Comments about Celestron Celestron Omni XLT 120mm Refractor Telescope, 1000mm f/8.3 Focal Length with HD CG-4 German Equatorial Mount & Adjustable Tripod with 1.75" Steel Legs:

Needs some adjustment on equatorial mounting for a use in low lattitude location.

Comments about Celestron Celestron Omni XLT 120mm Refractor Telescope, 1000mm f/8.3 Focal Length with HD CG-4 German Equatorial Mount & Adjustable Tripod with 1.75" Steel Legs:

Well, first off the actual telescope itself is very nice. You can see quite clearly with it. It is very cold where I am located right now so I have only used it twice, and you can see TONS litterally TONS of crater on the moon. I also took a look at Venus, which really isn't that special because our atmosphere interferes with its atmosphere with heat vapors so you can't see too much detail, but still very bright and amazing. The mount itself on the scope is stable but the latitude adjustment is POOR. MADE IN CHINA, so that iron is too soft. The second time I used it the rear latitude screw became warped from the mere weight of the scope itself in order to raise the scope. I had to take the ENTIRE thing apart, and rethread for a 3/8 US standard T-bolt. But now it is working perfectly. I bought this scope from another company because I had called Adorama via telephone and asked them if the item was in stock. They told me they had several in stoke. So I placed the order online 20 minutes later. The very NEXT DAY, I received an e-mail that stated the scope was backordered and they had no idea when it would be coming in. So I immediately cancelled the order because I refuse to order something when a company can not get their story straight. ALL IN ALL. A GREAT SCOPE, the mount just justs a better latitude adjustment. DON'T LET THAT TURN YOU OFF! Maybe you will have better luck then me. After knowing all that I know about this event, I would still purchase the scope. GREAT SCOPE.

Comments about Celestron Celestron Omni XLT 120mm Refractor Telescope, 1000mm f/8.3 Focal Length with HD CG-4 German Equatorial Mount & Adjustable Tripod with 1.75" Steel Legs:

I received my new Omni XLT 120 refractor about 3:00 pm Friday, July 20th. I set it up to get familiar with this scopes features. [...] First was the size, wow this is a large scope. The tripod and the mount especially the mount are quite heavy. This makes for a really stable platform. Considering the weight once fully assembled, slewing the scope was effortless. Just balance the scope as described in the manual. Note to Celestron: The box with the tripod and the box with the OTA both had manuals and software. The only problem I have to report is that I had to take apart the 1.25" star diagonal as the mirror was not positioned correctly. Two minutes to fix, no big. Also want to mention that the fine tuning knobs are so close together laterally on the mount and so large that they come into contact with each other. I will be getting flexible extender cables though for ease of reach, so again, no big. That night (last night) I took the new Omni out to the dark site ( two hours west of Chicago, Light pollution capital of the world ) to meet several astronomy club members and go for a test viewing. Another WOW! Everybody was impressed by the handling and optics. I have never seen the quarter moon so sharp and clear. Craters inside craters. The patterns of Jupiter were quite clear, after putting the light reduction cap on the lens though, as the light transmission is so strong. I was using eyepieces that are just to much for my 10" Dob; 5mm or 9mm on a 2X barlow. 25mm and 38mm really were the best for seeing open clusters. Even managed to spot that comet between Alkaid and Izar. This was my fifth or sixth viewing session with these new friends of mine and I saw more last night than all other nights put together. The Equatorial mount takes some study, but even so, try just looking for faint "fuzzies" through the finder scope and you might find M6, the "butterfly cluster," like I did. All in all an awesome scope for the price with great potential. I already have a wish list started.