Gskyer Telescope, 70mm Aperture 400mm AZ Mount Astronomical Refracting Telescope for Kids Beginners - Travel Telescope with Carry Bag, Phone Adapter and Wireless Remote
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I bought this knowing nothing about telescopes and not knowing what I could expect to see through this thing.\n\nNow I know more, I think this is a decent value, but it comes with A LOT of cons.\n\nIn telescopes, the aperture size matters much more than magnification. The bigger the aperture, the better the image will be. This is a 70mm aperture (2.75 inches), which is about as small as you can get. It\'s typical for an "entry-level" telescope, and a decent value for the money if you want to get into stargazing without dropping 500 bucks or more on a bigger scope.\n\nHowever, if I could do it over again, I would\'ve spent more and gone with a better one.\n\nFirst, as with all beginner telescopes, it is actually much harder to use than a more intermediate level one. This is something well-known in the amateur astronomy group I\'ve joined, and they never, EVER recommend buying a beginner telescope, ESPECIALLY for kids.\n\nBecause most kids like looking AT stuff more than looking FOR it. And with this telescope, far more time is spent hunting for objects than actually looking at them.\n\nMy kid doesn\'t have the patience or attention span for that, but I rather enjoy the challenge, so I do it. Which brings me to the next problem.\n\nThis is made for kids. As such, the stand is very short. Which means that all the time you spend hunting for things, you\'ll having to be hunched over, crouched down, or kneeling on the ground.\n\nAnd if you live in a place with a lot of light pollution, you won\'t be able to see much more than stars, the Moon, or the brightest planets. Even Mars is difficult to see through this telescope, and you can\'t make out any detail whatsoever on the surface.\n\nYou can make out SOME faint detail on Jupiter, especially if you go away from light pollution on a clear, moonless night. And you can just make out Saturn\'s rings.\n\nVenus, on the other hand, is very easy to see. Especially now, near the end of April 2020, it is the brightest it\'ll be all year, so we\'ve been looking at it every night. It\'s too bright, even at its dimmest, to make out any detail, but you can see what phase it\'s in.\n\nGalaxies, most nebulas, and many star clusters are beyond the ability of this telescope, but that being said, I was able to see a planetary nebula called The Ghost of Jupiter last night.\n\nFor perspective, I\'ve had a few weeks of use and practice, and feel comfortable with the telescope, and have a number of apps, charts, and star maps to help me find things, and it STILL took over an hour for me to finally find it, put it close enough to the center of my field of view to use with max magnification, and put it in focus.\n\nAnd even then, it looked like a hazy, bluish star. We couldn\'t make out any detail or the distinctive eye-shape that can be seen with even slightly larger scopes.\n\nStill, it was cool and the kid loved it. I consider it worth the effort, but my back is killing me today.\n\nDon\'t get me wrong, for an entry-level telescope, this is good. It\'ll serve our needs while we save up for an upgrade. But, like all entry-level telescopes, this is harder to use and not powerful enough to see much.\n\nAll the time required to hunt for things, for what many may consider a disappointing result, could potentially end up killing a kid\'s enthusiasm.\n\nIf you absolutely MUST get an entry-level telescope, this is a good choice. But if at all possible, save up and get a larger aperture.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': ' The idea of getting a telescope has always crossed my mind, but I just didn’t know if it was going to be worth it and/or if I would even know how to use it, since I haven’t touched a telescope probably since high school (and I really know nothing about astronomy or telescopes.) But we have a gorgeous view of the sky from our balcony, especially at night with all the stars! So I decided to go ahead and give this guy a shot. Especially it being quarantine and all, being stuck inside, it was really was the perfect time. When it arrived, I read and followed through the instructions, I also watched a few YouTube videos to understand how to work everything and figure out what all the parts ate for. I did a little research, played around with it during the day, practiced with zooming and focusing on the trees and things. And then BAM! Tonight there was a strawberry moon, I got so excited that when I grabbed the telescope to set it up, I almost sent it flying down three stories off my balcony.. 🤦\u200d♀️ BUT! Here you go! I got some pretty cool shots of the strawberry moon! Yay!\n\nI will say that practicing with the telescope during the day a few times and getting familiar with how it works really helped a lot, Becuase once the moon showed up, I was able to find it right away, zoom, focus, and then just snap away! (Just make sure not to to aim your telescope on trees near your neighbors.. Becuase if you do, they will give you dirty looks..🤣)\n\nAlso, the pictures do no justice! Looking through the telescope in person is wayyyy more beautiful and so many more details that the camera just did not catch! 😍'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': " This is a really great telescope for the price. Pictures and video we're taken using this telescope and a pixel 2xl phone. It was easy to assemble and learning to use it takes a little bit of practice but well worth the time. The crystal clear optics are very impressive. The picture of jupiter and her moons was impressive for a beginner telescope. 🔭 If you love looking at the stars. You'll love this telescope."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Great beginner telescope for my son and daughter!! They are obsessed with the solar system as of late, but we also use it to watch birds and deer in our backyard.\n\nBeing able to also hook it up to a phone really helps my younger one see vs trying to get her to close one eye and peep into the telescope end. Overall, pretty impressed with the purchase and how sturdy it is for the price. Even comes with a great carry case to pack it all nicely away when not in use! Would totally recommend it for anyone with little kids interested in getting into telescopes!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I wanted to wait to review this item until I had a chance to use it a few times and now that I have here is my review.\n\nThis is a very simple telescope and not very well constructed. The assembly for focusing the telescope was "broken" when the item arrived. I say broken in that a piece had come detached and I was able to take apart the whole thing and put it back together. It worked for a while but came apart again tonight as I was trying to look at the full moon so I could not change the focus on the telescope.\n\nIn addition to the poor construction / assembly of the telescope itself the tripod the ships with the telescope is very poor as well. The tightening mechanism on the tripod is either "LOCKED" or "COMPLETELY LOOSE" and the difference between those two states is barely a twist on the tightening knob. As such, trying to find an object in the sky and then lock the telescope in place is a crap shoot as everything easily moves up and down / left to right including drift when tightening the tripod.\n\nI bought this item on sale on Prime Day so the expense was not great but even so its frustrating at how poorly the equipment performed.\n\n3/23/2021 UPDATE -- Company e-mailed me and tried to basically bribe me to remove this review by offering me $10 because they have "changed to another manufacturer to ensure the better quality and service." I told them to make better products and they would get better reviews!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Such a great product. More than just a average astronomical telescope! Still playing around w it. Didn’t expect coming with free phone holder. Loving it'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Update: Buyer beware!!! The seller just asked me to remove my negative review in exchange for $15.\nI was looking for a beginner telescope and liked the fact this was advertised as light weight and good for travel. I am mostly disappointed as it says it comes with a manual but it doesn\'t. There is a "quick guide" of how to set up the telescope which is very disjointed and you can\'t tell the beginning from the end. That is way different than a manual that tells you how to use the telescope. Also frustrated that it doesn\'t stay in place (the knobs are tightened all the way but it\'s still lose enough on the tripod to fall backwards). It is very short and does hurt your neck. I\'m 5\'2 and I was too tall to comfortably use this. Unfortunately will be sending it back and starting my search over for another telescope.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Product arrived in a brown manufacturer box. I'm not sure if it's brand new. The telescope itself is easy to assemble and use. The tripod is little flimsy and the swivrl part is not good. The viewing angle could be uncomfortable. I was able to see Saturn, Jupiter and 4 of its moons. Not a bad telescope but buying something more powerful would be better."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Product was broken when it arrived. Took about 2 weeks to get here now I can’t even use it. What a waste.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'This is an absolute disgrace. It showed up scratched up, looking ratchet. No instructions. Pieced it together and everything is blurry. Beyond changing the distance of the piece from my eye, focusing didnt seem to be a thing. I decide to return it. I gave the benefit of the doubt that perhaps I just got a dud and to send a replacement. Though, my intuition was telling me it was crap. Plastic components etc. second one comes...its worse than the first. Ripped label, black scuff marks. However this one came with instructions. Sending it back for a refund. Total trash.'}]