Geosafari Omega Reflector Telescope Review

Recently I received the Geosafari Omega Reflector Telescope from Educational Insights. As a teacher certified in K-6 with a Master of Education in Elementary Education, I expressed interest in reviewing the product. Gazing at the stars with a telescope fit wonderfully in a lesson I was planning for my homeschooled 4 year old daughter. When Valentine’s Day came, I wanted my family to examine the full moon on February 14, 2014. While studying the sky, I realized that using a telescope required practice and research to use the product most effectively.

Samantha enjoyed her reflector telescope.

Review of the Reflector Telescope

When the telescope arrived, the product came unassembled with the parts in boxes and a bag full of screws and eyepieces. I assembled the product. I appreciated that assembly didn’t require me to have my husband put the product together because he had other things to do. Assembly was pretty simple. I put the product together myself with a little help from my daughter.

After putting the product together, I eagerly tried looking through various parts of the telescope hoping to easily figure out how to use the product. I found a couple helpful websites. The article “How to Enjoy Your New Telescope: Advice for Beginner Skywatchers” gave some good information, as did the article“Starting to Use Your Telescope.” I found the information in the pamphlet that came with the product helpful too. Learning how to use a telescope was more difficult than I thought it would be. I had to learn where objects in the sky were located as I learned how to choose the right eyepiece. I also compared the new telescope to the other, smaller telescope, which was actually more of a moonscope, that we received earlier this year. My daughter looked through both to compare what she could see.

I took a photo of the icicles outside on a snowy day through the telescope.

Because I was trying the product during some of the coldest winter days in January, I had one warm night to try the product outside. The moon was nowhere to be seen. I assumed there was a new moon or that the moon was hiding behind my house. Finding an object to focus on and focusing the eyepiece proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. I feel that I would have needed to gain more of a sense of where the planets were in the sky to have more luck with star gazing. I was able to get some neat views of the icicles in the telescope, which I photographed on my cell phone.

While familiarizing myself with the product, I practiced focusing on indoor and outdoor objects during the daytime without looking at or near the sun. When I practiced using the telescope outdoors on a sunny day, I was very happy with how the eyepieces worked. I gained a sense of how much the eyepieces magnified objects. I liked the accessory tray on the tripod, which helped me stay organized.

I found the product enjoyable to use. Eyepieces worked well. When the tripod was lowered, the product was very sturdy and had a height that was great for my daughter. I liked that I could raise the tripod for an adult’s height to make viewing the sky easier. In the future, I would wholeheartedly recommend the product for its educational value as well as its quality.

To buy the product, visit the company’s website.