Celestron 127EQ Telescope Review

The retail value for the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ Telescope is $170 (prices may change) on Amazon right now, which is pretty much double the Celestron 70mm Travel Scope that I first got. But, is it twice as good? Well, it's complicated.

The Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ, is a lot heavier and bigger than my old telescope, which means it's also sturdier. But, moving this guy around is definitely a two-hands job. I store it inside, usually with the legs completely retracted, so it sits lower and takes up less space, but when I want to take it outside, I have to extend those legs. While it can be done by myself, it's a lot easier with a second person, somebody to hold the telescope and extend the legs. Either that or you have to crawl around the floor, extending each leg at a time, which works, too.

On the other hand, something cheaper and more portable like the Celestron 70mm Travel Scope, is very easy to move around, which is a benefit of that telescope, so weight and portability isn't necessarily a winner for this telescope. With that, this mount is no cheapo camera tripod. This is an Equatorial Mount. That means with the right setup, it is very easy to track objects across the night sky. What I love about it is that with the little knobs, you can make fine adjustments to the positioning of the telescope, which makes finding an object really easy.

Once you loosen the knobs, turn it as you wish. The knob on the back can go up and down, for aligning it, but I just use it for finding objects. You can also rotate it sideways. I really love the fine tuning capability. The Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ also requires collimation, which I have to admit, I still haven't done. From what I've read, that can be a little tricky and definitely takes patience, but it's required if you are going to get a reflector telescope such as this. I got this secondhand, so I didn't have to do that. The finder scope is pretty much the same as the finder scope on my cheaper telescope. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the exact same finder scope.

The finder scopes are what you use to find something before you look through the telescope because it has a wider field of view, so it makes it easier to find stuff. With this finder scope, the image is reversed, so up is down and down is up, left is right and vice versa, which can be tricky and sometimes trips me up, but at the end of the day, it doesn't bother me too much. You can always replace the finder scope if you want to upgrade it with one that you like better. I also like how this tripod has a little plate where you can store extra lenses and such. That's kind of nice but what about the visuals on the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ?

Like any telescope, a lot of the visuals depend on the weather, the temperature, all sorts of outside conditions, and where you are. From the experience I've had so far with the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ, I haven't used it long enough to give you a definitive answer, but I'm kind of leaning towards disappointment. Honestly, the views aren't that much better than my 70mm refractor telescope. The Barlow lens that came with it was nice, but I could have just got one of those from our other telescope and not paid the extra amount for everything else. However, the Barlow lens did make a difference.

It might just be poor collimation. I'm not sure yet, but I just find the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ a little hard to focus, and sometimes, I get distortion in the image. It is nice, though, that the supplied eyepieces have a higher eye relief, so you don't have to get as close to the eyepiece when you're looking through it to see through it, whereas with the other one, I have to completely get my eye on it. It's not a really big deal with this telescope. With a smaller telescope and a cheaper tripod, touching the eyepiece can kind of shake it, make it harder to focus, and maybe knock it out of alignment. This has less chance of bumping the telescope if you don't have to touch the eyepiece to look through it. That's, I guess, is a pro.

Here are the pros and cons. It's an effective mount, and the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ is OK. On the other hand, it's pretty heavy, not easy to maneuver, and can be difficult to focus or collimate from my experience. I'm going to keep trying it out to see if I can get some better views with it, maybe re-collimate it. I think I will use my smaller telescope more often for its portability and, with it still being pretty effective, maybe just get a Barlow lens with it.

Overall, the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ was fairly cheap. I'm not too disappointed. The good news is, I do have some experience now with an Equatorial Mount, more experience aligning the finder scope, which also can take some time, and I just got a break down and learn how to collimate a telescope. Anyway, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here. I hope you have a good day. Whatever telescope you choose, I hope it works for you, and please, remember to smile.