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Bushnell NorthStar 525mm x 3" Motorized GoTo Reflector Telescope
See it at Amazon.com for $201.99Average Customer Rating
(1.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Simple way to filter out junk telescopes from the decision process....
(1 out of 5) by Zhimbo on Jun 9, 2006 (New Hampshire USA)A useful rule of thumb for determining maximum useable magnfication for a telescope is 50x per inch (or about 2x per millimeter).
A 3inch scope is useable to about 150x, or maybe a little more with a very good scope.
This scope is advertised as giving up to 525x.
Any scope which is advertised as giving such overinflated magnification claims is safely classified as "junk".
Don't buy scopes based on magnification claims.
A 3inch scope is useable to about 150x, or maybe a little more with a very good scope.
This scope is advertised as giving up to 525x.
Any scope which is advertised as giving such overinflated magnification claims is safely classified as "junk".
Don't buy scopes based on magnification claims.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A useful product, but priced a bit high
(3 out of 5) by TinCan Frank on Aug 26, 2009 (Sunny SoCal)I own one of these, it is a very usable product, although the high price at retail makes it an item best purchased second hand or at closeout.
It is a classic Newtonian reflector (Newt) telescope, but has a spherical mirror instead of parabolic. Since the focal length is relatively high, the views are still good. I owned three such larger Newts before this one, and had no success in completing one of the basic tests in Amateur Astronomy, that of splitting both pairs of Epsilon Lyrae, the fabled Double Double.
This telescope did it, and the view was crisp and clean. I did not need to collimate it, but I did use a better eyepiece, a 10mm Plossl purchased on the popular auction site.
The computerized object locating system is limited, as other reviews have pointed out, but the manual button controls work, so once the object is located it is not hard to keep it in view.
I live in a light polluted area, so I can only see the brighter objects. I often set this up beside a larger scope like an 8 inch Dobsonian, and use this to point to the area of an unfamiliar object, since the skies are murky here and star-hopping is difficult. I find that the drive is much more accurate than similar inexpensive Meade telescopes. I use a 9 volt adapter instead of batteries to keep costs down, but the battery supply is convenient for use when travelling.
If you can find one inexpensively, it can be a handy item for quick views or in conjunction with a larger manually pointed scope.
It is a classic Newtonian reflector (Newt) telescope, but has a spherical mirror instead of parabolic. Since the focal length is relatively high, the views are still good. I owned three such larger Newts before this one, and had no success in completing one of the basic tests in Amateur Astronomy, that of splitting both pairs of Epsilon Lyrae, the fabled Double Double.
This telescope did it, and the view was crisp and clean. I did not need to collimate it, but I did use a better eyepiece, a 10mm Plossl purchased on the popular auction site.
The computerized object locating system is limited, as other reviews have pointed out, but the manual button controls work, so once the object is located it is not hard to keep it in view.
I live in a light polluted area, so I can only see the brighter objects. I often set this up beside a larger scope like an 8 inch Dobsonian, and use this to point to the area of an unfamiliar object, since the skies are murky here and star-hopping is difficult. I find that the drive is much more accurate than similar inexpensive Meade telescopes. I use a 9 volt adapter instead of batteries to keep costs down, but the battery supply is convenient for use when travelling.
If you can find one inexpensively, it can be a handy item for quick views or in conjunction with a larger manually pointed scope.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Terrible instuctions!
(2 out of 5) by ACE on Oct 3, 2008 (New York)Two college graduates could not understand the terrible instuctions for assemby. Th box lies when it says 2 easy assembly steps.We still haven't got it together so we can't comment on the telescpoe itself.