To start I am a complete newb to astronomy. I did do some research online watched MANY you tube videos. Contemplated between the 6SE and the 8SE. After looking at the amount of light difference between the two went with the 8SE. The 25mm eyepiece is a decent eyepiece to start with.

I am more than pleased with the telescope. When I placed my order, I was told it would take just shy of 2 weeks for delivery; however, within 2 days I was notified that the items shipped and would be delivered in 3 days.

I had decided on the NexStar 8 SE telescope due to it's goto capability, large primary mirror, and portability. When looking at various stores, I found Adorama was not only offering ($) off of the typical price, but included a nice accessory kit for free.

Seems OK but cannot use it completely because they supply an obsolete connect from the PC, and we must purchase, separately, from Celestron, a USB - to - their - obsolete - connector.for a semi-modern PC.

Unknown

Cannot start to transfer data from PC until purchase connector cable from Celestron and it has not yet arrived although it has been a week or so; so don't be in a hurry

I am very disappointed with this telescope. This is my second telescope, my first was a manual Dobsonian. I needed a new Telescope with a feature tracking the Earth rotation and the Nexstar 8SE I got is defective.

Flimsy

My first big scope but I guess I bought the factory dog as the SkyAlign just consistently failed the first night. When I finally got a successful message and hit Tour it slewed in completely the wrong direction for Jupe and Saturn.

its very nice

Operating directions are not that great but once you get it, the telescope is fantastic.

High light gathering capacity

Primitive digital technology

The Celestron Nexstar 8SE is a powerful telescope, but if you take this hobby seriously, you'll be pulling your hair out at the terrible mount it comes with. As you can imagine, a plastic mount does not have the stability to do any kind of photography beyond the moon.

As a newcommer to astronomy I did a lot of reading prior to purchasing the Nexstar 8SE. I am more than impressed with its capabilities and set up is a breeze. With the luxury of an almost unpolluted sky I was amazed at the clarity of Jupiter and its 4 nearby moons.