I purchased the AM130EQ with full knowledge of its' capabilities and limitations. This is a budget telescope for those like me who have probably never seen Saturn's rings or Jupiter moons etc. For the price paid, I am very satisfied with the amazing views I have been dished for the last 3-4 days. To list I could see Jupiters bands, its' orange color and its four primary moons. Moon craters are very clear and watching them on a crescent moon made for an breathtaking sight. Today, I saw Saturn, its' rings and two of its' moons Titan and lapetus. Saturn did not exhibit any specific coloration though. Besides this, I have also been observing (sweeps) the sky around Sirius, Orion, Leo and I am astounded by what the telescope can see, especially in the light and air polluted skies of Mumbai.

I am still on my first week and haven't purchased any AX yet, but the two EPs provided by Celestron along with the AM130EQ have been more than adequate to satiate my desire for great views. I do plan to buy the Celestron Kit / Barlows / EPs / Collimator / Finderscope soon.

Now a few tips for those in India, especially Mumbai. Polar Alignment is a must. This scope is NOT a binocular, and hence should never be used without proper alignment, not unless you love to explore the virtues of frustration. I made that mistake, and spent a good 5-10 mins finding the moon, it was just hopeless given the EQ mount, nothing is predictable unless aligned. Second, you don't need to actually see the polaris, just know where North is and assume a 18-20 degree inclination. Third, the star-pointer should be renamed as star-vicinity-pointer. Do not make the mistake of assuming it'll take you to a star or an object in the sky, instead it'll take you in its vicinity and you should be able to view the target object within a few sweeps. I am easily able to find bright objects this way, I have not tried this technique on DSOs which are not apparent to the naked eye.

Lastly, the tripod shakes, yes. Its' best to keep its' legs unextended. That way, the eyepiece align to your eye-height in the sitting position (practical isn't it?). Also unrelated to this product, but to save yourself some frustration do download & install Stellarium a must-have if you wish to have a targetted sky-exploration.

Hope this was helpful.

Edit: Please buy a 25 or upwards plossl eyepiece, doing so will eliminate a lot of your frustration with the star dot finder. Think of it as the best finderscope for your telescope.

Very Good Telescope for beginners!
Yes, that's what I will comment about this telescope after using it for 5-6 nights as of now.
I ordered it on Amazon.in from Photo Vatika seller for Rs. 12800 and very next day it was made available for Rs. 12000 by Whiterabbit. Hard luck....

Received the package, mind you, a heavy one weighing 16kg within 5-6 days after ordering, although there was no tracking info available and still the order status shows as "dispatched" after 6 days of delivery!

Packaging was good but not very good considering the fragile items.

It took me around 30 mins to assemble the telescope at the first time. Afterwards it wasn't more than 5-8 mins. However it took me 2 nights i.e. almost 6-7 hrs each night to locate any thing in this scope, thanks to the screwed secondary mirror alignment. Then I read about the collimating the scope and adjusted both the mirrors as stated in the guide. However, the secondary mirror has a habit of going mis-aligned every now & then after each big movement of the main tube. We have to ensure its in place by removing the eye piece and pointing the tube towards a bright light source.

Finally on the 3rd night, we were able to view the Jupiter and its moons as tiny circles using the 10mm eye piece. The star finder is very difficult to use and still I am not confident about its focusing in the right direction. Since right now we are approaching towards the New Moon, the Moon is not in the sky till 4am.... I managed to wake up on the cold morning at 5am and pointed it towards the 1/4th Moon....and whoa.... At that point I felt like I am watching the Moon from a very near distance with amazing clarity of the surface. On the same morning, we manage to locate Saturn and Mars and several other stars locating them using my Samsung Note and Google Night Sky application and then pointing the Telescope! I found this method very fast...

However, to see our other planets excluding Moon in little more bigger size or like Moon, I think we need a different, more powerful eye piece.

I have been dreaming to buy a basic yet powerful telescope and I think I made a right choice. Though the accessories provided as 10 mm and 20 mm eye piece are good but not great. I had read through the manual once before opening and assembling it for the first time - it did not take significant time to assemble for me.

Pros:
Good Value for money(got it for 13.5k INR)
Powerful for terrestrial viewing

Cons:
Star finder is not so helpful in city, but may be away from city you could use it better

I am happy with its performance so far, but yes accessories needs upgradation. Also, lot of people complained about the tripod, however I did not face any problem so far.

Very balanced for a Newtonian mount. And for some who are wondering about the camera mount, there is not standard mount for camera although there is workaround that you put camera on top of eyepiece and set ISO, color definition as per your need. And, yes you can see all planets, orion nebula etc. But you cannot see same at metropolitan city due to highly light pollution. For observing orion nebula or even planet Uranus you may have go to some remote area. And for those who want light weighted and much portable telescope then please do NOT buy this as this is around 20kg weight and for those who really want to learn serious astronomy and astrophotography as amateur, I will recommend to go for this.
It doesn't much matter that what should be the configuration of telescope for observation (but it matters in balancing, coordination), for visibility of observation only eyepiece matter. The expensive eyepiece you buy, the more visible,sharp and clear observation you can achieve. 20mm and 10mm come from same product and as for beginner these eyepiece will do just fine.
I got this product in 3 days and in very nice offer, thanks to Amazon.

i bought this scope after a lot of research and with a strong belief that a 5 inch scope would gather more light and offer the best view of the heavens....can't complain about the details on the moon. it was pretty amazing.

i also tested it for terrestrial viewing using the provided 20 mm erecting eyepiece and I must say it was pretty impressive. Got a pigeon that was at least 300 mt away and could see it's feathers in brilliant detail, too many trees near my home limit the view this should be capable off. I'm not able to see the planets yet, i'm guessing it's the collimation is off way too much and the 130 EQ as I hear can be unforgiving if the collimation is not perfect.

The product itself feels premium and the setup was quite simple. i downloaded a youtube video to guide me through. The manual however skips the step of attaching the mounting ring.

love what i got for my scope. Bug the EQ mount seems hard to tame though, I hate the fact that it's not stable at times and when i want to make some minor adjustment to get the tiny mars/jupiter in view!

I ordered this product on 11th December and receive on 15th December one day before the planned delivery.I am very happy with the product.Whole shipment was properly secure and nicely packed.I have no complaint regarding the product quality and shipment.Its amazing telescope and results are very crisp.Till yet I have seen Jupiter with all its 4 moons,I couldn't get an opportunity to see moon because of late rise and cold nights.But I am very sure and excited about the experience.
I am highly fascinated to buy some accessories and extra high power eye pieces and T-adptor to connect my DSLR and capture some beautiful pictures.This will help to fulfill my dreams of astrophotography.
I will highly recommend this product to everyone who are looking for serious but not very expensive Telescope I am sure you will not be disappointed .
Now I am looking for some wonderful experience and nice views of Universe.
Best
Dr Surendra Pal Chaudhary
AIIMS,New Delhi

Yesterday I received my pakage from amazon,the delivery is very prior to the sheduled date thanku amazon.Celestron astro master 130eq, the product is good and as described.The mount is a bit shaking,and star pointer needs some alignment and will take some time to make familiar with it.yesterday i have a chance to watch moon and jupiter exllent view.But troubled to focus certain dsps nedds some patience ofcourse.Tomarrow i will try again.After all a great product at the price tag.

The Celestron AstroMaster is an amazing Telescope. I am a beginner in star gazing and this is my first telescope.
I was able to view our Moon very clearly and upclose. I was able to see the craters of the moon.
Jupiter and its moon were also visible.

Its a Five star from me.

Thank you Amazon.

Nice overall telescope but the finderscope is not easy to use. The equatorial mount is great and though this is my first telescope i could focus moon, few planets as well as a double star within a few days.

Quite heavy that keeps it stable. The tripod is also good. Was able to clearly see the moon. Not tried other planets yet. Planning to buy the accessory kit.