Orion Observer II 70mm Altazimuth Refractor Telescope for Beginner Stargazing - Ideal First Telescope Gift for Adults and Families

Great telescope for beginners. Good for viewing the moon. Jupiter's streaks and moons are visible too. Venus appears small, although with better lenses can be more defined. Need to wait for the right weather and time before I can view Pleiades and M42, but it should be well-suited for those as well. Setup is quick and easy, portability is decent. Only downsides are the viewfinder's overly large and bright red dot, also the tripod tray's wingnuts, which are easy to lose.Edit: I've attached an image of Pleiades taken through this scope. I have also managed to view Mars, M42, and Saturn nicely. Astrophotography is generally limited but decent shots of large and/or close objects can be managed.

I bought this from amazon using the used like new discount and it had been re boxed but was completely new telescope. I got it for $34 including the shipping and you can't beat that deal. I've used all the way up 16 inch telescopes so this can't compete with a large reflector on deep sky objects but around the house when the Orion nebula gets in the right position it can be better than I it would for a small refractor. It's the sharpest telescope I have owned at least on the moon and not too much chromatic aberration on it but it has more chromatic on bright stars. It is sharper than an etx 90mm I owned for a while on the moon. I took it out to the light pollution free mountain tonight and I did hunt down messier 51, the Auriga star clusters, the persus double double and the star cluster below the star Sirius. I looked for m81 and 82 but could track them down tonight and it was very cold out. I haven't had a chance to view the planets with it seeing in how the are in the summer sky constellations right now. It can't compete with a larger telescope on deep sky objects but is great on the moon and it's better than nothin right now except I do have 10x50 binoculars. It is light years ahead of a department store refractor like the Jason 60mm I had for several years. It is a great value for the money.

I love this telescope. It has the sharpest optics of any 70mm refractor I have owned. And I have owned quite a few. Except for the slight chromatic aberration (which is to be expected), it competes with my 80mm ED refractor that costs quite a bit more. Of course it's only 70mm in aperture and will give you amazing views of the Moon and planets, the brighter deep space objects and a few double stars. That's it. But for the price, I am sure you will not get anything better anywhere. It's also great for terrestrial viewing. It's light weight, well built and good for light polluted cities due to small aperture and long focal ratio. For me it's the perfect grab and go!

We bought this as a family Christmas gift and it has not disappointed. It has allowed us the see features on the moon are not visible through binoculars (what we were using) and we could see the rings of Saturn. You need to be realistic when buying a telescope, this until is not going to give you perfect and clear images of something 793 million miles (Saturn) from Earth. But it will allow you to see things you could never see without a telescope. To enhance your experience you should consider adding on Barlow lenses, moon filters and other worthwhile extras. Many of these extras are under $30 (some as low as $15).

I Can't really see the moon clearly with this scope using the provided 25mm,10mm or the extra eyepiece I ordered. I would think you should be able to adjust focus in to clear up but my focuser is already all the way in, I can't move it out at all or its just instant blur. The only way I can use it to just barely see moon clearly is leave it all the way in and use the 25mm. Can't use the 10mm its just blur from the start. All other items I purchased seem fine and other eyepiece works same way so maybe something wrong with the focuser or lenses? Been messing around in the backyard with it couple nights a week for the past month.

We can see the craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, stars, etc. The tripod isn't too stable so we hang a bag with a heavy object (like a weight) from the accessory tray and that makes it more sturdy. Works great at our monthly 'star parties'.

I am extremely pleased with this telescope. I’m brand new to astronomy and after calibrating the sight scope and having a clear night, we had a beautiful view of the moon. It’s a 70mm aperture so it’s not a huge view but we could distinctly see the rings of Saturn when I focused in on it later with good detail on Jupiter. This is definitely a great starter for this hobby.

While the scope works fine the stand and mount are cheap as possible. Won't hold position, after tightening the azimuth when I released the scope it moved enough to loose the moon. I have to physically hold it down to see anything. Which means it vibrates. I bought it to watch the jupiter and saturn conjunction, worthless for that as I can't keep a planet in the viewer without holding it. I am returning it.