Celestron LCM 114 Computerised Telescope

Great Computerised telescope, best one that i've owned so far, been doing astronomy for 5 years now.
The first one had a problem with the motor head and burnt out, but got in contact with amazon and they sent me out a new one before they even got the old one back. Now thats what i call trust and service, you cant beat amazon, e-bay no way, amazon all the way.

The telescope does what it says on the tin, and has great features such as solar system align, which is great if you are a beginner, just make sure you read the instructions properly before you start pressing buttons as easy to set up if you do it 'by the book'.

All in all though a great product, thanks again amazon for the service you provide.

Have had a bit of a nightmare, the telescope went anywhere it wanted, finally realised the problem was my fault I entered the time in the traditional way of for example 11/02/12 rather than 02/11/12, the American and Canadian way! Just something to bear in mind it can easily happen. Have located Venus from my back garden in below zero temperatures manually, it's surprising how quickly it went out of the field of view so having it do it for you must be a good idea. While on the subject of cold weather the LCD display didn't seem to care for it much and seemed to freeze up a bit but then again so was I begining to freeze up a bit. Reading the instructions seems easy enough but needs practice so a bit of patience will be needed, not always one of my strongpoints.
To sum up, I am looking forward in getting to use my new telescope but it will take a while, several months possibly to fully appreciate it and waiting for clear and reasonable weather.

Hello! This is an addition to my first review, today Is 28 Feb 2012.
I have now had a chance to try it out, still not fully but. I am getting there. For the money when telescopes can run into hundreds and thousands of pounds I think is is a great buy. I tried it out in "Solar system align" where I focused it on the moon using the low power lens (25mm) and the image came up very clearly, even my wife seemed impressed when she looked through it!

Then I got it to focus first on Venus and then on Jupiter wondering whether or not it would but it did very well I have to say which I was quite impressed with!

Working through the manual isn't too difficult once you get into the swing of things but for a beginner like me took a while as does aligning the finder scope. Also my scope needed "collimating" ie the mirrors aligning which sounds a bit daunting but again with practice you will soon get the hang of it. Perhaps with others this will not be required but it will certainly be worth checking. All of this is part of the learning curve of course.

One other thing, don't expect when looking at say the planet Jupiter even with a higher magnification eye piece that it is going to seem as if a great big stripy beach ball is about to land in your back garden, it' not going to happen! I am guessing that even for a scope costing more the view will be better i'm sure but probably not that much better. I most expensive Celestron scope. I have come across on the net is just over £12000! For that kind of Money I WOULD expect Jupiter to look as though it was in my backgarden. However a program I have on my I pad suggests that looking at the Andromeda galaxy etc. it will fill the field of view even with the low power eye piece.

For an idea of what to expect. I suggest going on You Tube and typing in something like "Venus 114 mm telescope" etc and/or go onto a telescope simulator website found using your favourite search engine where you can get a simulated view of different size telescopes and different lenses.

I live in a built up area and light pollution is quite bad, it is possible to buy a light pollution filter to help with the problem, trouble is they can cost about half the price of the scope which would be ridiculous, others are available for about £30 which is more reasonable but are unlikely I suppose to be as good, only time will tell.

I think this is a great scope and I think, and I may be wrong here, that if I upgraded to a better one Then I would have to spend 4 or 5 times as much to make an appreciable difference :) a certain dexterity however is needed to operate this and I'm sure any telescope, but the results are worth it!
If you expect instant results just because this is a computerised telescope then think again the goto feature certainly helps in my opinion, once you have found a star or planet the motorised mount keeps up with it pretty well but it still requires you to focus (pun intended!) and to read the manual Properly, and I do mean properly. A telescope isn't for example an iPad where you turn it on and you automatically get that "WOW" factor. Am I glad I bought it ? Yes absolutely!

But it needs more dedication and perseverance than I first thought, also don't be deterred by first results, for instance it might seem clear and dark to our eyes but give it an hour or so and hey presto, much better! I never took as much notice of the weather as I do now, it can be overcast but an hour later- clear skies! And darker! Bingo! A planet like Venus which just looked a small point of light, when the sun goes down properly takes it's real appearance, but it has phases like the moon, not necessarily completely illuminated, so much to learn!
Now I have got used to this telescope setting up is not a problem, takes about 10 minutes if it's all ready to go.

6 March- just seen Mars, great, this is the closest it will be until 2018 apparently! I think I saw one of it's moons as well, or was it just wishfull thinking? Not sure!
Anyway, this is my umpteenth edit, as I am sure you can tell buying this has certainly got my ageing brain cells going, must be a good thing, hope my waffling helps! Thanks for reading.

very good telescope the best thing is you dont have to search for the stars toatally brillant i would give a 5 star