Meade 20225 TerraStar 60-Millimeter Altazimuth Refractor Telescope with Carry Bag (Silver)

good product for a 9 year to start with. not too expensive and easy to use. easy to purchase. good

I've worked on this three separate times and have yet to assemble it completely. Most of the instructions are written with no visual aids except to refer to the parts list. I've managed to get the tripod mount and base together, but of yet, I can't get the main "barrel" of the telescope to slide into it's plastic holder, where it is to be secured by two screws. It appears that it would be easy, but there's an element that snaps into place that simply won't, and I don't want to risk breaking it by pushing too hard.As of yet, I can't review the features beyond that it comes with a great carrying bag and really doesn't have that many pieces to put together. Would love to actually see with it...I will revise the review once I get it up and "running".

I selected the Meade 20225 TerrStar telescope as my youngest son is often asking me where to find certain constellations in the sky and has always been interested in celestial events. I thought this telescope might be a good entry level scope with which to foster his interest. While it does work, I would hesitate to recommend it, mainly on the basis of its build quality but also for its usability.My son decided to assemble it himself and it was done by the time I got home from work. He had no issues putting it together and he managed to get it assembled correctly without any assistance. In short, it's easy to put together. However, his very first comment to me was that it was very cheaply made, and it did not take long to determine what he meant. The whole assembled unit is slightly wobbly and a little unstable though it does not feel like it will tip over without a little help - I would be more concerned about it breaking outright. There is much more lightweight plastic than metal and there are numerous opportunities to break components which all feel cheaply made.One of the packing decisions made was to put the lenses in the carry bag which is folded up in the box. So, until we realized this we thought the lenses were not included in the package. While this is not a major problem - all the parts are there - it does show a lack of understanding of the consumer who is likely to call the support line first before searching the carry bag.We took the telescope outside and started looking for objects in the sky, and we discovered a serious issue. Once we find something to view, the scope's positional setting is so loose that even the very slightest bump either knocks the object from view or causes the scope to shake which makes viewing impossible. At a minimum the scope itself should be mounted tightly and should move only with deliberate effort. I have found no way to tighten this up which is very unfortunate.I have trouble recommending this telescope. It's very cheaply made and this shows all through the product from assembly to use. Research other options before selecting this telescope.

The 60mm refractor telescope has long been a popular entry level telescope for the beginner on a budget. Typically these have sold in the neighborhood of a hundred dollars in recent years, so it's impressive to see a scope this size coming in at a price this low. The big question is, what do you sacrifice to get a 60mm scope for not much over $50?Assembling the scope you realize that the construction is very much on what you'd call the flimsy side. There's minimal metal, and a lot of plastic. The legs are made of very thin and lightweight steel tubing. Assembled, the scope is not terribly stable and aI had to be very careful not to tip it over. I'd strongly recommend tying some sort of weight to the center of the tripod before using it. Tripod height is suitable for small children or an adult sitting on a low stool. There are a lot of fragile plastic parts, like the thumbscrews used to hold the mirror diagonal and the eyepieces, and to hold the telescope tube in the mount. I worry that these can easily break. The scope also includes a padded bag that's shown holding the tube and the mount in the included instruction book, but the mount with legs collapsed is longer than the bag, and the legs don't fold up tightly enough to fit inside. There's no way you can actually fit everything in the bag unless you remove the legs from the mount, and even then the head might still be too bulky to fit. On the plus side, the slow-motion controls work surprisingly well once you tighten up the tension adjustment screws, and the mount doesn't vibrate much. If disturbed, it settles down within a couple of seconds. And there's a red-dot finder scope included, something every scope should have.The optics are not bad, but they're not great, either. Using my own high quality Brandon eyepieces I found that the objective had a moderate amount of chromatic aberration and I suspect some spherical aberration as well. At low magnification (28x) this showed up as a loss of contrast and sharpness, with the effect getting worse at higher magnifications. The two supplied eyepieces are of a simple design with a narrow field of view, and when used with the scope provided acceptable views. The lens cells is plastic, but the barrel is the same sort of heavy chromed tube you'd find on a good quality eyepieces- a nice touch. I was unable to completely disassemble the eyepieces, as it appears the actual lens cell is glued together, but given the appearance and the narrow field of view I suspect they're a Ramsden design. The 25mm eyepiece delivers 28x and the 9mm eyepiece, roughly 78x. This is a useful range for a scope this size, as well as a refreshing change for the typical "675x!" Christmas trash telescope. Views of the moon and larger planets should be pleasing for the novice telescope owner.So while the optics are not bad, especially given the low price, the lightweight construction makes me concerned that there are too many bits and pieces that can easily break, rendering the scope unusable. I think a better choice in a budget beginner's scope would be the  Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope  at under $30, or the  FunScope 76mm Tabletop Reflector Telescope  at under $40. Both require a stable platform to set the scope on, but both are more rugged and have more light gathering ability than the TerraStar.