enjoy it, See clearly and great magnification.

I have a Nexstar 103 SLT computerized refractor telescope and to me the 1,2,or 3 star alignment sucks. You have to be a contortionist to be able to look at anything through it and half the time I had trouble with aligning it. I saved all the money for the CPC 800 XLT and was like a kid on Christmas Day when it arrived. It has been raining here in Oregon for 4 months and seeing the sky is hit or miss.The Moon peaked out of the clouds and I had my Canon T5i mounted to the visual back and got some decent pics of the Moon. I've heard people whining that it is too heavy;BS! It is well made and the reason it is heavy is because it isn't plastic. It is well constructed and the optics are very good. I am 63 years old and have a partially paralyzed right arm and I can set it up in less than 5 minutes. I highly recommend this scope and combined with the wi-fi adapter from Celestron and the free Skyportal app, a 6 year old could get it up and running in less than 10 minutes. My only regret is that I didn't have enough cash to get the 11" scope. Good scope, Good Price. That's all I got to say about that.

Delivered on time, in good shape the telescope was FAR heavier than I'd imagined. Anxious to set it someplace useful.

Your own personal backyard Griffith Observatory. The only thing better than this is the Hubble itself! The GPS alignment feature makes it easy to get up and viewing. It's very big and pretty heavy. You need a good size vehicle to move this telescope if you plan on transporting. Database is sufficient to view anything you would want. It doesn't have built-in wifi which is a downer. A little pricey but could be used as a good entry telescope. I have really enjoyed this and anyone who looks into it is amazed.

Note: my review is for the CPC 800, since the reviews on this page seem to be a combination of 800, 925, and 1100 reviews. Also, I should point out that I'm an amateur with limited experience, and this is my first "real" telescope purchase. So I'll start with a few words of advice up front to help anyone who might be new and unsure of what to buy. First of all, if you are telescope shopping and are considering this scope, DEFINITELY consider the fact that it is big and heavy. The scope is about 40 lbs, and the tripod is about 20. I don't have any trouble carrying it around by myself, and it has well-placed carrying handles that make it easy, so that's no issue. But it is certainly not a telescope that you can just pick up and go stargazing with on a moment's notice. It takes time and effort to set up, and that can be a disadvantage if you get a "spur of the moment" urge to use it! You should also know that it doesn't hide away in a tiny corner of the closet (or your car, for that matter), so you'll need some space to store it and transport it.

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way... All I can say is that I absolutely love this telescope. The quality of the scope and tripod are evident in the size and weight alone. I've used it many times already, and have no complaints whatsoever, aside from wishing I had a better yard and less light pollution! I've had no trouble doing alignments, and have even aligned it using the moon, Jupiter, and Sirius when they were all in the same general area in the sky. (The manual recommends that you align using objects that are as far apart as possible). Once aligned, the goto feature works extremely well, although there are times when the object doesn't center perfectly. I'm guessing that this may be because I align using objects that are close together in the sky. Unfortunately, my viewing area (so far) hasn't allowed me to use widely spaced celestial objects for alignment, but I will update my review later, if necessary.

The hand control is fairly easy to use, and the layout of the buttons is easy to get used to. The display is a bit dim, but not uncomfortably so. It's nice to be able to choose between deep sky objects, named stars, planets, and even a sky tour with just a touch of a button and some scrolling. That means that you don't have to be an expert on constellations and star names, and can get right to viewing. And the view from this scope is outstanding, even in my light-polluted back yard.

When I was researching telescopes, I didn't know much about eyepieces, so I'll offer my own opinions in case you're new to this too. When I bought my telescope, I also bought the Celestron two-inch eyepiece kit. In hindsight, it was a good move, and the 2" size is amazing. The CPC800 includes a 1.25" diagonal and a single 1.25" plossl eyepiece. If I hadn't ordered the EP kit at the time I purchased the scope, I KNOW that I would have been very impatient to try different magnifications. The view from the included EP is fine, but having more options is something you'll want right from the start. I definitely recommend purchasing an eyepiece kit (or separate eyepieces, if your budget allows) along with the scope. To be honest, the Celestron kit doesn't really include any "higher" magnification EPs, so I had to order a 10mm EP after a few weeks of using the lenses in the kit. SO... if you are a first-time buyer like I was, the 2" kit is a good start (it has 26mm, 32mm, and 40mm EPs, which give you 75x, 62x, and 50x magnification), plus a barlow lens that doubles the magnification of each lens. It also includes several color filters. It doesn't come with a moon filter though, so you might want to add one, because the moon is a target you'll go to a lot. I bought a 10mm (200x magnification) EP, and plan to add a 17mm and 13mm EP at some point. I may consider a higher power lens (like an 8 or 5mm), but I don't think there will be much use for such high magnification, so it's not a pressing concern.

As other reviewers mentioned, the scope does NOT come with a power cord (which seems a bit odd), so you'll need one of those, or a power tank. I bought the smaller Celestron powertank, and couldn't be happier. It's a must-have if you plan to take the scope to the country for clear, dark skies and don't want to drain your car battery. To be honest, I've never even used the AC power cord, even though I've only used my scope at home so far. If I could do it over, I might not even bother buying it. The powertank is easy to use, and has built-in flashlights, so there's really no point running an extension cord to use the power cord.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with this telescope, and highly recommend it if you are prepared for the size, weight, and time it takes to set up. There is definitely something to be said for a scope that you can carry and set up in a few minutes, but that's really the only drawback of owning a larger telescope like this. The quality of the images you'll see more than makes up for the "longer" setup time. I am glad that I made this purchase, and would do it again in a heartbeat!