So when I picked this item I was super excited to receive it as I love looking up at the stars! I took it out of the box and it was so easy to put together and it is super lightweight! It is the perfect gift for a growing kid that wants to look into the stars! It does not do so well with clouds but totally not a deal breaker!

The telescope was really easy to assemble and is light to carry around. I got the one in black and silver with the telescopic legs and black carrying bag that fits the entire telescope for ease of travel and transportation. It also comes with two magnifying lenses 20x and 40x), a solar screen that you can view the solar eclipse with and a smartphone adapter. My daughter is excited to look at the stars and moon at night, as well as the solar eclipses without having to wear those flimsy glasses.

This telescope was a gift for my 13 year old son. To start, the box was smaller than expected. It comes neatly packaged, tucked safely in its carrying case. National Geographic was kind enough to include an anual eclipse guide, which was a very neat and welcomed addition. The instructions are clear and were easily understood by my teenager. The ability to connect your smart phone as an eyepiece is an incredible feature. It allowed my son and his friends to all enjoy stargazing as a group, rather than only one person enjoying while eveyone else waits their turn. The pictures are clear and the telescope itself is very easy to adjust. Not very powerful to see far away, but great for budding astrologers.

Nice recreational telescope. My kids and I tried it out and were able to see pretty well. We did not mount it, just used it by hand. I loved that it included a carrying bag. There are also extra lenses and filters. As long as you are not looking for a NASA grade telescope, you would be happy with this one.

This is a great beginner telescope, powerful to see various moon’s features. It was very quick to assemble. But when it comes to focusing on far objects, it’s hard as the tripod is flimsy and shakes a lot. When you point the red dot to any celestial object, by the time you tighten the screws to let the telescope stabilize, the red dot misses the object. It’s too hard to focus. Two lens option is great. I had to follow few YouTube videos to learn to setup red dot as well as focusing on any object.

I am no astronomer, but this is a great little telescope! It was very easy to set up and stay using. It comes with a nice carrying case and the tripod stand “telescopes” into itself so set up and take down were a breeze! My sons have enjoyed looking up into the sky at night to see what they can find!

I ordered the telescope for a middle school student that I don't know. I bought it for him because I wanted to interest him in science. The name National Geographic told me it was good quality. I also purchased it because the ad says it provides lots of lunar details, has two eye pieces, features downloadable sky software and seeing planetary features like Jupiter’s cloud belts or Saturn’s rings as well as some of the brightest objects in the sky. I trust the ad because I have purchased many good quality items from Sam's. When buying from Sam's I never worry about quality.

I will start out by saying I am a complete novice. I was able to follow the directions in putting together the National Geographic SRT 70mm telescope pretty easily. I am still working on figuring out the red dot viewfinder. We have had cloudy very cold weather since I have had it, so I'm not sure if it is that or if I need more practice in using it, but so far I've only been able to see stars. It comes with 2 eyepieces, 10mm & 20mm. You can also take puctures of what you see with your cell phone, but I haven't tried that yet. Everything fits back nicely in the travel case for easy storage. I'm looking forward to using more when the weather gets better.

Assembly was super easy. We really enjoying this telescope.  All tho it was difficult to focus (1st time using any telescope) once we got it to focus we've been looking at the moon for the past couple days and the view is amazing!!  We both love it!  Legs could be stronger know where near stable very flimsy. The fact you can rotate is so cool, fun!  Definitely recommend as a beginner telescope can't wait to discover more planet's

This is our first time owning a telescope. We dont know nothing about telescopes. It does come with a guidebook but my husband said it did not help him. For maybe 20mins in looking and playing we were able to see the stars. My 4yr old and 6yrs old were so exicited. The telescope does not stay stedy it does move a little so we end up losing what we are focusing on. This is great for beginners because as of myself i am learning but its actually pretty fun and pretty cool.