PolarLink 102 Refractor Telescope

4 reviews for PolarLink 102 Refractor Telescope

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   (4)

   Customer – February 25, 2023

   My first telescope.
   Did quite a bit of reading about scopes before purchase. Decided this was the best value on Amazon (in my price range & i was willing to spend a chunk more) because of the type of mount & aperture size. Mount is probably more advanced than i can use, but not so simplistic that I’m not interested in learning it’s full potential. Prime delivery is a bad joke now, but it arrived nonetheless. Everything was there, packed for severe shipping abuse, fit together perfectly, & all looks to be of suitable craftsmanship. Had it out of the box, assembled, & figured out the functions in 15 minutes or so. Our moon was very clear & checked out Jupiter with a few of its moons. Only negatives (i knew before purchase) are the phone shutter remote isn’t compatible with my phone & looking at anything
   too directly overhead is back breaking (I’m 5’11”, tripods are only made to be just so tall i guess, easily remedied by sitting in a chair or setting it up on a raised platform). It’s made in China like everything else but in researching the company i found the instruction video in Chinese; so by my logic they’re less likely to make junk product if they’re also making it for their own countrymen. I like it & am pleased with the buy.

2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   (4)

   Customer – February 25, 2023

   A surprisingly adequate beginner telescope – just watch the wobbliness
   This telescope surprised me – in a good way. I have owned upwards of 60 telescopes, many of them small, beginner ones like this so I can know what to recommend (or not recommend). This one is a useful first step – just know that if the “bug” of astronomy bites you and you want to see more and have a better observing experience – you can with this one! You’ll just need to upgrade a few things along the way – all longtime amateur astronomers do.

   First, let me explain a few of the things I think are important for a beginner telescope:

   – Sufficient size aperture for lens or mirror
   – Stable mount / tripods
   – Useful finderscope
   – Adequate eyepieces
   – Decent focuser

   The thing that many companies do to hit a price point is cut corners on many of these items. In the case of this telescope, some corners were cut – but, I would argue, all of them are ones that will help a beginner know what they want to upgrade in the future while still being able to USE the telescope to actually SEE things in the night sky. Some companies cut corners that make the telescope useless. Not so in this case.

   That’s the kind of thing that matters.

   This telescope has enough aperture, a usable finderscope and focuser, and the eyepieces are adequate (not two but THREE of them!). The mount and tripod are unfortunately wobbly, but, with a half gallon milk jug filled with sand strapped under the tripod stabilizer / accessory tray, that can be minimized somewhat to make this usable. And, this telescope has a dovetail mount so it can be put on a different, strong mount in the future. And eyepieces can be upgraded too.

   While the lens on this achromat does exhibit some chromatic aberration (color from not all wavelengths focusing at the same point) this is a known issue for less expensive refractors, and is really only an issue on brighter objects like the Moon, Jupiter and Venus.

   The cell phone adapter that locks onto the 20mm and 10mm eyepieces is a nice touch, and I did not have much trouble adjusting it to take a photo of a light on a neighbor’s garage 200 yards away (it was cloudy when I got the telescope and did the review). And keep in mind, I took that photo not only through a window, but one with a screen, so there’s lots of bad things happening in my photo that will not be an issue in an open sky!

   The barlow seems decent – most in this class of telescope are cheap, plastic ones that are stopped down. This one is metal and does not have a field stop, so all the light coming through the telescope gets to the eyepiece through the barlow.

   That said, you probably will not NEED to use the barlow, as there are three lenses that will already provide 33x, 66x and 1165x magnification. Honestly, three options is plenty in most cases, and the barlow is not necessary with the 20mm + barlow as it produces the same magnification as the 10mm eyepiece withOUT the barlow. You could maybe use it for the 10mm to get 132x, but using it on the 4mm eyepiece will produce a mushy image as that’s trying to squeeze too much light through the eyepiece from this aperture telescope.

   Overall, and helpfully, you can upgrade almost everything on this telescope over time: Add more eyepieces, swap out the finderscope, even put the telescope on a whole new mount if you want.

   Truly, for this price, I wish I’d had such an option when I was starting out in astronomy. I’d have probably gotten something like this. It’s minimally adequate to get started, and the right price for most people too.

   Definitely worth considering – just know what the drawbacks are and how to overcome them. Four stars simply because the wobbly/vibrations are a real issue that will not make observing fun at high magnifications if it is windy. But everything else is surprisingly adequate at this price point.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   (4)

   Customer – February 25, 2023

   Nice telescope
   Not a big star gazer but this brings them in close. If the smart phone adapter would fit on the lens i would have included pictures. The red dot sight helps line up what you are looking for. it stays where you point it when locked. The only complaint is the adapter for smart phones doesn’t fit ( hole to go over the telescope lens is too small ).

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   (4)

   Customer – February 25, 2023

   TO THE STARS!
   The Spectrum Optical Instruments PolarLink 102EQ Refractor Telescope is a well-made telescope with a 102mm aperture and 660mm focal length. The fully coated glass optics provide clear and crisp images. As a bonus, it comes with a smartphone adapter and a Bluetooth shutter, worth $18.99, for free. The telescope has a manual German Equatorial mount with setting circles, which is easy to set up and does not require any tools. There is also a slow motion control cable on both axes for precision and fine tracking. The telescope also comes with a full-length adjustable Stainless-steel tripod with accessory tray. The telescope has a magnification range of 33X – 330X, and accessories include 4mm, 10mm, 20mm eyepiece, 2X Barlow Lens, red-dot viewfinder, and an erect-image diagonal. Overall, this telescope is a great choice for anyone looking for a well-made, easy-to-use telescope with a wide range of magnification options and accessories.