The Celestron 21035/21038 Travel Scope is another great astronomy and terrestrial telescope from Celestron that has portability and ease of use as the main features. It’s a compact refractor telescope that is available in two models, the 50mm (the 21038 model) and the 70mm (the 21035 model). Although there is a price difference between the two models, with the 50mm one being obviously slightly cheaper, we’ve come to the conclusion that the 70mm model is well worth the additional dollars in the price and as the images are much clearer and better overall. In the text that follows we’ll be focusing on the 21035 model. Worth noting that part of this Travel Scope Series are also the following telescopes: the newer DX models Travel Scope 60DX and Travel Scope 70DX and the other popular one the Travel Scope 80. You’ll find a comparison table below.
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Celestron Travel Scope 70 Review Card
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Manufacturer - 9.9/10
9.9/10
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Optics - 9/10
9/10
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Value - 9.5/10
9.5/10
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Portability - 10/10
10/10
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Mount - 9.2/10
9.2/10
Summary
This telescope has been a bestseller for Celestron for years now. When talking about a telescope just under the $100 mark it’s easy to understand why it’s a market favorite given the included backpack and smartphone adapter as well as a sturdy enough tripod.
Pros
- Crisp images of the moon and planets. Jupiter’s ring and moons are visible.
- Backpack included
- Lightweight which makes it one of the most portable telescopes on the market
- Smartphone adapter for digiscoping inluded
- Versatile with terrestrial viewing capabilities
Cons
- Not overly powerful for deep sky objects viewing
Comparison Table for all Travel Scope Models
What’s in the box
- Optical tube
- Mount and tripod (preassembled)
- 20mm and 10mm eyepiece
- 45° erect image diagonal
- 5×24 finderscope
- SkyPortal app
- Celestron’s Starry Night Basic Edition Software
- Manual
- Backpack to store scope and accessories
The Celestron travel scope comes with a backpack for both it’s models the 50mm and the 70mm one. The backpack is padded and as it’s custom created for this telescope, all the components and accessories along with the tripod and the telescope it’s self fit perfectly.
As we’ve mentioned besides the backpack case the set also includes a full size aluminium photographic tripod which turned out to be very stable (considering the light weight nature of the tripod and telescope which would make it a difficult for the tripod to be as reliable as with other telescopes) and especially useful for taking amazing photos. The other accessories consist of the two eye pieces (20mm one for a 20x magnification and a 10mm one for a 40x maginification) and a 45 degree correct image prism. And last but not least, Celestron includes a copy of The Sky X software which was contains a database of over 10,000 objects and printable sky maps (which can be very helpful if your new to astronomy).
Mount & Tripod
The mount for this telescope and in fact for the entire Travel Scope series is the manual alt azimuth mount type. It’s easy to handle and works ok on the tripod. And speaking of the tripod with it’s help you can adjust the height of the telescope anywhere from 22″ to about 46″.
Correct Image Prism
One additional accessory which I’m happy Celestron included in the package is the erect image prism.
When you look through a refractor telescope without such a prism you see the image upside down. Now, when viewing celestial objects it’s not such a big deal with a few exceptions but when viewing terrestrial objects it becomes a problem. So by having this accessory, this telescope is ready to be used on your next trip for all kinds of terrestrial viewing as well.
Overall I would rate the tripod as a nice thing to add to this beginner package. However I can’t rate it very high in terms of sturdiness. Weighing just 1.8lbs (0.81kg) it’s hard to expect more. It’s again a compromise for maximum portability.
The Celestron Travel Scope strong points:
With the total kit weighing just 3.3 lbs (1.5 kg) the entire set is very portable and you can take it with you anywhere and expect great optics and views. The backpack fits perfectly and gets full marks. The altazimuth mount ensures an easy and smooth movement which is important not only when tracking object but also when you keep following them (in the case of stellar objects).
Then another strong point is the fact that it’s easy to setup and easy to use. Which makes it an ideal gift for a pre-teenager.
The Celestron Travel Scope weak points:
At first there weren’t any obvious weak points for this telescope given it’s dimensions and price range. We feared that the tripod would be just a too light and not sturdy enough as that can be a problem with even higher priced telescopes, but it did act very well. The thing that could have been improved was the finder scope that gives this telescope a nicer look similar to higher priced telescopes, but overall it’s all that useful.
Overall this is a pocket rocket telescope that delivers on it’s promises having great crystal clear optics and score high on the portability scale. As a first budget telescope this is one of the best options available.
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Technical Specifications
The actual numbers for the Travel Scope 70 Model 21035.
| Built | Refractor |
| Aperture | 70mm(2.8″) |
| Focal Length | 400mm(15.74″) |
| Focal Ratio | f/5.7 |
| Mount Type | Manual Alt Azimuth |
| Total Weight | 3.3 lbs (1.5kg) |
| Height Range | 558.8mm – 1155.7mm (22″ – 45.5″) |
| Included Software | Celestron Starry Night Basic Edition Software and SkyPortal App |
| Optical Tube Length | 431.8mm (17″) |
| Warranty | 2 years |
