Celestron SkyProdigy 130 Reflector Fully Automatic Telescope 31153

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I bought the 3.5″ Maksutov Cassegrain and have only used it a few nights so far. The StarSense autoalign is not working well. I have to manually slew it to everything, even the moon. I read in a review that you may have to calibrate the tube/camera alignment via the menu each time you power the telescope up. That would be inconvenient. Images are somewhat shaky even at low power, although the tripod itself feels very sturdy, Also I see a blotchy smear in image center with all my higher lenses including a good 7mm Nagler (this does not appear to be a lens problem, maybe it’s my 68 year old eyes). The SkyProdigy 90mm image “seems” comparatively dim compared to a Celestron 80mm short-tube refractor I owned years ago. And I cannot even register it at their website since this model is discontinued. I logged a ticket about this but several days later have yet to hear back. I am very disappointed. I will play with it a little more but may return it.

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Brand new to astronomy and this was an excellent choice for a beginner scope. Fed-Ex dropped the box out the other door of the delivery truck, so it was a tiny bit out of collimation when I started. It worked exactly as it said it would in the directions, fired it up, waited to push align…align 2 minutes later pushed Jupiter under planets tab and there it was, not quite centered but there it was. Saturn…WOW! I ended up having to drive to the observatory at SunRiver Oregon for help with first collimation, ordered a collimation (non laser) tool, watched a few web videos and was able to easily collimate it by myself from then on. Tricks learned to pass on to fledgling astronomers: if things aren’t quite centered, use the starsense calibration menu, find a bright star of planet, center it in your eyepiece, I start with 35mm then drop to about 8mm, center, then follow instructions. re-align. Magic. I found the folks at Celestron to be very helpful and pleasant when I utilized the chat window in support. Many questions answered. Ive found this little beauty easily tracks planets to get pictures with Stopmotion 1080p hacked webcam (mod was easy). Now that I firmly have the bug, next will be 8 inch…I have aperture fever now. Seriously, the problems with this telescope have been very few, I have little trouble recommending Celestron. The pictures below were captured end of this last July, yellowish one was on the valley floor with smoke and dust in atmosphere, bluish was 4000 feet up with clear mostly dark skies, using webcam, 2x CelestronXL Barlow. All in all, this telescope truly surpassed my expectations. The eyepieces in the Celestron kit, aren’t bad, but i bought midrange Celestron XL eyepieces and it did improve visuals. I just love this little bugger!

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Perfect for beginners. Finds the planets for you. I can see Jupiter’s moons!

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My wife bought me this as a birthday gift and I was initially very excited about it. It sets up very easily, and the computerized alignment and tracking was very simple, and the optics were great. It only worked about three times before the hand controller was giving me an error saying it could not connect to the telescope. Plugging the hand controller into the auxiliary port worked for another time or two before that also went bad. I believe the issue was weak jack connections to the circuit board. I tried to get the company to send me a replacement circuit board but they wouldn’t, we had to box the entire thing up to send it back for an exchange. The next telescope worked great, but again, only for the first two or three times before we had the same issue with the electronics. Finally sent the whole thing back and won’t get another replacement. Seems like a great scope, marred by poor electronics.

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It’s a great first-time telescope!

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great telescope easy to set up and use

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Bought this for my son. He loves it! works as advertised. HUGE box though!

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I have had this telescope for a year and I have had every problem listed here like the handheld controller communications problem, the view being shaky and everything being very faint. The star location finder works well, with periodic calibrating. It gets you in the neighborhood. I definately would not recommend for a beginner.

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I bought one of these last year and sent it back after a week. I’ve owned two other “go-to” Celestron telescopes and I thought this looked promising. It’s the same old crap, 1980’s computer technology and they keep trying to put lipstick on that pig. Terribly frustrating to align, no GPS, no memory of your previous settings, RS232 jack! The scope itself is fine, but Celestron needs to make the bold leap out of 1989 with their electronics. My phone is 30 years ahead of this. Lastly, the remote is the most frustrating, unintuitive thing you have ever seen. It also has a thick, spiral cord to get in the way. Wireless remote? TV’s have had those for 40 years. Avoid these expensive dust collectors and get a nice pair of binoculars.

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nice telescope there are many negative notes to this product has worked very well is what it promises I am very happy I recommend it thanks celestron !!