http://www.gadgetspeak.com/review/ALDI_Telescope-870688.html

ALDI National Geographic Telescope 

Image of author
This is described as a telescope for both sun and moon observation. However as most will know you should NEVER look directly at the sun so this telescope tracks things via your SmartPhone attached to the side of the telescope.

aldo national geographic telescope
click image to enlarge

A couple of times a year I get the chance to tell you about special offers being run by ALDI and as always these tend to last only a few days they in fact often sell out sooner than that. I have permission to tell you a day or so in advance so you get the chance to get there on the first day. If that is not possible then you can purchase from them online in advance of the store sale day but be warned online stock often sells out before the day.

If this is going to be a present for a younger person I would suggest some work in advance to assemble it as although the main unit is in one piece there are a number of attachments which include assembling the three tripod legs.

Mine arrived with the sun filter attached and as it was a sealed unit I assume yours will to but if used for day time use then it is vital this remains in place, you only get the pair of eyes you were born with so don’t mess with them they are not replaceable.

This is a Newton reflector solar telescope, it has a fork mount (this means the tripod ends in points), the internal mirror is 76mm and the minimum focal length is 350mm. The magnification possible is between 18x and 175x, it has a 2x Barlow lens. There are two eyepieces 4mm and 20mm.

Images can be captured using your SmartPhone and astronomy software can be downloaded from a link provided in the Instruction Manual. A mount for your SmartPhone is supplied that should hold the vast majority of phones safely.

The unit comes with a three year warranty.

The manual is A5 and has six sides of part description, location hints and what National Geographic call ‘Telescope ABC’ as well as a small list of sample objects for observation.

As this is not a toy no age guidance is given, I suspect a lot of these will be purchased as presents if for a child then as suggested above certainly only use with supervision until you are sure they know the consequences of looking directly at the sun.

At this time of year a frosty night is nearly always a clear night and with the basic guide in the ‘Telescope ABC’ will set you on the path to finding the more obvious stars, the recent large full moon was largely not there as it was cloudy surely the one thing that anyone looking into the sky to see planets and stars does not want.

On occasions when the sky was clear I managed to get some views that you would not get with the naked eye.

The children that tried it liked it but let me again bang on about keeping to the rules and never look directly at the sun.

The Aldi Telescope will be available in their stores on THURSDAY 24th November 2016 at £49.99,  you can pre order from their site now.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/solar-filter-telescope/p/093993080218800

Follow us on Twitter!!

add to del.icio.us Digg this review
StumbleUpon
Reddit

What our readers said!

Rating:

Comment by eidu, 1 Aug 2019 11:47


google

[url="https://www.google.com/"]google[/url]

[url=https://www.google.com/]google[/url]
Rating:

Comment by Viv, 24 Jul 2019 0:04

Is this telescope -Aldi's national Geographic 76/700 OK just to look for whales etc?  We live near the ocean.

Comments are switched off for this article

Smiley Rating

Features12
Performance12
Value12
Ease of use12
Design12
OverallALDI Telescope rated 76 out of 100

If you like this article then why not link to it from your site!

Use a text link, or download an image

 

Our current Free Prizedraw!!

Why join GadgetSpeak?

Well - there are lots of reasons to join, depending on you and your interests :

  • Member prize-draws
  • Real reviews - by real people
  • Membership is free
  • Email summary of the weeks reviews
  • Share your product feedback with others
  • Keep in touch with all that's new in gadgets
  • Full of great ideas as the Christmas deadline looms!

Convinced? Come along and join in the fun!

close

Invite friends and family to GadgetSpeak

Why not invite friends or family to join in the fun?

Help us make GadgetSpeak the place to come for free and impartial reviews of the latest gadgets!

Start inviting your friends along!