Review: The Celestron Powerseeker 50 Refractor Telescope

The Celestron Powerseeker 50 is the telescope that every serious amateur astronomer has warned you not to buy. The Powerseeker has a .965-inch focuser. The Powerseeker 50 comes with three eyepieces (a Huygens 20mm and 12.5mm and an SR 4mm). The Powerseeker 50 comes with a useless 3x barlow and a 5x24mm finderscope that is nearly impossible to align. The Powerseeker 50 mount is a very shaky alt-az affair with spindly aluminum legs. The 50mm aperture of the Powerseeker is too small to see much more than the moon. The Powerseeker 50 really isn't a telescope any rational person should buy. However, the Powerseeker 50 is awfully cute.

The little telescope does have a few things going for it. First, it seems to be assembled with a little more care and quality control than most toy telescopes. Second, it is very lightweight and would be easy for a child to move. Third, unlike many toy telescopes that have a plastic objective lens, the Celestron Powerseeker 50 has a coated glass objective. Fourth, the Powerseeker 50 is very inexpensive and would be no great loss if broken by a child. Fifth, it would be fine starter scope for someone who is most interested in observing the moon. Sixth, it comes with Celestron's version of TheSky starcharting software. The software package alone is easily worth what I paid for the telescope. Finally, the Powerseeker 50 is awfully cute.

When I stumbled across an aggressively priced Powerseeker 50 at an electronics warehouse, I excitedly snatched up. It was cheaper than a pair of shoes. My excitement grew when I unpacked the telescope in the car, popped the diagonal on it, stuck in the 20mm Huygens eyepiece, and tested it handheld at 30x on a far off object down the street. The reversed image provided by the 90-degree star diagonal was perfectly acceptable for viewing terrestrial objects. Of course, due to the diagonal's mirror, the image is reversed. Still, I didn't think the optics were bad at all for the price.