5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and easy to handle telescope

H.M. · 19 February 2025

As a long time (very) amateur astronomer I had been using a large Dobsonian. As my age and disability got the better of me I decided I needed something easier to handle. This Celestron DX130 AZ is perfect for me. It was easy to set up and get everything aligned. I can easily carry it to my car for some night-time viewing. Unfortunately I have only had a brief period of clear skies to try it out but a saw enough to know that it will be a great acquisition. The Star Sense phone app worked quickly and accurately and I was able to view Mars and a beautiful view of Jupiter and its moons before the cloud cover returned. This may not be the greatest telescope for a seasoned watcher but for a beginner or someone in my position it is an excellent choice. I am looking forward to some clear skies in the weeks to come and I may update this review once I have had a few sessions with it. First impressions though, are great.

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for beginners

S.L. · 5 April 2025

Very good for beginner astronomers. I bought it for myself and my kids. I did A LOT of research before i purchased. I was close to buying the Celestron 102az, and I'm sure it would have been fine, but I am so glad i went with the StarSense explorer. I would not have known what I was looking at if I had another Telescope. Its excellent. Easy to use and very informative. Ive had good views of the moon in particular. Can also see Jupiter and its moons pretty clear. It’s easy to set up. Would recommend for beginners. You wont find better for the price. Trust me I did loads of research. Enjoy.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good

S. · 9 September 2025

Really good but you need a big lense to help locate object

1.0 out of 5 stars Red dot pointer faulty.

e. · 12 August 2025

I was so excited to start using this Celestron Telescope but the battery provided in the red dot pointer was dead and despite buying new batteries and trying them all, the red dot finder still wouldn’t work. Celestron customer service weren’t prompt in responding to my emails requesting support so it’s been returned for a refund. Disappointing and I expect better for the hefty price tag.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners.

G. · 19 February 2024

This scope is a nice package, not too heavy or cumbersome to move around, fine controls help keep the object in view, and a handy tray to hold your eyepieces. I found it quite stable, still wobbly whilst looking at far objects after adjustment, but easily settling after a few moments.The mount for the phone is easily adjustable, and the app, once setup, is really useful. Pick from the list of objects and tap locate, and the app tells you which way to go. Get close to the object and it scans the sky, further calibrating so that you can be spot on with what you’re looking for.The eyepieces are fine, and offer nice, clear views. But I recommend a nice Plössl or two in different sizes to add to the collection.This scope is brilliant for a beginner, and a great way to learn about the night sky with ease. The app is full of details about the objects you’re looking at.Worth mentioning, the photo attached was taken by holding my phone over the eyepiece so it isn’t great, but the quality whilst looking with your eyes is spectacularly detailed.One final point, have a chair handy. The scope is reasonably long and the mount height means the eyepiece will be quite low. I’m six foot tall, and the eyepiece is around hip level when pointing up.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great telescope

w. · 31 October 2022

Really impressed with Celestron's Star Sense object finding software, which uses a mobile phone to detect the orientation and location of the telescope. Using this, I've managed to find objects easily which eluded me when using manual telescopes 25 years ago (e.g. M15 and M27). This kit is simple to use - just what I wanted. The optical quality of the tube seems fine too. The eyepieces are OK but I have upgraded these to some having a wider field of view.

3.0 out of 5 stars Otherwise perfect beginner scope, let down by focuser and mount adjusters

G.C. · 10 December 2023

This is a really good scope for beginners, looking at optical and photographic observation. Not really anything to compare for under £300. The inclusion of the mobile phone app is great - means no messing about with polar alignment, or knowing where in the sky everything is.There are a couple of downsides which each drop a star for me though.Firstly, the focuser is very jerky, a turn of the focus wheel makes the end of the tube jump, making it almost impossible to achieve fine focus. This might be a symptom of worm drive focusing, but it is really annoying.Secondly, using the fine adjustment is also very jerky - which appears to be a symptom of the design. The x and y fine movement is achieved by turning knobs on the end of spring loaded connections to the mount. The trouble is, the connections are bent, and the fact they're spring loaded, means tension builds up, then causes the mount to jump. If you could keep the connections totally straight, perhaps it would be reduced, but that's just not possible when you're looking through the telescope in order to adjust. The jumping is usually enough for you to completely lose the target. This happened a number of times trying to observe Jupiter. Again, really annoying, and warrants losing another star.I don't think there's anything actually "wrong" with my 'scope, so I suspect these are issues which will impact everyone - to a greater or lesser extent, depending on what you're trying to see.

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent piece of kit.

J.B. · 9 February 2025

Bought for our Daughter as a Birthday present. She absolutely loves it.

Excelente compra

F. · 23 May 2024

Hicimos la compra del StarSense Explorer DX 130. Es nuestro primer telescopio y es muy fácil su uso.La app de StarSense es un poco complicada, no es tan sencillo que se conecte y ubique su posición, entonces vas a batallar un poco, pero una vez que logras conectarlo, es muy intuitivo.De cualquier manera el telescopio es buenísimo aún sin la aplicación.Las fotos adjuntas son: las de la luna son con los dos lentes que vienen incluidos, sin filtros y sin edición, tal cual se ve directamente. Las fotos son tomadas con un iPhone 12. La otra es del eclipse en Mazatlán, es la foto del sol en su fase total, para este compramos un filtro solar. Como pueden ver, se ve súper súper bien, si estás iniciando, es maravilloso lo que se alcanza a ver.Recomiendo ver muchos videos en YouTube para poder armarlo y calibrarlo/conectarlo. Hay canales muy buenos en donde dan tips excelentes.Recomiendo mucho la compra.

The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a Fantastic Beginner Telescope!!!

a. · 23 March 2020

I’ve been observing the night sky with telescopes for 35 years, have owned almost 20 different telescopes and have been asked many times for suggestions by people looking to buy a “starter” telescope. When I heard about the new Celestron StarSense Explorer line of telescopes, I was super intrigued and decided I’d purchase one to try out.Spending $399 on anything is a lot to spend. Spending $399 on a telescope, is relatively inexpensive compared to most telescopes on the market and certainly is within the price range of other beginner telescopes. So, what did I think of the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ? The short answer is, as an entry level telescope, I loved it! If you want to know why, read further.I’ll start by saying the telescope was well packed. It came in an attractive box with the components packed in smaller boxes inside. All of it was packed within a standard shipping box.The instructions made assembly very smooth although I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that I have assembled a lot of telescopes. I went into it though trying to have the perspective of someone who is new to telescopes. Having said that, I did jump to one conclusion that I was happy to be wrong about. The StarSense Explorer DX 102AZ and 130AZ telescopes have slow motion controls for moving the telescope left and right as well as up and down. Every slow-motion control I’ve ever seen attaches to the mount using visible small thumb screws. The slow-motion controls for the DX telescopes use sunken Allen head screws that are not readily visible. This is in no way a negative. I’m simply mentioning it for anyone else like me that would expect to see the typical thumb screws. Unboxing everything and assembling the telescope took less than 30 minutes.The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a 5.1” diameter reflecting telescope on an alt-azimuth mount with an adjustable height tripod. It comes with two entry level eyepieces; a 25mm that provides 26x and a 10mm that provides 65x. It also comes with a Celestron StarPointer red dot finder. The StarPointer is very similar to the finders I use on my more expensive and more sophisticated telescopes. It makes pointing the telescope at the targets you know the location of without using the StarSense app, very easy. It does need to be aligned with the telescope which can be done quite easily when you follow the included instructions.In my opinion, the real strength of the Celestron StarSense Explorer line of telescopes is the StarSense app. Using this app on your smartphone, coupled with this quality beginner telescope, makes finding objects in the night sky an almost effortless pleasure. The StarSense app walks you through aligning the night sky in the app with where the telescope is pointed. Once the two are aligned, click on the StarSense icon at the bottom of the screen on your smartphone, pick an object you want to look at and the app will guide you to move the scope manually to the chosen object. It does this with great accuracy which I’ll touch on later. It also provides a description, observing tips, and data for each object while standing at the telescope. StarSense is a very intuitive and informative app.I chose the Celestron Explorer DX 130AZ because it has the largest aperture in this new line of telescopes. The aperture of a telescope is the real power of the telescope. The larger the aperture, the more light it will collect, and the brighter objects will be. A 130mm (5.1”) telescope is enough aperture to keep an avid observer busy for years. Don’t get hung up on the advertised magnification of a telescope. After many years of using large 18” and 25” reflecting telescopes that required step ladders and stools to look through, I do all my observing with 4”, 5” and 6” refracting telescopes nowadays.During my first night out with the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX I observed 20 different objects including the planet Venus, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades Star Cluster, four galaxies (M65, M66, M81, M82), and quite a few various other open star clusters. I used the StarSense app to guide me to each object. When using the supplied 25mm eyepiece, every object was placed in the center of the field of view. I was super impressed by just how accurate it was! I currently have a couple different expensive computerized GoTo telescope mounts that automatically slew whatever telescope I have on them to the selected object. The StarSense app pointed the DX 130AZ telescope with more consistent accuracy than I have experienced with my GoTo telescope mounts. Optically, stars were sharp, and objects appeared as I would expect when observing from my front yard with more than one streetlight keeping my eyes from being adapted to the dark. To truly experience the potential of any telescope, observe from the darkest location you can and let your eyes adapt to the dark. Use a red flashlight if possible. Also, take advantage of the night vision mode in the StarSense app. Doing so will tint your smartphone screen red, which will help your eyes stay adapted to the dark.In summary, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is surprisingly enjoyable and easy to use. This is the most fun I’ve had with any telescope in its price range and in my opinion, it has the potential to change astronomy for beginners in a very positive way. What a fun way to be introduced to the universe! I can only imagine how different my early years under the stars would have been if I had this telescope coupled with a smartphone and the StarSense app. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to start their journey into amateur astronomy!

That it works great

A.C. · 19 October 2020

The mount allows a little vibration which takes a few seconds to settle otherwise it’s a great package and I’m discovering many deep space objects with it

Very disappointing viewing quality

S.R. · 4 August 2025

Very disappointed with the results. Average quality. Tried my best to see the Jupiter bands but can’t see anything more than a white dot. Not much improvement from a cheap telescope to this expensive telescope. Only the good part is the app which it comes with.

Leuke en goede Sterrenkijker

G. · 26 December 2024

Je kan er zelfs met vrij veel lichtpolutie planeten mee zien