Reviews & Ratings for Celestron C90 Mak Spotting Scope — 11 reviews — Page 1

I love this scope. its very easy to assemble and use. my mini tripod even fits in the backpack case that came with it. The only reason I gave it a four star rating is because I am waiting for the adapter so I can attach it to my camera . Cant wait to try it!

Bought the c90 more than two years,nice glass and good for taking photo for the moon,or,I use it as a spotting scope at the range. Just bought a 2x Barlow,even better. I can see a 223 rem bullet hole at 200 yard.
Like it.

I am traveling over in Australia and then heading to Vanuatu so I wanted a scope to watch birds, kangaroos, and boats. I read the reviews for this product, and they were positive. After paying $100 to have the scope shipped to me in Australia, I am stuck with a product that does not work at all. The only way I am able to see anything clearly is with the finderscope. The actual scope itself does not produce a clear image at any range. Everything is hazy and soft when looking through the scope whether looking at something 100 yards away or 1 mile away. This was a $300 mistake for me, and I don't really know what to do with it other than put it in the trash since I can't in good conscience sell it to someone else.

This is a surprisingly small telescope - one that fills only half the nylon backpack it comes with. 90mm of aperture gathers more light than 70 to 80mm scopes that most beginners start out with. And because it comes with a correct image-erect diagonal, it can be used for terrestrial observations as well.

The image quality itself is very sharp and clear, and is ideal for viewing the moon and the brighter planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Venus). This scope is however too small for viewing Mars, which needs magnification in excess of 200x. Magnification with the included eyepiece will be only 39x and this scope works well up to around 150x, so if you would like higher magnification, additional standard eyepiece accessories is recommended.

This scope also comes with a standard T-thread, so you can buy a T-ring for $20 and connect your DSLR directly to it. It acts as a lens for your DSLR, and takes good quality pictures both in the day or at night.

One downside to this scope model. I have seen quite a few with no so good contrast. I guess there may be some variation to its quality. There are mods on the internet for increasing contrast, so you may want to check.

There is another C90 version with a different product package including a small tripod and an additional eyepiece. My recommendation is to skip it and buy this one because the tripod is too shaky and adjusting the direction the scope points to is a pain. That takes the fun out of astronomy for beginners. Instead bu...
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Very bright and clear image with sharp colour free edges at 39X. It is a brilliant spotting scope with the supplied eyepiece. It's not necessary to buy extra eyepieces to increase magnification. I tried to push it to 120X, which resulted in poor definition image. I now have C90 and C6 side by side. I used C90 more often. Only use C6 for occasional high magnification terrestrial view.

Highly recommended

I'm adding on to the other review, I saw venus and its phase, Mercury seems like a brown star, Jupiter looks like a giant dot with several dots around it; those are its moons, saturn looked like a dot with rings around it and a faint dot; that is its moon titan. Still to small to see cassinis division, The orion nebula looked like a hazy cloud, the ring nebula looked like an eye a liitle but it was gray, still cant find andromeda galaxy. :( Tonight theres a perigee moon:)
Pros: portable good aperture
Cons: not enough magnification

I am adding on to the other review. I saw Saturn's rings. They were to small to see the cassini's division. I looked at Jupiter and saw no detail on it but I saw it's four moons. I'd probably buy a filter for this in order to see detail on some planets. I'll try to look at Mars, Venus, and Mercury when I can. I aimed it towards the Orion Nebula. (right below the farthest left star on Orion's belt) I couldn't see any detail because I live in the suburbs of Chicago.It comes with a 32 and a 12.5 mm PLOSSL eyepieces.
Pros: light, portable
Cons: not enough magnification

Is this a spotting scope or a telescope? I think it's a telescope. It is very light compared to the other ones. I took it out one night and I saw Jupiter's four moons and Saturn's rings and one of its moons. Our moon is very clear and you could see mares, and craters very clear. I live in the suburbs of Chicago so I can't really see any detail on the Orion nebula or Andromeda Galaxy or Jupiter.
Pros: easy for travel,
Cons: the tripod is hard to tighten when seeing an object

I purchased this scope mainly for city viewing and general astronomical use. I have owned a large reflector telescope in the past which was suited only for astronomy. With this scope, I can view over 32 miles into Long Beach from my home in Los Feliz (800 ft. elevation). I clearly located the departing Carnival Splendor Cruise ship as well as many landmarks. Furthermore, I can clearly view aircraft types and airlines making the final touchdown into LAX. If you have a view home, this is the scope to have, the 32mm lens is pretty good. I also got incredible views of the moon and planets with great detail. This is a great scope to have and rivals dedicated astronomy scopes costing few hundred more.
Pros: Quality product and portable
Cons: Can have a dedicated portable tripod, some glare in supplied 32mm lens