Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ App-Enabled Telescope – 114mm Newtonian Reflector with Smartphone Dock & StarSense App – iPhone & Android Compatible – Easy-to-Use for Beginners

Light weight. Works fantastic. Easy to use. Clear viewing. Has a red dot which makes centering on moon, stars easy. Took some time to put together, but easy to follow directions. Love that it comes with multiple lens.

Ok so got this yesterday around 5 pm put it together and boom was watching the moon, arrived just in time for the Lunar Eclipse Blood Moon, pics attached. No collimation needed, easy setup and Star Sense App worked immediately with no issues. Red dot finder worked amazingly well and am super happy with my purchase. This is a great scope for beginners for the money or if you don’t want to spend on an equatorial telescope. You are ready right out of the box immediately ready to star gaze!!! I was also able to use my iPhone to take these pics!!

Works as it says it should, with a few things to know ahead of time so that you get the best out of it. Make sure to download the app and use the included card to register the software properly. The phone mount has a COVER over the mirror, don't forget to remove it when you put your phone on (which I absolutely didn't do and have issues realizing) Don't enable advanced camera controls (at least on Android, specifically the Galaxy 25 ultra) as it adds a massive delay and over exposure making everything basically white The tripod and mount isn't rock solid, and so expect some image jiggle if you bump or put your eye physically on the eyepiece (or if explaining to a 7 year old you don't slam your eye into it) Take your time to calibrate the red dot and camera cross hairs. Doing so makes using the software to locate stars easy. While my chances to use it have been limited by cloud cover and a massive outbreak of vicious tiger mosquitoes (if you know them, you know) it operated amazingly, and being able to see the massive amount of stars around the stars you can visably see is amazing. Even from within a larger city on a partially cloudy evening, it let us see stars invisible otherwise, and let us locate and identify everything that was available in the sky. Before the mosquitos had just about drained us of all life blood.

We chose this as our first telescope. A major factor was to view the eclipse on April 8th, from Waco, TX (we have people from across the country joining us). The "Eclipsesafe Lense" was available for $20. I watched a pair of reviews, and the Setup guide from Celestron, and had no issues assembling, setting up, and using all the features of this telescope. Within 20 minutes, I had the app, and red dot aligned, and viewing the moon with my family. It was a great first experience, and we are looking forward to many stary nights, and joining our local Astronomical Society. For $200 delivered to my door, including the eclipse filter, the cost of entry was cheap. We hope to upgrade in a couple years, and give this to a friend, and draw them into the hobby.

I ordered this Celestron telescope October 26, 2023; it was delivered October 30, 2023. This telescope arrived in a well padded and packaged set of two sturdy boxes (one inside the other) and within the estimated shipping dates. I give this product a one star for the following reasons: (1) The telescope was impossible to calibrate and focus. The hand-focus apparatus was not precise; the slightest movement caused the optical tube to move away from the target object and lose focus. I could never focus on one single terrestrial object (let alone any celestial object). (2) It did not come with a prism eye piece that corrects the up/down and left/right perspective. So, that had to be purchased separately and was hard to find for this particular telescope model. (3) The phone attachment piece and the app that was supposed to enable the automatic features of the telescope didn't work, even after several calls to Celestron Customer Support. (4) The multiple codes, which the Customer Support gave me over the phone, were supposed to activate the app, but none of the codes worked. (5) The app could only be downloaded to a desktop computer and not to my smart phone. (6) I was never able to use the phone camera to take pictures of terrestrial or celestial objects. (7) I called the Celestron Customer Support multiple times to help me set up the telescope and app, all to no avail. The Celestron customer support acted as if I was taking up too much of their time and came across as impatient and wanting to get me off the phone as soon as possible. (8) I am a seasoned telescope user and I own a wonderful Meade Refractor telescope that I have practically rebuilt with new parts. So I know something about telescopes. I'm not a novice or an idiot. Nevertheless, I kept trying to set up the Celestron telescope to work properly, and finally decided to return it just before the return period ended. I cannot convey how frustrating this experience was, which is one of the reasons why I waited so long before giving a product review; I wanted to communicate from a fact-based perspective rather than from only frustration. Considering the cost for this Celestron telescope, in my opinion, it was truly a piece of junk and I will never buy another Celestron product again.

Bought it as a Christmas gift for my ex-girlfriend when we were together. She always wanted one and really appreciated it. Focused don Jupiter and moons really nice. The free subscription to the star finder for the phone was junk.

Claims of being a good first telescope i disagree with them. Where to begin? I bought the telescope based on some the reviews and the feature using the phone app to help view different celestial bodies. I also wanted something that was more compact. And instead of having to look from the end of the barrel, I could look from the side of the barrel. I found the packaging to be sufficient to protect it and it came in good shape. Putting the telescope together was very easy, and I had no problems. Some of the flaws that I ran into that made me give this a less than stellar rating, start with the adjustments and the tightening of certain screws. The lock screw that helps tighten the telescope and prevent it from revolving, where it connects to the tripod. As soon as you attempt to tighten it a little bit, it automatically forces the telescope to shift just a little bit, but takes it off of the celestial body you happen to be viewing. This was very frustrating because I was trying to keep it from shifting, as I was looking through the eyepiece. The other 2 features causing me great frustration in trying to be able to locate any celestial body. The star sense app does not give an accurate view or assistance in locating the celestial body you're hoping to find. I attempted multiple times to adjust The Star sense locator, but to no avail. The other thing I found was every time I mount and unmount the cell phone into the star sense, locator device, it forces it out of alignment immediately. There's a red dot locator also mounted on the telescope. I've had no luck in trying to adjust the red dot into any manner where it will help me. Pinpoint the celestial body that I'm hoping to view. It has become a waste of time for me to use that at all. In order to locate anything, it has to be of a larger celestial body. Like the moon so far, that's been the only celestial body that I've been able to identify and to locate it, I've had to actually use the eye peace viewing tube without the magnifying eyepiece in place. I will compliment that the construction of the telescope and tripod and all feel of a good quality and sturdy and for the price. It was not bad based on pricing of other telescopes out there of this same design. Once I was able to focus on the moon, I found the image to be clear. At this moment, I'm indecisive if I want to keep it or send it back. I'm leaning towards sending it back because of the frustrations that i've had trying to locate celeste body's using what was supposed to be an easy design feature with the star sense app.

Surprised my granddaughter with this Product for her 10th birthday. She showed me the moon up close And was I a Happy Papa😊 she loves space and tells me one day that she will go to the moon and explore. I hope I’m alive to witness her dreams🙏