Celestron EdgeHD 11" Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) (91050-XLT)

Celestron Edge HD 11” OTA

I purchased an 11” Edge HD OTA about 2 months ago from All-Star. I’ll share my experience with you. The scope arrived in good condition, a couple of days after it shipped. The packing is hard foam and form fitting for the scope. All the accessories arrived as expected. I asked for the 10mm eyepiece instead of the 23 mm eyepiece usually included with the purchase price as I already own a Celestron Axiom 23 mm eyepiece and All-Star accommodated my needs. At 28 lbs the OTA is easy to transport and mount. I have had some time to assess the performance of the scope now although summer night skies are bright here and my home has Bortle 7 suburban skies at the best of times. There have been a half dozen nights with fair to average seeing and considering these limitations the scope performs well. The scope was well collimated upon arrival and remains well collimated after 2 months of use. The focusing mechanism is smooth and consistent throughout the range. For imaging the mirror locking mechanism works well. I have not experienced any mirror shift when slewing across the meridian. Star images are bright and colours are well represented. NGC 6826 the blinking planetary is sky blue, the central star is bright, Alberio is yellow and royal blue, 61 Cygni is golden and Eta Cass’s red dwarf companion is a dusky red. Resolution is as expected for an 11” SCT. With average seeing the closer double double epsilon Lyrae at 2.1” is an easy split at 215x.The bright star field of open cluster M39 is rich and the homogeneous dim open cluster NGC 6811 in Cygnus fills the field with star dust. The Celestron Axion and Luminos 23 mm and 10 mm eyepieces perform well. They compare very favourably with my gold standard TV Ethos 21 mmm eyepiece. The 82° apparent field is spacious and comfortable for viewing. Eye relief is comfortable for eyeglass wearers. Stars are sharp almost to the field stop. Images are contrasty and challenge the views with the Televue eyepiece. All in all, the scope is a keeper, easy for every day use. Ill look forward to testing it under dark skies!