Reviews & Ratings for Konus Konusmotor 130 Telescope — 7 reviews — Page 1

I've had this scope for 4-5 years. I used it a fair amount the first season or so and it was fine for this newbie; I've recently dusted it off to take advantage of clearer skys this time of year.

I probably had a serious collimation problem - it went in the back of the car for ~1000 mile trip, plus general bouncing around during set-up, storage, etc., and I had little knowledge about collimation, so I ignored the problem. (Till this year- see below for issues) That 1st year I saw the usual- planets, moon, clusters... OK but not as crisp/clear as I would have hoped given the size and purportedly superior plossel eyepieces. And the mount, focuser, and motor are pretty much what one would expect from cheap non-precision chinese mass-produced goods- basically functional but nothing more.

Motor's loud. I'll admit I've used it all of twice, and then lost the instructions for setting the whole thing up "correctly". Mount and focuser adjustments are not mechanically smooth, and not all axes can be tightened up enough to reduce slop. Electrical focuser works but doesnt help because of slop. BUT the mount is still easy to assemble, and plenty good enough for the basic task of holding the scope off the ground and pointed in one direction- and probably track objects with adequate precision for casual use.

ANd most of the slop in the mechanics can be taken care of by tightening things up a bit. After a couple hours messing with that stuff this year, the mount, its mechanism, and...
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For the price this is a quality instrument and it just looks sharp. I looked at dozens of scopes with this aperture size and none met my needs like this one. This is my second telescope (my first a Meade 70 go-to refractor)so I was not ready to go big cash-wise, so price was a major factor, picked this one up for just under $200.00 U.S.(on sale & coupon code)so I'm very pleased with that.
Now as for the mount it is good quality, has a nice weight to it,(with out counter weight)all fittings are tight, except at the point where it mounts to tripod, its just a tiny bit loose, it has bolt on the under side I may try to tighten, this in no way effects observing, I maybe nit-picking.
The tripod though sturdy dose not fold-up with accsy. tray attached and would have preferred quick release tabs than thumb screws on the legs.
The instructions were a little vague, but the pictures and a good mechanical inclination, setup was easy.
The optics are clear and sharp due likely to the 1000mm focal length and the plossl eyepieces.
The R.A. tracking motor, electric focuser and red dot finder plus the soft cases and moon filter, make this a definite best bang for the buck.

Pros: quality,features,& price
Cons: instructions,mount,tripod

This telescope has got to be one of the best buys under 200. It is very easy to set up but the real bonus is the extensive kit list! A tracking equatorial mount and an electric focuser for this sort of cash is unheard of. The eyepieces are also plossls rather than the usual Kellner or (worse still) Huygens ones. It also comes with a set of useful carry cases. Optical quality of the 130mm mirror is very good at this price point.
Pros: Electric Focuser, Solid Tracking from Motor Drive
Cons: Not much wrong at this kind of money. Instructions could be better.

i looked at a lot of scopes before i made this selection. the 1786 offered the largest aperture and focal length for the money.an all around very good telescope!
Pros: very good scope for the money
Cons: should make a solar filter to fit this scope

I was recommended the konusmotor 130 by the retail staff at my local telescope store. I did not realize at the time he was just interested in making a sale and actually was not informed on this telescope.

I find the lense holder to be very loose making colimating next to impossible. Not only that but the primary mirror does not have a center marker.

This scope is also not a true 1000 focal length. It uses a lens place in front of the secondary mirror to work like a barlow lens. This too makes laser colimating very difficult.

The eq2 mount is decent, but mine came broken in its box.

The stand is cheap but it works fine.

The RA motor is standard and does its job fine, and the electric focus works well.

With a 6mm lense I can see jupiter and saturn good and close, but with the colimation issues the images are hardly ever in good focus.

The 10mm and 17mm included lens's are great for viewing the moon, you can hardly notice the focus issue.

If you want a decent telescope I would not recommend this one, but if you would like a telescope for astralphotography of the moon I would say this is good for beginners.
Pros: cheap
Cons: cheap