are 70turns each way.

    5 people found this helpful

47. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    carlosgaleanocarlosgaleano – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Magnífico

    El producto estaba bien protegido para el transporte.

48. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    Katarzyna Do – March 9, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    nice scope, disappointing starter accesssories

    This is my first telescope. After doing quite a bit of research, went to a star party to solicit opinions, I thought this would be a good starter to get me really interested in practical astronomy (vs. watching Discovery channel and read books). I have had it for over a week now, while I am impressed with some of the stuff I saw with the scope, but I am rather disappointed with the standard package. The $1000 price should have included some additional essential accessories. I ended up spending an extra $300 on additional accessories and am expecting to spend another $300 for some of the nice-to-haves.PROS:1. portability – light weight (27lbs total with tripod)2. finder scope – not sure if it’s standard, but the red dot in the finder scope, when aligned properly with the scope, works very nicely3. clear and clean images – so far, i’ve only been able to see the moon and jupiter, and plenty of terrestrial objects and the images are very impressive.CONS:1. standard included accessories suck!!! – a. low magnification eyepiece! the 25mm eyepiece gives you a total magnification of 60x. The only thing you can see clearly with any details is the moon. Jupiter, as big as it is, I can barely make out the details, although it’s very cool seeing the 4 big Jupiter moon (hey, I am new at this, it was still exciting). DE-CON: Spent $110 on Amazon for a 13-piece accessories kit (Celestron) which includes a 2x barlow and a range of eyepieces and filters. This should really help with magnifications (I haven’t received the kit yet). – b. NO AC adapter! Be sure to have plenty of 2AA batteries floating around. A brand new set (8 required) will last about 1hr+ with somewhat frequent slewing. I have a high balcony, with plenty of skyview, it would have been very nice to be able to plug the scope into an outlet to play around with it for a few hours before taking it to the field. DE-CON: Spent $20 an AC adapter and $50 on a Celestron 12V PowerTank (both from Adorama). The AC adapter is HUGE!!! Good thing is that I don’t have to carry it anywhere. The 12V PowerTank does not have a detachable red flashlight, but it seems to work well providing power. – c. Image diagonal NOT erected! While the images you see with the included diagonal is right-side up, it’s right-to-left (reverted). DE-CON: Spent $35 on an erected diagonal. OK, given that the included diagonal and the erected diagonal are EXACTLY the same in construction with the exception of the Amici prism, I am not sure why Celestron doesn’t go an extra step for (probably) a few bucks more vs. $35+shipping. I know orientation is meaningless in space, but geez, now I have no use for the included diagonal. – d. NO carrying case! I can’t believe that something this precious doesn’t come with even a canvas carrying case. The cheapest case I can find is the JMI case for this scope and it requires that you use the same packing foam that the scope came in – for $160!!!. I ended up just putting the foam in one of my suitcases and carry the scope that way. I’m looking for a hard-case rolling suitcase. With all of the extra equipments, I may go for a large suitcase to fit everything in one (except the tripod of course).2. So far, it’s a dog trying to use SkyAlign in the city (Philadelphia, PA …yes, it PA Celestron, not PE). The best I have been able to do was to get SkyAlign to match the patterns of the Big Dipper, but alignment still fail (yes, I have followed instructions and tried using Jupiter, the Moon, and another “bright” star, but alignment always failed. I have yet to take it into a rural area, but I am sure alignment will work then. Point is, I need to learn more about the sky to use the other alignment methods if I do my observation in the city.I also bought an LPR (Light Polution Reduction) filter, another $60 investment, hoping that it will help with the light polution. The filter did cut down quite a bit of city light, but leaves a greenish tint. I am not sure if it’s worth the money. Will wait and see when I try it out with the additional eyepieces.As for the nice-to-haves, I am planning on getting a stereo binocular viewer ($200). This means I’ll have to pickup a second lens kit (another $110).BOTTOM LINE: Expect to spend A LOT of $$$ on accessories to make the scope truly useful. I just think celestron should have included a second shorter focal length eyepiece and an AC adapter with built-in rechargeable battery for this price. I like the scope so far, but not happy that I have to spend so much more money for accessories. If you get the scope, I highly recommend purchasing the PowerTank and the lens/filter kit simultaneously. I’ll try do another review once I have and tryout all my accessories.

    186 people found this helpful

49. 

    Rated 3 out of 5

    John K. RobertsJohn K. Roberts – March 9, 2024

    3.0 out of 5 stars

    Shipping lunacy

    I ordered my Celestron telescope on Oct. 19th 2023, to arrive on Oct 25th.It shipped by UPS from Pennsylvania to Richmond, VA, then to Jacksonville, FL (Note: I live in Florida). After 2 days in Florida, it was flown to San Pablo, California and eventually to UPS’s main hub in Louisville, Ky.From Kentucky it was flown to Orlando and trucked to Leesburg, FL and then shipped to me (a week late) on Nov. 1st.One of the motors in the arm did not work (making the telescope worthless) so I contacted Celestron, who sent me a UPS sticker to put on it for shipping.I took it to a UPS store on Saturday morning Nov. 4th at 10:00 am.The package was picked up on Nov. 6th to be shipped to California for repair. It went “Ground” to California and was received 8 days later on Nov 13th.After being told that all items would be “looked at” in the order they were received, implying “they were in no hurry”, I replied to them in a less than favorable response.In two hours I received an email from them that they had opened my package, inspected and tested it, took it apart, removed the defective motor, replaced the motor, reassembled the unit, performed numerous checks and shipped it via UPS Ground. (ANOTHER TRIP ACROSS THE COUNTRY)Proposed delivery date is Nov.21 (over a month after the order date)Bottom Line: I ordered my telescope in October to use in the pitch-blackness of Oklahoma Cattle-Country, when I am there for Thanksgiving week.I will leave on Monday Nov 20th, for Oklahoma, so will not be home in Florida to receive the Telescope, or be able to use it.As far as the telescope goes, It will have crossed the country 4 times, two of them by truck.To say I am not pleased with the LONG process would be an understatement.

    5 people found this helpful

50. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Brion Pellarin – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Great scope, so-so mount, alignment not guaranteed

    I love the actual scope. The mount and tripod are slightly underpowered. Alignment process can be frustrating at times when you align 3 stars but the alignment fails or the scope points to the wrong place. Do a two star alignment and confirm with the first star.

    One person found this helpful

51. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Elle – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great purchase!

    Where to start…first, I am so happy with this telescope! We transitioned from the Celestron 80MM Star Sense Explorer to this scope. Quite a jump, I know but so glad we did. So…it was a bit heavier than expected but manageable. I had to do a lot of reading and I am still learning about the “utilities” and settings and it definitely took some time to get used to. The manual is okay but you will find more on You tube and on the Celestron website for tutorials. Putting the scope together was simple enough. The red dot finder is not great, definitely need to upgrade that if you choose not to purchase the Star Sense Auto Align. More on that later. The 25 mm lens that comes with the scope is actually really good and we pair it with the Barlow lens. The scope arrived in great condition and was packaged nicely. The tripod is decent and easy to adjust. So back to the Auto Align. the first few times we took the scope out we attempted to use the 3-star alignment….never could get it to work correctly….having said that…we live in a light polluted area near Nashville so we expected some issues. After attempting this alignment several times we decided to purchase the Star Sense Auto Align…I know it is fairly pricey but wow, so glad we did!!! The Star Sense aligned the first time and has worked great each time (read my review on that one as well, hopefully it will help if you decide to purchase it). I had never seen the Orion Nebula before and my first early morning viewing was breathtaking! Views of Saturn, the Moon, and Jupiter are fantastic…you can see the Cassini division in Saturn’s rings. Images are clear and detailed. The one thing that I was unaware of when purchasing this scope and only found out after watching some You Tube videos is that you have to upgrade the firmware on the mount….the joy of being a newbie! So things we purchased for this scope that may be of use for someone purchasing it:1. Celestron X-Cel 12 MM lens2. Celestron X-Cel 3x Barlow3. Celestron Oxygen iii Filter4. Baader UHC-S Nebula Filter5. Celestron Solar Filter (8″ for the 8 SE)6. Celestron Lithium Power Tank 12 V (a must have or you will be replacing batteries every 30 minutes)7. Colored filters but mainly Red, Violet, Blue, and a Moon filter…haven’t used the other colors yet. Orion has a great set, although it is expensive.8. A carrying case- we travel a lot….Celestron has one for this tube size, otherwise use the boxes it came in- they work just as great!9. A pelican case for your eyepieces and filters….we purchased one with pullouts and made our own…or you can buy one from Celestron.10. And a must have for those living in the South or colder climates…a dew shield or heater!11. A red flash light or just use the red light on the Lithium Power tank.12. Last but not least….for newbies…there are several companion books you can purchase….The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, Night Watch, The Total Skywatcher’s Manual, and National Geographic has some great books. We love locating things in the sky, then looking them up and reading about them. The books also contain great tips and suggestions from purchasing eyepieces to filters, and how to best view objects in the night sky.All of these items were purchased on Amazon and we bought them over time but each purchase has enhanced our viewing and really made our nights out so enjoyable.Pros: So many but to name a few…Great, clear images, mostly newbie friendly- just have to educate yourself on operating the telescope to get the most out of it, a lot of items available for purchase to upgrade your experience, and with the star sense auto align you can spend hours outside enjoying clear skies. Not to say most people cannot get the 3-star alignment, we just lost patience with it and purchased the auto align :-)Cons: Manual not so great…You Tube has great videos from knowledgeable enthusiasts, it seems a bit heavy but manageable for one person. My husband is always with me so portability isn’t an issue but just going out alone it may be somewhat heavy.Overall, I am so happy with this purchase and would recommend it for anyone wanting to add a more advanced telescope to their collection. There are several tutorials available online at Celestron and via You Tube that I encourage you to view. The telescope can be a bit intimidating for those that are new to the hobby but with a little research you will be loving it! We take it out at least 3x per week (skies permitting). The most beautiful site seen was the other morning I went out at 5 am and viewed Venus…the moon, and Orion’s Nebula…so clear and amazing…it was definitely a treasure trove that morning, spent about 90 minutes viewing the sky until the Sun started to come up…very peaceful! We are still learning this telescope and each thing we learn just enhances our experience. I was hesitant on this purchase at first…a lot of money to spend plus accessories but we are so glad we decided to buy it! Definitely do your research to determine which telescope is best for you and your goals but this is a great one for those just entering the hobby or graduating from a starter scope. Now if we could only afford to buy another one of these so my husband and I don’t fight over viewing time!

    95 people found this helpful

52. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    ICEMAN – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Telescope !

    When I was a kid in the late 60’s, my folks got me a Tasco telescope, had a lot of fun with it. In 2007 I got a Bushnell reflector telescope as a gift. Both telescopes were the lower end of the quality window but still enjoyed using them.I finally decided to upgrade for several reasons. Neither telescope would track an object through the night, after about a minute in the eyepiece, the object would be out of view and a readjustment was necessary. Finding anything in the sky was a pain as I had to rely on my knowledge of where to point the telescopes. The Bushnell came with a sort of ‘guide’ to help, and it did, but it was just mainly in the general direction to point the scope. And then the lenses that came with both the telescopes were cheap and hard to focus. These telescopes were very beginner based models.After looking around on the web, the Celestron telescope was often mentioned in the top 10 or so of quality scopes to purchase for the price, and the Nexstar SE series was getting very good reviews. After much deliberation and a cut in price of over $200 one day, I ordered the Celestron NexStar 8 SE. I also ordered the X-Cel LX 25mm, 9mm, and 5mm eyepieces to go with it, it comes with a lower quality 25mm Plossl lens. I also got an X-Cel 2x Barlow lens and a zoom lens from Celestron, the zoom works okay but is not in the same league as an X-Cel, and a Celestron StarSense Automatic Alignment device to help in locating celestial bodies. Also got the AC Adapter as the reviewers everywhere said don’t rely on the 8 AA batteries to run the device as they die quickly.Of course the day it arrived it was cloudy for three nights, which gave me a chance to really review and read the instructions. It was delivered safely and fast, the telescope was in a box, in another box, and then another box in foam, so no problems there. If I had any issues, it was with the assembly instructions, they never actually show you how to put the orange tube on the fork, which IMO was the most important part. After looking at the pictures in the manual and checking Youtube vids, I was able to figure it out (I had it on upside down and backwards). Otherwise no problems.Once I had a clear sky I took it outside at dusk and set it up, just lined up the index points and aimed the scope at the horizon, leveled it by eye and took off. I did use the StarSense Auto Alignment unit to calculate the position and within about 7 minutes was enjoying the sights of Jupiter and the Moon like I had never seen them before. Saturn is still below the horizon, but I can imagine it will be a sight to see also. The telescope is definitely worth it, the X-Cel lenses are a must, so clear and great views and focus ability. The zoom lens was actually used the most as I could capture an object in the sky and then zoom in and out easily, and the zoom lens has a rubber eyepiece so you can still wear glasses if you want.The absolute best part was being able to use the handheld remote and tell it to find something, a star, galaxy, planet and then it slews right to it. The first time it was a little off because of user inexperience, so I doubled down and researched it, actually called Celestron and talked to a live person and then the second time was ready. You do need to keep a few things in mind.Try to insert the EXACT time into the controller ( I used my iPhone, I just set it for the next minute at 00 seconds, and then wait for the second hand to hit the 12 and then hit enter on the controller, perfect), be sure to set the time correctly, UTC 24 hour time (i.e. 9PM is 2100), make sure you have the correct time zone and daylight savings time set correctly.Also try to set the correct location as close to where you are setting up, again I used an app on my iPhone to give the correct longitude and latitude coordinates. You have to enter the degrees and not the decimal coordinates, also make sure to get the north/south and east/west location right.Then you have to align the scope to find out your best calibration, take your time, it is definitely worth it. I used the StarSense Auto Alignment method, so your calibrations may be a different set of instructions. After the final alignment (which took all of about 5 minutes), I told the hand controller to find a star and it slewed right to it, in the absolute center of the eyepiece and then tracked it for as long as I had it on there. Fantastic, it was doing everything it was advertised, I am very happy with this purchase.It is a heavy telescope, I have to have help to move it safely in and out of the house, you may be able to move it by yourself, or take the tube and fork off the tripod and reassemble in your viewing location.Only con I can see is the hand controller is a bit hard to see at night, just a little dim, I remedied that with a small flashlight with a red lens to keep down the light pollution, but I found you can control brightness and contrast on the controller so problem solved.Very glad I finally have an almost pro (IMO) telescope. After I see an object I can tell my wife to look at it and she was amazed at the improvement over the Bushnell scope, and since it tracks the object, no need for a readjustment every 45 seconds…Great value for the money, great construction, I called Celestron for help and was talking to an expert in two minutes who knew exactly what I was talking about, would recommend this telescope to anyone who wants to experience astronomy.

    69 people found this helpful

53. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    WCat – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Buy the scope, but you may want to invest in a power supply and a better finder scope

    I love this scope. It deserves 5 stars, but I would knock one-half star off if I could for the following two reasons:1. No power supply. You have to buy 8 AA alkaline batteries to use it at all, and they don’t last more than a few nights of viewing, depending on how much you move the scope around, and how long you have it powered up. At this price, Celestron should include a power supply, whether it is a wall wart or something like a lithium power pack (good units that they do sell separately), even if doing so adds another $20-80 to the sale price. The scope moves more slowly (but not terribly slow), and the hand control backlight is dimmer, when running on the internal batteries. You’ll likely be back on Amazon again soon after you take delivery, looking for something better than the internal battery setup. My advice is to avoid buying a wall wart unless you have long extension cords or AC outlets very near your intended viewing spot. Instead, spend a few more dollars on a portable lithium battery supply from Celestron or a third party, and you’ll have plenty of power and mobility, too. The scope has an external power socket– the common 5.5mm by 2.1mm bayonet, and it does not need exactly 12 volts DC. It apparently tolerates 11-14.5 volts or maybe a bit more. You can also buy a Celestron cigarette lighter plug, so it should be compatible with standard automotive battery power. In my case, I bought this compact lithium pack and I’m very happy with it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YRZYLKV/2. The “Star Pointer” spotting device included with this telescope is OK-ish, but as time passes, you may want to consider an optical finder with some small level of magnification and possibly crosshairs. I’m planning to do this in the near future after my credit card cools off. I’m not a big fan of the Star Pointer. Some people like it, others have said it’s not aligning with the main scope for them. I spent more time fumbling with mine than I did with the rest of the scope. Some of the fumbles were my fault, though. There are a few YouTube videos that show possible solutions if you can’t get your Star Pointer and your telescope to agree with each other. The idea is to add a small shim, like thin cardboard or even a US dime, under the back of the dovetail bracket. Just loosen the two screws and slip the shim under the back, then re-tighten the screws that hold the finder dovetail in place. It gives some extra tilt inward and downward towards the telescope body. If you can’t center the image and it feels like you need to move the red dot down and to the left of the end of travel, you might try this.Celestron has made a very good, solid telescope with super optics. I’m a big fan of the hand control and its built-in ability to help you find great stuff in the sky. It’s first-rate. It’s especially good for novice astronomers, in my opinion, and saves a lot of time that would otherwise be spent searching for things when you’re new to the hobby.If you don’t mind some advice: PLEASE, if this is your first telescope, don’t buy a bunch of extra eyepieces, filters or Barlows just yet. Enjoy the included 25mm eyepiece first. It has plenty of magnification without being too much–and too much is what a lot of newbies (myself included) end up with. If you buy eyepieces that give you greater magnification, you’ll only be frustrated until you get to know your way around. If anything, you’ll get a lot of use out of an eyepiece that even widens your field of view more (lower magnification), like a 32-40mm eyepiece, or even a focal reducer. I have the Celestron f6.3 focal reducer/corrector, and I couldn’t be happier with it.As a last thought, get one of Celestron’s inexpensive, but surprisingly good 7 X 50 binoculars. At 7 times magnification, they are great for viewing the constellations and helping you decide what part of the sky to point your telescope at next! I’m happy I got both. The telescope and the binoculars each add their own level of joy to the night’s experience.Even in a suburban environment with lights all around us, I’m still blown away by how many stars I can see with the binoculars compared to my unaided eyes. And of course, the telescope just makes everything that much closer and brighter.

    79 people found this helpful

54. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    S.D. FalchettiS.D. Falchetti – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    A Portable, Easy-to-use Solution for Visual Astronomy and Short-Exposure Astrophotography

    There are over four hundred reviews here for this telescope, so I won’t cover all of the technical details already discussed; instead, I’ll hit on some of the things I still had questions about before buying the Nexstar 8SE.One of the hard things about choosing a telescope is knowing how you want to use it. Whether you want to look at planets (which are super bright) or deep space objects (which are super dim) affects your choice. A scope with tons of magnification from a long focal length may be great for Saturn but have too much zoom for things like the Andromeda Galaxy.Portability is also a factor. Can you carry the entire assembled scope out on to the deck yourself each night, or do you need to spend an hour lugging it out piecemeal, assembling, leveling, and aligning it? Once it’s set up, how easy is it to find objects? If you want to look at Jupiter and the Moon – piece of cake…but what about objects too faint to see with your naked eye? Do you have the time and skill to read star charts under a red light, hunting-and-pecking across the night sky searching for dim fuzzies?Lastly, do you want to take photos of your view? If you want exposures of more than a few seconds, does your mount have a way to compensate for the Earth’s rotation to prevent your stars from blurring to streaks? If you’re taking pictures of big things, like a nebula, will you have to make a mosaic because your scope has too much magnification to fit it all in frame?I thought about all of these, and chose the Nexstar 8SE. It is a great scope and fairly easy to use (although not as easy as Celestron’s “no knowledge of the night sky needed” slogan suggests). Here’s how it fares for my selection criteria:Portability:If hours of free time are needed between setup and gazing, the scope will be relegated to weekend use only. That may not seem bad, but consider that out of those weekends, it’ll further be whittled down to ones with clear nights. So, if I don’t want a scope I can use only once or twice a month, I need something portable. The 8SE weighs 33 lbs fully assembled (and can easily be separated into three lighter components). So, imagine picking up a 16 lb bowling bowl in each hand and walking out onto the deck. If you think you could do that, you can carry the 8SE out. I leave mine fully assembled and just carry it out myself whenever there are clear skies. It takes two minutes. If it’s too heavy, there are three thumb-tightened knobs that quickly separate the tripod from the mount and tube, splitting the weight in half.Type of Astronomy:The 8SE has a 2000 mm focal length and 8″ aperture. 2000 mm is two meters (6.5 feet!) so you’d expect the tube to be at least 6.5 feet long unless it can bend space and time. Turns out, it does – well, not literally – but it’s a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope so it uses both reflectors and refractors to double-up the light path, resulting in a very short, fat tube that is highly portable. It’s a great “best of both worlds” solution. High focal length (which translates to magnification) for planetary and lunar views and wide aperture (which translates to brightness and detail) for views of dim objects like galaxies. For me, it’s perfect. I can bounce around the night sky seeing all of the planets and everything in the Messier catalog (globular clusters, nebula, and galaxies). The 8SE comes with a diagonal and a single 1.25″ 25mm Plossl eyepiece that is one of my favorite eyepieces for this scope. With it, you will clearly see a small Saturn with its rings and shadows, or the disc of Jupiter with small cloud bands and its four largest moons. Deep-sky objects will be faint, dim cotton balls. Of course, you can increase the magnification by buying additional eyepieces or increase the contrast of DSOs with filters. I have a small refractor scope that uses 1.25″ eyepieces and filters, and all of them are interchangeable with the 8SE.Astrophotography:I think it surprised me that most of those awesome astrophotography pics we’ve seen that look like Hubble telescope photos are taken with cameras or sensors attached to small refractor scopes. They’re all taken on equatorial mounts that are polar aligned, rotating like clockwork to compensate for the Earth’s rotation. The default 8SE cannot do this. It has an alt-az mount, not an EQ. Although it will track an object and keep it centered, it’s just not able to rotate in the direction that the sky does. As a result, the object will spin in place over time, and all the neighboring stars will orbit it, leaving streaks. You can purchase an EQ wedge that tilts the entire mount onto a polar axis but to be honest for the price and added weight of the 15 lb wedge you could just get a Sky Watcher mount and tripod and plop a DSLR with a decent lens on it, taking some nice wide-field long-exposure photos. That being said, short-exposure photography works great on the 8SE. A cheap t-adapter lets me attach my DSLR directly to the back of the scope. I can manage fifteen-second exposures without star trails. I took the attached photo of the Hercules Cluster this way (by the way – for reference – the Hercules cluster does not look like this to your eye in the scope. In the scope, it is a milky cotton ball). So, can you throw a couple of thousand dollars to convert the 8SE into a long-exposure astrophotography scope? Sure – but I would suggest instead using that money to buy a separate, dedicated mount and tripod for DSLR photography.Ease of Finding Objects:First, you can just use the keypad arrows to slew the scope wherever you want without bothering to align it. Line up a star or planet in the red dot finder and just have a look; however, if you want the telescope to find and track it, you’ll have to align it. There are four ways to do this: 1) 3-object auto-align: center the scope on any three bright stars or planets and the controller will plate-solve to figure out what they are. You don’t even need to know or tell it their names; however, every time I tried this, it failed. 2) 2-star auto-align: center the scope on one star and tell the controller what it is, then it picks the second star and you center it. Works sometimes, but the scope has no way of knowing if its chosen star is obstructed (by trees, neighbor’s houses). 3) 2-star manual align: You pick two stars, tell the controller their names, and center them. Always works for me. 4) 1-star manual align: Same as two-star, but less accurate. 5) I know I said there were only four options, but a fifth option is to buy the somewhat-expensive Star Sense accessory, which is a camera that will do all of this for you.I find that the two-star align is accurate for the part of the sky you chose when picking alignment stars, but quickly loses accuracy when you swing to distant parts of the sky. Fortunately, you can pick new alignment stars on-the-fly, so I typically align to the southern sky, see everything I want, then realign to the northern sky. When the alignment is accurate, it’s really great for finding deep space objects. I can look at a dozen DSOs in thirty minutes, where I could look at only two or three if doing it manually. The single review-star I deducted is due to the somewhat endless frustration I have with the GoTo alignment process, and that in general I haven’t been able to just align the scope to the sky, but have to realign to portions of the sky as I look in different areas. One other complaint is that the 8SE’s controller has been upgraded over time (to have a mini-USB connection instead of RS-232), but the telescope’s manual was not updated. The manual still has photos and instructions only for the old controller, including keypad buttons which are in different locations or have different names.So, I think the 8SE hits the Venn-diagram sweet-spot intersection of portability, aperture, and focal length for me, and I’m happy with my purchase and recommend it to others searching for that same intersection.Edit:After six months of use, I’m very happy with this purchase. I’ve bought many accessories, including the Starsense camera (which you’ll appreciate on January nights when the telescope sets itself up while you’re inside drinking tea), a 2″ Luminos eyepiece and diagonal, and a f/6.3 focal reducer. Out of those, the focal reducer was the cheapest but had the most impact. Believe it or not, it’s possible to have too much magnification and being able to halve the scope’s focal length with the twist of a lens is great. I’ve added a photo of the Orion Nebula and Hagrid’s Dragon I took with the focal reducer. I highly recommend it as a first accessory.

    766 people found this helpful

55. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Richard W. – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    My first new telescope in twenty years. Perfect fit for me

    My last telescope was a 6 in Celestron Newtonian with a German eq mount. It was a good first telescope but a pain to set up and transport. I damaged the mirror a few years back and it’s been gathering dust. With Saturn putting a show this month I wanted a new scope.I decided on a “go-to” scope because I read that it makes it much easier to find faint things. It’s also easier to share with friends because it tracks automatically. I chose a six inch over a four inch because I wanted the increased resolution, and over a 8 inch for portability. I chose Celestron because it has a reputation for high quality and good service.The instrument arrived overnight. The packaging was impressive. It’s intended to protect a precision instrument and it shows. Even though I am a lifelong technical man I read the instructions first. The full color setup manual was clearly written and illustrated and I had my scope unpacked and ready in an hour or so.The only negative aspect of this system is the computer interface. It’s rs232 serial interface is rather retro and software is limited to windows. My main laptop is a MacBook and uses USB, so I’ll need to drag out my old XP machine if I ever want to use those tools. But since the stars and planets are not likely to change their orbits during the useful life of the instrument I doubt I will ever need to. Just nit picking.I was impressed by the high quality of the materials and workmanship and the simplicity of the design of the Nexstar. I waited a day for a windstorm to pass and the dust to settle while I spent time with the user manual getting to know the instrument. The next day I set it up in my backyard (where shade trees obscure 50% of the sky). The stainless steel tripod is rock solid and the rubber leg tips provide a nice cushion against vibration. I sat the scope on the tripod head using the center pin and foot pads to align the mounting bolts, a much easier process than setting up my German EQ. Then I aligned the red dot spotting scope on a street light a few blocks away and waited for it to get dark.As soon as bright stars began to appear I went through the 3 star alignment. It sounds simple in the manual but it’s even easier than it sounds. The hand controller has a cool red screen that stepped me through the process. I did it a few times so until I could do it with my glasses off.Then I picked Alcor as my first star.AMAZING! Just as advertised, the scope slewed around, stopped, and right in the center of the field was the double double, crystal clear. What optics! I went to Jupiter which was partially obscured by a tree, but through the branches I saw the disk clearly and 3 or 4 moons. And it wasn’t even dark yet. One after another I looked for stars I knew and the Nexstar found them quickly.I am very impressed after my first evening with the Nexstar 6. The construction is high quality although some of the plastic components are, well, plastic. The optics seem well done and sharp. The mechanical elements are sturdy and appear to be quite robust. Setup and takedown are a snap. The entire rig fits in the boot of my MINI roadster which means getting to a better viewing site tonight will be all kinds of fun.

    9 people found this helpful

56. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    chibear – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    A very nice scope

    I bought the 6SE through Amazon and also bought the Celestron lense/filter collection and the AC adapter. Everything arrived on time and intact, despite UPS’s best attempts to damage the telescope box. Kudos to Celestron for their packaging. Collimation was perfect right out of the box and didn’t need adjustment.I’ve used the scope on virtually every clear night for the last month and am very impressed. Sky Align is a breeze. The only times it has failed I either forgot to enter the correct date or time. After that it is a matter of finding 3 bright objects in the night sky and centering them in your eyepiece. HINT: I use the 27mm eyepiece to initially find each object (after using the finder scope) and then add the 2X Barlow to more accurately center the object. I usually pick some star in the Big Dipper, Capella, and for the time being Jupiter as my alignment objects. Works every time I input the right info. There is a bit of a learning curve so don’t expect the unit to bend to your will until you’ve learned the system. The ‘Identify’ feature is great for a newbie astronomer like me: Point at the object and NextStar tells you what it is. I’ve spent a lot of time viewing Jupiter and images of it and the 4 visible moons are clear and crisp using the provided 27mm eyepiece as well as the 9mm and 15mm eyepieces I purchased separately, all 3 alone and with the 2X Barlow. Tracking is not all that accurate unless you sync to the object (in the ‘Align’ menu. Then it is much better. A list of Strengths and Weaknesses as I see it:Strengths:1. The price and low cost of accessories.2. The clear images.3. Ease of setup and alignment.4. Portability of the SC design.Weakness:1. The provided level is junk. I use a 4″ builders bull’s eye level for much better accuracy.2. You must remove the telescope from the tripod for leveling. Leveling with the scope attached to the tripod produces an error of approximately 1.5 degrees. In that respect it would have been nice if Celestron built an accurate level rather than the logo into the base.3. The AC adapter turns with the scope so it is possible to unplug it or entwine your tripod during a night’s viewing. If you unplug you lose your alignment, so always have batteries installed even if you use the AC adapter. A nice future upgrade would be to install the plug for the adapter in the non moving part of the base. It merely requires 2 contacts on 2 spiral tracks between the movable and stationary parts of the base.4. Unless you use the Sync option, alignment seems to deteriorate over the course of a couple of hours. I am careful with the initial alignment as detailed above so I do not think that is the problem, rather something in the software. This is evidenced over the course of an evening by slewing back to an object (Jupiter in my case) using the GOTO Planet on the keypad. Over a period of time each return is farther to the left of center and lower in the field of view.5. Keeps me outside on cold nights exploring the skies rather than inside by the fire.Still a 5-star product I am very happy with.

    25 people found this helpful

57. 

    Rated 1 out of 5

    Shopper 38580951900 – March 9, 2024

    1.0 out of 5 stars

    Very disappointed and feel cheated. Uses old technology in a shiny package.

    First off, there is nothing easy about using the Celestron Nextar 8. It’s complex, frustrating, and fails to deliver on Celestron’s marketing promises.For example, the hand controller functions like it was designed and built in 1988. It has a cheap LED display and tedious, needlessly complex & un-intuitive menu operations. One must endure a labyrinth of menus just to set it up. Inconceivably, the controller loses its time setting every time you shut it off. That’s just amazingly poor design.They do occasionally update the goto controller firmware, but pray that you don’t have to ever do this. Celestron’s process is out of the stone age. It requires an antiquated RS-232 cable (think 1970’s and 80s cables) to update its firmware. Hello Celestron Engineers – USB has been the primary way to connect to computers since 1996 – it’s long past time to adopt it).Celestron also gives the middle finger to Apple customers…apparently they don’t want them as customers at all. If you use a Macintosh but need to update your firmware you are out of luck. Same deal for Linux users.Next issue: doing the star alignment should be easy, but it is definitely NOT. Even the customers who like the product admit that it takes a lot of very careful precision to successfully align. The tiniest errors with leveling your mount, entering the time, or lining up the stars in your eyepiece and you’ll be stuck in “failed to align” hell. Be prepared to go through the alignment routine many times just to get started, then to repeat the procedure after you frustratingly lose alignment.When I realized I was spending more time aligning than looking at stars I gave up using the go-to feature. Now I just use the direction arrows to manually find objects. My own eye coupled with a handy app on my iPhone is far more effective than Celestron’s ineffective go-to software. It’s not that hard and kinda fun, but now I am stuck with this expensive go-to mount that is useless that taunts me every time I try to use it with how much money I wasted.The most frustrating part, though, is that once you think the telescope finally IS aligned it actually ISN’T. After alignment I’ve been able to get it to correctly point to a database object or two, but ask it to move to a third object and you can just forget it…unless you want to go through the 10 minutes of re-leveling and re-aligninging.In my opinion the mount, controller, and software are all junk. The optics are great…when you can get them pointed at the object you want to see.Buyer beware: This is a complex product, apparently built on an old hardware and software technology platform, that is frustrating and disappointing to use.Think about how amazing a go-to telescope would be if Apple or Google designed one. Celestron’s product is the opposite of what you just imagined. They can and should do better.

    174 people found this helpful

58. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    J. Neill – March 9, 2024

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Wonderful scope for the amateur astronomer that requires portability

    I have owned several scopes over the years: a Meade ETX-90, an Orion 6″ DOB, and a Zhumell 10″ DOB (which I returned – read on).When I recently renewed my passion for astronomy earlier this year (2010), I started pulling out my little ETX-90 on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the aperture size and long focal length really limited my viewing to Saturn. I decided it was time to go for something with a bit more power. I bought the 10″ DOB I mentioned above. It wasn’t passed than the third trip outside, precariously carrying the OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) while “butting” the door open and avoiding hitting my dining room table, that I decided I needed to return that monstrosity for something more portable (by the way, it was a wonderful scope! If you can store it where moving it isn’t a problem, it’ll do the job!).Enter the Celestron NexStar 6SE.When the scope arrived, I opened the box and pulled out the parts. Having watched the instructional video on how to assemble the item earlier in the day, I didn’t even need to look at the directions to get it put together. The tripod was solid and had little play. The OTA was easy to “drop” onto the pins on the tripod, and then I only needed to lock down the three knobbed screws to mount the scope completely. I did need to align the viewfinder, which was easy enough by lining up on Venus.I had forgotten how much I liked the GOTO system (my old ETX-90’s mount had long ago stopped functioning). For the 6SE, I used the NexStar alignment method on my first attempt, which simply required 3 bright objects in the sky – I did not need to know what the objects were (you will, however, have to enter some other info like your latitude and longitude, time zone, date and time. Your latitude and longitude is easily found online). It was now time for the first viewing. I selected my old standby, Saturn. The scope slewed very quickly to the object, even going back and forth a bit to account for any play in the gears. When I looked through the low powered eye piece (25mm), Saturn was just left of center (likely my fault on the initial alignment). I then manually centered the planet and replaced my eye piece with a higher powered piece – a 9mm lens. All I can say is wow. I live a few miles from the Pittsburgh International Airport, so light pollution is a real problem for me. But, Saturn came in as crisp as I have ever seen it, and 4 of her moons were very easily discernible.However, planetary viewing isn’t so difficult with even the most basic scope. I decided to try a few more difficult targets. I could see that The Big Dipper was out, so I typed in M51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy. After a few quick moments of slewing, I took to the eyepiece again (back to the 25mm, btw), and there were two “eyes” looking at me (M51 is actually two galaxies). Of course with bad seeing conditions and a 6″ scope, I could not make out any of the “arms” of the galaxy, but I could easily see the telltale fuzzy eyes. I was quite surprised I was able to resolve them that easily with the smaller aperture on this scope! I don’t remember my old 6″ DOB having that easy of a time, but maybe that was due to the GOTO capability of this item.Next, I turned my attention to M81 and M82, two other galaxies very close to The Dipper. They came in great, with M82 showing off its profile nicely even with my (relatively) bad seeing conditions.Finally, I hit M3, which is a brilliant globular star cluster. The cluster was a wonderful view in this scope. Switching to a higher power eye piece caused many stars to shimmer in and out of view – it was jaw dropping.Anyway, I wanted to point out that, if you need a portable scope that is capable of showing you some wonderful astronomical sights, this scope fits the bill. Although another reviewer is right in that the stock eye pieces aren’t incredible (nor are any other stock pieces!), you would certainly be happy with this scope for the occasional “quick” viewing session. Heck, put a few additional dollars (well, a few hundred!) down for some better eye pieces, and you’ll be thrilled for years to come!One final note: due to the design of the Schmidt Cassegrain scope, you are almost required to buy a dew shield, unless you live in Phoenix or some other really dry area. Here in the northeast, my scope fogged up very quickly. I was able to build a temporary dew shield with some black construction paper that worked fine, but that’s no long term solution. Astronomy is certainly not a cheap hobby!Overall, I am very pleased with this scope. And, unless you are more than casually into this hobby, I think you will be, too.

    105 people found this helpful

59. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Shane A. WhiteShane A. White – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Perfect value beginner telescope. Needs power adapter (AC, Cig lighter or powertank) and eyepiece upgrades to really be fun…

    This is a GREAT telescope. Don’t let other reviews or Youtube videos try to convince you that you should go with the 5″ or 6″ since they are smaller and more portable…light gathering ability is EVERYTHING in a telescope, and the 8″ gathers ~78% more light than the 6SE model.Out of the box, however, so you are not disappointed, there is a bare minimum of two accessories that you MUST have:1) Either an AC adapter to power the scope or a Celestron “PowerTank” or a car or motorcycle battery with a car adapter cord to plug in to your telescope. I have the Celestron Power Tank 17. The power tank uses cigarette lighter style power cords which you can also plug into your car’s dashboard if observing remotely next to your vehicle and you buy the car adapter. Although the scope can run on AA batteries, it will eat them up in less than an hour, rendering the scope slow and eventually unusable.2) Buy a dew shield (Celestron #940009 for 8″ scopes) , which is only $23.00 or so…that will keep the night dew from forming on the front of the telescope’s “corrector” (the front of the telescope) as the temperature drops at night.The above is the bare minimum I would order if buying this telescope. Anything less will adversely impact the enjoyment of it.Expectation management: With the above, yes, in the summer in the Northern hemisphere, you can see the rings of Saturn and you can clearly make out Jupiter. It will blow your mind if you’ve never seen those planets with your own eyes. However, don’t expect to see great detail and have the image fill up the view as some of the pictures in these reviews indicate. The human eye cannot see the color and detail that a long exposure (30 seconds or so) can reveal when you hook a camera up to this telescope. You will immediately want some eyepieces that allow you to zoom in further, so let me help you with that process.I strongly recommend that you buy a 2″ diagonal and eyepiece setup. Again, the scope, out of the box, only comes with a single 25MM 1.25″ eyepiece, which has a narrow field of view and not enough magnification to really enjoy your first astonishing views that get you hooked on astronomy, like looking at Saturn and seeing the gaps in the rings.Celestron sells a kit that has a diagonal, 2X Barlow Lens and three 2″ eyepieces (Kit #94305 – $300.00). You can buy that for starters to get you going with 2″ eyepieces at the lowest cost.If you have the financial means to “do it all right the first time” without buying the same type of things twice, I would recommend that – instead of buying the 2″ starter kit – you buy the Celestron 93527 2″ diagonal, which has the Starbright XLT coatings and can be used with 2″ eyepieces as well as the 1.25″ eyepiece that comes with the telescope, the Celestron Luminos 2.5X Barlow lens (#93436) which will allow you to more than double your magnification with any eyepiece, and some better eyepieces.Most people will tell you that you can get by with about three eyepieces initially. Here are some recommendations:If money is no object, buy TeleVue. They are the high-end in the telescope world. Around $300-$800 each depending on what you choose. If you are going to spend that kind of money, join the CloudyNights forum and get some custom-tailored recommendations from other TeleVue users.I’m going to stick to cheaper (but still good) products that are well respected and a good value.First eyepiece: Meade Instruments Ultra Wide Angle 20mm 2-Inch Waterproof Eyepiece (7743), which you can get here on Amazon for around $120. With the aforementioned Barlow adapter, that will give you 20 MM and 8MM views.Second eyepiece: Explore Scientific 82° 30MM eyepiece. In order to use it, you will have to add a longer dove-tail rail to your telescope to move the scope farther forward in the mount to balance it out.I use an ADM V Series Extra Long (VC-8XL). I had to cut the aft mount bracket to make it fit on this telescope. With the 2.5 Barlow, that gives you 30 and 15MM views.You can buy Celestron Luminos eyepieces, but they sometimes suffer from Edge Of Field Brightness (EOFB) which some astronomers find distracting. If you go with Luminos, buy the 19MM and 23MM. I own those two, but they are not as good as the other two I recommended.If you did not know it, in the telescope world, the smaller MM eyepeice means more zoom-in (greater magnification). You divide the focal length of the scope (2032MM for the Nexstar 8SE) by the eyepiece MM to get the zoom…Example: 2032/19 = 107x. You can use the diagonal and eyepieces I have recommended with larger Celestron telescopes should you upgrade in the future to an even larger telescope (I have a Celestron C11 on a CG5-ASGT mount as well).This scope is perfect for a beginner, can be set-up in about 10 minutes, and aligns easily by pointing to three bright objects in the sky. It is the ultimate “grab-n-go” telescope. It is NOT ideal for astro-photography, as it is an Altitude/Azimuth (ALT/AZ) telescope and BOTH motors must run at the same time to track an object, which is not as precise as a German Equatorial Mount (GEM) where only one motor has to run to track an object. GEM’s require polar alignment, which is a bit complex for the beginner.If a bigger easy-to-use ALT/AZ scope is wanted, the next step up from the 8SE would be the CPC Deluxe 925HD (9.25″) or CPC 1100 series (11″)…or if you get into Astronomy and astro-photography, jump to a GEM telescope.4 Stars since it does not include an AC adapter or DC cigarette lighter cord out-of-the-box. With those items, I’d give it 5!Perfect value beginner telescope. Needs power adapter (AC, Cig lighter or powertank) and eyepiece upgrades to really be fun…

    1,922 people found this helpful

60. 

    Rated 4 out of 5

    Nathaniel C. – March 9, 2024

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    Celestron 8SE – A good scope, for the right person.

    Hello everyone! I purchased a Celestron 8SE package through Amazon shortly before the Christmas holiday for me and my family (ok, mostly for me!). I wanted to write this review because I probably made a mistake buying that package, which, of course, is only an opinion which benefits from hindsight. I normally pride myself on doing adequate research before buying a product, but I guess I didn’t realize how much I wanted to try astrophotography until shortly after I received the scope in the mail. I was really drawn to the ‘goto’ capability, because I wanted my family to have an easy time getting the most out of the scope. I did read some reviews and many people posted cool pictures of the moon, solar system objects, and even some deep space objects — those seemed to be enough to convince me.So, there are good parts of the package. The scope seems well built. In my uninformed opinion, the optics are clear and the scope came perfectly collimated. The mount, while it has deficiencies, is actually pretty easy to use. It’s also very easy to assemble and disassemble, very light, and again, in my opinion, is pretty sturdy. It’s very easy to do a three-star alignment. My first attempt was spot on and a solution was found. All of the various pieces that came with the package seemed well built, except for the spotting scope (more later) and perhaps the diagonal — it’s very cheap plastic and doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in the quality of the mirror.The bad parts? Well, they might not be bad for certain people, so I’ll leave the judgement up to you whether these issues are a ‘negative’. First, the cheapo spotting scope never worked. I did email celestron on the day after christmas and I had a new spotting scope — the upgraded version — before new years. So kudos to Celestron for their quick work to fix the problem. The package came with one single eyepiece, a 23mm plossl I think, and it’s the least clear eyepiece I now own. Now, on to the mount. I read that the mount “isn’t great” for astrophotography, and honestly, at that point, I didn’t think I’d get ‘the bug’ for it. After a couple weeks, I bought a T-adapter for my wife’s Nikon D5100 and started to take some really cool pictures of the moon, venus, and even some quick exposures of deep sky objects. Once I really learned about astrophotography — at least, as much as you can in a few months — I realized this mount is just simply inadequate. Apparently there must be bicycle gears inside because it’s not smooth, at all. The higher the objective is from the horizon, the worse the mount performs. When Sculptor was about 30 deg off the horizon, I was able to get 8-10s exposures. That same night, andromeda was about 70-75 deg when I started, and I couldn’t get more than 4s; not acceptable. That was really the moment I decided to buy a new mount, and also the same time I somewhat regretted my purchase.In terms of performance for visual astronomy, it seems to be ok enough. I’ve tracked venus for a while and it generally stays close. It does drift considerably over time, which is a natural effect of an motorized system trying to track anything without corrections, so this is expected. It’s easy enough to set the slew speed slow and center the objective and it tracks just fine for a while. Again, there is a direct relationship between tracking performance degradation and the elevation of the object in the sky. I suspect there is a large amount of play in the gear system which causes backlash that is exacerbated when one axis of the mount approaches perpendicular from the earth.The other part I wish Celestron would’ve improved is the focus knob. I mean, that thing just sucks. It has only one focus mechanism (no fine focus) and is pretty hard to accurately focus, but overally pretty easy to roughly focus. For casual visual observation, it’s not a big deal. For astro, it’s a pain in the royal butt to get focused right. I just got the Bahtinov mask in a couple days ago, so I’m hoping that’ll make things a little easier. I’m not a fan of spending ANOTHER $350 on a fine focuser, so I’m going to create my own remote focus apparatus with a low RPM gearbox motor, belt, some type of attachment to fit over the focus knob, and a metal bracket. I’ve seen some designs online and I think I can get that going pretty quick. Eventually, I’m going to integrate the focus control to an image processing service to auto-focus the scope. Just keep in mind this can be frustrating.What I didn’t realize when I purchased the scope was how much I enjoyed doing astrophotography. I’m obviously a total newbie, but that type of hobby is right in line with my interests. I’m a very technical person, current engineer on a very cool project integrating instrumentation hardware/software interfaces, so the nexus of electrical engineer and software is my real passion. So, hooking up the scope, mount, camera to the mount, creating an effective workflow to automate the process is super interesting to me — and it’s really just lackluster with the mount. I also didn’t even think AT ALL about buying an APO refractor. In fact, with the amount of money I’ve spent so far, I could’ve easily bought a decent APO and a good EQ mount, and probably a guidescope and camera. But, such is life. Live and learn.I’ll probably try to recoup a few hundred dollars by selling the Celestron goto mount, if possible. It’s probably great for a casual hobbyist, but I tend to take things to the exteme.Anyways, I hope this review helps people understand the quality, performance, and limitations of the 8SE GoTo package. I would give the setup a 4/5 stars — because, it does exactly what you’d expect in terms of performance and quality.

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