Coulter 90mm

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The Review

Hello everyone!  This will be a review of the 90mm Coulter Optical refracting telescope on an alt. az. mount available from the E-Scopes Web Store.  This telescope tube assembly is your normal achromatic, F/11.1, 3.5 inch.  There are no surprises here except a couple of nice ones. According to the owner of the store, these are not your same as "all the others" made in China 'scopes.  These are actually made in Taiwan, and seem to have better Q.C. then the "blue ones".

The 'scope ships with a very heavy duty aluminum tripod, and a heavy duty (very stable) alt. az. head with fairly decent slo-mo controls. There are also included two mediocre Plossl style eyepieces, of 25mm and 9mm focal ratios.  These eyepieces are not junk, but they only have 43 degree and 40 degree fields of view.  A little narrow for a true Plossl design, but checking the number and spacing of elements with a laser, I found that they are.  They do give sharp images though, and I don't believe any beginners buying this 'scope should rush right out to buy replacements.

Using this telescope is fun, and easy.  The alt. az. mount works smoothly, and beginners will not have to worry about learning to polar align, use setting circles, or any of that eq. mount stuff that can put someone just learning the sky off.  Just get your star charts, find out where to find whatever planets are up, and enjoy yourself!

The optics of this 'scope seem to be first rate.  Using eyepieces from my own collection and a good Barlow reveal that this tube assembly is probably better than it has to be.  Great detail on Jupiter and Saturn.  I have not looked at Mars with it, but I have every reason to think that it will do as fine a job on that planet as all the others.  It star tested quite well, with the same concentric circles on either side of focus.  I'm almost leery of how good this 'scope is.  Could all of these be this good?  I sure hope so, because, I would hate to steer anybody wrong here.  All I can do is rate this example, and I must say, the lack of false color is truly amazing! That would be the first nice surprise I alluded to in the beginning of this report.

Now here is the second one.  This telescope costs all of.... are you ready for this?  $249.00.  With a shipping cost of $14.00 to my door in North Branch, Mi.  I have to give this 'scope a superaltive rating on cost to value ratio.  I highly recommend this to someone looking for a nice 'scope to get started with.  I bought it for myself just so I could have a "real" refractor to use when I felt like it.  I have plenty of scopes to look through, but when I don't feel like wrestling something big, or just want a quick look, I'm starting to reach for this one more and more.

Submitted by Ed Conley - edwardrconley@excite.com - North Branch, MI