Celestron Cpc 800 XLT Computerized Telescope w/Tube and Tripod

Update January 2018: I used this scope for the solar eclipse and have been photographing deep sky objects with a wedge. It's still going strong and working fine after I replaced the front cell. I've had a few issues with the GPS receiver that I've been able to resolve. I recently replaced the nylon ball bearings in the base of the mount with stainless steel bearings in order to get smoother tracking for astrophotography. Update March 2016 - Parts are difficult to obtain from Celestron!! I had an unfortunate accident with my telescope while setting up a outreach demonstration in a gym on a cloudy night. I forgot to tighten the thumbscrews that secure the scope to the tripod, and then tried to adjust the tripod! It was a dumb mistake and entirely my fault. I typically am more careful but guess I was in a hurry. The telescope fell and dented the front cell (the bezel that the lens cap attaches to). I've since tested the scope with an artificial star and found that the optics are still very fine! The collimation was off a bit but not by much. I added "Bob's knobs" and was able to get a nice diffraction pattern during the fine in-focus collimation adjustment. Celestron refused to sell me the front cell!! They offered the option of sending the scope back to the factory but it will take 20 to 40 days and cost an estimated $300. I don't mind the $300 so much, but don't want to be without the scope for a month as the weather is just getting nice and Jupiter is nicely placed! I continued bugging Celestron, and they reluctantly agreed to sell me the front cell. It wasn't too hard to replace and I collimated the optical tube. It's been working fine ever since! Update November 2015, a few months after purchase: =========================================== I'm still happy wit this purchase. This telescope has rekindled my interest in amateur astronomy and helped me to see the sky in a "new light". It's also been a hit with my neighbors when I've invited them to star parties. The GOTO feature is really useful and helps keep things moving. The tripod and telescope are a bit unwieldy to carry into the field, but that's subjective. It takes me about 15 minutes to unload the stuff from my car and set up at my favorite field not far from my home. I'd seen the planets before in my old 4.5" Newtonian scope that were OK, but have got some great views of the lunar eclipse, Saturn, Venus, and the moon with the CPC800 in the couple of months that I've owned it, and I'm dying to see Jupiter when it rises high in the night sky for me in the spring of 2016 (I'm not a morning person!). Meanwhile this CPC800 has helped me to discover the beauty of deep sky objects such as galaxies and nebulae. I say this with some trepidation because you shouldn't expect to run out and see images as you see them in magazines. The great ring nebula in Lyra for example, still looks like a small fuzzy doughnut. But it is resolvable and unmistakable in this telescope, whereas in my 4.5" Newtonian it was barely recognizable. Such objects will never look as you see them in a magazine because the human eye is not as sensitive as long exposure photography, and we're bound to do our observing from under a thick layer of atmosphere. Speaking of which, I'll note that I'm located in a rural area with low light pollution and at about 1000' above sea level. I've gained a new appreciation for how special and rare dark skies are. Pity the city-dwellers who cannot see the milk way! That's the way the ball bounces. I've started experimenting with astrophotography through this scope and have seen some colors in the nebulae through an inexpensive used DSLR camera from eBay. It's opened a whole new world for me but I see this as a specialized area that will take me a long while to master. One of the first things you'll run into with this Schmidt-Cassegrain scope as opposed to a Newtonian telescope is dew. Moisture in the air will condense on the corrector plate and end your viewing session before you're ready. It's inevitable. I made a primitive dew shield from flexible black foam craft sheets. This works well, is inexpensive, and buys you a couple of hours before the dew forms. I eventually constructed a 3-watt dew heater. These things can be easily purchased as well, but I like DYI when possible. Learning these things is a natural progression if you take this hobby seriously. Astronomy requires patience and endurance. Summer buzzing bugs - winter freezing feet - cloudy nights. But you'll be rewarded if you stick with it. Have fun! ... It's a very nice instrument. I'm happy with it so far. I've had better luck using the one-star alignment method by just pointing it to a known object than by using the three star alignment. One star alignment is pretty quick and gets me close enough to find other objects pretty well. The tripod is very solid. That tracking works well. Images are quite crisp with the supplied eyepiece. The controller is fairly intuitive, although it feels a bit dated with the menu-driven two-line LCD display. I found the power switch LED to be too bright as it shines up from the base pretty much into your eyes. I covered it with a piece of black tape. The underside of the tripod has six triangular cavities cast into the aluminum. I added red LED light strips in these compartments shining down on the accessory tray and found these to be very helpful. The light shines down onto the tray and not into your eyes since the LED's themselves are well hidden in the cavities. I power the telescope and other accessories (including the LEDs) from a 20 aH sealed lead acid battery that I carry in a canvas bag. I had a great time with this during the lunar eclipse star party on September 27th. The GOTO feature was extremely useful during the eclipse. As the skies darkened and stars started popping out, I could quickly slew to the ring nebula or Andromeda, and then easily slew right back to the moon to check its progress. The DC power connector has a locking ring that is supposed to engage with threads on the DC socket. It doesn't. Celestron used a DC socket with threads that don't protrude enough from the base. I find it a curious oversight. The correct socket is probably only worth a couple of bucks. I worry that the power cord might pull out and mess up my alignment, so I tie the cord through the handle on the fork. The finder scope inverts the image and has a non-illuminated reticle, and the adjustment screws protrude further than I would like. I found that they interfered with my piggyback camera mount. So I'm not really nuts about the finder scope. I've generally been pretty pleased with purchases on Amazon. However, this is the most expensive item I've bought from Amazon so far. In retrospect, I would buy it from another supplier. Amazon chose to ship this using a freight carrier from a warehouse about 1000 miles from me, which took about a week. It arrived on time and in good condition, but later I later discovered that I could have bought this from another supplier in a neighboring state who would have shipped UPS without charging sales tax. I probably could have received the telescope in two days instead of a week. It's a nice scope and expect to get years of enjoyment from it.

The box containing the telescope tube arrived with significant damage with deep impact holes that penetrated through the inner box. This is suppose to be a new unit, yet both the outer and inner box are unsealed, The factory tape sealing the box having been cut. In addition to not being sealed the box appears to have been dropped on one of it's corners from a great height and looks like an accordion. I am not even bothering to unpack the box and have requested a replacement unit to be sent out.

This is my 3rd telescope with my second telescope being a Meade ETX 125. For comparison, I found the Celestron light years (sorry for the pun) easier to setup--granted there is a 20 yr difference in age but from what I see online, Meade scopes have not improved setup. Connecting the fork/OTA to the tripod took mere minutes and was very easy--the fork has bevels that snap in place so you know when its on the tripod correctly. I am not concerned about trying this at night when its dark (and I cannot say the same with the ETX). Installing the finder scope was a matter of 2 screws. Aligning the finder scope with the OTA was just as easy--instead of fiddling with 2 pairs of 3 screws at either end of the finder scope, I only needed to adjust 2 at the back. Aligning the scope using "Solar System Align". I tried alignment with the moon and worked like a charm--well enough, that once I got the finder scope and OTA relatively aligned, GOTO was able to find Saturn, visible in day light at 50x, thereby confirming setup and alignment worked well enough to be useful with a single planetary object alignment in daylight. I also tried alignment with Jupiter (at night) and was similarly pleased with the outcome--I was able to use GOTO Uranus and identify it. Yes, the scope and tripod are heavy but in separate pieces they are manageable. Probably the most disappointing part of this purchase is the 40mm eyepiece. The field of view is very limited and I am very glad I already had other eyepieces to use. I have a similar view point on the field of view on the finder scope--its a bit limiting and would like better field of view.

Note: my review is for the CPC 800, since the reviews on this page seem to be a combination of 800, 925, and 1100 reviews. Also, I should point out that I'm an amateur with limited experience, and this is my first "real" telescope purchase. So I'll start with a few words of advice up front to help anyone who might be new and unsure of what to buy. First of all, if you are telescope shopping and are considering this scope, DEFINITELY consider the fact that it is big and heavy. The scope is about 40 lbs, and the tripod is about 20. I don't have any trouble carrying it around by myself, and it has well-placed carrying handles that make it easy, so that's no issue. But it is certainly not a telescope that you can just pick up and go stargazing with on a moment's notice. It takes time and effort to set up, and that can be a disadvantage if you get a "spur of the moment" urge to use it! You should also know that it doesn't hide away in a tiny corner of the closet (or your car, for that matter), so you'll need some space to store it and transport it. Now that my disclaimer is out of the way... All I can say is that I absolutely love this telescope. The quality of the scope and tripod are evident in the size and weight alone. I've used it many times already, and have no complaints whatsoever, aside from wishing I had a better yard and less light pollution! I've had no trouble doing alignments, and have even aligned it using the moon, Jupiter, and Sirius when they were all in the same general area in the sky. (The manual recommends that you align using objects that are as far apart as possible). Once aligned, the goto feature works extremely well, although there are times when the object doesn't center perfectly. I'm guessing that this may be because I align using objects that are close together in the sky. Unfortunately, my viewing area (so far) hasn't allowed me to use widely spaced celestial objects for alignment, but I will update my review later, if necessary. The hand control is fairly easy to use, and the layout of the buttons is easy to get used to. The display is a bit dim, but not uncomfortably so. It's nice to be able to choose between deep sky objects, named stars, planets, and even a sky tour with just a touch of a button and some scrolling. That means that you don't have to be an expert on constellations and star names, and can get right to viewing. And the view from this scope is outstanding, even in my light-polluted back yard. When I was researching telescopes, I didn't know much about eyepieces, so I'll offer my own opinions in case you're new to this too. When I bought my telescope, I also bought the Celestron two-inch eyepiece kit. In hindsight, it was a good move, and the 2" size is amazing. The CPC800 includes a 1.25" diagonal and a single 1.25" plossl eyepiece. If I hadn't ordered the EP kit at the time I purchased the scope, I KNOW that I would have been very impatient to try different magnifications. The view from the included EP is fine, but having more options is something you'll want right from the start. I definitely recommend purchasing an eyepiece kit (or separate eyepieces, if your budget allows) along with the scope. To be honest, the Celestron kit doesn't really include any "higher" magnification EPs, so I had to order a 10mm EP after a few weeks of using the lenses in the kit. SO... if you are a first-time buyer like I was, the 2" kit is a good start (it has 26mm, 32mm, and 40mm EPs, which give you 75x, 62x, and 50x magnification), plus a barlow lens that doubles the magnification of each lens. It also includes several color filters. It doesn't come with a moon filter though, so you might want to add one, because the moon is a target you'll go to a lot. I bought a 10mm (200x magnification) EP, and plan to add a 17mm and 13mm EP at some point. I may consider a higher power lens (like an 8 or 5mm), but I don't think there will be much use for such high magnification, so it's not a pressing concern. As other reviewers mentioned, the scope does NOT come with a power cord (which seems a bit odd), so you'll need one of those, or a power tank. I bought the smaller Celestron powertank, and couldn't be happier. It's a must-have if you plan to take the scope to the country for clear, dark skies and don't want to drain your car battery. To be honest, I've never even used the AC power cord, even though I've only used my scope at home so far. If I could do it over, I might not even bother buying it. The powertank is easy to use, and has built-in flashlights, so there's really no point running an extension cord to use the power cord. All in all, I am extremely pleased with this telescope, and highly recommend it if you are prepared for the size, weight, and time it takes to set up. There is definitely something to be said for a scope that you can carry and set up in a few minutes, but that's really the only drawback of owning a larger telescope like this. The quality of the images you'll see more than makes up for the "longer" setup time. I am glad that I made this purchase, and would do it again in a heartbeat!

I have a Nexstar 103 SLT computerized refractor telescope and to me the 1,2,or 3 star alignment sucks. You have to be a contortionist to be able to look at anything through it and half the time I had trouble with aligning it. I saved all the money for the CPC 800 XLT and was like a kid on Christmas Day when it arrived. It has been raining here in Oregon for 4 months and seeing the sky is hit or miss.The Moon peaked out of the clouds and I had my Canon T5i mounted to the visual back and got some decent pics of the Moon. I've heard people whining that it is too heavy;BS! It is well made and the reason it is heavy is because it isn't plastic. It is well constructed and the optics are very good. I am 63 years old and have a partially paralyzed right arm and I can set it up in less than 5 minutes. I highly recommend this scope and combined with the wi-fi adapter from Celestron and the free Skyportal app, a 6 year old could get it up and running in less than 10 minutes. My only regret is that I didn't have enough cash to get the 11" scope. Good scope, Good Price. That's all I got to say about that.

so complicated.

Faulty gps that makes scope unusable. Dear celestron; after all money I spent I still do not have working telescope and it under warranty AND 7 months later back to having same issues !!!!! the telescope was not plug in and poor weather did not use it for a month and now back to the same issue with mount and Focuser and StarSense camera and StarSense hand control connects to GPS gives date error 12/22/:0 and did try to enter information in manually and use champaign as city and then restart scope and then power the mount with nothing connected and waited 5 minutes outside and then connected starsence and the camera in AUX 2/ with focuser in AUX 1 and then go to location and change source to GPS gets wrong GPS coordinates LONG 88/LAT south 139 and then mount will stop responding and was not able to do alignment with starsense..... I tried use the CPWI and loose connection with mount and left the telescope plug in for couple of days and though that would charge GPS capacitor and still had the issues and tried using different power supply that was 5 amps 12 volts and even different power cord. and I am upto date on the latest firmware and did factory reset I then connect the USB to the HC and connect CPWI via HC. USB interface ON Starsense HC is disconnected from scope hold the "Celestron" button down as I switch the mount on HC displays something like "Boot Loader Debug". "Boot Loader Pass Through 19.2K". and will connect mount and after couple of minutes give me a GPS coordinates. then I can move mount for ONLY couple of minutes it will freeze and lose communication with mount. IF I skipped GPS information the telescope would work much better and not lose the connection for 10 minutes. I Did search on cloudy nights and Michael Swanson provided the answer: "Occasionally one of the modules connected either to the AUX ports or the internal communication bus (the AUX bus) is bad and is flooding the communication bus with garbage thus preventing the hand control from communicating. Internal GPS module on a CPC scope. Opening the base and disconnecting the GPS module allowed the hand control to communicate with the motor control in the mount and by manually entering date and time, the scope was again operational." Out of frustration I disconnected the GPS module from the power control board and reconnected my StarSense camera and StarSense hand control and focuser and now I can do alignment through CPWI I DO NOT WANT TO SHIP TELESCOPE BACK AND WILL JUST HAVE THE SAME ISSUE PLEASE SEND ME NEW TELESCOPE DIFFERENT MODEL OR SKYSYNC GPS ACCESSORY +AUX PORT SPLITTER

Great scope had one before with a carbon fiber tube and loved it, only wish I had got the 11 inch but too heavy! Also they should have made this new one out of carbon fiber as well. The new alignment is great, pick any 3 bright stars or two stars or even a planet. Tech support is and alsways has been great, very important, Will is very helpful and warranty is good. Stick with Celestron you will be happy. Very satisfied customer , John Cooney

I decided to upgrade from a Skywatcher 130 (a good beginners scope) and have found it well worthwhile. It arrived very quickly and well packed from Green Witch. The supplier has helped me with a small problem I thought I had (that turned out to be a misunderstanding on my part) and I am grateful for their excellent service. The scope is solid and robustly made - I am reasonably fit though wouldn't like to risk my back with any of the larger models - this one is quite heavy enough thankyou! - and it sits firmly on the tripod. Setting up the guidescope was easy though I may also attach the smaller guide scope from the Skywatcher for rough alignment. The control system (GPS, GOTO, huge object database) is not difficult to set up and is truly stunning, taking all the hard work out of finding and tracking targets of any brightness. Great to be able to pick out nebulae, double stars, planets etc from the list and let the CPC800 do the rest. you get a pretty good 40mm eyepiece with it which gives about 50 mag. I am also using the 24 and 10mm and 2xBarlow that came with the Skywatcher but will probably look for some better quality ones in the future. The only minor issue I've found is that the lead for the 'car battery' power supply (I use a Skywatcher 7Ah power tank) plugs into the scope base and has a screw thread to secure it - but it doesn't quite engage in the socket on the scope. However, all in all this is a brilliant quality, easy to use, telescope and good value for what you get. At some point I would like to do some astroimaging but I believe it may be necessary to purchase a wedge to convert the Altazimuth mount to Equatorial for this purpose.

This is an incredibly well-made device. Anyone who has ever used a simple telescope will be familiar with the two greatest problems: a tripod that vibrates and using two knobs on stalks to keep the object in the centre of the eyepiece. The tripod used with this telescope is heavy and rigid, 14.5kg of die-cast aluminium with stainless steel tubes; I have not noticed any vibration. The telescope is motorised and keeps the object centralised. Setting up the telescope took some time. Once the tripod is levelled, lifting the telescope into place can cause difficulties if you are alone as a central peg on the tripod has to locate in a hole on the underside of the base of the telescope. With some practice, and looking around the base for symmetrical placing of the tops of the tripod legs, this will become easier. One rotated into place, three bolts hold the telescope in position. Engage all three bolts before tightening them. They are captive bolts and they are sprung too, so when dismantling you feel when the bolts have disengaged. The telescope is heavy (22kg) so hold the telescope close to the body when lifting it into place. The sighting scope (9x50) is good for terrestrial use but can be a nightmare for use at night. A 'red spot' sight is much easier to use when aligning the telescope. I had some difficulty at first and found that the GPS system thought that I was in California rather that west Wales. I had to go through the computer menu to switch off the GPS and then switch it back on again to get the correct setting. A session in daylight in order to line up the sighting scope or red-spot finder and also to familiarise yourself with the computer menu is a good idea. The CPC 800 is a joy to use. The motors are very quiet and move the telescope very smoothly to your target. You may have a few people waiting to look, and not having to twiddle any knobs in between is sheer bliss. It is, as I said at the beginning, a very well-made machine that is a delight to use. The telescope is packed in two large boxes because of the weight of the tripod and the heavier optical tube assembly and base. These can become separated in transit. Be patient, it is worth the wait.

Great telescope easy to use and easy to set up.

fantastic telescope - dont need to say anymore, just buy one if your thinking about it :)