Skywatcher Explorer-130M 130mm (5.1") f/900 Motorised Newtonian Reflector Telescope 10713

Firstly, I bought this just 2 weeks ago (before Christmas 2013) and paid £167, and now, after Christmas, they've increased the price to £198! Anyway, here's the review. Delivery - The scope arrived within 5 days. It's a massive box and heavy too. Set-up - it took me about an hour and a half. The manual is like most manuals which come with equipment - not very clearly written, but clear enough to get by after fiddling around. The telescope - fantastic! The imagines are sharp, and there is just a lovely 'feel' when you look through the eye-piece. I've already used it a few times in just a fortnight, and have actually held open-evenings, inviting family and friends and impressed them with the views of Venus, Jupiter, it's moons, and of course our own moon. Magnification - like most beginners I was obsessed with magnification before I bought this, and now having actually used a telescope for the first time in my life, I've realised it's more about aperture, rather than magnification. Here's why - larger aperture means you can see fainter objects and see them sharper too. Larger magnification on the other hand, presents many problems: (1) the objects lose definition (2) your field of view shrinks, so the objects move out of view very quickly (3) the atmospheric pollution, air-currents, finger-on-eye-piece vibrations all get magnified too and make for a shakier image. So, what magnification can you realistically get with this baby? Well, the supplied eye-pieces give you x36 and x90. The Barlow lens can double this to x72 and x180. I found Jupiter best viewed with x90 - this showed me the bands, and the 4 moons. Using 180, the planet just became a big blog loosing definition. The Mount - I discovered I was actually using this mount completely wrong, until someone set it up for me properly. And then voila! I can now spin the telescope around the sky in the matter of seconds. Pointing to Jupiter one minute, and then swirling it to Polaris the next, and then to Orions belt.... The mounts feels very sturdy, and solid, and I must say it's a pleasure to use. Motorised drive - the ''M' in the '130M' means this scope comes with a battery operated drive, which will automatically track an object once it's the field of view. I have yet to use this, so cannot comment on it's performance. So, if you're interested in astronomy, and want a starter telescope, you won't go wrong with this one.

My first ever review but this product deserves one. I've been into astronomy since I was a small kid but never had any kind of scope before, this is my first. I got a bonus from work and thought 'why not?' After torture from friends ripping me, claiming I've only got it to look through neighbour's windows, I took the plunge. It can be daunting choosing your first scope and I got my decision down to three, the reviews on Amazon helped with the final decision. Let's get the boring stuff out the way first - I got next day delivery (estimated 8pm and came 7 hours early). It's very well priced and (ignore all the 'it's made in China so it's rubbish' reviews) it's very well made, a nice, light aluminium frame, steel fittings with a solid scope. I got a shock when opening the box, boxes, boxes and more boxes galore! Setting it up was easy, admittedly the instructions could have been written better but using good old-fashioned common sense never hurt anyone and I had it setup in about 20 minutes. There's a few dials/knobs you can turn, just start turning them to see what they do and that will teach you how to use the thing! The laser setup was easy and makes targeting child's play! Jupiter could be seen just after the sun went down (it's summer at the minute so that's not until about 9.30 - be prepared for late nights!). I had the 25mm eyepiece in to begin with but Jupiter was still pretty much a dot, albeit a bigger one. I'll be honest, I was disappointed. I decided to then put the 10mm in with the Barlow lens and I saw I much bigger disc with very faint bands on... Better! Then I noticed 3 tiny points of light circling, in a line and realised these were 3 of the main moons, what a buzz - my first view of a different planets moons! Ok, the image doesn't blow you away with quality, to counteract this I've purchased some extra eyepieces (4 & 6mm) to the ones provided. More money I didn't want to spend but although I'm only two days into my new hobby I've got to admit I'm hooked - this is addictive! Points you should be aware of, keep the scope on steady ground such as firm grass, I originally had it on my garden decking but it made the scope vibrate. In fact, everything made it vibrate, even using the focus dial. This was (a little) frustrating when focusing as you have to use the focus and let the 'shake' die down to see if your action on the dial worked, you get used to it though. Coincidentally on my first night, the ISS went past but it was travelling too fast for me to cope with, satellite viewing maybe too hard for this. On movement, I haven't set the motor up yet but to be honest I've had no need to and I quite like operating all the knobs and things. Be aware, because the earth spins you'll be turning 1-2 dials every 15-seconds or so, easily done while still looking through the eyepiece so not a hard task. All-in-all considering I'm only two days in I've fallen in love with this, I haven't had the clearest viewing yet but then I've only been in the back garden and that's got a street light directly over it! Looking forward to taking it into the countryside. If you're stuck on which telescope to buy in this aperture size and price range then look no further. Happy planet hunting! :)

Bought this as my first telescope after spending weeks researching and reading reviews, and I wasn't disapointed with my selection. I found it fairly straight forward to assemble and it took a little practice to work out how to use the EQ2 mount. The views of Jupiter are excellent and everything I was expecting/hoping for with this telescope specs and now after I have got used to the EQ2 mount I am starting searching for deep sky objects. It was a little larger than I expected and not very portable due to the size and weight, but with a helper you could lug it over a short distance if needed. For now i'm sticking to my back garden or taking it in my car. The build looks to be of high qualifty and the supplied lenses are also very good. The mirrors came aligned so no callibration was needed but I did have to unscrew the red dot finder mount to shift it in a better position in order to align it accurately. If you are like me and just getting into or testing out this astromony hobby then I high recommend this, but without owning any other telescope I can't compare, however I feel I have got value for money and hope to enjoy many nights looking up at the stars and planets with this scope.

I bought this telescope in the hope of starting astrophotography. After many failed attempts i have given up trying, its great to look through at nebulas and planets etc, but i really wanted to take pics with it. I can get shots of the moon ok but that is it. I had a look around the internet to see if i had done something wrong, and i have found out it cannot focus on stars with acamera attached so i am selling mine and will look for something more what i need. Don't get me wrong its an amazing scope just, it is not what i want it for.