Celestron 100mm ED Spotting Scope

Well the sample I looked at had some sort of coma, color wedge or tilt problem that caused flares where pointlike daytime glints should be. Too bad, the color and spherical correction looked promising.

The zoom ocular has significant kidney bean effect and goes unsharp off axis pretty quick, but if the primary image was clean this would be a best buy.

The Chinese need to discover QA, or Celestron needs to show them, since Celestron's SCs appear to be getting it.

Looking at the problem closer, it appears to be most likely tilt in the prism cluster rather than wedge in the objective. About one wave of coma.

BTW, infinity focus cannot be reached, I had to use nearby glints for the star test. I tried several other oculars without success. The zoom resembles the LV zoom superficially but does not appear to be a direct copy.

We will see if the next one delivers the goods. I still think the color correction is good. Also the glass is very clean, and all the surfaces appear uniformly multicoated. The main tube is plastic, but with the rubber-armoring at the prism end the overall effect is not bad.