Doug Peterson said:
Well you wouldn't expect much for 49 bucks and you don't get much. The 3" aperture is stopped down by the secondary mirror to maybe 2". However the mount is kinda cool, single arm bandit dobsonian style. I expect to improve the scope's shortcomings or replace with a small cassegrain or short tube refractor.
http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?CatID=83&ProdID=568
Doug: There is a long thread in "Scopes less than 99mm" discussing this little cutie. I purchased one back in April... I think the thread is worth a read:
http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=656000&poll_id=&news_id=&page=3
I purchased one and took it apart to center spot the mirror and while doing so, I measured the size of the secondary, the position of the focal plane and ran it in Newtwin. I was a bit surprised but the scope does achieve full illumination. According to my measurements and Newtwin, the center 0.36 degrees are fully illuminated and the 75% illumination level extends out past 3 degrees. I also verified this using a pinhole at the focal plane, the entire primary mirror and then some is visible.
In my view, it's a surprisingly good $50 scope. The downsides are the poor Huygens eyepieces, far from ideal at F/4, and the lack of a collimatible primary mirror cell. I overcame the collimation problem by slotting the screw holes in tube so I could tilt the primary and lock in position. The tube, though it looks like sonotube, is actually metal. The mount is also a surprise, solid and smooth. The Huygens eyepieces are excusable only on cost grounds, adding Plossls would have likely increased the price to at least $75.
Jon Isaacs
