Celestron Astromaster 130EQ Astronomy Telescope

This is my first telescope, I wanted something that would be OK for a beginner, but something I wouldn't outgrow too quickly.
A bit of research showed that this kind of scope was towards the top of the range for the beginners, which seemed to be what I was aiming for.

I paid £155 delivered, which was the cheapest I could find for this model, and it arrived in 3 days. Setting it up was straightforward, and I was looking at the moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars that night.

The supplied eyepieces aren't great, but that's pretty normal - enough to get you started. I've since bought a better eyepiece and a 2x barlow lens to give me some more options.

The mount is a bit on the cheap side, but it's functional and once you've figured out how to do a reasonable polar alignment it's easy to keep objects in the eyepiece with the slow motion RA control.

I'm very happy with my purchase, and I'm sure I'll spend far too much money on my new hobby in the future!

Excellent Service by Picstop

This was better than i expected and i'm very pleased with this purchase ( i need to mention that this is all new to me so i am an entry level enthusiast). Great price with these guys and speedy delivery.

I bought this as a pressie for my wife who has a celestron travel scope but has taken a keen interest in astronomy.
This is a good 'next step' scope.
The equatorial mount is very nicely put together & is a heavy & seemingly durable bit of kit.
Both the mount & the scope require taking things to the next level with setting up collimation & laser scope etc.
It's very easy to learn on this.
Everything is well made except for the eyepieces which are, frankly, junk.
Picstop are doing this at a daft price (just £160!) but at full price it's still VFM.
We have bought a celestron x-cel 18mm & matching 3x barlow & 7mm Luminos.
The viewing with these lenses instead of the ones provided help show both the limits of the scope but more importantly what it does well.
This is a lot of scope for the money. If you allow the cost of 2 decent replacement lenses + a barlow into the price you'll find that this has a lot to offer the amateur.
The instructions offer a slightly confusing picture guide to setting up the mount but a detailed & very useful users guide that covers a lot & will really help the user start to get to grip with what is needed to begin really enjoying astronomy.
Something the scope, once fitted with good lenses, does too.
Recommended

I think this scope is a good way to have an advance, cost accesible but professional piece of equipment, I can't stop using it every night when is clear.

I have only used a couple of times due to cloud but a great first telescope. Good quick service from picstop would recommend.

Great

As a beginner this was all the scope I could want at a great price. Service and deliver was fast and efficient the one thing I would say is that the mount takes some getting used to but will definitely shop here when I am ready for an upgrade.

First telescope

Great first telescope, looking at the moon and be able to see details is something special. All of the accessories you can add are nice, to upgrade your setup, depending on usage (astrophotography).

It's a little hard to set up for beginners but it's amazing after looking through the first night seeing Venus.
The book is very insight and full of information which is great as a starting point. If I had more room I would buy another one