Good entry level telescope

2026-03-04    -Amazing Customer

I’ll start of this review by firmly stating that I am not a star gazer and have absolutely no experience of or knowledge of astronomy, I just thought it would be interesting to give it a go and I didn’t want to shell out huge amounts of money to do so. The reviews on the Gskyer AZ80400 seemed pretty decent all round so I thought I would give it a try.The build of the telescope was pretty simple, nice clear diagrams showing the process in a step by step manner. As other reviewers have noted I do think it would benefit from a guide or something to accompany it, however, a quick search online gives you all sorts of information so that’s definitely not essential.It has a pretty robust feel to it and comes with a variety of lenses so that you can view whatever you are looking at with different magnifications.I took it out into my back garden and unfortunately my first night was a little cloudy so it was a bit of a struggle to find something worth looking at, however, setting up the sighting scope against a neighbour’s satellite dish did the trick and eventually I was able to get a clear view of a couple of stars and once I found them, focussing was pretty simple. My next step will be trying to find something specific (a planet or something) and not just pointing at random lights in the sky!Overall I am pretty pleased with the purchase and fully intend to keep using it regularly and hopefully, I'll remember to post updates as I get more accomplished in it’s use.

Dommage

2025-12-26    -Kash

Il me manque les deux vis noires du viseur qui n'ont pas été fourni. Et on ne voit vraiment pas bien les autres étoiles avec les autres lentilles. Sauf les cratères de la lune, mais moi je voilais voir d'autres planètes.

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good entry level scope that will fit in nicely with my other telescopes

2026-02-27    -A. Anderson

This is a review of the Gskyer 80 mm refractor telescope. I am not an employee of Gskyer, I am an astronomy hobbyist. I have 3other telescopes and a spotting scope. My review is based on this background and is a fair and honest assessment of the package both for daytime use as a spotting scope and as a night time astronomical telescope.This is an entry level 80 mm short focal length refractor telescope/spotting scope package. It includes the optical tube assembly (the telescope), a mount/tripod, three eyepieces and a 3X barlow. Based upon my tests, it works well during the day as a spotting scope and at night as an astronomical telescope. The simple operation and stable mount make it an good first scope. The included eyepieces and barlow give it a good range of magnifications. Its compact size would make it a good “grab and go” or travel scope for someone who has larger telescopes.The Mount – This is a shining feature of this package. The tripod/mount of the Gskyer 80 mm is solid, stable, easy to direct and does a good job. Many entry level telescopes have flimsy and wobbly mounts/tripods making the telescope difficult to aim and resulting in a shaky image that is difficult to focus. The mount of the Gskyer 80 is an outstanding feature of this package. Note that it uses a dovetail attachment for the optical tube which means that the mount could be used with other optical tubes or other dovetail mounted accessories in the future. It also includes a standard 1/4 20 stud on top of the mounting rings which can be used to mount a camera or other accessories. The finder scope uses a standard dovetail mount so other finder scopes could be used. This is a level of flexibility you don’t typically see in a package at this price.The Optical Tube Assembly – This is what you might normally think of as the telescope. The OTA works well and presents a good image. In side by side comparisons it compared well with my Meade 80 mm scope. The focuser is easy to use and includes a 45 degree correct image diagonal that presents the correct image that you would want when using this as a spotting scope during the day. This also works well at night when you are comparing the sky to a chart as things are in their correct positions in the eyepiece. The scope uses the 1.25” standard that is most commonly used for telescope eyepieces, diagonals and filters so you can easily add accessories in the future.The included finder scope works well. The bracket is sturdy and provides ample adjustment so that you can align it with the optical tube assembly. Note that you will need to focus the finder when you first take it out of the package. This is done by turning the front black part. This is easy to do and will only need to be done once, but it is not mentioned on the assembly sheet.You will have to align the finder with the optical tube. This is a normal procedure required on any telescope and is best done during the day. Find a target as far away as possible, but at least 500 feet away. I like to use the cross arm of a telephone or power pole. Using the 25 mm eyepiece, center the cross arm in the eyepiece of the telescope, not the finder. Now use the two black screws on the finder to move the cross hairs till the target is centered in the cross hairs. You are now aligned. This is very important for use during the day and at night. You may have to make a minor adjustment from time to time but that is normal.Eyepieces – The included eyepieces present good images and are well matched to the scope. A nice touch is that they are threaded to accept standard astronomy filters which will help improve your view of the Moon, planets, nebula and other targets. The eyepieces, when combined with the included 3X barlow, provide 16X, 40X, 48X, 80X, 120X and 240X. For daytime spotting scope purposes, the 16X and 40X are good choices. If the air is very quiet the 80X works well too, but it is the atmosphere that will limit the magnification, not the scope. For night time use, typically an 80 mm scope will max out around 140X to 160X, but don’t hesitate to give 240X a try on the moon. Just remember that atmospheric transparency and turbulence will be the limiting factor rather than the scope. And, because the Gskyer 80 mm uses the popular 1.25” eyepiece size, you can add single focal length or zoom eyepieces, diagonals or filters of any brand.What can you see with this package?During the day I tested the scope by focusing on the leaves of a maple tree at about 150 feet, about half a football field. I was able to see the veins in the leaves without difficulty. I have not taken it to a shooting range but I would expect it would do well for target practice. At 800 feet I was easily able to resolve leaves on the top of a tree as well as a bird perched on a branch. Many spotting scopes use zoom eyepieces so I tested it with the included eyepieces as well as my 8-24 mm zoom eyepiece with good results.As an astronomy telescope it did well compared to my other 80 mm scope. The mount is easy to direct and the focuser made focusing easy. It worked well on Mars, Saturn and the rings,the Moon and star clusters. I expect it to work well on Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and its moons, stars, star clusters and double stars. I have enjoyed the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and other deep sky objects with an 80mm telescope.To a large extent what you can see with any telescope will depend on your ground and sky light pollution levels. I live in a very light polluted suburb of NYC. Even under these challenging conditions, in addition to the Moon and the bright planets, there are hundreds of star clusters, asterisms and double stars within the capability of this telescope. At a darker site, the range of what you can see greatly expands. That would include galaxies and nebula that would be challenging from a light polluted location for any telescope. Don’t expect things to look like the pictures in magazines. Those are produced with long exposure astrophotography, often have false color added, and do not represent what you will see through the eyepiece of a telescope many times larger than this one.In summary, if you are looking for a compact, easy to carry, easy to use scope that can serve as a spotting scope during the day and an astronomical scope at night, the Gskyer 80 mm refractor should serve you well. And since it uses the standard 1.25” eyepiece and diagonal size it will let you add eyepieces, filters, diagonals and other accessories in the future. You can also take photos or videos through the eyepiece. You can hold the phone up to the eyepiece but there are attachments made for “digiscoping” with 1.25” eyepieces that make this a lot easier. Or add an eyepiece webcam to project the image on a screen or enter into the world of planetary imaging.If you are looking for a scope for a tween or teen that they can use on their own, this would work. A smaller child would need help setting this up but a 10 year old can likely handle it on their own.You should have a lot of fun with this scope.

Dommage

2026-02-17    -Kash

Il me manque les deux vis noires du viseur qui n'ont pas été fourni. Et on ne voit vraiment pas bien les autres étoiles avec les autres lentilles. Sauf les cratères de la lune, mais moi je voilais voir d'autres planètes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good entry level telescope

2026-01-12    -MaryAnn

Excellent beginner telescope.

Barlow Lens is rubbish

2026-01-01    -Cassandra Jones

Manual is adequate for setup. Remote shutter manual is junk had to search online to figure that out. The Barlow lens has terrible chromatic aberration.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great scope except the sight scope bracket.

2026-03-06    -Anne Hayes

It's a great telescope. But after setting it up I found the sight scope was very loose and slid out of the bracket far too easily. It may be me but it appears the mounting bracket for the sight scope is 180 degrees off. If you remove the bracket from the scope and rotate it 180 degrees, the smaller opening of the bracket will be toward you. Then insert the sight scope so it follows the shape of the bracket. Small end of the scope in the small end of the mount. You'll notice that the spring loaded pin now drops in the small groove around the larger end of the scope making it much more stable. Problem is that the foot of the bracket now will not insert in the mount. After I spent a few minutes carefully filing the foot, it now slides into the bracket and the filed edges are hidden. The end result being the sight scope is much more stable because the spring loaded pin sets in the groove, and the shape of the scope follows the shape of the hole in the mounting bracket.

1.0 out of 5 stars Don’t

2026-01-31    -Nazmul

Horrible telescope. The lenses are super blurry and the scope is not accurate. The really only thing you can see is the moon. Also, finding stars is pretty difficult and there’s really no point cause your phone camera can probably show it as clear as the telescope.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great scope except the sight scope bracket.

2026-02-03    -Anne Hayes

It's a great telescope. But after setting it up I found the sight scope was very loose and slid out of the bracket far too easily. It may be me but it appears the mounting bracket for the sight scope is 180 degrees off. If you remove the bracket from the scope and rotate it 180 degrees, the smaller opening of the bracket will be toward you. Then insert the sight scope so it follows the shape of the bracket. Small end of the scope in the small end of the mount. You'll notice that the spring loaded pin now drops in the small groove around the larger end of the scope making it much more stable. Problem is that the foot of the bracket now will not insert in the mount. After I spent a few minutes carefully filing the foot, it now slides into the bracket and the filed edges are hidden. The end result being the sight scope is much more stable because the spring loaded pin sets in the groove, and the shape of the scope follows the shape of the hole in the mounting bracket.

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to use

2025-12-23    -Sean d.

My boys and I use this very easy to set up and use