The system also goes to sleep after 10 minutes which can be annoying. The GOTO system uses a two-star alignment which is not terribly accurate. The 'real voice' audio cannot be turned off as such, only ended early by hitting the back key. The hand held controler has no proper mount to hang it on as such and this is annoying. Another option would be to purchase a 9 volt transformer. It did not work with super heavy duty carbon-zinc batteries. It worked fine with 8.4v 170 mAh and 9.6 volt 200 mAh types. I ended up buying rechargeable NiMH ones anyway. The rig runs on a 9 volt battery, and a good alkaline lasted quite some time (this surprised me). The friction bolts needed tightening to avoid having the telescope slide downward with a heavy lens in it! The two star alignment is a bit inaccurate, and the telescope really does have to be dead level for the 'goto' to work well. The stabilizing accessory tray does not positively sit down in its lugs meaning it has little value except as a tray. The mount is too light and it is easy to knock the telescope over even with the legs fully extended. Finally, take off the covers and slot in an eyepiece. Two bolts for the finder scope, two for the OTA, plug in a battery and clip in the stabilising accessory tray between the tripod legs. The new box had lots of labels on it for sale in Australia which contained all sorts of caveats not on the original box advertising.Īssembly really was straight forward, a nice touch. The shop where it was purchased exchanged the whole assembly for a complete new unit. When first bought the controller did not work. It has the secondary mirror held on a single arm with three adjustment screws, and one retaining clip intruding over the edge of the secondary mirror.Ī few comments on this remarkable telescope. The OTA itself is constructionally identical to a second-hand 1996 Synta corporation 4.5' telescope reviewed on 'cloudy nights'. Things may have changed since August 06 when I last checked. The telescope's electronics have a very limited warranty. (see here: on the TASCO site takes you 'about us' to here: Bushnell) Bushnell provided no email support, nor did they answer any of my questions to their email address when I eventually found it. For those who are unaware, the Tasco website ultimately lists Bushnell as the owning company, however there is no indication of the existence of Tasco on the Bushnell web pages. Having said that the specs for the telescope did not include focal length, and have been calculated from the eyepieces provided and checked against the physical dimensions of the telescope itself.

In retrospect it was a poor choice.Īnyway, it comes with an aluminium tripod and electronic GOTO alt/azimuth mount with 'Real Voice' output. It was not a Tasco, and 'Rubbish' does not turn up the same results as 'junk'! My first scope.

It was an impulse buy after a half day of research on the web. The Bushnell Northstar I have is a 4.5' Newtonian reflector approximately f8 with an advertised 675 x magnification.

Bushnell telescope northstar