Sky-Watcher Virtuoso GTi 130P (S21210)

Great telescope at a great price point.

When looking for a good telescope for myself and my children to use together so that I could teach the fundamentals of astronomy, through my research I opted for the Sky-Watcher 130 GTi-130P. Factoring into my decision was where I live - it is dark and the skies provide a great view and a wonderful opportunity to capture the light of the stars and planets. We have not been disappointed in the performance of the telescope and has exceeded my expectations for both planet viewing and viewing some deep space objects (recently, I managed to view the Ghost of Jupiter by luck). The star to the telescope, no pun intended, is the GoTo mount which makes tracking and following stars a breeze with my children. If you are tech and app savvy you can connect to Sky Safari Pro to use to find planets. The option I like is that you can manually use it and it won't lose your position when it has been aligned. The eyepieces are adequate, but that is where any buyer should know that stock eye pieces with a telescope often need to be upgraded, and I would say the same (you don't need an arsenal of eye pieces but money is well spend an couple of good ones and with the odd eye filter to help get the views you are desiring). Even though one telescope isn't going to do everything, I have found in observing both planets and some deep space objects, it has preformed admirably and reliably. I believe this a great starter telescope for families, but also for experienced stargazers looking for a lighter unit that performs well. The only thing I wish I did was order the 150mm for the extra $50, however, I am still impressed with this unit. I have also taken photos with this unit (Newtonians aren't know for their quality photos), however, if you are handy with a phone camera and understand imaging and zoom, one advantage of this telescope is it's retractable future which allows you to do some decent photographs by manually zooming images (although I would always suggest using a dedicated set up if you are a serious astrophotography). I used my Google Pixel 8 with this telescope and it has worked quite well (Google has an astrophotography mode and the fast focal ratio of the telescope doesn't seem to have given it any problems). At any rate, bravo to Sky-Watcher helping the next generations experience the cosmos at an excellent price point with a quality product.