Home > Consumer Reviews > Celestron Firstscope 60AZ 60mm Refractor Telescope

I purchased this scope for my 12 year old son.

First things first, the scope was packaged well and there were
no missing parts, not a scratch on anything, no defects whatsoever. Excellent.

The entire scope is very portable, we take it in and out
through a sliding door and store it standing up on the tripod
in my son's room.

The scope is very light and the tripod supports it fine. The
tripod is easily adjustable, and the telescope positioning
mechanisms also work fine.

The scope comes with 2 lenses, providing 35x and 70x magnification. Apparently a 60mm scope should support up to 140xish magnification. (Rule of thumb? 50x per inch of apeture, so 60mm == 2.5 inches == 150x mag).

A 2x barlow lens sounds like a good addition to push the scope to its maximum. I am going to order one right after this
review, every bit helps. Amazon is advertizing one at $30.

Viewing the moon - So far the moon hasn't been too visible,
but what we have seen looks nice, albeit a little bright. I
may end up getting some sort of brightness filter.

Viewing the planets - Mars is a dot, definitely a dot and not
a pin point, but at 70x there is no hope of picking out any detail. Jupiter is a bigger dot with some faintly visible
points of light I am assuming are moons. No discernable details
on Jupiter, I doubt you will see any no matter how you try since
it's another very small object at 70x magnification.

Saturn is a discernable dot with a distinct band / ring around
it. Cool! (Its still very very small but you really feel
like you have seen something unique when you spot Saturn).
Think of the small "o" with a distinct band around it about half
the width of the "o".

I can't find any fault with the product other than it should
have a 2x Barlow lense to max out its magnification. I like the 10mm and 20mm lens choices. I gave the telescope 5 stars
because it really seems to be a lot of product for $80.

The other side of the coin.......

Ok, so its a 5 star telescope at $80, but I don't think its a good idea to buy one of these if you really think Astronomy could
become a hobby or actual interest.

I feel that we will quickly lose interest in the night sky
because its only so interesting to look at a dot, even Saturn,
a dot with a band around it. I am envisioning a scope capable of
showing Jupiter as a quarter sized object.

Same thing for deep space. There are many many objects that are

fantastic to look at. Unfortunately, at 60mm and 70x magnification, there are mainly "points" and "dots"
in the night sky to chose from.

While you can find some areas of the sky to
explore that aren't visible with the naked eye, its not going
to take long to get past that and then what?

For me, the front runners are 5 and 6 inch refractors, great
cost / performance / portability.

The 6" refractors seem to be up around $900-$1000 with
tripods and a few lens choices, one or two with motorized
mounts. I am just studying right now. There are some pictures
online from various scopes and Jupiter might be between a
nickel and a quarter in size with great detail.

If you end up like me, you might want to look through
this list and check out these scopes, at least read about them
on the internet.

Meade 6" LXD 55 EMC
Celestron CR 150 HD Refractor
Sky-Watcher 6" Refractor
Konus 120mm (Konosuper)
Orion SkyviewPro 120mm
Orion Skywatcher 120mm
Photon 127 (5") Refractor

I have an inexpensive set of binoculars, (another xmas
present), and we have had a lot of fun looking at the sky with
these! In retrospect, a good set of binoculars might be a lot
more fun than a 60mm telescope.

Summary, certainly a great deal of technology for $80 dollars, but unless the 2x barlow gives us a hint of detail in say Jupiter, and makes something deeper in space worth hunting for, I would say that you are buying into astronomy too cheaply and
your budding astronomer's interest may wane prematurely as a result.

Just a short addendum to my previous firstscope review.

I added a Celestron 2x Barlow lens from amazon via adorama.

This increases the magnification using the 10mm lense to 140x.

Unfortunately, at 140x, the scope doesn't provide sharp
focus of viewed objects. The moon is large but washed out,
very low contrast. Saturn couldn't be brought into focus, it
was 2x larger but fuzzy. I didn't get to try Jupiter.

I wouldn't reccomend adding a 2xBarlow to this scope, I would
live with the 10mm and 20mm lenses and save my money for
binoculars or a better scope in the future, or buy a
subscription (at least part of one) to the wonderful Astronomy
or "Sky And Telescope" magazines.

First, before I review the telescope itself, I should say a few words about the company. Celestron has developed a fabulous reputation for itself in making quality telescopes. Today, it is one of the best manufacturers for optical tools for Astronomy. Needless to say, for the price this Telescope starts at, it is practically a steal. Celestron is one of the few companies that has received very high praise for their small telescopes, as well as their large. The first rule to purchasing Astronomy equipment, is not to cheap out and buy from a good company.

Although this telescope only as a 60mm aperture, the quality eyepieces it uses easily make up for that. Since this is a refractor telescope, it is fitted very well to view planetary objects instead of stars (though it can do that as well). When viewing the moon, which will probably be the first thing you look at, it is highly clear, and very detailed.

Looking at other planets like Mars, it only appears kind of blurry, since this telescope doesn't have the light gathering ability to make it clearer. You can avoid this by putting on a weaker eyepiece minimizing the blur.

It will fare better than other 60mm or 70mm telescopes from another company. If its aperture was larger, I would give it 5-stars, but a telescope this size from any other manufacturer would earn it a 2 rating.

This telescope is very easy to use. Adults and children into Science should have no major problems as long as their have patience.

My telescope came with a 2x Barlow Lens, 2 eyepeices, and a erecting lens. The erecting lens allows you to use your telescope as a spotting scope, so you can view distant objects on Earth, such as birds.

Overall, this is a great deal. You will probably not find a better telescope for equal value and performance.

Celestron makes some of the world's greatest telescopes, but this is not one of them. It's fine for peeking into the neighbor's window across the street or looking at the a large, bright object in the sky like the moon. But for serious stargazing, one shouldn't expect much from this telescope or any telescope in this price range. No telescope in this price range is much good for looking at stars or other faint objects. A really good pair of binoculars for around the same price would probably give you more enjoyment and be more versatile. Just lie on the ground and look through both eyes at the moon or constellations, and then take them to the ballgame the next day. And try to get away from city lights. If you do get binoculars, make sure that the second number is at least 7 times the first number (e.g., get 7x50 binoculars, but not 7x35) and that they have fully multi-coated lenses.

Great Product! The assembly instructions were not the best, but I was able to get it put together in 15-20 minutes. Since then, my boys (ages 6 and 4) and I have spent almost every clear evening looking at the moon, Mars and as many stars as we can.
This a great telescope for the family or a budding amateur astronomer.