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Customer Reviews
| Pros | Cons |
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Good choice for beginer - Review by Shuo
I can see Moon very clearly, and Jupiter is hard to see detail of its surface.
(Posted on 18/12/11)
(Posted on 18/12/11)
excellent item very good staff and service - Review by simon
arrived within 3 days freight tracker/insurance well worth the $20.Easy to assemble,my first scope no probs,rang help line before purchase -very helpfull, will be buying more accessories fantastic clear images!!! (Posted on 20/07/11)
Pros: price, Accurate, user friendly, Good price, Decent glass, Positive adjustments, quality +++, Beautifully crisp image!
Cons: May encourage you to buy a big telescope!
very professional scope, excellent for experienced or new starters - Review by greengrass88
I found it very easy to assemble and use, excellent star/moon gazing and will purchase suitable lense for land veiwing.A really versatile unit for land or sky.! help line was excellent with good advice with what to purchase. Cant fault the service. (Posted on 16/07/11)
Pros: price, user friendly, Good price, Decent glass, Positive adjustments, quality +++, Beautifully crisp image!
Cons: May encourage you to buy a big telescope!
1st class - Review by sosborn
a purchase made very easy by a profffesional, helpful Company...A pleasure to deal with, would recomend this Company 100% (Posted on 10/12/10)
Pros: price, Accurate, user friendly, Good price, Decent glass, Positive adjustments, quality +++, Beautifully crisp image!
Cons: tripod quality
pretty good all up - Review by barry logue
well done many thanks, Barry. (Posted on 3/10/10)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:
Which is best suited for a beginner looking to use telescope for a mix of astro, land and photography? Saxon 1309EQMS, 909 AZ or 909 EQ2? What other products do I need to get apart from camera adapter?
A:
Based on your selections above, I would go with the 909AZ, simply because any telescope with EQ mount is not recommended for beginners because it is difficult to control.
While the aperture on the 1309EQ is bigger, it would not be easy to handle.
Unfortunately, the 909AZ is currently out of stock, if you are trying to get it for Christmas, I can't guarantee that you will receive it in time.
I would suggest:
The Celestron AstroMaster 70AZ :http://www.ozscopes.com.au/refractor-telescope-celestron-astromaster-70az.html
The aperture is a little bit smaller, but it is a good telescope. You'd get a clear view of the moon!
For astrophotography, you will need:
a T-adapter
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/celestron-t-adapter-universal-1-25-in.html
and a T-Ring for your camera
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=T-ring
While the aperture on the 1309EQ is bigger, it would not be easy to handle.
Unfortunately, the 909AZ is currently out of stock, if you are trying to get it for Christmas, I can't guarantee that you will receive it in time.
I would suggest:
The Celestron AstroMaster 70AZ :http://www.ozscopes.com.au/refractor-telescope-celestron-astromaster-70az.html
The aperture is a little bit smaller, but it is a good telescope. You'd get a clear view of the moon!
For astrophotography, you will need:
a T-adapter
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/celestron-t-adapter-universal-1-25-in.html
and a T-Ring for your camera
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=T-ring
Q:
We have great views from our balcony and looking for a good quality landscape viewing/sea view also a little night viewing. We are just novice people at this but can you recommend a good all rounder around the 3/4 hundred dollars.
A:
As you would like to do more land viewing (with the option of some night viewing), I would suggest either a Spotting Scope or a Refractor Telescopes with a standard AZ Mount.
The EQ2 mount on the Saxon 90mm telescope makes it difficult to tract objects on land, The Equatorial mount will pan according to the shape the equator, not in a straight horizontal direction. If you intend to get a telescope, go for one with an AZ Mount. For example:
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/saxon-909az3-refractor-telescope.html
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/refractor-telescope-celestron-astromaster-70az.html
You can also read more about mounts on our guides page: http://www.ozscopes.com.au/guides/telescopes-guide/telescope-mounts.html
Spotting scopes will offer you the best contrast and clarity of the land as it's optics and optical coating has been designed specifically for land observations. They are however still applicable for casual night viewing (of the stars, moon etc). Our range of spotting scopes is available on this link: http://www.ozscopes.com.au/telescope/spotting-scope
The EQ2 mount on the Saxon 90mm telescope makes it difficult to tract objects on land, The Equatorial mount will pan according to the shape the equator, not in a straight horizontal direction. If you intend to get a telescope, go for one with an AZ Mount. For example:
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/saxon-909az3-refractor-telescope.html
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/refractor-telescope-celestron-astromaster-70az.html
You can also read more about mounts on our guides page: http://www.ozscopes.com.au/guides/telescopes-guide/telescope-mounts.html
Spotting scopes will offer you the best contrast and clarity of the land as it's optics and optical coating has been designed specifically for land observations. They are however still applicable for casual night viewing (of the stars, moon etc). Our range of spotting scopes is available on this link: http://www.ozscopes.com.au/telescope/spotting-scope
Q:
I am wanting to buy a telescope for my 7 year-old sons this Christmas but it will also be enthusiastically used by my husband and myself! We have a property in Northern Victoria so our night skies are spectacular and clear. Would this be an appropriate telescope for us? Could you suggest another one, perhaps slightly cheaper? I don't mind paying the extra if ease of use is worth it!!
A:
The 80 LCM is a computerized scope which means that the telescope will be able to find and locate planets for you. This definitely makes finding planets much easier! Setting up the telescope only requires 2 steps, the first is to align the telescope. This step involves moving the mount manually with the controls and pointing at 3 stars in the sky (It can be anything you see and you don't need to know what it is). Once this is done, all you have to do is browse through the list of planets, nebulae's available in the night sky and the mount will point to the star automatically.
Computerized telescopes are definitely much easier. The 80 LCM is designed to be a lightweight telescope which is also very portable. This would be the best telescope if you were after a lightweight computerized telescope.
Computerized telescopes are definitely much easier. The 80 LCM is designed to be a lightweight telescope which is also very portable. This would be the best telescope if you were after a lightweight computerized telescope.
Q:
Is this telescope also suitable for astrophotography for beginners, especially using a digital camera?
A:
Yup! The 909 EQ2 would be good for beginners and for astrophotography as well! All you'll need is a digital camera adapter such as this one (http://www.ozscopes.com.au/universal-digital-camera-adaptor-large-saxon.html) to mount your digital camera on it and take pictures through the eyepiece of the telescope. The best telescopes for astrophotography would be Cassegrains, but as long as you don't get a reflector (they're not recommended for astrophotography) then you should be fine :)
Q:
Is this telescope (as is) suitable for land and sea viewing?
A:
Yes, the refractor should work fine for land and sea viewing. However, I would recommend getting a scope with a different mount as the equatorial (EQ) mount is meant for tracking sky objects - it moves in a circular motion. It would be better to go for Alt-Azimuth (AZ) mounts as these go up/down/left/right and are much more suitable for land viewing.
The better alternative to the 909EQ2 that you were looking at would be the Celestron Astromaster 90AZ Refractor (http://www.ozscopes.com.au/refractor-telescope-celestron-astromaster-90az.html). It has the same specs but with an AZ mount that is more suited for land and sea viewing.
If you were interested in both land viewing and astronomy, the refractor telescope would be a great scope to get.
The better alternative to the 909EQ2 that you were looking at would be the Celestron Astromaster 90AZ Refractor (http://www.ozscopes.com.au/refractor-telescope-celestron-astromaster-90az.html). It has the same specs but with an AZ mount that is more suited for land and sea viewing.
If you were interested in both land viewing and astronomy, the refractor telescope would be a great scope to get.
