Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit Review

The Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit is a specially designed telescope for advanced moon viewings from the highly respected telescope brand Orion. The Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit contains both the Orion GoScope II and several moon filters for the telescope, allowing you to see and photograph celestial bodies and especially the moon in wonderful detail. Not only will your images of the night sky be breath-taking with the Orion GoScope II 70 mm Refractor Travel Telescope, but your astrophotography skills will also impress anyone, even if you’re only a beginner astronomer and this is still quite an affordable telescope. Even more, the fact that we’re talking about a travel telescope means that it’s easy to carry around for trips out of town, in search of the best sky-watching spot.

Despite the increasing interest in stargazing that recent phenomena such as high-resolution space photography and social media firebrand and astronomer Chris Hadfield have incited, watching the cosmos remains a mostly passive activity. Space images released by NASA or the ESA are constantly among the most shared and viewed on social networks, yet very few people actually take the initiative to get a telescope and point it wherever they wish on the night sky, taking their own snapshots and seeing the celestial bodies first hand. This situation stems from the idea that one is in need of expensive, high-tech equipment and years of obscure knowledge in order to engage in astronomy, a notion that is plain out false. The misconception is particularly sad considering that Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit exists.

Not only is this one of the least expensive of the Orion telescopes, it’s also particularly easy to use, easy to transport and comes with the Orion Moon Kit, comprised of moon filters and the Orion Moon Map 260, that actively encourages you to use it to explore Earth’s natural satellite.

(Click image to see more pictures on Amazon)

What is the Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit?

This 70mm ultra-light, easy to carry telescope has a 400mm focal length and comes with 5×24 finder scope, as well as two 1.25 inch eyepieces, 25mm and 10mm respectively. The fact that it comes with an aluminium tripod and a specially-designed backpack that fits all the components inside clearly shows that the design that the producers had in mind was one specifically fit for ease of travel.

Furthermore, every Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope review raves about how incredibly easy to use it is, even for somebody with no experience whatsoever in setting up and manoeuvring a refractor telescope. It’s powerful enough to serve as a good astronomy tool, but it just as easily be used in all sorts of terrestrial observation activities, such as wildlife spotting.

Pros and Cons to Using the Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit

PROS:

• Light and ready to go. It’s immediately clear why the Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope is one of the best travel telescopes out there. It’s really light, with the tripod made out of aluminium, it’s easy to pack in a backpack that is small enough to seem that it is accommodating a laptop and it’s really easy to set up whenever you feel like it.
• It’s really cheap. For $89.99 you’re getting a hell of a tool. You can use it at home or it can become a constant part of your travelling luggage for the price one might expect to pay for a single meal in certain holiday destinations.
• It goes out of its way to make the owner use it. So many refractor travel telescopes end up being bought and never used, but, as any Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit review will show you, the Moon Kit and the ease of use is really working towards making people genuinely enthusiastic about sky watching.
• Really good optics for the price range. While the moon is clearly the star of the show when you’re using this product, what the Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope price isn’t telling you is that it can be used really well to observe the entire solar system and beyond, with some of the brighter deep space objects being visible under the right conditions.

CONS:

• Lacks manual. One of the only Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm downsides is that it is so self-aware of ease with which it can be used, that it goes full on and ditches the user manual completely. While one is not particularly needed, someone who is both a complete novice and lacks the patience to do a basic Google search might be displeased by this.

(Click image to see more pictures on Amazon)

Where to Find the Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit?

The Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit price is only $89.99 and is available from Amazon, where it comes as a complete package. You best chance is to buy it online, unless you already frequent the sort of shop where it might be on sale.

Extra Info:

Maintenance Advice

The great thing about the fact that it comes with the backpack as a mean of transportation is that you don’t need to worry about improper ways of storing it and transporting it. Other than that, the usual common sense rules of maintenance apply, such as using a soft piece of cloth to wipe the lens and making sure you store it in a dry place, where it is unlikely to get crushed or stepped on.

Telescope Accessories

The telescope comes alongside the Orion Moon Map 260, an item that costs $12.99 if bought separately, and which does not accompany all Orion telescopes for sale, making this quite a deal. Furthermore, the backpack might sound a given, but many travel telescopes for sale do not put so much effort into making the method of carrying it as easy as this. Both items add actual value to the package, rather than being simple gimmicks.

In addition, it’s also possible to purchase separately the Orion 05662 1.25-Inch 13 Percent Transmission Moon Filter which will prove quite important if you will spend much time glaring at the Moon rather than star watching. A set of Orion 08711 Shorty 1.25-Inch 2x Barlow Lens is also available as an additional accessory, but its price is around 60% of what the telescope alone costs, making it a dubious investment at best.

Warranty and Guarantee Information

There is no definite information on warranty, with different vendors mentioning different things. If you are genuinely interested in knowing more about it, contacting Orion will probably offer you the answer.

Our Recommendation

The Orion 10034 GoScope II 70mm Refractor Travel Telescope Moon Kit is one of the best Orion telescopes in regards to value for money, and is a great tool for travelling and outdoors activities. It’s light, easy to use and doesn’t require extensive knowledge of either telescopes or astronomy. These features are making it good candidate for the telescope that popularizes the science and turns looking at stars from a passive activity mediated by the computer screen to a fun, outdoorsy activity that will make your outings special.

(See more product details and prices on Amazon)