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The Explorer 3i is a powerful general purpose telescope that was designed to appeal to youngsters and is ideal for astronomy and for daytime terrestrial use.

This unusual telescope has a playful look (a cross between a cosmic penguin and a rocket ship!) and this certainly appeals to children and cunningly makes what is ultimately a scientific instrument, much less intimidating than other tripod mounted telescopes. However, don’t be mislead – it may be small and playful looking but it’s power-packed and is, in our opinion, the best small general purpose telescope around for under fifty quid.

Despite the up-to-date design this telescope is a classic Newtonian reflector – and it’s a very well made one. The heart of the Explorer 3i is a 3inch (76mm) modern aspheric mirror, that produces pin sharp, high contrast images totally free of false colour (a common and frustrating shortcoming of most low cost astro scopes)and that are over 130% brighter than typical 2” (50mm)astro scopes.

We realise you may be buying this as a gift but allow us to get slightly technical for a moment. Competing small reflecting telescopes (like the Bushnell) typically employ mirrors with spherical surface curves and these will simply not reach as sharp a focus as the parabolic mirror surface figure used by the Explorer 3i. This modern aspheric technology is normally only found on bigger more expensive telescopes.

The telescope is ready to go virtually out of the box – simply insert the eyepiece and you are ready to observe – it’s that simple!

The Explorer 3i comes with an eyepiece that delivers 32x magnification. The telescope has a table top stand that allows it to be pointed and moved smoothly and easily anywhere in the sky right down to the horizon – in daytime it can be used on a table to observe anything from seaside shipping to birds in your garden. But the telescope also has a neck strap (see top picture) that allows the telescope to be used hand-held to simply “scope around” like you might normally do with a pair of binoculars - only more comfortably! It comes with a snap-on "nose cone" dust cap and is supplied in a attractive colour gift box, which doubles as a convenient carrying case!

Free guide book: As well as the easy to understand cartoon illustrated manufacturer’s instructions, the Explorer also comes with a guide book written by the ever popular Patrick Moore that introduces the night sky and some of the marvelous and extraordinary things can be seen with the Explorer telescope from a back garden.

Guide to the Night Sky - by Sir Patrick Moore.

A beautifully written and easy to understand illustrated guide to the night sky for all seasons. Sir Patrick Moore is a world acknowledged master of his material and his passion and enthusiasm for his subject also comes through in this guide. Packed with easy-to-use star maps and colour illustrations this expertly written guide takes you on a tour of night sky season by season.

The maps show easily recognisable naked eye stars and hops from bright stars to simple star patterns and on to recognising major constellations pointing out exciting and interesting highlights along the way.

This guide book educates and inspires and rounds out this kit making it an ideal introduction to the wonders of astronomy.

What’s so great about the Explorer 3i?

Well sure, we like the fact that it appeals to kids – there’s even a set of stickers included so that kids can customise the outside of the instrument if they want to – and the approachable design makes telescope usage seem less “swotty” and intimidating. It is after all and good way to get kids interested in science without them realising it! But it’s the adult use possibilities of the telescope that makes it a winner. This is a great little telescope for sitting in a deck chair and scanning around the sky and seeing what pops out. It’s so light and easy to use (good for kids, to be sure – but great for adults too!) that it can be employed rather like binoculars. But remember, this little scope has a 3” (76mm) diameter mirror delivering a big 32x magnification and you’ll see a lot more than you’d expect to see in most binoculars – unless they’re huge! And normally binoculars have to be held over your head to observe the sky – very uncomfortable, whereas the Explorer 3i can be held comfortably nestling against your chest when in the sitting or even reclining position and looked through in a downward attitude that is very comfortable and easy on the eyes and neck! Sitting in a deck chair with this little scope under a clear star filled summer sky with a beer (or several) is a great way to educate adults on the wonders of the night sky too!

What can you see with the Explorer 3i?

At 32x power the "seas" and craters of the Moon will be seen (too many to count) as will the four large moons of the giant planet Jupiter. The phases of Venus (much like the moon) can be observed. At 32x and at favorable observing times - Jupiter will appear as large in the eyepiece as half the diameter the full Moon does to the unaided eye and the main bands in its dense gaseous atmosphere will be discerned. The rings of Saturn can be seen with this scope and the Moon becomes an incredible ancient landscape of impact craters and intricate rills and valleys with views of the most spectacular mountains in the solar system (and all from your back garden and for less than £40!). Deep sky targets like the Great Orion nebula and the giant M31 galaxy in Andromeda (over 2 million light years away from Earth!) are unforgettable views in the Explorer 3i

A word of caution:

The manufacturer has done a good job of giving this telescope the playful looks of a child’s toy – but it is not a toy! The Explorer has a robust and practical design that will give years of service but even it won’t tolerate the rough handling and “imaginative” play of children under 6 years old. Although there are no hard and fast rules, as a general principle we do not recommend telescopes of any kind for children under 6yo, all telescopes are fragile and can be destroyed without too much effort - and the Explorer 3i is no exception.

And last but not least:

Never point a telescope at the sun!

We must also draw your attention to the very real risk of permanent eye injury and blindness if this or any other telescope is pointed, even momentarily, at the sun. Because of this we recommend that daytime use of the instrument by a child under 10yo be supervised by an adult who is fully aware of this risk. Obviously some children are more precocious than others – only the purchaser can decide if the child is aware enough of the risk of personal injury to be trusted to behave safely without adult supervision.

Standard Specifications:-

•Magnifications: 32x

•Diameter of Primary Mirror: 76mm

•Telescope Focal Length: 300mm (f/4)

•Eyepieces Supplied: 1x 32x

•Parabolic Primary Mirror