When searching for a beginner’s telescope, for either yourself or your teenager, you might not want to invest a lot of money. After all, who knows if this might be a fleeting hobby, where you take your scope out once or twice and forget about it, or something that you’re going to want to delve deeper into. Because of the low cost, and it’s easy to transport design, you might consider picking up Celestron’s Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit. Being a refractor telescope, it is easy to function, requires next to no maintenance, and is designed with the beginner in mind.
Celestron is one, if not the, top telescope manufacturers on the market, and they’ve made a name for themselves in producing quality telescopes that are affordable and high quality. In the world of astronomy, if there’s a company you can trust, it’s Celestron. Priced at a very affordable $99.95 on Celestron’s website (reduced from $135.99), and some deals on Amazon offering a slightly cheaper price, this telescope offers an easy introduction to the world of astronomy, while minimizing the risk of buyer’s remorse should you decide it isn’t for you, or if you eventually want to upgrade. Aside from the price, another advantage is that it also comes with an easy to carry backpack designed to maximize travel opportunities. This allows you to easily take the scope to an area with less light pollution than on your block, or even to an amateur astronomy club or event where other like-minded folk with a fascination with the heavens will be more than happy to show you the ins and outs of the hobby.
Start with the Moon
As a 70mm aperture refractor telescope, the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit is primarily designed for lunar, stellar, and planetary viewing. As such it come with two different resources for expanding your knowledge and enabling you to optimize these views in Robert Reeves’ Lunar Landscapes eBook and Celestron’s Starry Night Software.
For beginning amateur astronomers, the Moon is one of the best targets to set your gaze on. Seeing the Moon with new detail, and being able to pinpoint and identify specific lunar features can be a fascinating experience and is a great way to familiarize yourself with the mechanics of a telescope. Robert Reeves’ Lunar Landscapes eBook is twenty-two pages filled with Reeve’s own lunar imaging, along with explanations surrounding a number of different lunar craters, rilles, and maria. For every lunar target that Reeve’s points out, he also shows you where to find them and provides a number of detailed factoids. To help with your viewing, the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit also comes with a handy Lunar Filter, which is designed to reduce glare and maximize contrast for optimal viewing of the lunar geography.
Once you have explored the Moon, you might wonder what else the night sky has to offer, and for that there is the Starry Night Software created by Celestron, which functions as a star atlas and planetarium. The software itself retails at a price of $79.95, but it comes included free with the telescope. Featuring three dimensional rendering of an encyclopedic catalogue of over 36,000 celestial objects, Starry Night allows you to not only learn about space, but to plan your telescope viewing schedule by letting you know what objects are available to you at any given point in time. The program can even set its location to your very own backyard, showing the exact same night sky that you’d see outside your door. The software works on both Mac and Windows, and also comes with a 146-page User’s Guide PDF as well as a 192-page illustrated astronomy book PDF.
The Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit sets up the beginner amateur astronomer for success by providing its user with the resources to grow in the hobby keep their interests expanding along with the universe.
Astrophotography with your smart phone
For those of us that want to break into the world of amateur terrestrial or astrophotography and to wow our friends and family with pictures of everything we’ve seen through our scope, the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit makes this a reality. It comes equipped with a smartphone adapter so that you can affix your phone’s camera to the telescope’s eyepiece and take pictures of whatever you are viewing. In order to make sure that these images come out as best as possible, Celestron also includes a shutter release remote with Bluetooth capabilities, allowing you to control your phones camera without having to touch your phone and risk ruining the sights in whatever object you are trying to photograph. The remote works on both iOS and Android devices, and the images can even be processed in traditional astrophotography software.
This makes this scope a perfect entry point for burgeoning astrophotographers who aren’t quite ready to invest in a DSLR and full astro rig quite yet, but want to learn the basics as they save up and learn the ropes. In the meantime, your social circle (and your Instagram) will certainly be impressed with the pictures of the Moon, planets, and even some bright deep sky objects that you will be able to produce.
Versatility
Astronomy and astrophotography are why most people seek to buy a telescope, but the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit isn’t limited to only these fields of interest. It also functions as a spotting telescope, which is where this scope truly excels and might find most of its use after you naturally outgrow it. It is perfect for daytime viewing of natural wonders, and because of the inclusion of the backpack, it is can easily be taken with you on trail hikes, where you can gander at distant valleys, ridges, and peaks, and other scenic wonders. Whether you live in a coastal area, where you can spot boats on the water, and dolphins and whales breaking the surface, or near the Appalachian or Rocky Mountains, or even in the Midwest, you can find use out of this scope in bringing nature incredibly close.
Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Features and specifications
- The Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit’s scope has a 70 mm aperture objective lens
- The telescope has 400 mm of Focal Length and a Focal Ratio of f/5.7, and weighs in at only 3.3 pounds
- The kit includes a smartphone adapter and a Bluetooth shutter release to get you started in the realm of astrophotography
- The telescope comes with a number of accessories as well, including a finder scope, two eyepieces—one 20 mm and one 10 mm, a Barlow lens for 2x additional magnification, and a diagonal for more comfortable viewing, as well as a collapsible tripod
- It comes with a 1.25-inch Moon Filter to emphasize the contrast and detail of the lunar surface
- The telescope is made to travel, as it and all included accessories fit in the backpack
- As an added bonus, the kit includes Celetron’s Starry Night Software Download and Robert Reeves’ Lunar Landscapes eBook, both of which contain invaluable knowledge and resources for the beginning astronomer
- The Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit comes with a two-year warranty and unlimited access to technical support from Celestron’s team of US-based experts
User impressions
The Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit is featured on a number of different retailer sites, including OPT, Best Buy, and Amazon. The telescope has earned consistently high ratings on each of these sites, with a 4/5 on OPT, a 4.2/5 on Best Buy, and a 4.3/5 on Amazon. With over eight thousand ratings between all three sites, this telescope is well spoken for.
What consumers are saying is that this is a great telescope for the beginning astronomer and for kids, and for the price it can’t be beat. “I bought this telescope for only one reason, I wanted to see Saturn’s rings with my own eyes,” one customer said. “I thought I was taking a chance because it is so compact but not only did I see the rings, they were as clear as all the photos I’ve seen of them. The view surpassed what I was expecting from such a modestly priced telescope.” Other users have reported seeing “all four Galilean moon around Jupiter, some faint banding on Jupiter itself, the redness of Mars, and crystal clear craters on the moon.” Similarly priced telescopes sold in retail stores do not compare to Celestron’s level of experience and care in manufacturing telescopes, and despite the low price, their efforts still shine through in this telescope. While you won’t be able to count the individual rings on Saturn, this telescope will give you access to very clear views of planets, but unfortunately many of the deep space objects you might want to see will have to wait for more powerful equipment.
Consumers also report that the telescope is remarkably easy to use, for adults and kids alike. One parent commented, “I bought this for my 12 year old son’s birthday… He was so excited and immediately went outside to look at the moon—he was able to use the viewfinder and had the telescope focused in less than 5 minutes.”
Regarding use of the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit for anything other than astronomy resulted in happy customers, who feel that the “lightweight and clear optics will make it ideal for camping and hiking when you don’t want to lug your bigger scope around.” Users report using the telescope to watch boats on nearby rivers, and for birdwatching in the city.
Customers are also pleased with the “nice little backpack” in which “there is even a little extra room to put other stuff in there as well,” such as the “small zipper pocket [that] allows for personal loose items such as cards and keys.” The backpack is designed not only for travel, but to keep the telescope safe “with extra padding and Velcro straps to stay secure.”
Unfortunately, one problem does keep echoing itself in the reviews, and that is the tripod. Users find it “a bit wobbly”, and that as a result the scope is “easily made jumpy especially when trying to use the higher magnifications”. Still, many agree that “the light weight is an acceptable tradeoff” especially as “it has a standard tripod mount, so any camera tripod should work fine” as a more stable upgrade. Another concern was that, depending on the size of your phone, the weight of the smartphone adaptor could tilt the telescope out of focus. Reviewers reported that this was fixed with an upgrade to the mount.
Some users were also worried about the quality and longevity of the product, as a large reason the cost is so low is that many parts of the telescope are made of plastic, although very few reported problems with the telescope actually breaking in any way that wasn’t related to shipping or third-party sellers. And, for those that did, Celestron was quick to replace the telescope.
Overall, consumers agree that this telescope “is a must for beginners and campers” alike, and that you will be pleased as long as you are aware of the limitations presented by the tripod.
In summary, the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit is an affordable and easy to transport first step into the worlds of amateur astronomy and astrophotography. This telescope is best suited for beginners unsure of a larger investment, campers on the go, and children looking to be enthralled by the mysteries of the night sky. It includes a number of accessories, presents valuable learning and growth opportunities, and has value long after you outgrow it, as either a suitable spotting telescope for terrestrial viewing, or even as a guide scope for your future telescope upgrades. Everyone agrees that this telescope is one of the best beginner telescopes on the market, and well worth the price.
Comparable telescopes
While we endorse the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit, you might also consider the following products:
- Meade Adventure Scope 80mm f/5 Refractor Telescope
Additional accessories
Here are some accessory suggestions that will improve your experience with the Celestron Travel Scope 70 DX Backpack Kit:
- Pocket Observer’s Map of the Moon
- Orion RedBeam LED Motion Sensing Headlamp
- KobraTech Apex A70 Tripod
