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Celestron 52238 C70 Mini Mak Spotting Scope | 
| Brand: Celestron
Category: Photography
List Price: $149.95
Buy New: $94.95
You Save: $55.00 (37%)
New (5) from $90.68
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 5485
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5.5
Dimensions (in): 11 x 6 x 16
MPN: 52238
Model: 52238
UPC: 050234522380
EAN: 0050234522380
ASIN: B00150XFLU
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Maksutov-Cassegrain optical design with multi-coated optics | | • | 45 eyepiece - zooms up to 75x | | • | 1.25" eyepiece adapter allows usage of any 1.25" eyepiece | | • | Table top tripod | | • | Soft carrying case |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Celestron Mini Maks bring portability and versatility to a new level. The Maksutov optical design is recognized for being compact, easy to use and applicable for both terrestrial (land) and astronomical use.C70 Mini Mak is a small but powerful spotting scope that includes a tabletop tripod which has built-in slow motion controls, a built-in zoom eyepiece capable of 90x magnification and soft carrying case.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Solid, if unspectacular, performance January 1, 2009
black thumb (Berkeley, CA USA)
I bought the C70 to serve as a travel telescope for observing the moon and planets. Maksutov-Cassegrain optics, 70mm objective, 700mm focal length (f/10), 2lbs (0.9kg), length 11 in with eyepiece.
PROS
1. Light and small. I have flown with the C70, tripod, laptop, power cord, digital camera, and several paperbacks in a small carry-on backpack.
2. Resolution is good. Saturn was clearly identifiable even at 25x and with the rings almost edge-on. Under clear skies the moon is sharp down to the limit of what my eye can resolve. Atmospheric turbulence has been more limiting than the optics.
3. No false color, no image shift during focusing, and no tube currents, even taking the scope outside to observe immediately in freezing temperatures.
4. Included zoom eyepiece has good eye relief. I wear glasses and have no problem seeing the entire field. Also, unlike most inexpensive spotting scopes, the C70 includes an adapter to use standard 1.25" astronomical eyepieces.
6. Fitting a workable finder takes less than a minute and costs literally nothing. I made a sight tube from an old ink pen held on by two rubber bands, and the grooves on the rubber armor hold it correctly aligned. I have never spent more than a few seconds getting anything into the field of view.
7. Did I mention the rubber armor? It is also water resistant, which is worse than many high-end spotters (waterproof) but better than most high-end astro scopes (no weatherproofing). Put it in the padded soft-case, toss it in a backpack or sling it over a shoulder (strap included) and you're ready to go. The soft case can be zipped open and left on the scope for use in the cold or damp, which is a nice touch.
8. A screw-on metal cap covers the entire eyepiece. The plastic cap for the objective is securely snug but not too tight, and won't scratch the optics.
9. Despite being mostly plastic, the included tripod is surprisingly sturdy. It vibrates when bumped, but the vibrations die out in 2-3 seconds. Happily, it is no less sturdy with the center column extended. Folds to less than a foot long and weighs almost nothing; would be a good tabletop tripod for small cameras, too.
CONS
1. Views are fairly dim, especially at high powers. It's a 70mm scope and a Mak, so this is basically unavoidable. That doesn't really matter for the moon and planets, which are still plenty bright. But it's not good for nebulae and galaxies (no surprises there).
2. The focuser has some slop. Oddly, it is better if I press down while focusing, but that makes the image shake, which makes focusing more difficult. Focuser slop probably varies a lot, so other C70s may be a lot better (and some may be even worse).
3. No finder is included, and at f/10 you will want something. Most small scopes either come with no finder, a sight tube, or a finder so tiny as to be useless, so this weakness is not particular to the C70. It is also easily remedied, as described above.
4. Included tripod has elevation limits: 45 degrees if the scope is mounted as shown, 60 degrees if you turn it around. You can exceed this by moving one leg inward and tilting the tripod, although this makes the tripod less stable.
5. If you stick with the included tripod, you have to get the scope up off the ground. To me, that's not much of a liability, for two reasons. First, most small scopes come with a table-top tripod or none at all, so out of the box the C70 is equipped as well or better. Second, I would rather set the scope on something than tote around a full-size tripod (your mileage may vary). That the included tripod is actually functional, fairly sturdy, and has working slow-motion controls is entirely positive.
The big pros are the small size and light weight. The big cons are the narrow field of view and the dimming at high power. The C70 can't compete with bigger scopes in terms of image quality (the Ultima 80 described in another review has a third more light-gathering ability [pi*40^2 vs pi*35^2], is 50% longer, weighs _twice_ as much, costs almost twice as much, and does not include a tripod). On the other hand, the C70 is so small and light that you can take it lots of places that you couldn't or wouldn't normally take a telescope, so you will see a lot that you wouldn't otherwise. Here's an example: one night over the holidays I set up the C70 on the hood of my parents' car and showed the whole family a young crescent moon. Everyone was mesmerized by the craters. My father had never seen the Great Nebula in Orion so we had a look, and then checked out a binary star. There's a half hour of enjoying the universe together that we wouldn't have had without a telescope. That's what travel telescopes are for, that's why I got this particular scope, and I'm glad I did.
CONCLUSION
Before you buy any optical equipment, decide what you want to observe and what characteristics are most important. Read everything you can about the models that might meet your needs, and be realistic about the trade-offs inherent in _every_ optical design _regardless_ of cost. Finally, whatever you buy, don't obsess about its quality, for good or ill. Get outside and let it deepen your experience of nature.
Not bad for the money October 3, 2008
Robert Williams (Minnesota)
Optics are "ok" at best (very marginal at 50x or 75x but not bad at 25x). On the positive side, the telescope is small (about the size of a thermos jug) and portable so I can take it with me whereas many telescopes are just too big or need too much tripod. Basically, at $94 for the telescope and tripod, I'm happy.
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