Astro Fi 130mm Telescope Review!

@FordRasmussen
Ford Rasmussen
7:21
17 Feb 2022
Product review

Table of contents

0:39
The Astro Fi 130mm
1:08
Pros and Cons
5:15
Final Note
6:09
Price and Recommendation
7:06
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Play from here [0:00]

I've owned three different telescopes made by Celestron. This one is my favorite one so far. It has its quirks, but overall, I would say that it's a pretty good telescope. Let's go over the pros and cons of the Astro Fi 130mm. By the way, this review is brought to you by my Zodiac Stickers. Learn your favorite constellations with labeled stars and related deep sky objects. They make great gifts too. You can snag them on Etsy, link in the description here. You can also see how I drew them with an informative video on this link. Now, back to the review.

The Astro Fi 130mm

Play from here [0:39]

I was amazed at how easy it was to put this telescope together. It took like maybe 20 minutes, and half of that was pretty much just opening all the packaging that it came in. In fact, the instruction manual said nothing about collimation, which was a pleasant surprise. Indeed, I got clear views right out of the box, so that was exciting, especially given that I tried and failed to collimate the Celestron 127mm EQ telescope. It doesn't collimate. I'm glad I didn't have to do that with the Astro Fi 130mm.

Interested?

The Astro Fi 130 is a computerized alt-azimuth Newtonian telescope perfect for terrestrial and celestial viewing on the go.

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Pros and Cons

Play from here [1:08]

The red dot finderscope on the Astro Fi 130mm is pretty great in that you don't have to deal with reverse images when you're looking through it like you do with some other finer scopes. Just make sure that you turn off the red dot before you put it away for the night to save that battery. The dials on this thing make aligning your finderscope a breeze. The only thing you need to get started is eight AA batteries and a phone. You can also use it with a laptop, but I haven't because the phone is just more convenient. With the phone, however, I did have some connectivity issues that you should be aware of.

Play from here [1:38]

On my Android device, when trying to connect to the Wi-Fi so that you can control it, you have to wait for it to say no internet connection before you can click "Connect Anyway." if you don't click that button, then it'll look like your phone is connected, but it won't actually be connected, so it won't work. The other issue I had is my phone would occasionally drop the connection in the middle of using it when it was idle for a little bit. That did happen more than once, and I read reviews of it happening to other people as well, so it is a known issue of the Astro Fi 130mm.

Play from here [2:04]

However, the last time I took the Astro Fi 130mm out, I didn't have any connectivity issues, so I don't really know what happened there. I don't know what the deal is, but that could be an issue. If it does happen to you, I couldn't get my phone to reconnect unless I first disconnected from the Wi-Fi and then went into my settings and chose the option that says "Forget This Network." I had to restart from scratch every time that it dropped. That is my biggest issue with this telescope, but when the app does work, the auto go-to feature that moves the telescope automatically for you is so nice.

Play from here [2:38]

Now it's not always perfect at automatically centering the object in the eyepiece, but that really just depends on how well you align it when you get started. Just take your time doing that, and it should work pretty good. Either way, it is really nice to have the Astro Fi 130mm get all the way close to the thing you want to look at without having to even touch it. Then, when it gets there, you can fine tune it as needed. That being said, you can't move your telescope after you align it to the stars because then it will forget where it is so make sure that you set up in a clear space where you can see everything you're going to want to see, so that you don't have to move your telescope later. I have ran into that issue. A building was in the way of Cassiopeia. I wanted to look at it, and I didn't want to take the time to move it and then realign it, so I didn't do that.

Play from here [3:22]

Now, the phone attachment is pretty ingenious, which doubles as the dust cover. You take out the orange thing and then you can put your phone in there, align the camera up with the hole, then put the eyepiece in, then put that on the Astro Fi 130mm, and take pictures with your camera. Phone cameras aren't great for taking pictures anyway. You could do the moon or bright planets, but other than that, it's not ideal, and it is pretty tricky to align your camera with the hole when you're in the dark and get it all set up. It's kind of a hassle, but it is a pretty nice bonus.

Play from here [3:59]

So far, I've only really taken a picture of the moon using the Astro Fi 130mm, but it's pretty cool. I was pretty shocked when I first saw Jupiter and Saturn through this thing. It has good light gathering capabilities and good magnification, so the views were clear and wow, you can see the rings of Saturn. You can see the moons of Jupiter pretty clearly. I've also seen some star clusters through this, both open star clusters and globular clusters, which kind of look like fuzzy stars. Both are pretty cool to look at. I haven't seen any Nebula through it yet, but I'm sure there are a few that you could see.

Interested?

The Astro Fi 130 is a computerized alt-azimuth Newtonian telescope perfect for terrestrial and celestial viewing on the go.

Check Price
Play from here [4:31]

The Astro Fi 130mm is pretty big, but it's also fairly light so it's not too hard to move around. I also really like the narrations in the app. You can listen to descriptions of objects as you observe them. That's pretty cool. The one recommendation that I would have is that I wish there was a dedicated control that you could plug into this thing that would eliminate the connectivity issues and then also solve my other problem, which it can be hard to control this using a touchscreen because you don't know where the buttons are, especially when you're looking through the telescope when you're trying to fine tune it. There's up and down, side to side buttons, but without being able to feel them, it can be kind of tricky, so control would eliminate that because you could feel the buttons. Without that, the controls on this touchscreen really do take some getting used to at first.

Final Note

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So, final note. The connectivity and the controls can be a little quirky sometimes. I have read reviews of other people struggling with it too. However, I have been able to get it to work, so I'm doing okay personally. The views are great. It's easy to assemble the Astro Fi 130mm. It's lightweight. The auto tracking is super helpful when you can get it to work. The finderscope is awesome. The app is informative, and the camera mount thing is a bonus. I've even used this telescope without digital controls. Now, you can't rotate it side to side without those digital controls, but you can maneuver it up and down by hand. If you're in a pinch and you don't have a phone or you can't get it to work, you can just rotate the tripod, move up and down, to find your thing. Rotating the tripod isn't great for fine tuning your view, but it is possible. I've got it to work, so there's always that.

Price and Recommendation

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Note: All prices mentioned here can change.

This is the most expensive telescope that I've had so far, and it is by far my favorite. I'd give it four to five stars, the main issue being that connectivity problem that takes some troubleshooting and getting used to. Compared to the other two I've had, I'd rate them in this order. The Celestron Astro Fi 130mm at around $469 being number 1. Second place would be the Travel Scope 70mm at around $99, and in third place, the Celestron EQ 127mm at around $179.

Play from here [6:41]

Don't get that one. It's not very good. Hard to collimate and so it's difficult to get good views. It's heavy. The Celestron Astro Fi 130mm is just way better. It is more expensive, so that makes sense. But yeah, that would be my order for these three. I've made more detailed reviews on those other ones if you're interested, but this would be my number one recommendation, until I get a better one that is... someday. I don't know. I'd probably stick with this one for a while though because I really am enjoying it and it's working well.

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Play from here [7:06]

Thank you for watching. Feel free to ask questions in the comments here, or let me know what you think of this telescope if you've tried it. I wish you clear skies to enjoy that beautiful night sky. Most of all, take the time to do the things that you enjoy, and remember to smile.

Interested?

The Astro Fi 130 is a computerized alt-azimuth Newtonian telescope perfect for terrestrial and celestial viewing on the go.

Check Price
About Ford Rasmussen

Lifelong Learner. Artist. Youtuber. I tell stories, do art, and create explainer videos. There is new things to learn every day, and always something to smile about.

Ford Rasmussen

Lifelong Learner. Artist. Youtuber. I tell stories, do art, and create explainer videos. There is new things to learn every day, and always something to smile about.