Celestron Inspire 100AZ Refractor Telescope

I’m a casual backyard astronomer and I bought this to leave out near my back door to check out a few planets or the moon.I like the way this is built. It looks and feels very solid. It’s a good looking telescope. It’s obviously not that James Webb, but for the money, I think it’s a good deal and I enjoy it. Also, the finder scope works well although it’s a little confusing to figure out how to use it for the first time.

Exactly what I needed for life on the Bay to see dolphin and manatees up close once sited.For the price it’s great, and is made of quality material. It comes with 2 eyepiece magnifications, both pretty powerful, but could really use a 30mm to go with the 20&10mm for even faster siteing response..Reading the reviews it appears that people are accidentally buying this for upclose planet viewing, I don’t believe this is the intent for this unit. With the wide field of view, portability, and easy set up, this one is perfect for terrestrial viewing, quickly locating sites objects.The only complaint is that although all components are made of nice material, the engineering is missing a little, for instance the telescope slide bracket doesn’t have a stop on the glide, and the two thumb screws used to hold in place are way long and dig into the bracket. This works fine but being the only weaknesses and so easily addressed, should be corrected. I still rated it 5-Stars since there is nothing like it for the way I use mine, more like a super target spotter.

Very nice telescope. Especially for the beginner. The views are large and clear for a scope this size. The short focal length makes for wider field and easy transport. This is an excellent travel scope. The tripod is very solid with a nice accessory tray. The integrated red flashlight is a handy feature. The mount is adequate but lacks fine movement controls. The reflex finder that comes with it is one of the best I’ve seen.

I have never owned a telescope. This was so easy to set up. I did order a Celestron moon filter kit due to the brightness of the moon. Received it just in time for the Parade of Planets. Now, the planets just look like bright stars through it, although we are pretty sure we saw the rings of Saturn. I do recommend for general moon watching. Or even wildlife/landscape. I am a review reader. And I usually start with the bad lol. BUT, sometimes, the low star ratings are meh. I recommend this for the money, if looking at the moon and some small constellations is what you prefer.

Item arrived open and already used.

We got this for our son who loves to look at the stars. We’ve gotten telescopes before and couldn’t really see very well so we didn’t want to make the same mistake but also didn’t want to spend a ton of money. Well, this one was a little more expensive but it’s totally worth it!! He’s already been looking through it and it’s so easy to see the stars and planets. So glad we got this one!

As a total beginner (I’ve never looked through a telescope before buying this one.) I decided to roll the dice on this scope and am very glad I did! When I received the telescope, the finderscope was defective. Celestron’s customer service was fantastic and I had a new finderscope in just a few days. I have been loving using this scope every clear night. Really fantastic views of the planets and the moon, and very easy for the beginner to use, learn, and understand. I haven’t been able to find many deep sky objects, but I chalk that up to living in the city/lack of experience. This really is a perfect beginner telescope, at least it has been for me, and I will love it for years. Highly recommend, but make sure you pick up a Barlow and moon filter!

Easy to assemble, but nearly impossible to easily move it and track things you want to see. Simple target, line up the viewfinder on the full moon. Okay. Focus, easy enough. Tighten down the screws so it will actually stay on target and the telescope shifts all over, moving well off the target. Any slight adjustments aren't possible, and I haven't managed to get the smart phone adapter to work, since there's no real way to lock down the adjustments, it's too easy to move it, even clamped way down. On top of that the legs are so shaky, anything, a slight breeze, breathe too hard, everything shakes.What makes me madder, is this scope was $100 cheaper not too long ago. All telescopes had a massive price uptick recently. At the $300 price point, no, this isn't worth it. At $150 absolutely as entry level. For $300 though, it'd rather have one with the gear adjustments vertically and horizontally, for making incremental adjustments. This one is impossible to easily get and keep on target. Small adjustments, forget it.