Celestron – 70mm Travel Scope DX – Portable Refractor Telescope – Fully-Coated Glass Optics – Ideal Telescope for Beginners – BONUS Astronomy Software Package – Digiscoping Smartphone Adapter

I’ve had a 8′ diameter dobsonian telescope for about 25 years but wanted a smaller scope i could take camping when i didn’t feel like dragging the heavy, 4 foot long one with me. I also wanted one i could use as a spotting scope for birding.

There are only two things i don’t like about this scope. 1) tripod is way to wimpy. Even on a name brand heavier-duty tripod, it’s less stable than a dobsonian. The tripod it comes with is barely adequate. It works best if placed on a sturdy table with the legs extended just far enough to make it less tippy. 2) there is some lense flare when looking at mars, but this is to be expected for this price of scope. There is also some minor purple fringing around the edge of the moon, but the moon looks so gorgeous thru it that you forget to notice.

Now for what i like:
1) portability – doesn’t kill my back to haul it outside. Sets up in minutes. So easy to take outside, i use it all the time. I’d only haul my big scope out a couple times a year because it was too heavy.
2) the moon looks so awesome thru this scope!!!
3) jupiter: you can see several of the moons. I haven’t been able to make out any of the color bands as i kinda can with my bigger scope, but that’s to be expected due to the size/cost of this one.
3) saturn: it’s my favorite planet. Even though it looks tiny in this scope, you can see the rings and it’s beautiful.

I was able to see the nebula in orion’s sword from the city (i live on the outskirts of salt lake city) it was really beautiful on one especially dark night, but most nights it’s not dark enough to see it well. I haven’t been able to see other nebulas i’ve looked for. I expect that when i’m able to get away from the city lights i’ll be able to see more nebulas and galaxies. (nebulas and planets thru backyard telescopes don’t look like most photos. You don’t see the colors. Nebulas look like gray clouds. They can still be beautiful tho).

The eyepieces feel cheap, very light weight, but are surprisingly good. Better than i expected for the price. They have enough eye relief that they work ok with my eyeglasses, but i prefer to take my glasses off when looking thru the scope.

I haven’t tried the digiscoping adapter yet, but i’ve experimented with a similar one on my other scope. Digiscoping is tricky and often not all you hope it’d be, but you might get some good photos of the moon.

I haven’t really tried it as a spotting scope yet, other than to look at some leaves at the top of a tree, and expect it’ll be good for that. I’m considering buying a zoom eyepiece for that.

All in all, i think this is an amazing scope for the price. Too bad the tripod isn’t as good as the scope. If you can get a heavier tripod, you’ll love this scope, especially if you can find some dark skies. But even from the city, the moon, saturn & jupiter are so amazing thru this scope.

Initially, i bought a cheaper plastic knock off which barely worked, overly complicated to set up because of its cheap production. Cut to an episode of big bang theory where one of the characters was using a celestron telescope for an experiment. I saw the brand before but know nothing about quality telescopes; i returned the cheap telescope and paid a $40 difference for this telescope. Just taking it out of the box, i could feel the quality is much higher than the original one i bought. The body is heavy high quality materials, the eyepieces are actually metal as opposed to plastic coated in chrome. As soon as i set it up, i was able to get a clear view, even the cellphone adapter is made of metal. I am looking forward to using this at night seeing what i can see and capture. My only complaints are the quality of the tripod and travel bag are not great but the tripod is slightly better than the one that came with the knockoff. Recommended for beginners to learn on.

It’s tiny. Smaller than what i was expecting. But worth it. I was shocked at how close i could get with this telescope. It’s versital and can be used for wildlife watching as well. Some people would say its cheap made. But i was impressed with the tripod as well. So far i have no complaints. It’s a great little travel telescope. Highly recommend.

I reviewed this product before i decided on which brand of telescope to purchase. The positive and 5 star reviews for celestron 70mm travel scope dx did not let me down. Assembly is so simple. I first looked through during the day. I was amazed at the beautiful view of nature. Which one of my faves !!! At the first look at stars at night took my breathe away!! I didn’t know that many stars were visible through this telescope. My kids ,that are young adults ,absolutely enjoyed seeing the moon for the first time .we were fascinated seeing the craters so detailed!!!! Now i wish i had gotten one of these when they were little. So if your kids are little. I would highly recommend getting a celestron telescope for beginners.. I have only had it for a month so therefore i am learning as i go. So far so good 🙂 i will take pics and add them to this review soon.

Very well made and easy to assemble

My son decided he was super into space last year so i wanted to get him a telescope for christmas but had no idea where to begin. When asking for suggestions i kept hearing one brand- celestron. And i am so happy with that suggestion.
The telescope was very easy for us to set up. My husband and i had never set up a telescope in our lives so we had no idea what to do but the instructions were easy to follow. My son is 8 and he enjoyed using it and caught on to the basics of it quickly.
The backpack makes it super easy to just pack in the car and take it with us to the park and even on vacation to the beach.
Great quality, easy to use, h highly recommend.

We love the telescope and use it often. We cannot get a phone placed correctly. Although we try every time we bring it out.

We bought this for our 12 year old for christmas. It arrived a week earlier than we were expecting and took just a few minutes to setup. The images are clear and the everything is easy to use. The finder scope is a little wonky, but the telescope is easy to use without it.

Excelente para principiantes

I did a lot of research before choosing a beginner telescope. I wanted something i could take out of the city and assemble quickly. I know nothing about telescopes or how to use them. This was very easy to assemble. It took 10-15 minutes. It comes with a tripod, a backpack, and software to help you find all the neat stuff in the sky. There is also an app for your phone. The only thing i would do differently is to buy one with a larger aperture. The bigger the aperture the more light gets on and you can see more things. This is 70mm. I would try to get a 100mm or larger.

After several decades, i wanted to return to observing the night sky through telescopes. I didn’t want to begin with an expensive telescope, so i went with a entry level item. Celestron is one of the most popular telescope makers in the world, so i thought i couldn’t go wrong with a telescope from them, which is why i went with the celestron 70mm travel scope dx.
I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the diagonal, spotting scope, and tripod. After reading some of the reviews though, i was prepared for that. I ordered a replacement diagonal and tripod along with the telescope. I was more concerned with the quality of the scope. I was pleased with the scope itself.
The best way to get started is by observing the easier objects. It allows a person to get used to searching the sky, finding the object you’re looking for, and enjoying the view. What better subject to begin with than the moon.
The above pictures are of the telescope where i was taking terrestrial photos using a svbony sv105 camera. The next was the first picture of the moon with the telescope with my google pixel and the smart phone adapter that came with the telescope. As you can see, it needs a lunar filter. Thankfully the telescope came with one. The third image is one taken of the moon with the same google pixel phone. This one i still didn’t use the filter for, because the google pixel has the ability to adjust for the brightness of the moon. I just used my phone’s photo ability. The final photo is of trees in the distance taken using the 70mm travel scope and the svbony sv105 camera.

Overall this is a great beginner telescope. The fact that it comes with it’s own backpack is a plus. It was super easy to assemble and i was able to view the full moon beautifully. The software is terrific and easy to use.

My complaints are:

the tripod is not stable and far too short to be useful (i’m 5′ 7′). I nearly turned myself into a pretzel trying to use the scope and then look into the eyepiece. I wound up grabbing a camp chair and sitting so that i didn’t throw my back out we’re looking in to getting another one.

The camera attachment is not very easy to use. You have to take your phone out of its case, but no matter how light, it pulls the telescope out of angle and you have to start over again from scratch. I actually held my camera to the eyepiece to get a picture

because of this, i gave this 4 stars

The telescope is great. Super light and easy to use.
I upgraded the spotting scope to one with the laser. The tripod is lightweight but not very sturdy. When i try to lock position in place it always moves because the telescope is a bit too heavy for it. So i’m likely going to upgrade to a better tripod.
The iphone mount attachement is also useless because it’s heavier than the scope. So again locking an image into place after finding it in the focusing scope is impossible.

So some updates are needed to use the telescope. But it’s a great one for beginnners. I tried another celestron a bit more advanced. It made finding and focusing much much easier and smoother. But the item was bulky and heavy.

So i prefer this one just for its compactness and ease of use. Price evens out to the other more expensive one after the add ons.

Grandson birthday present but due to weather and basketball games hard to find a good clear night to use it. But was immediately impressed. Said too cool.

Buen telescopio, trípode horrible (el trípode se rompió y el telescopio no tiene 1 mes de uso) así que sepa que debe invertir en un trípode decente

En terminos generales bien . Si hay deficiencia con el adaptador para tomar fotos con el celular, algo q hay q mejorar urgente

Scope itself is great. Tripod is a bit flimsy.

I am a true beginner and was able to figure out how to assemble relatively quickly. I didn’t mess with the stars software as i mostly wanted to just capture different moon phases. It’s very easy to pack up and move which was great for my use. I couldn’t really figure out the phone mount, but i honestly didn’t really read that part of the directions and just took a few shots holding my phone camera through the eye piece.

I like this telescope but the phone adapter came a part the first time i used it. The thumb knob on the phone clamp is really cheap and came off without really tightening it down. They need to redesign it and put a metal nut in the knob.
I made one on my own and it works well.

I think a a travel telescope it was exactly what it said. I just wish the phone adapter last more than one trip. The knob broke off that adjusts the grip on phone, no way to fix it.