After doing the 3-star SkyAlign(which is awesome as you just point the scope at any bright 3 stars in the night sky) I was pleasantly surprised that the mount was able to place m57 and m27 in the FOV of the 20mm QX just fine. I figured I might as well since it would not be a fair review if I did not even give this setup a chance. Seeing the stability performance of the Nexstar mount did not instill any continence in me to test out the GOTO performance. An 80mm short tube would likely be the upper limits for it used at low power. I think that this mount would be able to handle a 60mm refractor fairly well. Yes, this mount is not up to the task of a 4” refractor.
I think you get the picture… It took a full 7 seconds for it to settle down. After getting Vega in the FOV of a 20mm Meade QX eyepiece I waited for the mount to settle the vibration. I pointed the scope in the direction of Vega as I really wanted to see what the color correction was like(more to come). I had the legs extended on the Nexstar mount by only about 6” in an attempt to make it steadier. My backyard has roughly mag 4 skies and the evening of this comparison had hazy skies with low transparency but very good(for my area) seeing. Definitely heavier compared to the light Nexstar but not a big deal as the WO is my primary grab-and-go scope. I then brought out my WO GT102 setup on the LXD-75. Getting the scope fully setup out to my backyard was a breeze. Even before I got the mount under the night sky I could already tell that this was WAY too much scope for this mount. I bought the full setup Nexstar 102GT that is complete with Celestron’s mount. With a relatively long focal length can the Nexstar 102GT compete with an APO? Well as it so happens I own the William Optics GT102 Triplet APO to compare it to! The Nexstar 102GT has a 1000mm focal length and is f/9.8. When I came across one I was excited to get one out under the stars and see what all the fuss was about. 114mm (4.Celestron’s Nexstar 102GT 4” refractor has a reputation for being a bargain gem in the armature astronomy community.All of our NexStar Telescopes come equipped with 2- 1.25 eyepieces and everything you need including the hand controller. Plus, fully assembled tripod and pre-installed electronics make set up quick (taking only seconds) and simple. NexStar computerized telescopes are so straightforward, astronomers at all levels can locate over 4,000 pre-programmed stars, planets, and other celestial objects right out of the box.
All you need to know is the general direction of North, your closest major city (included in the instruction manual), plus the date and time, and you will be observing planets, stars and more within moments. Because of their optical design, reflectors are best suited for astronomical use.
Most exciting is the wide variety of deep sky objects (stars, clusters, nebulae). Polar caps on Mars become visible along with the cloud belts on Jupiter.
Its large 4.5 diameter outshines smaller scopes. This compact design brings objects into view with a 114mm aperture, 1000mm focal length capable of achieving magnifications of 40x and 100x with the included eyepieces. The NexStar 114 Newtonian reflector has 265 times the light gathering power of the average human eye, revealing fine detail within galaxies and nebulae.