AstroMaster 130 EQ Motor Drive Telescope (Black)

I recently purchased this scope through TigeRetaiL_SLP and the product was amazon fulfilled. The astromaster 130EQ is a standard entry level telescope and is widely known across the globe. This scope along with it's close rival Celestron powerseeker 127(which is also available on amazon for almost the same price) are usually the scope of choice for people beginning their journey in stargazing. I received a sort of faulty piece with the declination cable slightly jammed but I'd still give it a 5 stars because I got it at an amazing price of 15999. You should go for this model if you want to do some serious stargazing in a low budget. Anything less than this is not recommended if you actually want to enjoy stargazing for a long time to come instead of just looking at the moon and packing your scope away for it to collect dust in your store room. You should not go for this scope if you plan to use your scope for astrophotography at a later point in time since the mount is not stable enough for a good astrophotography experience with a dslr. It comes with 2 eyepieces, a 20mm one which produces erect images and is suitable for terrestrial viewing and a 10mm one which produces invert images and is for space observations. Also note that the finderscope provided with this scope is different from the one shown in the product images. What to expect: 1, This scope is decent for planetary observation. 2. With the eyepieces provided, you will be able to see the moons of jupiter with ease. To bring about the planetary details you will need to buy additional accessories since the provided eyepieces only use a fraction of the maximum possible zoom capabilities of the scope. 3. You will be able to observe a fair amount of deep sky objects including most of the objects from the messier catalog. Another thing worth noting is that it uses equatorial mount instead of alt-az mount which can be a bit troublesome if your primary focus is terrestrial viewing. The only difference between the astromaster 130eq and astromaster 130eq md is the additional motor drive which you receive with the 130eq md model. Note that you can choose not to connect the motor to the scope if you don't like it. Doing that will make it identical to the astromaster 130eq. I wonder why the version with the motor drive is sometimes sold at a lesser price. If that seems to be the case while you're making a purchase, go for the model with the motor drive without a second thought. They are completely identical. Also make sure you're aware that telescopes in this price range do not produce NASA like vivid images. Overall, this is a very good scope to start your stargazing journey if you have a limited budget. The only close competitor for this scope at this price range on amazon.in right now is the powerseeker 127 but if you'll look on the international sites, you will realize that the powerseeker is usually a lot cheaper than the astromaster. This is however not the case for Indian e-commerce sites as of now since their prices are comparable, atleast at the time of writing the review. This makes astromaster 130 the scope of choice, atleast for Indian buyers for now.

(This is my second purchase of the Astromaster 130EQ, although my previous one was an older generation model.) This is a really good and reasonably affordable telescope for casual observation of the moon and larger/closer planets- Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. One can observe double stars and Pleiades easily and they look beautiful. Deep sky objects are a challenge under urban/suburban skies. Using an appropriate Solar filter, sun observation is also possible to view surface details and sunspots. I have not tried astrophotography with this telescope yet. Here are some pros and cons: Pros: 1. The new generation model comes with a Celestron StarPointer red-dot finderscope, which is a huge improvement on the previous models which had an optical finderscope. Additionally, the mounting rings of the telescope come with a screw, onto which a cheap cellphone mount can be fitted, and used as an additional guide, using the TELRAD function on the Stellarium app. 2. I purchased the model with a motor drive (130EQ-MD), which makes tracking objects easy, without needing to fiddle too much with the RA and Dec knobs (see below). The motor drive assembly itself looks old-school, like it was built in a school hobby shop. But it does what it's supposed to do reasonably well. 3. Assembly is easy and the instructions are clear enough. Necessary tools are provided. Consulting YouTube videos makes the process easier. Cons: 1. The tripod and CG-3 EQ mount are this telescope's biggest and only weakness. There is a significant amount of play in the locking screws so that even the slightest touch, such as when making fine adjustments, makes the apparatus wobble and can sometimes even move the target object out of view. 2. The plastic parts of the tripod are somewhat fragile and my previous 130EQ's tripod broke due to this. The earlier model came with 4mm, 20mm and Barlow 2x eyepieces, while this one comes with only a 10mm and 20mm eyepieces. 3. Not really a con, but the telescope and, especially the mount, are heavy and optics are sensitive, hence the assembled apparatus has very limited portability except in and out of a house. This telescope is not meant to be moved around too much. Overall, this is an affordable and easy-to-use telescope for those looking to start out in serious amateur astronomy without burning a significant hole in one's pocket. I would highly recommend purchasing the Astromaster 1.25" accessories kit, for additional eyepieces and useful filters, along with this.

Here are some exciting experiences you can have with the AstroMaster 130: 1. *Crystal-clear views* of the Moon's craters, mountains, and phases. 2. *Breathtaking views* of planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus. 3. *Deep-space exploration* of nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies like the Orion Nebula, Pleiades, and Andromeda Galaxy. 4. *Observing double stars* and binary star systems like Albireo and Mizar. 5. *Witnessing celestial events* like lunar eclipses, planetary alignments, and meteor showers. With the AstroMaster 130, you can also try: 1. *Astrophotography* to capture stunning images of the night sky. 2. *Planetary observation* to study the details of planets and their moons. 3. *Deep-space exploration* to discover new objects and wonders in the universe.

A nice product, handy to use, but I recommend without motor for new buyers, not becoz its useless, but becoz u won't get a working motor in India, not atleast on amazon, go to a shop and buy it rather, even if u r buying on amazon, don't buy from Tiger retail slp atleast. My motor drive works only when I keep the power switch pressed, I wonder if it works from my hand's energy or what. I called up customer care amazon to replace the motor, they suggested me to replace the whole order or contact the seller based in mumbai, they asked me to send mail after mail. what is the problem? Send the order id, send ur email address, send your address, video, audio, shoes clothes, aeroplane toys certificates and what not. And after that they will stop recieving your call. Now you are left with two options, waste your 5000/-motor or give your valuable 20 days to replace the whole item. You are able to see the space just for this 3-4 months in clear sky, you won't be able to see it after this and it causes you to waste 20 days out of that, how rude, unprofessional behaviour is that. Tiger retail slp is the worst seller I have dealt with in past few years.

Good Telescope. But must use with the Astromaster accessory kit... Cause the eyepiece given with it will give you max 66x magnification where as the Barlow in the accessory kit will give 2 times more then general magnification, means 120x with 10mm default and 216x with 6mm plossl in the accessory Kit. The default 10mm is good. The 20mm eyepiece that comes by default with the telescope gives you proper image inspite of inverted images. But still the 15mm that comes with the accessory kit gives you the widest field of view and brightest also. You may also be able to see Orion like a gray gas cloud... Probably I have seen a star cluster also. Recently seen Jupiter and its 4 moons with around 80x, 132x 216x magnification. Even with around 80x magnification the bands were also visible. I also observed Saturn, Mars and venus. Saturn was visible very clearly. And the motor helps you search the sky very slowly. Here I am attaching some of the photos clicked with my phone camera. Thus the pictures are not that great. I am also attaching moon images with filters (Red and Moon) But for a low price this is really a great telescope along with the kit.

The telescope in overall could be better, the mount is flimsy and unstable, the legs are not equal and the tripod accessory stand does not fit properly as stated in the manual. That said well it majorly affects the telescopes performance as the obtained images are hard to get because the entire mount is dancing. However the image clarity is good and if you can set a celestial or terrestrial object in its field view the outcome is very satisfying. We tried the moon and it was an excellent viewing experience. However smaller celestial object viewing is impeded by the make of the stand, which is such a shame. Will have to upgrade to a better stand to make full and good use of this telescope. The setting up is simple enough, the manual is very descriptive and then there are YouTube videos too.

A brilliant beginner telescope. Wonderful for viewing the moon. Assembling was easy , watch YouTube video and you will get it. Jupiter and Saturn will require a Barlow 2x or 5x , they are visible as a small speck in the sky. Grow in this telescope, buy more accessories (which are costly btw). If you are planning to go for a telescope in the budget of 20k , just go for this one.

Posting a frank review of the equipment after two months of usage, so here it goes..... 1. What can you see - Jupiter with its five moons and distinctive red bands, Saturn with its rings and even two of its moons, mars with faint view of its dark mountain ranges, venus through its phases, various stars with their true colors(not much details though), apart from the Moon. Other deep sky objects need to be first located visually, which is difficult as they are faint, so yet to try those. 2. Mount is sturdy, vibrations after handling dampen out in few seconds, but it is HEAVY... So could be a problem to carry it around. 3. Equitorial mount gets time and practice to get used to, without polar alignment you can't exploit the full capabilities of the mount, videos on youtube would be of great help. 4. RA motor, still to master it fully but it's helpful if you intend to do astrophotography and long duration sky gazing. 5. Easy to assemble and no initial collimation required, you can use it right away. 6. 20mm eyepiece you would barely use as its only for terrestrial viewing. 7. Barlow lens - doesn't come along, tried from a friend. It only increases the magnification, NOT THE DETAILS. Image quality also takes a hit, but still presents a bigger object to look onto. You can consider buying as an add on, but suggest try first from a friend. 8. Packaging was OK. All parts were found in order. 9. For astrophotography, mob phone adapter or dslr adapter and t ring att need to be purchased separately. 10. Definitely not for small kids. Overall Verdict - Good buy and value for money for beginner and intermediate level astronomy buffs, slightly bulky (equitorial mount is to be blamed). PS- live view of the planets is a sight to behold,I could see my parents clapping like kids when they first saw saturn through this telescope.... Hope it helps