Celestron Advanced VX 6" Refractor Telescope

First of all I would like to extend my many thanks and appreciation to Mr. Stephen Franks for his helpful advice in collimating this telescope because when I received it, it was very much out of adjustment. This is my first telescope I have purchased and have been a long-time lover of Astronomy since my teenage years, I am 52 years old now, lol.I would like to first begin with saying that the quality of this telescope is absolutely incredible. It probably goes without saying that the many Celestron products are so, but I was completely blown away by what I had purchased. I did a lot of research and found that this was a very good refractor. Although I did discover that it was not a good telescope for deep sky astrophotography, I decided in its favor anyway thinking that I could perform “Stacked” astrophotography to make up for its shortcomings due to its F/8 focal length. When Mr. Franks described this beast as a “yard cannon”, it is very much true.First Light. I initially set up this telescope 3 months after I purchased it. Between the incredibly horrible Ohio weather, my demanding job, and a beautiful wife that has an enormous “Honey, You Better DO, List”, I finally got to set this monster up in my back yard. Assembling it about two hours before nightfall, it quickly got the attention of both my next door neighbors. Unfortunately they weren’t around 6 hours later to see a beautiful 3rd quarter crescent moon. I did manage to wake my wife at 0300 hrs to see not only that incredible moon, but also Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. She was completely blown away as I was. The views are incredible. As far as deep sky objects, I have ventured that far. I have just purchased a Canon DSLR because I want to actually take pictures/exposures of what I see.I haven’t had this out much, matter of fact only twice since March, for reasons previously explained. But thus far I have no complaints whatsoever. All of what the two gentlemen stated in their reviews is correct, very much true. I would only add the following:This telescope is by no means easily transportable in a small car if you are looking to venture away from home in search of darker skies. It is truly BIG. Once you set this up, be sure you set it up correctly before aligning it to the stars, i.e. leveling. It shouldn’t be moved at all. If you feel you have to move it, take great care because it does weigh close to 100 lbs. and very awkward if lifted.Although I purchased the Celestron Power Tank, buy the AC adapter so it can be plugged into an outlet. I will eventually use the power tank in the field when I get the time to do so.This is an Awesome telescope. No regrets about purchasing it whatsoever.

The C6R telescope is a good, not great telescope. The AVX mount is a very good, not great mount. Together the pair is a good combination for routine backyard viewing. The C6R is almost 5 ft 6 in long which makes transporting it anywhere in a vehicle rather problematic. The AVX mount with the 2" aluminum tripod legs is a very solid platform and performs quite well with the relatively light C6R OTA mounted on it, although balancing it during initial setup can be tricky as a one person operation - it's just long and the CoG is way towards the non-eyepiece end. Take time to balance the telescope with the eyepiece end as close to the mount as possible (particularly in the DEC axis) - this will reduce the likelihood that the eyepiece end will collide with one of the tripod legs while the scope is slewing to objects near the zenith. As with any standard refractor there is noticeable chromatic aberration (CA) and color fringing of bright objects (Moon, Venus, Jupiter) This can be reduced / eliminated by either using the smaller aperture end cap or an eyepiece filter set. Finally, expect at least a month of cloudy nights immediately after you purchase this combination... it's the new telescope curse! :-)

I want to say that I received my Advanced VX 6" Refractor Telescope todayand it is very nice and it will serve me well thank you it is a very nice scopeand now for a side note ...I want to say that I am sorry for getting a little short with you at CelestronI found out that I have Prostrate cancer.and it was hitting me hardAgain Thank you for making a nice Telescope

Complicated for amateurs. Give yourself time to learn!

High quality but it's large

Waiting for clear night to use this scope

When you read reviews you often see things like, not good for "deep space photography" and "too much color." These comments are true...to a point! I have had my Celestron 6" for over 10 years. This review is primarily for the optical tube since mine was used originally on an Celestron ASGT mount, the precursor of today's AVX.The tube is very large! Yard cannon is pretty appropriate! My son brought me my telescope from Oklahoma in the back of a small Nissan. Mount and tube took up most of the space in the car and my sons had to put their bags on top of the optical tube in the backseat. The ASGT mount, which is pretty much the same as an AVX mount, was sturdy and tracked well. The main issue with this scope is that the legs don't go high enough in some positions so you have to lay on the ground to look through the telescope. An extension from Orion solved that issue. The mount is also a bit light for a tube of this length. There is a lot of vibration if touched or bumped. Overall the telescope worked well with with this mount and was was even useable for imaging.The telescope itself was well built and came collimated. The focuser on my tube was marginal. I think Celestron has upgraded this piece in the last few years so don't know if it is still an issue. I was using a heavy SBIG cooled CCD camera and the focuser was not up to the challenge of holding it steady. So I replaced the stock focuser with a 2 speed focuser from GSO. Now it works well for any camera or eyepiece.In a 6" F/8 achromat you do get false color or chromatic aberration, but not as much as expected. It does not affect the views of planets or even the moon, other than a purple halo around bright objects. I now use a Minus V filter along with a UV/IR cutoff filter for imaging. This cuts the CA down to minimal levels. I have never found it to be a big deal but some people do. If you do then this type of scope is not for you. However, for the quality of the view, the cost and the size a little "purple haze" is a small price to pay.You can image deep sky objects. Be prepared to use routines to remove the false color if you use a one shot color camera. However, if you use a monochrome filter and 3 color imaging to make color pictures these things are awesome. Or you can do what I do. Most of my imaging is to do scientific photometry so I use narrowband photometric filters that eliminate the CA. You just have to know the strengths and weaknesses of the telescope to be able to use it effectively!The first image is from an Achromatic 4" with a F/6.5 focal ration. Notice there is little color in the image and it was taken with a one shot color video camera.