Educational Insights GeoSafari Vega 600 Telescope for Kids, STEM Learning Ages 8+

This is a great family telescope! It is sturdy yet lightweight and great for use with kids, but attractive enough to reside in my living/dining room for stargazing indoors during the winter months. Set up was very easy - my kids (ages 6 and 8) barely needed the directions. Even my 3 year old figured out where the lenses went. The finder scope was a little tricky to set up, but now that we have it in just the right place it makes finding things much easier. The focus adjustment knobs are quite smooth. You do have to be careful while looking through the eye piece. Because the telescope is lightweight, it is easy to move or shake while looking and you could lose the image you were searching for and have to re-align. After reading several reviews on this product, I was very nervous about the tripod, but it seems the tripod must have been improved because we have not had any problems with the tripod. It is sturdy and is easily adjusted. Overall this is a wonderful telescope!

My seven year old son and I used this telescope to look at the moon and stars. He loved it as did I!

My son in law set it up for his 7 year old. They could see Jupiter but it was a little hazy so think it will work fine for what they need. Had a little trouble setting it up.

This product was nicely packaged and was ready to go out of the box with only a few steps required. Assembly took very little time for me and as the age recommendation is 8 and up (my kids are a little younger but I want to get them started), I could easily see how kids would have no problem (and would even enjoy) selecting and tightening all the pieces. One suggestion here would be to add a small bag (perhaps to tether to the tripod) which could hold the other pieces not in use while keeping them close enough to switch out. Here's the tricky part...the telescope and tripod are lightweight which is great for kids, but at the same time troublesome because the slightest tap knocks the alignment out of whack which can be frustrating for impatient, young scientists. However, I believe this is a good starter telescope and my girls are enjoying exploring the night sky (when Los Angeles' climate allows). :)

I have always worried about getting a telescope for my son. I was worried that it would be too heavy or cumbersome. I was worried that it would be hard to put together. I was worried that he would not be able to handle it because it would break easily. This telescope was the perfect thing to change my mind! The Vega comes with incredibly simple directions to follow for assembly. I was able to put it all together by myself in about 10 minutes. The directions were both clearly written and illustrated. The telescope is remarkably light and easy to adjust and handle. My 10 year old is able to adjust the tripod very easily on his own and can take the telescope outside at night with no problems carrying it. The other nice thing about this piece is that it comes with 2 different lenses so that you can try out different magnifications. It also comes with an attachment that allows for terrestrial (land) viewing as opposed to exploring the skies. My son has really enjoyed using this on clear evenings to view the constellations. Overall, this is a great quality piece for the price.

I received this product as a sample in exchange for my honest review. My husband was able to set up the telescope easily, and it worked well. No issues with the tripod either as some people have noted. My in-laws have a much heavier (and expensive) telescope in their living room. While this one can't see as far, for the price point difference this strikes me as a good deal if you are looking for a simple way to get children into astronomy.

I think its a great things for kids but its just hard to look into.

It's really light and it works just fine but can be an awful lot better but my kids really liked it, has a little stand for it and easy to set up

I'm very frustrated right now about this. My son really enjoyed this telescope but he put a little too much pressure on the tripod one time and the plastic piece that holds the 3 support arms in the middle at the bottom of the tripod broke. I called customer support to try to order a replacement piece to fix it or even a new tripod and they said they don't sell any replacement parts for this and had absolutely no suggestions for how I might fix it or get it fixed. So I now have a $90 telescope that is unusable because a chinsey piece of plastic broke on the tripod and I have no way to fix it. If you're not going to sell replacement parts or even offer any helpful advice for getting a part fixed then don't use cheap plastic parts for a kid's telescope! Seriously how much more would it have cost to make that tiny piece a little more duarable? Now if I want to salvage this telescope I'm going to have spend a bunch of my time trying to figure out how to either repair or replace the tripod. Thanks for nothing there, Educational Insights.

I expected more.l can see just as well with my cheap binacurlas