Home > Consumer Reviews > Celestron Firstscope 70EQ 70mm Refractor Telescope

This is a good starter scope for some people, most notably those who don't know if they want to spend more than $500 to buy a better starter scope, and don't mind spending more later if they enjoy the hobby. I own a few scopes, and have used dozens, so I had an idea of what I was getting with my money. This scope will let you have fair views of Jupiter including the moons and the two equatorial belts, nice views of Saturn, although the Cassini division isn't clear, spectacular views of the moon, and not too bad views of Venus and Mars, given the size of the scope. Deep space objects will take a lot of time and patience to appriciate them. Make no mistake, these will not be great views compared to Hubble, but if you could get great views with a $200 telescope on the ground, why would you spend millions to put a telescope in space. You get what you pay for.

And you'll need to pay for more. You'll want at a minimum one or two additional eyepieces (I never use the high power eyepiece that it came with, as it's a piece of junk), a moon filter, maybe a couple of colored filters. I also have an external motor and some astrophotography supplies, but note that this scope is not recommended for astrophotography. Of course, if you like spending dozens of hours taking three rolls of film for 2-5 decent (but not spectacular) photos, go right ahead, but there are much better scopes on the market for that part of the hobby. The equatorial mount is also difficult for many folks to work with, but if you plan on putting a motor on the scope it is essential. Best use of this scope for me is setting it out on the front drive, put Jupiter or Saturn in the view, turn the motor on, and let the neighbors come round and learn a little astronomy.

Overall, a great scope for under $300, but know what you're buying and realize this isn't the greatest scope out there. Still, it's a dandy scope!

After looking at the night sky with binoculars all these years I decided to get my first telescope.WOW ! I was amazed at what I can see with this celestron firstscope 70 EQ !! Iv been looking at the rings of Saturn !!(which are at their peak viewing this year and next),the moons of Jupiter where I can also see some of the bands on Jupiter.And the moon is a grand site with this scope also.It very easy to use once you get it put together. I had to have my son help me put it together. The Star Pointer finder scope makes it easy to locate what your looking for. I would recomend this scope to any first time users.
I also like the fact that you can buy other eyepeices and filters for this scope.

When this scope first arrived I was very pleased. It looked great and I couldn't wait to try it. I immediatly began setting it up, which was a difficult task. The instructions gave a photo that had tiny arrows pointing to different parts of the scope. [I still can't figure out what angle their photo was taken from.] The directions started out easy to follow, but later on it seemed that their writer had taken them from a guide-book on flowers found in the Sahara. I'm 14 though, and even I managed to use common sense to put the scope together.[It doesn't hurt to have a couple of magazines handy, such as Sky and Telescope or Astronomy.]
After setting the scope up and fingering with the controls while the sun went down I eagerly set it up outside. I live out in the country so I didn't have to worry about street lights, and using the finderscope attachment I easily located Jupiter. Bringing it into focus, I was able to easily see 7 of its moons. From that point I have steadily grown more accustomed to the controls, and for the cost I paid this scope has turned out to be wonderful!

Celestron's 70 mm (2.75 inches)is the most basic beginning telescope one can buy. Here's why:

1. The objective (front lens) diameter is not the smallest out there, but pretty close. It will give decent views of he moon and very small images of the planets. Deep sky objects will appear fuzzy and dim.

2. The two eyepieces are appropriate for the size of the objective. Too many scopes advertize their extreme powers and in most cases the image is so poor the higher powers are completely useless. In this case, Celestron is not pushing magnification, which is good. However the highest power that should be used with a scope this size is about 140 power, which under ideal viewing conditions gives good views of the moon and planets.

3. The mount is not heavy enough to give the scope stability, so there will be lots of vibration in the scope whenever it is touched. Yet, for the price of this scope, one cannot expect much more.

For a 10-12 year old this is a pretty good starter scope. For an adult, I cannot recommend it. It is too small and has too many limitations. One quickly grows out of this scope.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig, Astronomy Buff

My fiance enjoys astronomy, so I bought him this telescope for Christmas last year. He absolutely loves it and watches the weather religiously, hoping for a cloud-less night. A great product!