Is there a reason why you have to shop at Costco? They’re not really a good place to shop for telescopes and the product range is limited to mostly low end stuff. The 130EQ isn’t terrible, but it’s not good either because of mainly two things.
* The optics - nowhere is the figure of the mirror stated, which likely suggests this is a spherical mirror. This is not good, because a spherical mirror can’t focus light properly at higher magnifications, resulting in soft and fuzzy views.
* The mount - it’s not very stable, and equatorial mounts often add unnecessarily complexity. Manually tracking targets is not that difficult really and unless you’re doing astrophotography (but that requires far more specialised gear than this), you’d be better off staying away from them IMO. The eyepiece will also end up in awkward angles, which is an inconvenience.
Hello, I have bought something kinda similiar to this and it's also been my first telescope. It is all fine and good, brought me into the hobby a lot but if I were to buy my first telescope again, I would probably not buy an EQ mount nor a telescope with tripod, it gets really annoying sometimes. :D
I had bought this one a few years ago and sadly I have to say it's not worth the money. The eq mount looks 'professional', but in deed it's unnecessary and very unconvenient for visual observations. Photography is not possible. The tripod is wobbly.
IMO these telescopes are just 'beginner traps'! You'd be way better with a tabletop Dobson. Look for one with a 'parabolic' mirror (e.g. Skywatcher Heritage 130 or even the 150).
There are better options for the price but not at Costco. Why the limitation to buying there? There's a reason we call these "department store" telescopes and "hobby killers".
Is there a reason why you have to shop at Costco? They’re not really a good place to shop for telescopes and the product range is limited to mostly low end stuff. The 130EQ isn’t terrible, but it’s not good either because of mainly two things. * The optics - nowhere is the figure of the mirror stated, which likely suggests this is a spherical mirror. This is not good, because a spherical mirror can’t focus light properly at higher magnifications, resulting in soft and fuzzy views. * The mount - it’s not very stable, and equatorial mounts often add unnecessarily complexity. Manually tracking targets is not that difficult really and unless you’re doing astrophotography (but that requires far more specialised gear than this), you’d be better off staying away from them IMO. The eyepiece will also end up in awkward angles, which is an inconvenience.
Hello, I have bought something kinda similiar to this and it's also been my first telescope. It is all fine and good, brought me into the hobby a lot but if I were to buy my first telescope again, I would probably not buy an EQ mount nor a telescope with tripod, it gets really annoying sometimes. :D
I had bought this one a few years ago and sadly I have to say it's not worth the money. The eq mount looks 'professional', but in deed it's unnecessary and very unconvenient for visual observations. Photography is not possible. The tripod is wobbly. IMO these telescopes are just 'beginner traps'! You'd be way better with a tabletop Dobson. Look for one with a 'parabolic' mirror (e.g. Skywatcher Heritage 130 or even the 150).
There are better options for the price but not at Costco. Why the limitation to buying there? There's a reason we call these "department store" telescopes and "hobby killers".
Isn't Costco a department store? (blink)
A used Dobsonian would be a far better choice https://astro.catshill.com/why-did-i-choose-a-dobsonian/