Celestron NexStar Evolution 9.25" Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope

Okay. I'ts been about three months now and I am comfortable enough to write a fair review. First, the design is gorgeous and very portable. I purchased a very large Pelican case to transport it in and I take it around often to different sites. Dis-assembly and reassembly are a breeze and I am never afraid that I'm going to snap a bolt or break a leg. You can by vibration suppression pads but I so far haven't had the reason to do so. I can observe planets and nebula without deviation, the image is not shaky. I also take images with this scope and I so far have not had any blurry images. The alignment software worked the first time and every time. I did what Celestron instructed, pick three bright objects near three different cardinal directions and that was it. The manual control from the App works great too, I can use them without looking at my tablet and get exactly where I need to go. The App is wonderful by the way, but I'll review that on another day. My telescope arrived in perfect condition, no smudges, no compromise of the seal, no scratches no missing parts. No complaints. The finderscope isn't the best but it works every time for me, just line it up right. I can place it on a star perfectly and there it is, centered in the eyepiece. The images are beautiful. Not much else to say. I've seen nebula and planets and stars in my other telescopes but this scope is something else. I haven't dealt with Celestron customer service, can't attest to that. So far no problems, so I can't talk about the warranty. Will update if anything changes. UPDATE 6 years later! Boy, this telescope has been through the wringer. I've been caught in the rain, had fierce winds, had it jumble around in the back of a jeep and truck, had it out in crazy humidity and heat as well as bitter cold. The tripod has taken a beating after being assembled and disassembled so many times. At one point, the charging port of the motor caved in on itself and disappeared somewhere into the telescope. I was able to gently take it apart, find the female end, and continue charging/using the telescope without a hitch! It still has clear, crisp, incredible images. I have never had the suspicion of a breach; there has never been any moisture inside the aperture or any other reason to believe that the vacuum seal has failed. The mirror is still in great shape and I am thrilled with this investment. It impresses night after night. Highly recommend.

I'd love to be able to write a positive review for this scope, but I haven't had the chance to use it. It arrived a little over two weeks ago and I was very excited to take it for a spin until I found out that one of the tripod screws for the mount was misaligned. Threading is perfectly fine, just doesn't line up with the holes on the mount. I contacted Celestron support and was very pleased to receive a reply email within 48hrs, but am still waiting for the RMA label to send it back for a replacement. This appears to be a good scope and the tripod and mount are quite substantial. Right now, however, it's a very large and expensive paper weight.

I am disappointment with a 9 1/4 evolution telescope. Using iPhone, Wi-Fi connectivity to this telescope at 6 feet away will connect for 15 - 30 seconds then disconnects. If you are in the middle of slewing the telescope and lose connectivity, the slewing will continue until you power off the unit. Using my iPad seems to work with no issues, so far, both the iPad and iPhone are running the same up-to-date iOS version.

If you like looking for stars, don't buy this scope. If you like looking at stars, buy this scope. Having purchased a $2k scope I went and purchased the $40 phone app (SkySafari Pro) that would let me get the most out of it. The Celestron app has a much (much) smaller database but it does include some audio content, if you are into that. Couple points. 1. If you download SkySafari make sure to delete the free Celestron app. I ran into problems with these apps conflicting. Save yourself some headache and commit to one or the other. 2. Alignment. I had trouble aligning the scope until I committed to three stars that formed a triangle and were easy to identify. I'm in the Northern hemisphere so those stars were Sirius, Regulus, and Betelgeuse. I have been using these stars and alignment works every time. 3. The red dot finder. I used the moon to align it. Loosen the clutches and manually center the scope on the Moon. Use the wheels on the RDF to align it to the Moon. Mine does not align to the center of the Moon. It's a little high and to the right. This actually works out pretty well. When I align to a star I just align the star the correct distance from the red dot. This way the star is never eclipsed by the red dot. Main thing is to be aware that your RDF may not perfectly align with the star but that will not matter. It's still usable and maybe preferable this way. 4. The light gathering ability of this scope is amazing. The Moon is blinding in the included 40mm eyepiece. It is sharp with 3d shadow detail. Jupiter is to bright for simple phone pictures through the eyepiece. 5. I purchased an 18mm Celestron X-Cel eyepiece and 2x barlow to get a sense of how I could push this scope. I put the barlow on the included 13mm eyepiece converting it to a 7.5 and the details on the moon were astonishing. I didn't think I would be able to use eyepieces in the 7mm range but for the Moon at least they put you right into the craters. 6. The tripod is solid stuff. The single arm and alt-azimuth is certainly a limitation. But the scope itself can be mounted on an equatorial mount if you ever want to do serious astro photography. Celestron really thought through what is needed for a great night of star viewing. Just fantastic. Totally satisfied.

Unit lost power three minutes after initial use. Initially charged for 8 hours, and successfully connected to SkyPortal on a new iPad. During the alignment process while paired with SkySense, the control arm went dead. I checked all connections, reset the system, and plugged back in over night. Still dead. Frustrating.

Now that I've had the scope for several months I think it is time to write a review giving the "pros" and "cons". This scope is an upgrade from my 90mm Orion table top scope...so a REALLY big upgrade. Pros For its size the scope and mount are light and portable. This is not to say it is light...just lighter than anything else for the same size. The setup is really easy. Just put the scope on the mount and you are done. No counter weights or anything fancy. The alignment process is very easy as well. However, I would read the instructions first. I didn't and made things more difficult (but like any guy...who needs instructions!!). I use this scope in my front yard and have moderate light pollution but still get great views and imaging (I use the ZWO ASI 120MC). The attached images are what I've taken. It was windy the night I took the moons images so they are a little blurry but not bad. Cons On occasion the wireless connection between the scope and my IPad just stops. I have to completely restart and go through the alignment process again. Not a deal breaker as it doesn't happen a lot but when it does I'm not very happy. About the only negative for the scope really. Other The star alignment process is great as I mentioned. However, for those that buy the scope I would recommend one change. The instructions recommend putting a star in the middle of your eyepiece for alignment for 3 different stars. I have found for better alignment use a wide lens to get the star in view than change to a higher magnitude for better alignment. This has made a huge difference when slewing to hard to see targets like galaxies and nebulae. I can't wait to take this out to the desert and really get some dark skies. Of course, we have had cloudy nights every night I can go out. Mother Nature hates me!

I bought on prime for 2 day shipping. I got the tripod and it flipped to delivered. Really disappointed because I wanted to use it tonight. Telescope showed up but not on time. The scope is 4.5 stars but the delivery was no good I paid extra buying on here to get it by the day amazon said.

I've been researching affordable telescopes for a couple of years, and finally decided on the Evolution 9.25 as a good combination of price and features. I received the telescope 5 days ago, and have been frustrated from the beginning. First, the inside of the glass at the end of the OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) is smudged. So I emailed Celestron tech support and sent them an image of the smudges (photo attached). Their answer is to pack the telescope up and ship it to their Torrance, CA facility. I'm going to be in L.A. next week, so I asked 3 days ago if I could just carry the OTA to their facility -- no response yet. The alignment is what's really been a nightmare. The reviews (including Astronomy magazine, to which I subscribe) said the alignment procedure using the built-in WiFi and the SkyPortal app was a breeze. It sounded great in theory, but I got "Alignment Failed" every time I tried -- several times over two nights with SkyPortal. And I followed the instructions very carefully, including leveling the tripod, locking the azimuth and altitude clutches, and selecting three objects that were far apart in the sky. So tonight, I tried alignment three times with the Nexstar+ Hand Controller, again carefully following the procedures -- same result: "Alignment Failed". I have degrees in electrical and optical engineering, and have been teaching astronomy and space science at the college level for years, so I'm pretty sure I'm not missing anything (except a quality telescope) $2,100 is a lot to spend for a telescope with smudges (that Celestron says they have to correct in their facility, then align the optics; hence the request for return to their facility) and that I can't align after several tries over a couple of hours. I've notified Celestron Tech Support. If I get a satisfactory resolution to these issues, I'll update the review and change the number of stars from one to something else. Update, Feb. 2, 2015: I took the telescope and motor mount into the Celestron facility in Torrance, CA this morning. The two people I dealt with -- Paris at the front desk and Daniel from repair were very friendly, courteous and helpful. Daniel promised to work on the telescope within 24 hours and will ship the repaired items to my home address. I'll provide another update after I receive the scope and attempt another alignment. Update, Feb. 7, 2015: Spoke with Celestron Tech Support by phone yesterday. They're going to replace the telescope and motor mount. They'll have it delivered to their Torrance facility, then do a QC before they ship it to me. The guy on the phone didn't know what the issue is with the original scope and/or motor mount, but I assume if they're providing a replacement, one or both were unfixable. I'll provide another update when I receive the scope and have a chance to test it out. Update, Feb 19, 2015: Celestron sent a new scope, which I received early in the week. I tried twice early in the week to align the scope using SkyPortal; both times I got the "alignment failed" message. I emailed Celestron Tech Support asking for hints; the next day they sent me an email with the following advice: "Do not use Jupiter or Venus. Select three stars only. One East, one West and a third one to make a large triangle. Stay away from stars directly overhead or stars too low in the horizon. Double check you location, time, and date. Select Standard time and the correct Time Zone." So I did that last night, and got the same result: alignment failed. So I connected the hand controller, and alignment worked. So I think it's a problem with the SkyPortal app. I carefully checked the app settings, and can't find a problem. Next time I set up the scope, I'll use SkyPortal's "big brother", SkySafari Pro, which I downloaded and installed on my iPad (it isn't cheap -- $39.99 in the app store). I'll report the results after I try alignment with SkySafari Pro. In the meantime, I'm upgrading my review from one star to three stars. Three stars because it shouldn't be this much of a hassle. Update, Feb. 28, 2015: I was finally able to get the "alignment successful" message by using SkySafari Pro rather than SkyPortal. SkyPortal has a bug where, no matter how I mess with the settings, reverts to the wrong hour. It might have something to do with the fact that I live at the very western edge of the Mountain time zone (within 20 miles). I was able to "force" SkyPortal to the correct time by manually setting the "hours from GMT" setting, but I used SkySafari Pro anyway. I was able to get about an hour of observing time before the clouds rolled in. I'm updating the review to 4 stars.

I had a few problems getting this through Amazon but some amazing customer service fixed the problems in the end. The scope OTA is fantastic and I have always wanted to upgrade (from a 127 MAK) but do not have the time or skill to set up an EQ mount. When the Evolution series came out I was very interested so i finally took the plunge. The wifi ability to run the scope through a tablet is a big draw. But you can also use the handset which comes with it and this is a great back up (make sure you disconnect the handset when using wifi. I had read a bit online so I was aware of a few quirks. Out of the box if you set the scope up as per the instructions.. align the finder etc charge up the battery then you are ready to go. In its two parts it is not too heavy but it is solid as a rock when put together. Useful bumps and notches help you do it easily in the dark (snigger). I was set up in less than 5 minutes on the first clear night. I was a bit dubious of the tablet alignment.. but sure enough.. line up 3 bright stars and the scope knows exactly what you are doing.. all GPS data and time information comes from the tablet... IT IS SO EASY and it works.... the Skyportal software is easy to use but I advise playing with it inside first as it is a bit quirky. The tracking works great as well. The heavy tripod and mount hold the 9.25 very steady even with a DSLR mounted to it. I have been using a nexus 7 to control it. I found it best to disconnect my local wifi.. run a GPS test app and check location before starting the skyportal program. The eyepieces that come with the scope are ok but it is better to upgrade them. Having a visual planetarium in front of you means you see a lot more in one session that you might not have known was even there before... Even as a relative novice it has opened my eyes to what is in the sky. Just have to wait for some clear nights.

Amazon have not learned and are still trying to sell the OTA only via Warehouse. DO NOT BUY!!! It looks like they've done that 3 times at least now in the past 9 months or so... ridiculous... now have to return a rather large box. I'm pretty sure the product is fantastic and i still want it but without the mount its not particularly useful, so please only take this as a comment on Amazon.

Would give this a six if i could. Setup takes less than half a hour (from box to seeing stars). Item comes in two large boxes that contain OTA, mount and a tripod that looks like it could hold a Volvo estate off the ground.

Beware amazon warehouse !! just received the tripod ( not OTa ) , really difficult to see anything with just a tripod . Returned for a refund

Just got the tripod only. Very very upset as this was supposed to be a Christmas present.