Bushnell NorthStar 1300x100 Motorized Starfinder Telescope

Comments about Bushnell NorthStar 1300x100 Motorized Starfinder Telescope:

I've been enjoying this scope for a few months now, and can say it's really good (I'm still using my original 9V battery months later!). With regard to my comments about the GOTO function earlier, I've read several reviews suggesting you point it North to get it started, etc. It looks like Bushnell recently modified their instruction manual, and it really goes into detail about how to align this scope. So it's easy to figure out now. Once aligned, it's actually pretty accurate! A good star chart or Stellarium is always useful, but it's nice to have GOTO capability on the fly. Their website has updated manuals if you already have the scope. Highly recommend. Enjoy!

Comments about Bushnell NorthStar 1300x100 Motorized Starfinder Telescope:

The Bushnell Northstar 100mm Mak-Cass is my first "advanced amateur" telescope. It offers clear views of planets, the moon and stars. So far, my use has been limited to my backyard in a light-polluted city, yet many celestial objects are still quite clear. Unfortunately the Bushnell website is very poorly updated, and there was little information on this telescope from the manufacturer. Instead I read the reviews on the online retailers' websites to learn about this scope. Initially I was debating between this scope and the Celestron 4" Mak-Cass, but opted for Bushnell because it was slightly cheaper at the time, and because I have enjoyed years of top quality Bushnell binoculars. As well, the battery life was reported to be longer, even though it only uses a single 9V battery as opposed to 8 AA batteries. I have been using the same battery in my scope for probably a total of 7 hours of viewing so far.
This telescope comes with everything seen in the images, except the 9V battery (it includes the finderscope battery). I agree with other reviewers- the manual is almost useless. Assembling the scope is quite simple, except that the screws to put the finderscope onto the optical tube do not fit easily into the pre-threaded holes. It took us a few minutes to attach it. The 90 degree diagonal appears to contain a prism as opposed to a mirror. A few reviewers have said that the battery compartment doesn't close well- it closes perfectly, but the battery just has to be oriented so that it's lying flat- basically, nothing to worry about.
The telescope mount is quite solid. Initially I thought it was a little less sturdy than mounts offered by the competition, but it's great and is easy to open up and lock. As well, the telescope mount is motorized and the directions are controlled by the keypad arrow buttons. A quick push will move the scope very minimally. The longer the push (ie. holding it for 2 seconds), the faster the scope slews in that direction. The mount also appears to have some sort of "clutch"-like design, whereby you can manually move the scope by hand without moving the motor gears. I usually move the scope to a spot using the finderscope and fine-tune my adjustment with the motorized mount controls.
One other reviewer mentioend that the remote is hard to see in the dark, with the red backlighting- after my eyes adjust to the darkness it's pretty easy to see. The main flaw with this scope is with its Go To capabilities. They are simply not refined. After playing around with them for a while I managed to star-align with Betelgeuse and Rigel, but the scope is not too accurate at locating other objects after an alignment- it'll slew close to the object, but you'll have to search around for it.
Finally, the most important aspect of the scope: the optical quality is superb. Granted I don't have much telescope experience in this range, but the views are sharp. The 25mm eyepiece is actually quite sharp with a decent field of view. I haven't even tried the 4mm eyepiece as it's most likely going to produce large grainy images. Theoretically, this scope only goes down to 7mm (max magnification = 4" x 50 = 200X. 1300mm/200X= 6.5mm). I can clearly see Mars, Saturn (with its rings and moons), the Orion nebula and moon features.
I also experienced a minor mount technical difficulty, and the Bushnell service department fixed it quickly and professionally. I am truly enjoying this telescope. I would offer a word of advice: if you buy a telescope like this (Bushnell or otherwise), do not depend on the Go To functionality, but, rather, buy an astronomy guide with many pictures and a separate star atlas, and learn how to starhop. I really enjoy using this scope and its functionality is blossoming as I learn how to navigate the sky.

Comments about Bushnell NorthStar 1300x100 Motorized Starfinder Telescope:

I use this telescope and it hasn't disappointed yet! All I need to get is some filters and the nebula and star clusters will really stick out. M038 is a very good cluster, a little faint, but you can see many thousand stars! (constellation Auriga)((by Taurus)) Also what you should get is a good Barlow lens, it will magnify it by 2. Binary Stars and Systems are extremely fun to see. Totally get this telescope NOW!

Comments about Bushnell NorthStar 1300x100 Motorized Starfinder Telescope:

I bought the 90mm version of this. I found very little feedback on it, so I took a chance.
I observe from my backyard mostly and this scope is easy to set up and gives fantastic planetary views!
I eventually took the time to do a star-align and then I was able to see a few galaxies, nebula, double stars and planets.
The views of the moon are super. Jupiter is small, but very crisp with good contrast and stripes visible. 4 moons are clear.
Andromeda is a light cloudy smudge from my light polluted yard, but very visible.
Duck-cluster looks great. Dumbell.
Alberia clearly splits and shows color.

For the record, the images will not be huge, but the optics are good. The 4mm lens is worthless from my viewing area.
I did upgrade to some nicer lenes. Meade 4000 plossls.
The goTo feature works pretty good once you line up a few stars. It doesn't take me exactly to the object but very close, probably because I didn't perfectly align my stars.I usually can find the objects if it is close, just peck around on the remote controls.
Red Dot scope works well.

Very poor manual, but not hard to learn on your own.

Comments about Bushnell NorthStar 1300x100 Motorized Starfinder Telescope:

Perfect for any person intrested in astronomy