Orbinar 400-70 Travel Telescope + backpack + Smartphone Adapter Mount DKA5

I bought  Orbinar Travel Telescope Spotting Scope 400/70 incl. full equipment and backpack + Smartphone / Camera / Cell Phone Adapter Holder Mount DKA5  as a Christmas present for my 11yo – she asked Santa for a telescope and a microscope – and I paid £64.00 + express shipping for the version with Cellphone adaptor.I won’t comment about delivery time or packaging – since this has nothing to do with the product.I have to admit I’m a beginner in this field – but not in the optics field, I already have various binoculars and scopes for terrestrial use.Packaging:In the box I found:- telescope (with protective caps)- finder that goes on the telescope- 45° prism- Barlow lens- 3 eyepieces (20-10-4mm) in small cylindrical boxes- tripod- mobile phone adapter- instructions for both the telescope and cellphone adapter- backpack (all of the above were in there)The backpack is basically a piece of black cloth – ugly, not very functional and it doesn’t provide any kind of protection during transport.The tripod – although aluminium – it’s just too light for the purpose - needs to be weighed down for a successful use, since it’s very shaky. Also, pointing it to different things it’s rather difficult.The telescope is very light – it’s made of plastic, the shiny one – and it’s not premium at all (do you know that hard, rubber like plastic used on binoculars? that’s premium!).The instructions – although in English – are useless! Just a vague, general description… Luckily, the assembling of the telescope is pretty much intuitive – so after a search on the internet we were able to mount it.We did it like this: first, mount the telescope on the tripod, then the prism, then the eyepiece (start with 20mm, then 10mm, then 4mm). Focus on something easy and not far (a lamp post about 100m away) – then mount the finder and align it with what you see. Tighten the screws.If you want to use the Barlow lens – take the prism out, mount the Barlow lens, then the prism, then the eyepiece.There’s a review here with a picture where the Barlow lens is mounted AFTER the prism – don’t do that, you won’t be able to see anything!Functionality – terrestrial:The smallest eyepiece (20mm – 30x magnification) works fine. I was able to focus, didn’t see any chromatic aberrations or loss of light.The 2nd eyepiece (10mm – 60x magnification) is not so bad – there is loss of light, but this is normal.The 3rd eyepiece (4mm – 150x magnification) eventually works – but not good. It has a considerable loss of light compared with the 10mm and it’s not easy to fix it on target (although I blame mainly the tripod for this).The Barlow lens is unusable – simply too big in my opinion – a 2x magnification would have been better. With the 20mm eyepiece you get a 90x magnification, considerable loss of light and VERY unstable due to the way the lenses are held together (plus the tripod, of course). I did manage to focus and see something (even with the other eyepieces) – but like I said, you’re better without it.Functionality – astronomical:Using it at night - it's a NIGHTMARE! I found it VERY HARD to fix it on something smaller than the moon (mainly due to the tripod, but not only that).The moon has nice views (better than the 20-100x60 binocular we have) - but still, if you can't use it for astronomy, I don't need it.Functionality – mobile phone adapter:The adapter itself it’s pretty much easy to setup – just make sure the phone’s camera goes right onto the eyepiece used, firmly pressed onto the eyepiece (otherwise you’ll get a halo of light from reflections during the day). It’s a good idea to mount the eyepiece onto the adaptor first, then the phone – then put the whole lot on the telescope.Holding the phone steady to take a pic – with the added weight of the phone – that’s something else… again, I blame it on the tripod.Conclusions:We will return this item - and look for another high spec one (and MORE stable!)

I have a full size telescope at home but had long wished for a more portable item for my frequent travels. I often find myself in locations where there is little or no light and imhave no telescope. I found several on Amazon and after reading a great many reviews opted for this model for Xmas from my fsmily. Aware the tripod did not have good reviews generally I was prepared to give it a go. Sadly I will be returning the scope because the tripod proved extremely unstable, on my 3rd attempt at observing the whole unit toppled and I barely caught it before it hit the ground. It would be totally useless in even the slightest breeze. Clear skies on last 2 nights have failed to produce even the faintest of images with the scope, even allowing for fact this is a basic starter kit. It arrived on time, the idea of the kit in a backpack is great, allowing easy transportation for astronomy or wildlife observations. My overall view is that the tripod needs to be improved, ie make it more sturdy and I feel people will pay a bit more. Still very unsure about quality of the scope. As I am partly disabled I do not move around quickly so I caught it before it crashed to the ground tonight was lu ky to say the least. Not an Item I would recommend and will stick to my main scope. A decent pair of binoculars would have been a better purchase.

very lightweight,good for transporting,ok for terrestrial but rather less good for celestial viewing ,needs 90 degree eyepiece to view with any real use. mobile mount too heavy for real use with this setup but does work well otherwise.don't expect too much with this kit.

Bought for partner who loves it. Thank you

Great buy telescope for a first time easy to use

Really fantastic for the money

Great product, great price.

As expected