National Geographic 76/350 Compact Telescope

I decided on this instead of First Scope which I saw at a friends, I’m glad I did the finish quality is far superior. I can’t speak for its performance as it’s not been used yet but so far very pleased with my choice, If any down side it has no site scope and does not look that one can be added (which you can with first cope) however it does have dials to help set it up

Bought as a gift but the instructions are shocking and give you no help in setting everything up. We have been trying for two days to get it to work, and even on the clearest of nights when the moon is in full view, the scope won’t work. Any help on getting it to work greatly appreciated!

This scope is good value if obtained sub £90. Otherwise the Celestron First Scope at about £65-70 is better value for money. It’s good points are that it’s small and very portable; no complicated set up needed. The solid and sturdy mount avoids any movement of the optical tube when adjusting the focuser or changing a lens. It provides clear views and easy focusing. The telescope itself is reasonably well made and gives a bit more magnification than the Celestron. Unfortunately the NG package is let down by the appalling low quality of the supplied lenses (eyepieces). These are of little value being made of cheap plastic with a bit of metal to insert in the focuser … the Barlow is totally plastic and would be cracked or broken if the focuser is tightened too much … easily done. Little better than toys. The supplied eyepieces have no foldable rubber eyecups/eye guards for comfortable viewing … your eye sits straight onto the plastic rim. Without getting overly technical, one eyepiece is a Huygens design, the other a Ramsden … very poor eyepieces by modern standards. They have very narrow fields of view and short eye relief which make focussing and viewing anything very difficult especially for beginners. These designs were superseded by the infinitely superior Plossl design many years ago. Surprising that anyone still makes them. Considering that Bresser, a highly regarded German company who put their name to this telescope, are well known for the quality of their optical products, it’s hard to understand why they should provide such low end eyepieces. Fortunately they can be easily replaced with far superior lenses at a relatively low cost of about £20. The Celestron eyepieces are somewhat better and usable to begin with. But for a decent view of the sky, it would similarly benefit from replacing them with something a bit better. The point is that all telescopes in this price range have limitations. Some are little better than toys and definitely not recommended for anyone. The reasonless good ones like Celestron and National Geographic (Bresser) will give a lot of fun and create an interest in both terrestrial and sky viewing. But we have to recognise that a bit of extra expense will do the job considerably better This would bring the total cost of both telescopes up to £120-140. Not a lot else readily available on the market to rival them if you want a simple but sturdy table top telescope for a beginner or interested amateur not wanting to break the bank.

Great value for money

OK, for a first - will probably need calibrating on arrival. Arrived in time but the box was damaged.

Gift for my Mum and Dad - I got their old telescope because I thought I damaged their old telescope but he repaired it and its working great - I think it is easy to use but the magnification isn't that high but it is good for very beginner star-gazers!

Really excited about getting a telescope, however would not recommend this one because difficult to find anything in the sky without an external sight / finder. Would rather opt for a more expensive version which would make viewing far easier and more enjoyable.

Good for beginners.