On yesterday's post, I looked at the optics on the Celestron C130 Mak spotting scope. For those of you just getting in on the action, we purchased a special run on this spotting scope model of the popular C130 Maksutov telescope from Celestron and are offering it either as just the C130 spotting scope or as our 4-PC Day / Nighttime Astronomical Observation Gift Kit.

Today, I would like to report on the mechanical side of the C130 spotting scope.

It was about what I expected for the price. The optical tube is aluminum in construction, with the rear cell housing and focuser knob being plastic. No surprise, there, and, to be honest, I was not expecting much from the focuser. Wrong! The knob was large and easy to grip, but most importantly, the focusing was smooth and effortless. Why should this matter?

As magnification goes up, focusing becomes more critical. Just a touch too much or too little movement on the focusing knob at high magnifications and the image goes out of focus. A rough focusing telescope is of little use and a bear to work. Celestron did a good job, here.

For those of you thinking of using the C130 as an OTA (optical tube assembly) and adding it to an existing telescope mount, the good news is that the C130 has Celestron's standard dovetail wedge. Nothing else to buy when adding the C130 to a mount, such as the Celestron CG5 mount. Just slide it into the dovetail on the telescope mount and go.

More to come. Stay tuned.