Carson has a Red Planet series of telescopes that are not as well known as other competitive telescope lines in the market.
But, I think the RP-300 deserves its 15 minutes of fame.
It’s a Newtonian reflector with an equatorial mount and tripod.
As cheap as it is, could it be too good to be true?
What should you know about it?
Will it perform?
I will take a dive into the nooks and crannies of the Red Planet telescope and discover if it’s actually a good buy for the price or if it deserves to be overshadowed by more popular models.
Carson RP-300 Red Planet Telescope Review
✔️ Best Feature: Collimatable
❌ Worst Feature: Possible spherical aberration
👌 Ideal For: Celestial Viewing, Stargazing, Lunar & Planetary Observation, DSO Viewing, Beginners, Kids
- Optical Design: Reflector
- Aperture: 114 mm (4.49”)
- Focal Length: 900 mm (35.43”)
- Focal Ratio: f/7.89
- Eyepieces Included: 20 mm, 9 mm
My Verdict: In my opinion the Carson RP-300 is a surprisingly good telescope for the beginner. As it provides detail for lunar observation and can resolve some planetary features, it’s reasonably priced for quality and performance. If you’re just getting into amateur astronomy, it may as well be with Carson.
Who is the Carson Red Planet RP-300 Best Suited to?
At its price point, it’s definitely going to be attractive to beginners that are wanting to dabble in amateur astronomy. It’s the type of quality affordable telescope that I think performs great for deck and backyard observation.
While it is very lightweight and easy to transport making it an ideal telescope for travel, I feel like you may want to upgrade the eyepieces to achieve better optical quality out of the Red Planet telescope if you plan to get serious with it.
Due to the simplicity of the RP-300, I believe this would make an excellent telescope for an older child. They will never get bored at trying to navigate the night sky, and they’ll get a jump start on developing the skills needed to upgrade to a bigger model.
How Does the Carson Red Planet RP-300 Perform?
I reckon the Red Planet telescope performs excellently for lunar observation. With the supplied eyepieces, you’ll be able to spot planets and some moons, but it may not have enough to resolve details. As a medium speed telescope, it provides adequate wide-field viewing and binary star observation.
Image quality is sharp on the moon, and if you invest in quality eyepieces, you should be able to resolve more features on DSO (Deep Sky Objects) and planets.
With the equatorial mount and slow-motion controls, you can manually track sky bodies. You can also get Carson’s smartphone adapter and do some amateur astrophotography that won’t put strain on the focuser or mount.
I think as a beginner and budget telescope, it fits the bill, it performs as is, and there is room to improve its performance with some quality accessories.
Features & Benefits
Collimatable
This is one of the primary features to look for on a reflector telescope that is priced under $200. Believe it or not, while all reflectors should have collimatable cells, they don’t.
Some very cheap models have fixed cells and are collimated at the factory, but due to the nature of reflector telescopes, it’s likely you’ll have to collimate it again. I think this is a great feature to see on a beginner telescope.
Mount
The RP-300 has an equatorial mount which is not your typical and simple Alt-azimuth mount. With the EQ mount, you can manually track objects and can possibly upgrade it with a motor drive for auto tracking and timed exposure for astrophotography. The mount also has slow-motion controls with cables for both axes and setting circles for finding the coordinates of an object.
I like that the heavy-duty mount is sturdy, dependable, and it’s free of unwanted movement like shaking and tremors. It works exactly as it should. No complaints here.
Tripod
An aluminum tripod is included with the Carson telescope. It extends to about 46” long, comes preassembled, and it’s ready to use. I should mention that it has real aluminum legs and not the extruded kind that is often seen on entry-level setups.
The only issue I find here is that it’s not really designed to hold heavy loads. Fully extended and with the use of a weight to provide extra stability, it may actually cause strain on the entire system. The legs will sag somewhat compromising your setup. I would recommend to retract the legs to the most stable position and it should be comfortable to use while seated or perfectly set up for a child.
Fortunately, you may be able to replace the tripod with a higher quality one. Just mount the EQ mount to a compatible tripod head and voila. But, this is something I recommend you should test out first as Carson does not recommend using the RP-300 telescope with a different tripod.
Limited Astrophotography
Unfortunately, this setup isn’t designed for long exposure astrophotography without significant modification, i.e. motor drive, Barlow lens, sturdier tripod, T-ring adapter, etc. But, amateur astrophotography is a go especially if it’s of the moon.
Carson is a brand that knows and does digiscoping. With their smartphone adapter, you can take photos with your smartphone and use either the 20 mm or 10 mm (45x and 100x) eyepieces to get more than decent pictures. A Barlow lens will take things to the next level, and even if it’s too much for visual purposes, it may be great for imaging.
Portable
While the Red Planet telescope certainly has the specs to be a portable system, the preference to transport it is entirely up to you. The entire assembly weighs approximately 20 lbs. The tube length is approximately 36”. The RP-300 is ready to go whenever you are. Just be sure to collimate it if you’re rough on handling, and I recommend keeping it protected from the elements.
Limitations
Possible Spherical Aberration
It’s unclear whether or not Carson used a parabolic or spherical primary mirror in the tube, but I’m guessing it’s a spherical one. Thankfully, I believe the focal length is a little longer than many other comparable scopes of this size, so spherical aberration shouldn’t be too bad. If it proves to be too much for you, a negative Barlow lens should do the trick in helping to correct for this.
Mediocre Accessories
So, I’ve bashed the Kellner eyepieces a little bit included with the telescope kit. While they do perform with the moon, it’s difficult to maintain sharpness and focus with higher magnifications to resolve details on planets. The 6×30 finder has been said to be near impossible to use practically.
The focuser is a 1.25” rack-and-pinion focuser – easy to use. With that in mind, I think 1.25” eyepieces should be on your wish list. Some Plossl or goldline eyepieces will work great, and a Barlow lens will provide more magnification and increase the focal length to counteract for any aberrations due to the spherical mirror – two birds with one stone!
Other Telescopes to Consider
With a budget of a couple of hundred dollars you will be presented with quite a few options. Here are a few other telescopes that I think are worth looking at in this price range. They are the Zhumell Z114 Portable AZ, the Orion StarMax 90mm Tabletop and the Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ.
Popular Questions
As a Newtonian reflector, image orientation is inverted and reversed right to left. So, not only would a license plate, for example, be flipped upside down, the letters would be read as if reading it through a mirror. This is not suitable for terrestrial viewing, but in space, it is normal and inconsequential.
It’s a real telescope with a large 114 mm aperture. It would make a great telescope for an older child that wanted to learn the basics. The entire system is lightweight, and while the equatorial mount will require some learning, it’s a great setup for children with adult supervision and teenagers willing to figure it out.
With that said, this is a scope marketed towards adults that are just getting into astronomy while sticking to a budget.
No. The RP-300 telescope comes with two 1.25” Kellner eyepieces: 20 mm (45x) and 9 mm (100x). Reading its specs as Carson advertises it, “45x-100x” or “45-100×114” can be misleading but it’s not intended to allude to zoom magnification.
In sports optics, variable magnification is often expressed with a hyphen between the lowest and highest powers, and the “x” (power/magnification symbol) is what separates the aperture (objective lens size) from the power ranges. Carson has simply stayed consistent across the board with their optics. In this case of the telescope, it has fixed 45x and 100x magnification due to the focal length of the tube and the size of the eyepieces. It has a 114 mm aperture of the primary mirror.
Carson offers a 1-year manufacturer warranty on the Red Planet RP-300 telescope. The warranty starts from the date of purchase, and it is not transferable to another owner. To make a claim, proof of purchase, prepaid shipping, and insurance on the package is required.
Conclusion
In my opinion the RP-300 telescope by Carson is really a no-brainer type of scope.
It’s easy to use, easy to set up, and easy to afford.
While it could come with some better accessories, it’s still better than nothing, so you can get viewing the skies right away.
With amateur astrophotography capabilities, manual tracking, and a sturdy mount, I think the Carson telescope is worth the price.
