Celestron Zhumell ZHUS001-1 Z100 Portable Altazimuth Reflector Telescope, Black

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Don’t waste your money on a 100 mm scope that cannot be collimated. Your 70 mm refractor will provide better views. You didn’t tell me what eyepiece you were trying to use or what magnification you are trying to achieve. If you are trying to get over 100X the atmospheric conditions may not be good enough to support that level of magnification with this scope. I have also tested the SkyScanner 100 with other eyepieces, including my Explore Scientific 14, 8.8, and 6.7 mm 82-degree eyepieces. All worked well in the little scope. Zhumell 2x Barlow Lens – a 2x Barlow will double the magnification of any eyepiece you attach to it. It’ll provide magnifications of 47x and 80x if used with the Zhumell Z100 and the eyepieces supplied with it.

The scope could theoretically take up to 150-200x, but the mount is a little annoying to use above 100x or so, and the optics max out at around 150x from my experience.Lots of double stars can be found and split, and the optics are good enough that even pretty close doubles can be resolved—there’s not much bleeding of light from one to the other unless the air is turbulent.

One of the biggest problems with these tabledob mounts is the question of what to put them on. The cardboard box it came in could work in a pinch, but I find it’s just too wobbly and only suitable for low power.

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If you’ve had some previous experience with reflector telescopes, you’re probably aware that the primary and secondary mirrors may need some re-alignment over time. Re-aligning the mirrors is called collimation, and it can be done relatively easily by adjusting the thumbscrews at the bottom of the optical tube. The great thing about a Dobsonian mount is that it’s one of the easiest to use, which makes it ideal for beginners. The base rotates horizontally while the scope itself swivels vertically, making it possible to turn the scope in any direction toward your target.

Celestron Lens Cleaning Kit – dust can get everywhere, and it’s important to keep the optics of your telescope and eyepieces clean. This kit has everything you need to ensure you get the best views possible. Any short-tube 4.5” or 5” Newtonian reflector with a focal length of around 1000mm (these are horrible-quality Bird-Jones which are even worse than these spherical mirror newts.) Only down side to these smaller table tops from Zhumell (Orion) is the plastic focuser, it's sloppy but can be DIY'd to remove most of the slop with simple UHMW/ tape (even scotch tape if funds are low). The heritage / AWB have a helical focuser, something different but usable and can also improve the slop with some cheap teflon tape. But these fold down for easier transport, but will need a shroud (from cheap crafting foam) Compared to the lower-priced telescopes, the Orion SkyScanner 100mm blows it out of the water optically. In the same price range, only Zhumell Z100 is a better choice.The Kellner eyepieces are much better than the trash supplied with most cheap beginner telescopes. They generally show very clear, sharp views, and have acceptable eye relief and field of view. They’re not spectacular, but they’re all you need to get started. That being the case, while these are not the highest quality, they do have a wider field of view than most of the standard eyepieces provided by other manufacturers. They also have aluminum housings, unlike some other manufacturers whose eyepieces have plastic housings. When sitting down, the correct height for the surface you place the Z130 on is almost exactly the same height as your seat, or maybe a little higher. In a pinch, I was able to (just barely) get it stable on a metal folding chair. But then you’re limited to half the sky. A flat, three-legged stool would work well. I have a short table that is the correct height, but it’s a nice piece of furniture that can’t be kept outside. So, unfortunately, that brings us to a problem with these scopes. The question of where you put the telescope is absolutely solvable, but it is one that should not be glossed over when considering one of these scopes. The stool- or tub-based solutions are probably best. Z130 Accessories

The mount is 11 inches high and when the optical tube is pointed directly up at the sky, the total height is a little under 18 inches. This makes it a great option for smaller children, but adults might find it uncomfortable unless they have an adjustable chair or can put it on a higher surface. Every Messier object is within reach, even from the light-polluted suburbs. You will have to use the scope for a while and train your eye and your brain to observe faint objects–observing experience is worth magnitudes. Keeping a sketchbook or log of the objects you see at the eyepiece will train your brain to see finer details. The book “ Turn Left At Orion” is a must-have accessory for any beginner astronomer, as it shows how to find and observe the Moon and Planets as well as hundreds of Deep-Sky-Objects. The view simulations in the book represent a small refractor and a large Dobsonian. This scope is somewhere in between. What can you see with the Zhumell Z130? The SkyWatcher Classic 150P (the P is for “parabolic,” as all of these mirrors are) does almost all of what the DT6 does, but you get two eyepieces (some moderately good 25mm and 10mm modified achromats, which aren’t quite as good as the single 25mm Plossl, but provide a wider range of magnifications–48x and 120x). Most Deep-Sky-Objects look like faint smudges, but it’s remarkable how much detail even a little scope like this can pull out of them.Overall, both the eyepieces and the telescope itself performed very well. There was either very little or no chromatic aberration seen on any of the targets and the eyepieces provided a nice, decently wide field of view for a more comfortable observing experience. The Z100 comes on a fairly utilitarian tabletop Dobsonian mount, which it attaches to via a plastic Vixen dovetail saddle. The mount is made mostly of particle board with some sort of laminate glued on, but the azimuth bearings are in fact real Teflon pads. The altitude bearing is not of the conventional Dobsonian design but works nonetheless. Additionally, the mount has a small cutout for use as a handle. The base rotates left and right so it is classified as an altitude/azimuth or AltAz mount. Since the motion is smooth, following targets should be no problem. The Z100 has a parabolic mirror, which is better for astronomy than the spherical mirrors typically found in the smaller, inexpensive reflector telescopes. Parabolic mirrors have a single point of focus, so stars should appear as sharp points of light rather than appearing slightly distorted as you’d get with a spherical mirror. The telescope is also perfectly capable of viewing the Moon and planets, although its short focal length limits the magnification. You’ll see the rings of Saturn, the moons and bands of Jupiter (and the Great Red Spot when it’s up), the phases of Venus, and possibly even faint dark details on the surface of Mars. Uranus, Neptune, Mercury, and the bright asteroids will be featureless dots. Planetary details will be much easier to spot with a barlow to magnify the image.