Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ Telescope Review: A Marketing Scam
Huge numbers on the specs sheet of PowerSeeker 127EQ are achieved with a flawed optical design.
1.1
- Portable
- Shaky Tripod
- Cheap Accessories
- Low-Quality Optics
Summary Review
Celestron PowerSeeker 127 is a marketing scam. Unfortunately, it is one of the worst telescope models and is popular among innocent beginners.
Bird-Jones Diagram
Optics
The design is a poorly done Bird-Jones. Any intermediate astronomer would close the article at this point but if you are a beginner let me explain shortly.
A Bird-Jones design uses a “corrector lens”. If done properly, it provides incredible results. Orion StarMax 90 is an example of a well-built Bird-Jones model.
PowerSeeker 127 is definitely not properly built. The corrector lens is inside the focuser is rarely aligned because of it. It also makes collimation a frustrating process.
You will get a lot of color inaccuracies and image defects if you get this telescope.
If you want a proper telescope that provides incredible images in this price range, go for Meade Polaris 130EQ. It is very similar to this telescope but in contrast has a Parabolic Primary Mirror, which is harder to manufacture but gives much better images.
By the way, don’t buy the Polaris 127. It is essentially the same as this telescope.
Mount
The mount is a German Equatorial and is actually capable of carrying the optical tube. But it doesn’t matter much if the optical tube the mount is carrying is worthless.
Accessories
The accessories mostly belong to the garbage. There are other models that come with better accessories at this price range. Meade Polaris 130EQ comes with much better accessories.
Drawbacks
The optical design is done poorly, which ruins the whole purpose of owning a telescope: stargazing. Also, the accessories are pretty cheap.
Conclusion
You shouldn’t buy this telescope, as well as Meade Polaris 127. They are solely done to earn some profit out of cheap optical designs, and most beginners fall for the “incredible” specs. Here are three models that are vastly better and at the same price: Zhumell Z114, Meade Infinity 80, and Orion StarBlast II 4.5.