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National Geographic Land and Sky Telescope
by Thebaker50
I was really dissappointed with this item. National geographic is a well known brand, that seems to have been stamped onto a piece of chinese made tat! I got it as a present for my younger sister, and it cost around £10 (not expensive, but there are a lot of other gifts you can get for someone around a tenner, that is so much better than ... this). I got it from the entertainer, a shop were I have bought another thing from that also turned out to be terrible.
I wasn't expecting a high quality fully functional telescope, but a telescope good enough to just see stars say a bit bigger (it has written on it how it is capable at star gazing).
Well.. basically, this telescope is appalling. Some of the screws and nuts and the like that hold in various lens and the like keep falling out (and not because they are screwed loose, because they has lost their "contact" with the plastic telescope.
The tripod it comes with is not very stable either. And the telescope itself... well lets put it this way, I have never managed to get a half decent view with it of anything. Let alone looking at stars (which is why I got it). The best you can see are "colours" but you can never make out any shapes or anything like that.
As for the "multiple magnification" lenses... completely pointless, in no magnification can you work out what you are looking at.
Basically, this is a toy, not a telescope, it doesn't function at all, and after about a combined 3 hours of just trying to see anything through it, I have given up. A very poor showing. I would give it 0/5 if I could.
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National Geographic Land and Sky Telescope
by QuinDogg
The celestial objects have always been one of my passions in my free time. I began this interest watching documentaries about this amazingly beautiful science ever since I was a kid. However I had a time when I forgot about it a bit and concentrated my attention on other things. Just recently I wanted to take up some astronomical ... observation by my own means. That is why I thought buying this economic telescope was the best to start over aiming at the stars and planets near the earth. I bought it for just under £20 on Amazon.
The National Geographic 30x telescope is a very portable one which includes a tall enough tripod to enjoy a clear night sky, I would say, more as a hobby rather than for serious purposes. I also have a nephew who I look after a lot and since this is marketed more for children and teens I figured I could watch stars together and I could see if I used it enough to warrant buying a better one if need be. Its yellow colour looks great and it even makes your room look geeky but still cool due to its modernity.
The best of this telescope is its portability which allows you to take it everywhere, especially if you are going camping, since being far from the cities pollution makes it perfect to spot new corpuses and constellations in the vast universe. Nevertheless, I have to say it is not the best telescope in the market, and you can infer that from its price. That is because the 30x is not as potent when you want to look for further planets or look at stars in more detail. I kn ow that other uses it may have, would be for viewing wild life or actually to spy on people around you, even if I have not used it to do so. I think it would work better for doing these kind of observations.The issue with this use is that I guess a pair of binoculars would serve this purpose better, being smaller which means even better portability.
I think the National Geographic is more suited for younger people who rather want a educational toy. That is why I was not completely satisfied by this product. At least it was not expensive and that is another plus if you want to give it to someone you reckon might appreciate toys of this kind. I still would recommend it but it is definitely not for adults who demand more and get really into things more seriously.
Regarding its quality, I have to say it is just fine for its price. Having plastic parts, it sometimes feel fragile. Summarising, I cannot complain much about the product because I think for its price is the best you could get.
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Skywatcher Skymax-127
by robosharkatron
This telescope has been fantastic so far. It is a very powerful tool which provides brilliant optics.
The fully motorised mount is great. It is lightweight and is very easy to set up. It's a compact little unit and can be transported easily.
The product is easy to use, but is still a powerful tool. It would ... be ideal for beginners and enthusiasts alike.
This 'scope, like all telescopes, is affected by light pollution. This one seems to deal with light pollution well, but would work better in an area with limited light.
I have an external power supply to power mine. I would recommend investing in one, as batteries seem to cause the mechanisms to slow down.
When focussed on something high in the sky, the eye piece is awkwardly angled. It's not a major problem but it does make things a little tricky.
Despite what it says in the official product description, this telescope is not built for terrestrial use. You have to buy a separate component to use it in this way; otherwise, the image comes out upside-down.
All in all, I'd happily recommend this product. It has its problems, but compared t other telescopes on the market, this one is excellent value.
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