What is Reddit's opinion of Celestron 94308 Observers Accessory Kit (Black)?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I ordered one of these used and I wasn’t disappointed. The case is nice to have as well.

Celestron 94308 Observers Accessory Kit (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COWRX9I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1STB0WW3ZSANCGZK3AC0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I'm planning to purchase this accessory kit Amazon Accessory Kit in December, will that be sufficient? (includes 6mm eyepiece and a 2X Barlow.

I have the same scope (marketed as awb onesky). Based on recommendations I got this kit which fills in the gaps and also gave me a decent little box to keep stuff safe: Celestron 94308 Observers Accessory Kit (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COWRX9I/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_CV5YGRCTZQZ49MMV9PZG

I echo what people were saying about eye relief. Unless you pay a ton of money, it's going to be very uncomfortable using a very short eyepiece. I find it much easier to use a longer one and a Barlow, but experiment.

This scope has a nice wide field of view, so you'll need a Barlow AND a pretty short eyepiece to get really zoomed in on a planet. On the flip side, telescopes like the popular SCTs have no (easy) way to zoom out enough to look at a big nebula or galaxy.

To test how it's going to look, this is pretty accurate: https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

Also, actually catching the view of a planet at high magnification with a dobsonian is very hard and takes practice.

I'll share a couple of tips about this scope in case you didn't hear them already:

1) collimate that bad boy every time you set it up. Keep in mind the secondary mirror rotates pretty easily too, so watch out for that.

2) get the balance and tension right so you can easily move it but it doesn't move on its own.

3) sometimes a combination of Barlows, filters, cameras, etc. can lead to a situation when you can't focus even if you pull the focuser all the way in, and fixing that normally requires special tubes. We're lucky that we can get around this by just very very slightly (like 2cm) collapsing the scope 😁

Many sets have a bunch of focal-lengths that don't match what you need.

Sets like the Celestron eyepiece kits foe example have a bunch of short Plössl that are useless (poor eye-relief), and a dozen color filters no one ever needs.

 

Lets take this one for example 1: https://www.buytelescopes.com/explore-scientific-62-series-5-piece-wide-angle-eyepiece-set-1252-175886

Even for a 6/8" dobsonian, the 5.5mm may already be a bit much for average seeing conditions. For a 12" dobsonian or a 5" Maksutov, or a 6"/8" Schmidt-Cassegrain, it's way, way too much!

The 32mm is redundant to eyepieces in sets like the AD8, and shows a slightly smaller field overall. Also 26mm and 32mm are pretty close together. Usually you don't need such close focal lengths at lower magnifications, only if you really observe under very different conditions (regarding the maximum usable exit pupil).

 

Example 2: The Orion Deepview kit https://www.telescope.com/Orion/Orion-2-Telescope-Accessory-Kit/rc/2160/p/102073.uts?keyword=Deepview%20eyepieces

Same thing. Too close together. A 28mm 2" deep-view costs much more and doesn't even show a larger field than a $20 32mm Plössl.

 

Example 3: A $100 set https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-94308-Observers-Accessory-Black/dp/B00COWRX9I/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=celestron+eyepiece+set&qid=1593452457&sr=8-9

Cheap 17mm Plössl, unusable 6mm Plössl due to poor eye-relief, a bunch of filters and a barlow that shows noticeable chromatic aberration.

 

Example 4: A $140 eyepiece set https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Eyepiece-Filter-Kit-Telescope/dp/B00006RH5I/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=celestron+eyepiece+set&qid=1593452457&sr=8-5

Good reviews, so it must be good, right? Another example on the nonsense Amazon ratings.

Same as the others. Two basically unusable eyepieces, accessories no one needs.

 

Example 5: The gold-line / red line sets. https://www.amazon.com/Degree-Telescope-Eyepiece-Single-uw20mm/dp/B07HGZ76CT

I'm a big fan of the 66° Expanse "clones". They offer a decent eye-relief, nice wide-angle views, for $20-$30. But as all sets, it really depends on the telescope. E.g. if a telescope already comes with a 25mm Plössl, you don't need a 20mm eyepiece. If the telescope already comes with a 10mm eyepiece, a beginner can work with that and doesn't need to get the 9mm right away. Instead, a beginner can spend $40-$60 on just the two he / she needs,

 

TL;DR: It's almost always better to get eyepieces matching the telescope. It will allow to get fewer, better eyepieces while still saving money most of the time.