iOptron SmartStar-A-R80 8602G GPS Computerized Telescope with Dual AltAz/EQ Mount (Terra Green)

I'm not a novice when it comes to GoTo scopes. I've had two before this one. Maybe my hopes were too high for this GPS telescope. Its just that I've always wanted a GPS scope and at this price point it was too good to be true. But when I got the scope, I was very saddened by how cheap looking everything was out of the box. Everything seemed small and plastic like it was going to fall apart if I wasn't careful. One of the bolts was also missing that had somehow made it into a deep corner of the box during shipping. Needless to say that took me forever to find. It seemed difficult to mount the scope to the dual AltAz/EQ mount due to the way it was designed to be opened 1/2 way first. I also could never could get the computer to align correctly so that it would help me find stars. I had to just use it like a manual 80mm telescope. So I ended up returning this scope. I'm never going to buy a telescope again without reading the reviews. For that kind of money you can get a better 102 refractor.

I bought this telescope to replace a Meade that I could never get to reliably work. First, I knew this was a small telescope, but I was surprised it was so small that I cannot image much more that Venus, Mars, Moon and Sol. Other than viewing the sun, I am limited to using about 24-32mm focal length eyepieces which don't give much magnification. I've tried a dozen or so eyepieces and specialized filters, but I just don't get good images. I love the mount and go-to computer. The interface is simple to use and the alignment is easy. I'm amazed iOptron put such a crapy optical tube on such a great mount. My only complaint with the mount is the OTA slips even when I really tighten the knob. The telescope does not come with a finder scope and you will have to purchase one separately. It does comes with a built-in dove tail platform for the finder. The scope also doesn't come with counter weights if you are going to us it in Equatorial mode. To set up the scope you have to level the tripod legs, point it to south and level the optical tube to point north. Leveling and getting the mount pointed south (for altazmuth operation) is very important if you want the go-to to work correctly. The mount has a built-in bubble level, but you need an additional one to ensure the OTA is level. You also need a compass to ensure the mount is pointing south. The tripod is amazingly stable, but you have to fully retract the legs or it will not fit through a door; and the legs do not collapse like I am used to and I dislike having to disassemble the scope each time I want to move it outdoors. My last major complaint is the German Equatorial Mount gear screw is very long and to retract the mount box fully to use in altazmuth mode the screw presses the tripod's eyepiece tray out of plumb and prevents the tray from fully stabilizing the tripod legs. I liked the idea of controlling the scope from astronomical software using my notebook or iPad, but I found out the hard way no one makes a USB-Serial controller driver that works on a Macintosh. This isn't a problem for a PC. Also if you have to update the handbox's firmware and you have a Mac forget it--it only works on a PC. Southern Star makes a USB-WiFi controller that is iOS and Mac OS X-compliant, but I have not tried it. I was going to replace the OTA with one with better optics, but the replacement OTA cannot weigh more than 11 pounds (and the original OTA slips at 2.2 pounds). Would I buy this if I had known its limitations? No. If I could find a good LIGHTWEIGHT OTA, I'd say this is well worth the cost just for the mount.