Astronomy has always been a popular activity. With such a wide-open expanse above us, curiosity is natural and in my opinion, the more I can see the better.
The power of telescopes are ever expanding and advancing, with recent scientific scope managing to sense early wavelengths of light that can be traced back to milliseconds after the Big Bang.
Now where I’ve never had the pleasure of peering through one of them, I have had the pleasure of owning a basic garden telescope to bring my closer to our immediate solar system.
The Celestron Power Seeker Accessory Kit looks to broaden your viewing experience, with a cheap but effective accessory bundle.
Featuring two eyepieces, three filters, a cleaning cloth, and a carry case all for under $30, this kit could turn out to be an affordable and essential purchase.
There is always the question with cheap equipment, of whether you get what you pay for or the product exceeds expectations? Well, the answer to that question and more is revealed below in our comprehensive review.
Read More Reviews of Celestron Power Seeker Accessory Kit Telescope
Main Usage
As I mentioned in the introduction to this review, the Power Seeker Accessory Kit is designed to help broaden your interplanetary horizons.
Celestron looks to achieve this by bundling together a 15mm and 9mm Kellner eyepiece, a #80A Blue Planetary filter, a #25 Red Planetary Filter, a moon filter, cleaning cloth and carry case, all for the bargain price of $30.
More details about the functionality of the eyepieces can be found in the ‘Glass/Lens’ section further in the review, whereas here I will take the time to focus on the uses of the filters.
To begin with, the #80A Blue Planetary filter is perfect for enhancing the contrast of cloud belts around Jupiter and Saturn, increasing definition and highlighting details.
This can also be used as a secondary moon filter provided you aren’t too bothered by the shift in coloration. Secondly, we have the #25 Red Planetary Filter, which is ideal for viewing the polar caps of Mars and Jupiter.
The filter blocks out a lot of light, so ideal you want to reserve it for use in the brighter phases of the cycle or with a telescope with a large aperture.
Lastly, the Moon filter is worth the price of this bundle alone, blocking out some of the light reflected by the moon to enhance details during the brighter stages of its orbit.
Glass/Lens
The 15 mm and 9 mm Kellner eyepieces function in any telescope with a 1.25” focuser.
With fully multicoated glass, light transmission is preserved throughout the telescope, increasing the contrast of the image displayed, as well as protecting the lenses from a small degree of accidental damage.
The 15 mm Kellner eyepiece is perfect for intermediate magnification levels in the majority of telescopes, and the 9 mm provides imagery at the higher end of the magnification spectrum, which is ideal for viewing planets and particularly the moon under the right conditions.
Image Quality
In short, the majority of the image quality you are going to be receiving is dependent on the telescope you are applying this accessory kit to.
What I would say, is that the accessory kit is fully multicoated and comes with a high standard microfibre cloth for cleaning, so any of the included accessories are unlikely to dilute the quality provided by your telescope.
The included filters are of an excellent standard, in particularly the moon filter.
It fulfills its function by absorbing some of the light reflected from the moon, which brings a higher degree of detail to the image, especially when the moon is in it’s brighter phases of orbit.
Eye Relief
On the whole, the reported eye relief is excellent in the two included eye pieces.
There is ample room for those with glasses, and viewing should not be obscured in either the 15mm or 9mm attachments.
The Kellner pieces are rubber coated for comfort, but there have been some reports of quality control issues when ti comes to the formation of the rubber, where on occasion it has been shipped denatured, which hinders both comfort and performance.
Pros
To say that this is anything other than a standout accessory kit would be lying. In terms of price and consequent performance, you’ll have difficulty finding anything better on the market today without multiplying your budget a considerable amount of times.
The aforementioned moon filter is the pick of the bunch here and could fetch the asking price for the whole accessory kit as a stand-alone product.
With clear optics that are comfortable and easy to operate, this accessory kit hardly puts a foot wrong.
This the perfect kit for the amateur telescope enthusiast to begin compiling sets of lenses and filters for unique occasions, and to get a further insight into the finer details of our solar system.
Cons
It’s tough to create the perfect product in todays market, where critical reviews are common place it’s hard to know what are actual faults of just users having unrealistic expectations.
With the PowerSeeker accessory kit, some problems have crept in.
The begin with, there seem to be a few issues with the level of quality control over the product. Many users have reported eyepieces coming shipped with denatured and distorted rubber, making them uncomfortable to use and on occasion obscuring vision.
Furthermore, the kit doesn’t come with any instructions on how to use the lenses or attach the eyepieces.
Where it’s relatively straightforward for the experienced telescope user, the beginners may be left a little confused as to what to do.
Finally, there are a couple of problems with the case, where it’s stuffed too much with foam, so the plastic is shown to morph shape and has been known to crack, endangering its contents.
Conclusions
All in all, this accessory set is a must-have for any telescope owner.
The functionality far outweighs the price, and you’ll be doing an excellent job if you find a better kit at a better price.
Celestron is really a good choice for the money here, so much that you can easilyoverlookk the occasional quality control lapse.
To sum it up, proceed to checkout!
The Power Seeker Accessory Kit is designed to help broaden your interplanetary horizons. Great choice for the money. [easyazon_link identifier="B004OUMTT2" locale="US" tag="hunting-for-binos-20"]Check it out here[/easyazon_link]