Celestron CPC 9.25" Schmidt Dual Fork Arm GoTo Telescope

This is by far the most expensive telescope I've bought so far, and replaces a 5" Newtonian that cost about $300 a few years back. I've taken it out for a small number of long observing sessions, all in the summer of 2013, with the last one in the clear skies of Yosemite state park. I've been using telescopes for about 15 years on and off and would rate my familiarity with the subject as intermediate - definitely not an expert!First up, the mount is sturdy, easy to use and gives great vibration suppression performance. It easily handles the weight of the 9.25" OTA, and has a handy spirit level built in to make it easy to level the scope. Once the scope is set up, vibrations are quickly suppressed, with the image always returning to visual stillness within a couple of seconds even for harder knocks.The OTA itself is aesthetically well designed, and the carrying handle on the side is extremely welcome. It's not light, but I'm able to set everything up unassisted without too much difficulty (I'm in my late 20's and of very average fitness!). I was a little freaked out at the prospect of having to remove a couple of screws from the OTA to attach the finder scope, but once I confirmed that was indeed what you're supposed to do it went on just fine.So far I've aligned the scope with the 3 star method each time. This allows you to point the scope at any 3 of the 80 brightest objects in the sky and have it automatically figure out what it's pointing at. You have to be fairly precise when you aim the scope at those 3 stars - I've had the alignment process fail a number of times when I've not lined things up precisely enough.Along with the scope itself I ordered the following accessories:* Celestron 2" eyepiece and filter set - $220, mandatory. This kit is an absolute no-brainer. While 2" eyepieces are more expensive that 1.25", the visual experience is much better, and they're just much more satisfying to hold. This kit gives you 3 great 2" eyepieces, a 2" diagonal and a 2x Barlow lens. I have some higher power eyepieces but honestly I rarely use anything but the contents of this kit* Celestron battery pack - the scope requires power if you want to use the GOTO features. I ran it from my car the first time but the dashboard lights attracted every moth and mosquito ever born. And I was perpetually paranoid of killing my car battery in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. This pack solves all that, and was easily able to cope with a 5 hour observing session last weekNow onto the scope's performance. At 9.25" there' plenty of collecting and resolving power at your disposal. Uranus was clearly resolved into a disc, and Neptune was just within reach too, though I had to gaze at it for a long time to convince myself I was seeing it. Binaries down to 1 arc second are clearly split, and focus across the field is good.Nebulosity is apparent in several structures - the dumbbell nebulae look great, and the pinwheel galaxy demonstrates significant structure in its arms. The ring nebula in particular looks stunning.I've not had a chance to look at Jupiter, Saturn or any of the winter constellations yet but based on what I've seen so far I'm extremely happy with the purchase and can't wait to see what else it has in store for me.

My telescope arrived damaged. Not shipping damaged, but defective.I contacted Celestron and they instructed me to take the telescope apart, remove a part, and reassemble it for shipping. I had to repackage it and send it to their repair department.Their department received it on the 23rd of January and they STILL have it. It's now Feb 25th.I bought a BRAND NEW telescope and I have yet to use it. They told me that their repair department has up to 30 days to process a repair. Or what? Nothing. I call and they simply tell me that I have to keep waiting. There is a line. Wait for an email with your shipping information. No consolation prize, no rush on the repair, NOTHING. Simply, too bad, you have to wait longer.Not only that, but their customer support line services the entire world. They even tell you that when you call. So the wait time can be extremely long.If I knew this is the customer service process, I would not have bought this product. The telescope is no doubt a great one. I just wish I could have found out by now. Unacceptable customer service that I have no choice but to accept.If customer service is anywhere near the top of your list, do not buy from Celestron.

Yes it's heavy but that's a good thing it makes it stable, I'm new to it so still have a lot to learn. So far the moon is great to look at. I love this telescope. Worth every penny

One item worth reengineering. It is difficult to tell how close you are to allow the pin on top of the tripod to connect with the hole in the bottom of the telescope. Remember, this scope weighs 58 pounds while you are trying to hit the pin you cannot see. Telescope by default should have it's GPS turned on; and Cord Wrap should be on. There is no sense having put a GPS in your 9.25 and then by default not use it. Same with Cord wrap. There isn't a reason I can think of to have it turned off by default.

I have had the CPC 925 XLT GPS for about a year. My original telescope was a Celestron refractor, the Nexstar 102 SLT, both share the same type of hand controller and are very easy to set up. I quickly outgrew the Nexstar and wanted a telescope that would take me from a relative novice, through to a more advanced astronomer and allow me to move in to astro photography at some point. Having decided I was going to stick with astronomy I did not want to be upgrading again in a year or so. I read all the reviews and spoke to a few people and the CPC 925 seemed to fit the bill. I have had very few problems with the telescope other than operator error!As with most new to astronomy it took me a while to work out the best filter and eyepieces to get started with. Again after reading many reviews and talking to a few people I decided on a Revelation eyepiece set for just over £100 and an S W A 38 mm 2" wide view eyepiece. So far I have really enjoyed using this telescope and have been able to see a number of deep sky objects from my back garden in Sussex. I don't live in the country so some light pollution is a problem but even so I have had some good nights with this telescope. Dew was a problem until I started using a dew shield which has improved matters considerably, especially when I figured out how to fit it correctly.The only down side to this telescope is the weight, I have found that on less than perfect evenings I have been reluctant to get the telescope out. The Nexstar 102 SLT was much easier to get out and set up or take out in the car to a dark sky site. The results from the CPC 925 however are worth the effort. I should also add there was nothing wrong with the 102 SLT, it was also a great telescope especially as a my first telescope. As with most things if you buy cheap equipment you may lose interest if you don't get good results so I would recommend the 102 as a good starting point and have no hesitation in recommending the CPC 925 as a good upgrade if your budget will stretch to it. I was very lucky and got a very good deal on mine.I have limited experience but the CPC 925 XLT GPS is a great telescope in my opinion. Also a great hobby which started with a pair of Visionary 10 x 50 binoculars and a keen interest in all things space and aviation.I can appreciate the first two reviewers had bad experiences but I can only speak as I have found and this has proven to be a really good buy. All the advice and positive reviews have proved correct in my experience.

Note: My original review was for a CPC925. It has the same mount but is a few pounds lighter. Later I purchased a used CPC1100 and there are sufficient differences to warrant separate remarks.CPC925 vs. CPC1100The 1100 is 5lbs heavier, but almost as easy to manage. I decided to put the CPC1100 on a pier and later on the current Celestron HD wedge. In the EP, the views are very similar, the 925 does not give up much to the 1100, but the 1100 goes a bit deeper, with a bit more resolution. The same is true with a video camera. My CPC1100 is I think run of the line, not the best and not the worst, but carefully collimated it does a fine job. My example has more image shift than my final 925. The amount of shift is not so much that that a star leaves the FOV at high magnification. At base image shift is entirely a function of the clearance between the mirror sled and the baffle tube. In my opinion Celestron- Synta permits too great a tolerance, something that they should have addressed long ago. My advice is that if image shift during focus at high magnification approaches half the FoV you should discuss an exchange with the seller. On very good nights I image Jupiter with a 2x Barlow and @ f/10 with a video cam ~= 8mm EP. It is challenge to get a target centered in that small FoV and it would be unacceptable if focus shift moved it out of view.General Tip--One thing that you might do is to buy from a dealer who would be willing to open and test the scope. That means a specialist seller with an actual store, whether or not they also sell on line. There are reputable dealers who will take an extra step if asked. Some of the big online sellers, who are otherwise excellent when it comes to price and returns and may even have a retail store in NY, are just generalist retailers. Celestron enforces its pricing with dealers, so it can be difficult or impossible to find a truly low price. When Celestron has a sale almost everyone has the same sale. However, some online retailers do charge more, so comparison-shopping can pay. An in person or telephone order can sometimes get you lower price. Some sellers have discount programs. E.G., if you join a particular web forum such as Cloudynights.com you may find a 5% discount is yours for the asking.Older versions of the CPC use 124 plastic bearing balls in a simple lazy Susan type bearing near the perimeter of the base. The center bearing is standard bearing/race. The plastic balls can develop flats that sometimes make rotation is azimuth less smooth. If you are up for it these are relatively simple to replace with a few $ worth of stainless steel balls. I recently did mine. Newer CPCs have a mix of Nylon and steel. The co-discoverer of the steel for nylon upgrade advised against the mix because nylon aftermarket balls were undersized. I ordered some and by gosh they were, so there was no point in using them.So now, we have a CPC1100 on a Celestron HD wedge and steel pier. Expect more shake during focusing; short of motorized focuser, there is no way to avoid it. Other than that a Polar aligned 1100 on a pier is a great setup, until you start adding things. In my case rails and rings for an 85mm refractor and heated dew shield. Now balance is important, so another 8lbs on the ventral side, then oddly, some on the left fork. Then anti-backlash settings need changing and it still drifts a little. You redo the physical alignment of the wedge for a better polar alignment, but it still drifts, so you start reading about drift alignment. In short, if you load this puppy up with 20lbs of additional gear, balance becomes critical. Then you discover the smaller sources of flex and start to think about auto guiding. Then you go mad.I still think the CPC is a good scope, excellent for visual use just as it comes from the factory. However, it is going to be frustrating mount if you put it on wedge and load it up for imaging hoping for longer exposures than possible in alt-az mode. The newer HD version is a substantial upgrade, but at a significant cost increase.--------------------This is an excellent SCT. Before I get to pros and cons, let me take a moment to address the other two reviews. Amazon and most major on-line retailers will accept the return of a defective or damaged item and pay the return shipping and that is true for both manufacturing defects and shipping damage. Celestron does have a two-year warranty on these scopes and my experience with two nearly back-to-back failures of my Nexstar 8SE, is that Celestron does try to meet and in my case exceeded their stated 30 day turnaround time. The 30 days is clearly written on their site so it should not come as a surprise.After owning a Nexstar 8 for a year, I decided to upgrade. I selected the CPC 925 because I thought the CPC 1100 was too heavy. The CPC series has several advantages over the Nexstar. The twin fork mount and heavy-duty tripod are much steadier than on the Nexstar SE series. This greatly reduces focus shake and improves go-to accuracy. The 8SE go-to is quite good, once you balance the tube and learn to work with it. The CPC 925 is better by half, right out of the box. They share the same hand controller so the internal catalogues are identical and they use the same alignment procedure. The CPC has built in GPS, so unlike the SE series, time/date/location entry is not needed. But don't get the CPC for the GPS, it really only saves a few seconds when aligning the scope to observe. Buy if for the rock steady mount/tripod and the very accurate go-to and buy it for the excellent optics.I set up my 8SE, mounted on an older heavy-duty tripod, and the CPC to compare them on the same targets. I carefully aligned both using the simple Auto Two Star (I select Polaris and center it. The scope selects Castor and slews to it. I center Castor and push the enter button. That is all). Some faint galaxies not seen in the 8SE were barely seen in the CPC 925, but galaxies clearly seen in the 8SE had much better definition in the 925. Doubles were more nearly pinpoints with the 925. Just for fun I spent a few minutes along the terminator of the first quarter moon. The seeing was only fair, but was able to use a 4mm EP (530x). With an 8mm EP, the views were very good with both scopes, but again, slightly larger and more detailed with the 925.The 925 comes with a straight through 50mm finder that might not be in focus. It is focused by rotating the objective housing, something not covered in the manual. A reflex, red dot, or right angle correct image finder is a worthwhile upgrade. I have a SV F50 and a red dot.The included 40mm EP is fine, but you will want to get one or two others. I recommend something about 20mm to start. Owl Astronomy and others sell very good so-called super wide angle (around 65 degree FOV) EPs for >$50. A zoom in another option until you discover what works well for your eyes, in your night sky. Less expensive EPs often work very well in long focal length scopes like the CPC 925.You will need an AC adapter rated at 12v/2.5A, or a 12V power pack (sealed lead acid battery) or you can run them off the car battery. At least some CPCs shipped with bad DC power cables (too thin) and the scope works erratically when these are used. Celestron will replace it for you.Is the CPC 925 worth the price, especially when optically it is not twice as good as the 8SE? I think so as long as you can manage the weight. If not the 8SE is less than half the weight, has an adequate go-to and tracking, and is darn good optically.

I have many telescopes in the past, even one of the 1st Nexstar 8 whose's computer never worked very good. but this one has work perfectly. I have a 12mm eyepiece with double crosshairs which form a little square in the center, and if I do a really good 2 star alignment this telescope tracks perfectly all night. After 6 hours it still found everything I asked it to find.Optic's seem very good though I have not had a perfect night of clear sky's to view from since I've had this telescope. which I've had for a year or so now. All in all I've loved this scope and would recomend it to any one looking for a excellent computerized SCT. Also this scope is super stable. most of my other ones are wobbly and hard to focus because as you touch the focuser they wobble and you have to wait till its stops and try to focus again, but not with this telescope as its fork mount and legs are super sturdy and well built.But its only con so far is that it is very heavy , takes a big person to handle it or 2 people, I picked up a case with big 10" wheels for it and I could not put it into the back of my truck by myself when in this case.

Le seul défaut que je lui trouve : son encombrement.Novice, il s agit de mon premier télescope. Le rendu me paraît très net et très lumineux.J apprécie la localisation automatique et le suivi automatique des astres.Je reste surpris de l ergonomie des logiciels tout comme de l utilisation de port série rs232.C est une recette réchauffée de plus de dix ans.

this is an awesome piece of kit,solid tripod,nil vibration for pics etc,if you're looking for a new scope this one i would recommend although it's not for the fainthearted as it weighs a lot.!!!!!!