BARSKA 40070 Starwatcher Compact Refractor Telescope

with Table Top Tripod And Carrying Case

This telepscope is a very good telescope, very powerful and clear, easy to use even for a beginner, the only complaint may be the tripod is small and you need to have a sturdy base to set it on for it is too small to use by itself.but if you have a sturdy deck or outside patio or just happen to have a full sized tripod of your own this makes an excellent telescope for astronomers of all ages and skill levels.

Images are crisp and clear for both terrestrial and celestial viewing out to about 60 - 70X, not bad for a scope this size. The included 1.25" lenses and 45 degree diagonal work well enough. One can, of course, use higher quality lenses and 90 degree diagonals for a better viewing experience.

A big advantage of this scope is that the included tripod has fine motor controls for horizontal and vertical movement, making it much easier to track celestial objects as they move across the sky. It appears to be identical to the Celestron Tabletop Tripod that sells alone for $20.95 here on Amazon. It's made of light plastic, but the controls work well enough. Most other short tube scopes in this price range that I'm aware of don't have tripods with this capability. 

The supplied barlow (3x) and eyepieces are laughable to a "serious" amateur-astronomer but they do actually perform very well. Unfortunately a 4mm eyepiece is too powerful for a scope like this, it would have made more sense to ship it with a 8 or 12 mm instead. The barlow is plastic but the lens is actually of quite good quality and does not stretch or blur the image noticeably around the edges. If you already have a set of eyepieces you can throw the supplied once in the garbage without any regret, if not, the supplied ones will work pretty good but don't expect any 300x magnifications to work, that's utter bull and shouldn't even be mentioned... 

Make sure to use the 45 degree diagonal as you will not get focus otherwise... 

You will get stunning views of the moon using this scope, you will also be able to see the bands on Jupiter and the rings on Saturn as well as track their moons. 

The Barska 40070 is definitely worth your consideration!