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Customer reviews for National Geographic NG114mm Newtonian Telescope with Pan Handle for
National Geographic NG114mm Newtonian Telescope with Pan Handle
3.6 out of 5 stars
stars
176 ratings106 reviews
  1. 5 stars48% (85)
  2. 4 stars14% (25)
  3. 3 stars11% (19)
  4. 2 stars7% (13)
  5. 1 star19% (34)

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Showing 11-20 of 106 reviews
Mar 8, 2023
Hello Ello
5 out of 5 stars review

Grazing into the sky

The telescope was easy to put together. I like that it came with different lenses. It also has a place where you can put your cellphone on and other people can see what you are seeing through the lenses. Camera zoomed all the way in. If someone was passionate about getting into astrology and looking at the surface of the moon, I would suggest getting different lenses for it and it’s a little difficult to use the redeye finder.

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Mar 31, 2023
Cindy Lou
3 out of 5 stars review

Bright view of stars

Not very good for viewing stars but much view for the moon. Stars look brighter and nothing else noticeable, just a brighter looking star. Moon was more visible and looked like crater edges were noticeable on the half moon. Nothing really special was really seen with this telescope. l

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Mar 13, 2023
Der15623
3 out of 5 stars review

Good, not great

This telescope would be good for elementary school children. It definitely needs an adult to assemble. The directions and pictorials were no 100% clear. After finally getting a clear night we were able to view the moon and a few stars. Most objects in the sky were not clearly visible. I'm not sure if it was user error or the fact that this is more of a toy rather than serious telescope for viewing.

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Mar 15, 2023
Cathy
5 out of 5 stars review

Great product for the money

It is a great beginner telescope. It is lightweight but a bit flimsy on the tripod stand. I like the accessory tray to hold pieces and the cell phone. It has great magnification up to 103 X and very clear pictures of moon and stars. It is a bit hard to align, the manual diagrams in the pamphlet are way too light to see and read it also would be nice if there was a strap to hold the cell phone when trying to take the pictures but overall for the price you can’t go wrong. I wish there was a website where you can get better explanations and to buy additional pieces as needed .

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Mar 6, 2023
Mel
4 out of 5 stars review

Really Crisp View

We just got this telescope this week. It was very easy to assemble. Very little to do yourself which was very helpful. I wish the assembly instructiins were better but it really wasn't hard to figure out. My kids really loved looking at the moon and the stars. We had an amazing, detailed view of the moon. Can't wait for Saturn to come into view so we can see it's rings! I am confident this telescope will give us a clear view of that, and much more once we figure out how to really use it. I wish the legs had those tabs you pull to adjust instead of a tension screw. Would make that part easier, especially in the dark. I accidentally unscrewed one too much and dropped it. Definitely be careful as every part that can be adjusted, works with tension screws and some are small! I did not find the cell phone holder to be particularly helpful. It took me forever to figure out how to get a photo. Placing my phone onto the holder did not really help all that much. It could just be user error, I'm sure with more practice we will figure this out. I did eventually get a picture but it's not crisp like what I was seeing when looking through the telescope. My trual and error pictures are posted. The one shot I got does not show as much detail as what I was actually seeing in the telescope so do not judge based on my photos. Over all, I believe this will serve us well once we get a better handle on how to use a telescope and take pictires.

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Apr 3, 2023
Tasha
3 out of 5 stars review

For kids or beginners

Telescope is for beginners, kids, or people who may use it here and there. The overall process of putting together was fine, direction weren’t terrible but there some questions as I was putting it together. The telescope and stand are light weight which is nice but also makes it flimsy and could tip easily. I love that the tripod is adjustable height, it comes with 2 lenses and a phone holder but the phone holder doesn’t work. My iPhone 14 will not stay. I have not had a chance to look through as we have not had good clear nights, so I can not comment on the quality of what you can see.

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Mar 18, 2023
Lisa
5 out of 5 stars review

Light weight telescope

This telescope is awesome. It has 2 X 19.1 & 51.5 power magnification levels. It also has 26 MM & 9.7 MM PLOSSL WIDE EYEPIECES. With that you get clearer images. The moon looks so clear, you can see the craters. It has a phone attachment so you can take pictures. What i like is that it’s light. I have another one but it’s too heavy, so I don’t take it out as much. I feel this one is is easier to use and the images are clearer and crisp. I had it up on my granddaughters birthday, both adults and kids used it. They loved it. It would be a good gift for all ages.

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Mar 13, 2023
Blaw
2 out of 5 stars review

Disappointed, but willing to keep trying

I knew this was an “entry-level” telescope, but was hoping for a little better quality. Assembly was very straight-forward despite a complete lack to coherent direction. The issue began when trying to attach the “pivot” arm that adjusts the angle of the telescope. It was machined incorrectly and the alignment is off enough that it was nearly impossible to thread and barely holds the telescope in place for viewing. The slightest bump and the telescope falls completely forward or back. (I had 4 different adults attempt to tighten the arm and all were unsuccessful.) The second issue is with the legs. I am glad they are adjustable, but I feel like the mechanism to lock them in place could be better. Most tripods I have seen use a simple ‘squeeze’ lever that can easily be operated and raised or lowered with one hand. This one definitely can not. The locks need to be twisted and you have to push the leg up from the bottom. With how top-heavy the telescope is, this makes height adjustments very difficult. Lastly, only about half of the people who tried (we brought it out during a family gathering of 12 adults and 18 kids) could see anything through the telescope. I read in another review that you weren’t supposed to use your eye to look through he eyepiece, only the phone attachment, so perhaps that was the issue. We haven’t yet used the phone option. Overall, the telescope was not successful for us. We are going to keep trying, though, because I have an 11-year-old currently obsessed with astronomy. Either have to make this one work, or upgrade to a more expensive one, because the bug has bitten!!

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Mar 16, 2023
Liz
4 out of 5 stars review

Great entry-level telescope

My family has really enjoyed this telescope. It has been a great entry-level telescope that comes with two different lenses, a red dot viewfinder, cell phone holder and tripod. I haven’t successfully used the phone holder, since I use a bulky phone case and the multi-camera lens iPhones seem to have a hard time focusing through the telescope lens. I also ran into an issue setting up the telescope, since the instructions are not super detailed, and the dust cover did not pull off as easily as I thought it would. Word of warning- don’t touch any of the screws, they aren’t part of the dust cover, and will mess with the mirror alignment. A quick search online found a video that walked me through it though. The other issue I had was with the tripod not being particularly high quality. One of the inserts for the tightening knob was not secure, so that when I tried to turn the knob to lock the leg, the threaded insert came out instead. A little glue to keep that in place would have been appreciated, but it was a quick and easy fix. Other than that, I advise not taking any dogs with you when using this telescope in the dark- mine ran full speed straight into the tripod, bent a leg and broke one of the supports. I still really like the telescope and my whole family has been excited to use it!

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Mar 7, 2023
dlaw
5 out of 5 stars review

Nice telescope!

I love this telescope! The initial setup was not hard. The instructions were just pictures, but they were easy to follow. The tripod is very sturdy. The telescope itself isn’t as heavy as it looks, so it’s pretty easy to move around. The phone attachment is a nifty little accessory to capture some of the awesome views.

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