Carson Red Planet 50-100x90mm Refractor Telescope For Astronomy (RP-400)

5 reviews for Carson Red Planet 50-100x90mm Refractor Telescope For Astronomy (RP-400)

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   – January 21, 2024 Pierce Dicki Sr.

   Due to the weather there have been few days to try the Carson RP-200 telescope on the night sky. Unfortunately, there was a minor problem that Carson’s support quickly addressed with a minimum of fuss.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   – February 21, 2024 Ruthe Huel

   Very nice a good quality for a beginner astrometer.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   – May 15, 2024 Beulah Trantow

   My wife wanted this for camping. It sets up easy and gives you a decent view of the sky. There is no case with it, but for the price it is a good buy. We will get a larger telescope later once our son gets older. We don’t have to worry too much about him using this one. It is pretty sturdy, and not too expensive so the risk are reasonable.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   – May 27, 2024 Prof. Jaeden Denesik V

   I’m close to 30 years as an amateur astronomer, and 40 as a tinkerer.First off, the boxes were all falling apart when this was delivered. Everything seemed to be intact, but the COUNTERWEIGHT was completely missing. I cobbled a weight up out of stuff most people wouldn’t have lying around. Have emailed Carson to get a weight. Might have to update about customer service.As for the scope itself, the optics aren’t bad at all – much better than I expected. At less than 100x, I was able to make out the two equatorial bands and a hint of other bands on Jupiter, and the seeing wasn’t all that great at the time. I pushed the scope to 200x (the theoretical limit, and then some) on Saturn, and it held the detail quite well! Keep in mind, I was not using the supplied eyepieces, but some decent grade Plossls from Meade and and others – and a Meade shorty 2x barlow.The finderscope is junk, really. Get a right angle correct image one, 6×30 or larger. A standard finder base (orion, and universal) will fit the holes that take the supplied finder, but you’ll have to take out the three screws that hold the focuser assembly in place and remove it to get at the screw assembly thing.Didn’t even try the eyepieces because I have a good collection of far better ones. I also ordered a better diagonal (the instructions call it a “corner” lens) because these cheap ones are not very good.The tripod is very stable – just needs a flat spot for a bubble level.The biggest issue, for me, was that the Declination lock bolt wouldn’t actually lock the shaft, making for a tough time finding and staying on target. The end of the bolt wasn’t flat, so I switched it with the too-short latitude lock bolt, and that fixed it. I suppose you could file it.Would I recommend this scope? Yes, if you’re good at noodling out minor mechanical problems. In this hobby, one kinda has to. The scope I’d give a 4.5, but the mount gets a 3.5 (for poor hardware choices), hence the 4 stars. The packaging, however, was ridiculously bad.UPDATE: Customer service was on point – emailed Carson a bout the weight and they got it right out to me. Also…If you want to add a clock drive, it can indeed be done! Celestron Logic drive has the right gearing, but the mounting of it takes some modification that many people may not want to undertake. It’s fairly easy to do though, and interested parties may contact me for details at [email protected]

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   – October 5, 2024 Breana Boyle

   i do not know who gave it a one star rating but they did not have the courtesy to write a review. And that says alotFew scopes at this price have slow motion controls and a finder scope.It is not a bad unit for wide field viewing and it is very light weight.Suggest better eyepieces and tripod/mount for those getting further interested in viewing the skies