Reviews & Ratings for Vixen Newtonian Telescope Optical Tube R130Sf w/ Porta II Mount — 4 reviews — Page 1

We received this product as a gift from my husband's grandmother. The instructions were so terribly confusing (and my husband programs and machines parts for NASA) that we had to hire someone to put the telescope together, they have absolutely no instruction videos or otherwise. Also the instructions show pictures for an entirely different model telescope.
Upon this process we realized an imperative part of the eye connection was not included in the box. We then contacted the company who informed us we had a part upside down and were in fact missing a $35 piece. Despite having a photo of the telescope with the missing piece and a serial number they refused to send the piece without a copy of the receipt. As this was a gift we needed to reach out to grandma (who ordered it via phone from one of their authorized retailers) and make her jump through a million hoops. For a small $35 item that was NOT in the box on a $400 telescope you think they would have sent it overnight and made right. Needless to say they have still not agreed to send the part and this has been a complete nightmare. Go with another company.

I purchased this item from optics planet and it came securely safe. It is easy to assemble and well built. I researched this company and it has a relationship with Nikon and NASA. I can say this item is built to last and I am happy to say I really enjoy their great features.

I'm relatively new to astronomy, so don't consider this the gospel. I find this to be a fairly high quality scope and mount and if you watch for sales and discounts, you can get a great price. What I find most impressive about the scope is the wide field views. With a 32mm plossl eyepiece (not included) you can see all of the Pleaides. I think that is the forte of this scope. For a pretty portable outfit, it gathers a lot of light and the widefield views are great. You can use it for planetary viewing, but you might be disappointed. The tripod and mount does not seem sturdy enough for really high power views, but it's certainly good enough to grab a look. If you want to spend a lot of time studying the planets, I'd get a different scope (one with a longer focal length) If you want to explore Messier objects with a pretty portable, affordable scope (with a tripod that could be used for another scope too (maybe c90 or C5?) I think this is a great choice. Weakpoints are focuser and slow motion controls on mount. There are workarounds