Celestron 21035 Travel Scope 70 Portable Refractor Telescope Kit with Backpack, Black, 70mm

Product Information

If you’re looking for a portable and easy-to-use entry-level telescope that is perfect for travel, the Celestron Travelscope 70 might just be what you’re looking for. This 70mm refractor telescope is designed to be lightweight and easy to transport, making it the ideal companion for any astronomer who loves to travel. What is the Celestron Travelscope 70? Our team of product advisors know what it’s like to buy astronomy equipment for the first time. There are so many types of telescopes and accessories that the process can be overwhelming enough without having to worry about pushy salespeople trying to make a big commission. It comes with all the gear necessary to start observing the night sky or to see groupings from hundreds of yards away. Most importantly, it’s not a wallet-buster. Look, we get it. Stating that we’re the “best” can seem a bit like a catch. However, with a combined astronomy experience of over 115 years (117 to be exact), our team of telescope and astrophotography experts, a.k.a. "Gear Experts", knows astronomy and how to service our customers.

Celestron Telescopes of 2023 – Reviews, Top Picks 9 Best Celestron Telescopes of 2023 – Reviews, Top Picks

The prism diagonal is the next most urgently needed replacement. Keep it around for comparison or for when you want to do terrestrial observing, but it’s just no good for serious astronomy.The included finder is a plastic 5×24. These 5x24s have a singlet(!) plastic objective lens, an aperture stop to control the resulting aberrations that make the image unusably dim, and an eyepiece with a drinking-straw-like field of view. It is less effective than those toy pirate telescopes made for little kids. Not only is the finder useless, but it’s also completely pointless, as the scope’s wide field at low power means it doesn’t really even need a finder. It basically acts as its own finder. In this travel scope review, we’ll find out if this model is worth considering. We’ll cover everything from what you can see through the telescope to its tripod and overall design.

Celestron - 80mm Travel Scope - Portable Refractor Telescope Celestron - 80mm Travel Scope - Portable Refractor Telescope

The Celestron NexStar 130SLT Computerized Telescope is another great choice for Celestron fans. It has a computerized mount like the top two models on our list, enabling you to find objects in the night sky, even if you have little astronomy experience. There’s a very large 130-millimeter focal length, which is phenomenal for the price. That’s large enough to let you see just about anything in our solar system, and several deep-space objects as well. It also comes with two high-quality eyepieces. These let you see at 26x and 72x magnification, respectively, so you’ll be able to make the most of your telescope with the included eyepieces. The Celestron Travel Scope 70 Telescope was designed with travelling in mind while offering exceptional value. The Travel Scope 70 is made of the highest quality materials to ensure stability and durability. All this adds up to a telescope that gives you a lifetime of pleasure with a minimal amount of maintenance. I want to like the Celestron TravelScope 70, I really do. I have had fun with it. But I just can’t recommend it to beginners for astronomy. And though I’m not an expert on daytime spotting scopes, I’d probably advise against getting one for that purpose as well. It is a nice optic ruined by poor mechanical design and accessories, and unless you’re willing to spend more time and money replacing its accessories (or if you have them already lying about, as I do), I can not recommend it. If you go in with the correct expectations (objects will be dim and gray) and look for the right objects (look for objects in guides for small telescopes and binoculars, rather than the famously named nebula you’ve seen in pictures), the telescope can work just fine for deep sky viewing from a suburban or darker sky. In a rural sky, it’d be powerful enough to see every one of the Messier objects. I find that it’s much easier to find and appreciate deep sky objects in a small scope after you’ve gotten familiar with deep sky observing in a larger telescope. But there’s no reason you can’t start small if you set your expectations right.After my first half hour using the telescope, I was exhausted trying to work around its awful mount. However, in that time, I was able to observe the Double Cluster in Perseus, the Orion Nebula, and the Andromeda Galaxy, and I was pleased enough by them to not immediately write off the telescope as a failure. The Celestron Travelscope 70 has a 70mm aperture which allows for good light-gathering capabilities. The magnification range is from 20x to 165x, depending on the eyepiece used. The focal length of this travel scope is 400 mm which makes it suitable for viewing large objects like planets. The optics in the Celestron Travelscope 70 are of good quality and provide clear images without much distortion. With its compact size and easy portability, this travel scope makes for an excellent choice for beginners or those who want to take their telescope on trips. If you want a telescope that is small, lightweight, and very easy to use, consider the Orion SkyScanner 100 or Zhumell Z100, a 4” tabletop reflector. And at this price point, if you want to scan wide fields of view across the sky searching for bright deep-sky-objects and star fields, consider a pair of binoculars instead. A 10x50mm or 7x50mm pair of binoculars have the same overall light gathering.