Review on Coleman AT70 AstroWatch Refractor Telescope by Steven Stager

I bought a Coleman Astrowatch 400x70 watch from another seller but as I buy a lot of Revain I wanted to post the information here for others considering a purchase could. If I had bought it from Revane, he would have been back long ago. Just because I had telescope gear in stock I was able to modify it a bit so it now works great for my purposes, but unless you're willing to put in some effort (and maybe a few bucks) to fix its major drawback, stay away ! Here are the details for those who have reason to think about it anyway. The problem with this scope that most buyers will find insurmountable is that its shiny black metal fin aluminum tube is too short, about an inch or more. As well as a 1-1/4" plastic focuser. As a result, the longer of the two included Kellner eyepieces (20mm) CANNOT be focused, even at infinity, unless the eyepiece's eyepiece hangs about 1/2 "To 5/8" from full insertion. The second, shorter eyepiece (9 mm, also Kellner) focuses to infinity, but only to the last point when the eyepiece is fully extended. When delivered, the visor for ground observation is in less than totally useless at a mile away, and only the shorter eyepiece can focus on astronomical objects, however, I ended up with a longer and better focuser that plugged directly into the tube, allowing the scope to be used as a wide angle finder/scope for my much larger main scope This huge design flaw is a shame as otherwise the product works very well.It comes with 1-1/4" eyepieces instead of the usual .965" eyepieces efert, and they're the waiter design rather than the inferior Huygens design that's more common in this price range. They have a plastic top and the markings on them are cast black on black so they can't be seen in low light, but they have chromed metal tubes that are blackened and threaded for filters, and their optical performance (in my other telescopes) is very good. The achromatic 70mm main lens is housed in a plastic cell, but it also delivers great images with a focusing eyepiece. The dew guard is plastic but very strong and longer than the guard supplied by Celestron with their Travelscope product. The optical tube is blackened on the inside, but has no gaps; There is an inner reflection. As is usual in this price range, the tripod is a piece of cheap junk, but the scope has a sturdy hard plastic mounting block with three 1/4-20 threaded brass inserts, so it mounts nicely to a real tripod. The scope of the viewfinder is pretty terrible, but it can be used. Since I modified it, I would rate it four stars. But I don't think it will ever be necessary to tinker with a brand new product to make it work, so a one star rating is my only choice.