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About Us
Based out of Springdale, Arkansas, Explore Scientific is an optics company committed to designing, building and selling high-quality observation instruments and accessories for all skill levels. Since 2008!
Tony Long
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2024
I've owned this telescope for a couple years now and really enjoy using it. I have added an electronic auto focuser (EAF), a larger dovetail, and a dew heater. I bought this scope to complement my wide field refractor so that I can image galaxies better, but I also take it out to star parties for public viewing as well, usually viewing Saturn, Jupiter, or the Moon. The build quality is fine, but not top of the line. I've had no issues with the build quality or construction and would not want to pay extra for top-of-the-line appearance, so this works very well for me.
Bradley L.
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024
I have been struggling to get this telescope working since day one. I needed a longer focal length in my astrophotography collection, but every imaging session, 1, 2, 5, 10 minute guiding, I only get oval stars. I have mentioned this to customer support and they don’t seem to help other than having me spend more money to send the scope back for servicing.I also read online there is a defect in the scope afterwards but they wouldn’t admit it nor help me fix the solution.I wouldn’t recommend this scope, get a spend extra money for a quality one.
Dr Mike
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2022
I couldn't ask for better optical quality in a small telescope (5-inch). First night out I was capturing fantastic Narrow band images of the Crab Nebula despite an 80% Moon. I was able to see the central star of the nearby Gemini nebula. Bode's Galaxy was amazingly bright and sharp. Everything is exceptionally good with this telescope, so far. I have not added a reducer or found the need for a field flattener. You will need to clean your camera and filters, because dust will stand out with such a well-corrected objective.This heavy telescope needs a large mount for best results. It is not exceptionally fast at F/7.5, so you need a well-aligned mount. The objective triplet lens of the telescope is heavy, and with the long focal length it took me a day to get everything balanced to where I wasn't running my camera into a tripod leg. I actually attached the telescope length-wise to a 2-foot long, heavy Losmandy plate so I could place more weight near the focuser and raise the objective higher in the mount cradle. I mounted this on a Skywatcher EQ6R-Pro and set it slightly off-balanced to the east, since most of my imaging is done in the western skies. It really improves the tracking being slightly unbalanced. Focusing is rock solid steady. None of my other telescopes are this steady for the focus through the night. It is so steady that I am having second thoughts about adding an autofocuser. After several weeks of use, I have yet to tweak the focus. The image can be manually rotated at the focuser end of the telescope, but I have been avoiding doing that since the optical performance is ideal. I am extremely happy with the telescope and glad that I decided to spend more money for the FCD-100 glass model. Attached are my first imaging session result of the Crab Nebula and a red filtered image of Bode's Galaxy taken a couple weeks later.
Repair Man
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2022
I did a lot of research looking at the full range of telescopes out there and I have no regrets whatsoever. Contrast is amazing, stars are perfectly round and to quote Ed Ting from YouTube, the stars look like diamonds on black velvet. Pictures attached were taken from my back yard which is in a fairly heavily light polluted area. Can't wait to take this out where there are darker skies. Update 12/21/2022. I purchased an L-Enhance nebula filter and took the 3rd picture above of the Orion Nebula. Single 30 second exposure with my Nikon Z-50 camera from my back yard with Bortle 7 light pollution. Compare to the 1st picture. Absolutely amazing! Fourth picture is Jupiter with Explore Scientific 3X extender.
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