Product Reviews from our Customers

I bought the 71F as a replacement for a 200mm reflector, that had terrible coma, and to build a more portable setup. After scouring the available options this one leapt out as the best value option, with more features features than most. The three mount points, stable rotator, locking dew sheild are all immediately useful and very well made. The four element optics produced a very flat image with perfectly formed stars, to the edges of an image on my ASI 1600; very satisfying.
I am also very pleased with my purchases from The Widescreen Centre, Simon & Elena were very helpful and Simon was generous with his time during the whole process, with plenty of order updates from Joseph.

The Optolong L-eNhance filter combined with the DwarfLAB Dwarf II is a wonderful pairing when utilised on Emission Nebula.
I have taken a 10 second shutter speed x 250 exposures to capture wonderfully colourful images in H alpha, H beta and Oxygen III of both sides of the Veil Nebula in the same frame..
I can fully recommend this filter for use with Dwarf II.
The service form The Widescreen Centre was impeccable as per normal.

I was fortunate enough to afford these in 10x32 as my 1st ever pair of binoculars. Though I have nothing to compare them with apart from the CL Companions, I've yet to be unamazed by anything I've looked at through them. The cliche of being able to explore your environment through glass is no joke: my highlight so far was finding Ely Cathedral 17 miles away on the horizon as I stood on a high field behind my house. As for birds, it's like being in your own big-budget wildlife documentary every time.

I have owned many zoom eyepieces. Through testing I found the Lunt H alpha optimised zoom eyepiece is almost completely parafocal over it's entire zoom range. I found no internal reflections. I could not see any of the internal lenses moving whilst zooming. The Ha images were very crisp and clear. This is definitely a zoom eyepiece worth considering and I would recommend it. The Widescreen Centre also provided excellent customer service as per usual.

This is a great compact product for wide field astrophotography. With the latest app release it’s a fully capable kit. I was getting great results from a city balcony by processing the images outside of the Dwarflab software and it comes in a tiny package which is easy to take as hand luggage

Ordered this beast just before 5pm on Thursday(a week before Christmas) and it arrived at 11am the next day! What an outstanding service, thanks. Now if I can just find a hole in the clouds……

What a huge surprise: within 5 minutes after unboxing making the first picture of the galaxy pair M81 and M82.

The ZWO S50 has a very good app user interface which makes it very intuitive. It's still worthwhile going through the online tutorials. The resulting images, after onboard stacking, are quite remarkable. The included Sky Atlas in the app means you can point the telescope at almost any part of the sky and capture your images framed as you want them. ZWO are continuing to upgrade their app so I would say it will get even better over time. I purchased an S50 even although I already own a Dwarf II as each instrument has their own strengths. I buy from Widescreen in the knowledge that should I need after sales service then I can count on Widescreen to deliver. )

Being a fairly recent newcomer to astronamy, 6 months now. My experience is purely from a novice point of view. I have an 8" dobsonian telescope as it was highly recommended as a good beginers telescope and I would have to agree with that. For the first few nights I made do with the supplied 10mm and 25mm plossels. But you do find yourself wanting for more very soon. But i didnt want to end up with loads of mediocre eyepieces that leave you feeling, If I had just waited. So I waited. The 27mm Panoptic is nothing short of breath taking. I was worried that it would fall short of the hype. Not a bit, it really does transform the night sky and safe to say I am very happy with it. Stunning views with pin sharp stars, i could even see the great red spot on Jupiter with a 2x 2" Barlow and stunning crisp details of the cloud rings. I also found clusters almost appear in 3D. Highly recommended and very much looking forward to frosty nights this winter.

With the Sun fairly low in October UK, and dismal seeing, I still managed to glean faculae on the limb. Very impressed. Old blue Skywatcher 150 f/8.

This isn't the cheapest of its type but not all are rated to 6"-8" and I specifically needed this.

As brilliant and cheap as Astro Solar film is, its transmission curve throughout the spectrum is somewhat bouncy. Having invested in a range of filters I wanted a more linear feed of light which this Baader Herschel provides. Only had a brief time to try Continuum and OIII today. G-Band, Ha, IR await. Ha 7nm for granulation efforts, not chromosphere!

Changing the internal filters is fiddly. 4 small 1.5mm hex screws to undo. This lets you change the ND3 filter for something less (for photo only!) or the Continuum for something else. But once you've got the hang of it it's not too bad. The screws are angled 45 degrees, not straight in, which had me confused for a short while.

Seeing the Sun in the rear ceramic cell makes for a great sun finder. Works like a charm.

My Altair G-Band 2nm is seriously dark and begs for high frame rates. On my C9.25 with ND5 film I think I was at 50ms exposures. So not "lucky imaging", more unlucky blurring. I reckon with this Baader + "photo" NDs on my 6" I might be able to get something decent out of it here in UK.

This is not merely an "accessory" but more of a platform I suppose.
Expensive? Perhaps. Worth it? Absolutely! Nothing else gets me there.

Asked TWC for sizing help, quick reply and ordered out of hours at 7pm on a Thursday, turned up on Saturday, great service. Fits with room to spare on my EQ6-r tripod. Handy clips that make it easy to get to the mounting screw and tray - really happy with it. It's piece of mind at the end of the day and keeping rain and moisture off of the metal work is making me worry less! Usual telegizmo quality (excellent!)

I wanted to write a short review of Dwarflab's Dwarf II Smart Telescope. My reason is that I'm new to night sky imaging and I felt that the results I was able to achieve were worthy of sharing. Just in case others might be unsure of buying the DwarfII. The ease of use, do read the manual, portability and especially the results are, in my opinion, worth the money. I took the Dwarf II on vacation to the South of France. When I saw the light pollution I thought all had been in vain. I needn't have worried. With the supplied UHC filter and 50 x 10sec exposures I obtained images of The Orion Nebula, Horsehead Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, Crab Nebula, Cigar Galaxy, Dumbell Nebula, and The Ring Nebula to name a few. The results are remarkable. I would certainly recommend The Dwarf II and the service from The Widescreen Centre is excellent!

I have owned Star Adventure 2i for a while and was very pleased with my deep sky imaging results but I wanted to move from my camera to a Refractor and I purchased Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi on Simon's advise. I am extremely happy with my new set up as I have dramatically improved my results without losing the portability. Thank you Simon and Widescreen Centre team!

Why put up with annoying mirror reversing star diagonals? Whether they are 2 inch or 1.25 inch, whether they are 45 degrees or 90 degrees, and It doesn't matter how well made they are, or how good the optical quality, you still have to look at the Universe mirror reversed, or "back to front". Try learning the features of the moon or navigating a star field with everything the wrong way round, it's a wretched nightmare! There was once a time, long ago, when erecting prisms were not reckoned to be much good for astronomy. Thankfully that time has long passed. The Baader Planetarium is the finest that money can buy. The optical quality is first class. I could see no trace of false colour or vignetting. Coupled with Tele Vue eyepieces, (or whatever your preferred brand is), you get the best, sharpest, views possible. All this and a superb click lock mechanism which will grasp tightly any size eyepiece in a brass compression ring without the risk of scratching your eyepiece barrels as often happens with a simple side screw. There is also a 2 inch to 1.25 inch click lock adapter which you can purchase separately. I bought them both. If you own a large high end Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope or Refractor for visual astronomy, you would be a fool not to buy this new accessory from Baader Planetarium. I don't know why Sky at Night magazine hasn't done a rave review of it yet!
Regards from Robert Townsend.

Very impressed with this company, spoke to Simon (proprietor) about my problem of not having a proper bracket to hold my EAF to my sw Espirit ed 80.
I have trawled the internet in a search for one but no joy, the only one that was fit for purpose was one an American company starizona supplied, by chance widescreen dealt with them and he had a shipment coming over so he managed to get one for me, as a result he now sells them on his site.
I can thoroughly recommend this company!

Arrived within 24 hours of ordering. Having owned various Skywatcher mounts, a CEM120 and a Mesu 200; the AM5 has been by far the best out of the box experience. I think I got a good example as the total periodic error printout only goes +/- 6" (assume build quality is improving now these have been out a while). The compact size and no requirement for counterweights or balancing means you are setup within minutes. I'm not an ASI air user, but I got connected to my usual PC apps no problem, rought polar alignment and it was guiding under 0.5 Total RMS straight away. Absolutly in love with this mount now to test its longevity.

I’d had experience of both the Skywatcher synscan goto and EQM35 Pro mounts, but became frustrated with the tracking capabilities of both and the general poor quality control of the brand. So I decided to look at ZWO and harmonic drives. The AM5 was delivered within 24hours, setup is extremely easy (I also use the ASIAIR+), so just a case of plug and play. I have 2 scopes, both well within the 13kg limit for a counterbalance bar. So no balancing required at all. Assuming you do a good polar alignment and guide calibration then you’re good to go. After some trial and error with my setup I’m now getting a combined rms of around 0.8, good enough for at least 300s exposures. I will improve on this with more fettling of my guide camera. The mount is super light compared to the EQM35 and can easily be moved around in one hand. Perfect for portability. Easily broken down too if putting it in a car. A top quality piece of kit from ZWO. Excellent service from Widescreen Centre also.

Purchased the Skyportal WiFi module on 17 Jan 23 to interface with Skysafari 7 Plus, following some great advice from Simon and Joseph at Widescreen. Plugged the dongle into one of my CPC 9.25 aux sockets and after about 20 minutes of head scratching (mostly my finger trouble), got it connected to my iPad. Note that Sky Safari 7 needs IOS 14 so earlier versions will not support it. Used in anger in the early hours of 18 Jan and, with the Nexstar handset disconnected, and once aligned, the GoTo using my iPad was spot on with targets aligned dead centre in the eyepiece (the 3-star alignment made much easier with a RDF). First successful target was comet C2022/E3 ZTF and extremely pleased with the set up. Used again on the evening of 18 Jan and once again the GoTo was excellent. My only negative comment is that the dongle sits quite close to the CPC mount and can be a bit difficult to remove especially with cold fingers, hence 4 stars. Thanks again to the folks at Widescreen.

Thanks to Widescreen Centre for a fast turnaround with my orders.

Ive not used it to its full potential yet but quality images coming through. I recently imaged the sun with about 240fps, large sized image, not a problem. Could go a lot higher.
Its fast, responsive and just does its job, very well.
Really impressed.

I got this a couple of months ago, lot of cloud on and off, but recently worked out the pressure tuner. I removed it, replaced it and clamped it down tight. But when looking at the sun, didnt back the pressure tuner off.
When I did, the views were incredible. I got a few Ser files and stacked them, the results are seriously impressive.
Worth the money for sure. Its a quality, well made telescope.
Love it.

I recently received my AM5 mount in Zambia. It was a long wait from December until ZWO started shipping. Due to family visiting I have not yet had first light, but will do in a couple of days. Initial impressions though are very good. But what I really want to highlight is the service from the team at the widescreen centre. Joseph was superb to deal with, he regularly updated me after communicating with ZWO. Truly a pleasure to deal with. Many thanks.

What can I say, I have doubled my small eyepiece collection for the price of one more good quality eyepieces, and no discernible lack in image quality, only downside I have found so far this powermate and a 2" pentax xw weigh about the same as a house brick, thought you had your scope balanced think again, that aside I would highly recommend to anyone in the market for doubling their focal length.

My second Delite eyepiece, 20mm eye relief across the entire range, an absolute must for a spectacle wearer like myself. Usual Televue premium price eyepiece, gives premium optical viewing, expected really, would recommend to anyone without hesitation

I can honestly say to you that the 12" Skywatcher Newtonian is one of the finest telescopes I have ever used. It consistently gives excellent, high contrast images of the planets and is in my opinion, the best telescope on the market for visual lunar and planetary work. The goto is also excellent, and I have now greatly increased the number of variable stars which I monitor simply because the goto is so accurate, finding them now takes moments!

Very sturdy mount that works perfectly with the Star Adventurer, highly recommend. Only down I can give is that it doesn't come with a carry case/bag. One noteworthy point is that I would recommend getting the angled polar scope attachment as you must get down very low to look through the star adventurer polar scope (not a criticism of the tripod though as more height would make the rig unstable)

Excellent guidescope. Replaced my Skywatcher 50ED with this as it grips the guidecam firmly into place and has much better back focus leeway and better fine tune focusing.

I was concerned that my Lunt60 + Badder Zoom EP (3.5Kg) was near to the 4Kg limt for this mount. Fear not, it handels it perfectly. I found the balnce point for my scope BEFORE attaching it to the Solarquest. Switched on and within 90 seconds I was tracking the Sun. A very minor adjustment to bring the Sun to center and 2 hours later it was still spot on. This is a brilllant mount. Thanks Widescreen.

Wonderfully sturdy piece of kit. Paired it with the William Optics Saddle Handle to fit on my !00 ED Pro. Much easier and safer to carry about and better for guide scope placement. As always fantastic communication from The Widescreen Centre and super fast delivery. One happy bunny.

Seems like a lot of cash for a handle but it is so much better for my long 100ED Pro telescope. I paired it with the William Optics DSD mounting plate so I can carry it about safely now. Another benefit is using this pairing the scope rings are straight and I can mount my guide scope better for balancing. Super quick response for my stock query on a Sunday and items were sent out the next day. Fabulous service. Thanks.

I wanted to start Astrophotography and Simon recommended HEQ5 with Rowan upgrade which he installed for me. I am really impressed with this mount. It is really simple to use, sturdy and guides well. Thank you Simon for your advice. I will thoroughly recommend both the mount and The Widescreen Centre.

I have just received the Starsense auto align, thank you so much for your speedy replies and speedy dispatch.
I will bookmark your site and definitely buy from you guys when I need more equipment.
Please feel free to use my comments if you want to show customer feedback and it's 5 stars from me for your service.
Kind regards,
Paul

I found this very easy to fit to my Celestron CGX Equatorial 1100 SCT. I also did not need the extended screws which were to replace the 3 screws you remove to mount the bracket as I used the ones already in place. A tip to make it easier to fit is to use the long allen keys and place them in the holes to make sure the bracket is correctly in place so that you can screw in the screws hassle free.

5" Celestron is viewed like the black sheep - too small to be supported by various accessories. That also applies to the "ZWO EAF Bracket for Celestron". With a bit of L-profile Aluminium and changing the mounting screws of the focusing knob the ZWO got attached to the Optical Tube. I gave a drawing to a friend who created a 13mm tube to 7mm shaft reduction coupling on a 3D printer and the problem was solved.
The ZWO EAF was tested last night and got five stars for the smooth rotation of the focusing knob.
Pros:
(1) Even at the largest magnification or using the CMOS camera with a Barlow x2, the image does not move at all (or flicker) while activating the Hand Controller. While one could hear a slight whirling sound, the OT is perfectly stable.
(2) The Hand Controller is simple, easy to use even in the dark and the two speeds are both useful when changing between eyepieces and camera or when fine-focusing. (3) The 5V power requirement comes very handy, either attached to the laptop that records the images or to the battery bank supplying the laptop and the telescope.
Cons:
(1) The weight of 288 g at about 10cm from the OT puts a bit of momentum but it still worked fine.
(No other cons!)
Good product and very useful when trying to focus without touching the telescope (to prevent the image shaking) or when attempting Astrophotography.

After looking around and reading reviews we decided on this telescope and it didn't disappoint. Solid and very easy to assemble. It's a great way to start learning about the night sky. And it fits in our car! We are very happy with this telescope and highly reccomend it.

We wanted a grab and go first telescope to start stargazing and Simon at The Widescreen Centre had advised on this model. We are really happy with our choice and have already seen the craters on the Moon! Highly recommended as a first telescope.

After talking to Simon I decided on Sky-Watcher Star Discovery P150i as my first telescope and it arrived next day! I was a bit nervous as I am not very technical but this telescope is really easy to put together and use. I have already seen Jupiter and Saturn. Thank you Simon. I will be highly recommending you.

Extremely happy with this highly portable mount. It is very easy to set up and use. Looking forward to giving it a good try with my little William Optics ZS61 on my next holiday. Both the item and The Widescreen Centre service are highly recommended!

Thank you for helping to choose my first telescope. It arrived next day and it's a perfect beginners telescope. I had amazing views of the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter and I am looking forward to seeing more objects. I don't have much storage space so I love it being compact but powerful enough to see details. Just need some clear nights now!

Great beginners telescope which helps you to find your way around the sky! Very easy to set up and The Widescreen Centre have provided me with the adaptors to connect my DSLR. I am more than happy with my purchase and will certainly be back for more purchases.

Compact lightweight telescope, great for attaching to larger scope for wide field 2 - 3 deg guided shots of star clusters/extended nebulae.
Also good for comet watching and rich field sweeps of the milkey way.Perfect for travel use with its own padded bag.

Great gadget, now I can use my Optolong clip filters in the reducer as well. Saves a fortunes upgrading to 2" filters. Speedy dispatch and delivery. Thanks

Certainly makes a difference in bringing out the fainter details in DSO's compared to no filter or my UHC filter. Have to say Elena answered my stock query at lightening speed and it was marked as dispatched within minutes of ordering. Top quality service.

Excellent service I would def shop here again.I am really enjoying the product.The unit takes a bit more care and attention than your average telescope setup but the results and convieence are well worth it!!

I'd been looking for this EQ5 mount for the last week, and was well chuffed when my email was answered yes they are in stock. So put in my order yesterday and it was delivered this morning, fantastic service and help from the staff.

Nice and light, easily fits my DSLR with an adapter. Posted and arrived extremely quick. Thanks

Great piece of kit for attaching a red dot finder to a DSLR. Simple to fix to the camera but extremely sturdy unlike the 3D printed one I had previously. Communication & delivery could not be better. Highly recommended.

Although this focus motor requires considerable care to install it correctly (!), once installed it is very easy to use, especially with the supplied and other software available. No more 'scope judder when you do precise focusing. The absolute focus positions can be recorded and driven to instantly, making the 'scope that much more efficient. This is a must-have accessory.

The optical quality of this reducer is excellent but you *must* take precautions before using it. Once fitted to the OTA there is a 99% chance that it will not come off! Smear some lubricating grease on the reducer threads before fitting. With luck it will then be possible to remove it. Otherwise you may find that it has 'welded' itself to the OTA lock nut. Once locked you are in a new place trying to remove it. Don't go there.

This is a great little scope for its size. Optics are of the highest quality. Very light and portable, easy to set up and use. Planetary details are easily made out with good seeing contitions, Mars polar cap is very distinct when used with a blue filter, some surface detail is also visible. I would highly recommend this scope for a beginner. The only down side is that you will need a dew shield, as the scope isn't supplied with one. I would also recommend getting a power tank, as this scope eats batteries.
All in all, A 5 star product from a 5 star company.

Just arrived (2 day delivery), to replace my torn star party scope coat. Ieave my skywatcher explorer 200 on eq5 pro, out 24/7 pre corona was having a shed put up this month and current cover disintegrated so splashed out on this. Unlike most pictures i've seen of this product it covers my setup (in tube up home position) and goes almost to the ground. Just what i need comes with extra bungee and clips for adding additional security in windy weather. Fantastic

Optically superb, build quality fantastic, small enough to use on a camera tripod with a video head. This scope has really changed my observing habits, I can honestly say that I have used it more times in the last month than I have used my other scope in the last three years, it's just so simple and quick to set up, admittedly this will be the case with any small refractor, but not any small refractor is this good.
I would recommend this scope to anyone, it may seem expensive but you really are getting what you pay for