Celestron 114 LCM review: GoTo tracking, small aperture
Where does it rank on our leaderboard
| Rank | Telescope | Stars for Your Buck | Recorded UK price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Askar 50P | 95 out of 100 | £299 |
| 2 | ToupTek Hope D60 | 93 out of 100 | £749 |
| 3 | Sky-Watcher HAC125DX | 92 out of 100 | £589 |
| 12 | Askar SQA55 | 82 out of 100 | £795 |
| 17 | Askar 80ED | 77 out of 100 | £379 |
| 33 | Sky-Watcher Skymax 180 | 58 out of 100 | £1,021 |
| 38 | Altair 60EDF | 51 out of 100 | £499 |
| 41 | Celestron 114 LCM | 42 out of 100 | £361 |
| 42 | Celestron AstroMaster LT 76 | 13 out of 100 | £200 |
Contents
- 01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
- 02 Specifications and features
- 03 In the hand
- 04 Planets and the Moon
- 05 The rig on the mount
- 06 What is it for
- 07 Watch the review
- 08 Should you buy it?
- 09 Questions and more about this review
In 30 seconds
Stars for Your Buck 42/100
Reviewed 15 May 2024 Updated 23 Sep 2026
- Rank
- #41 of 42 telescopes
- Verdict
- With reservations
Written by Damon Scotting 3 min read
Buy it if
- You want the telescope to find and track objects for you, from a database of about 40,000.
- You mainly want the Moon and planets, and a mount that follows them across the sky.
- You want everything in one box, ready for the first night.
Skip it if
- You want the most light for your money: 114 mm is a small mirror at this price.
- You want to photograph galaxies and nebulae: it has no camera of its own.
- You want to be observing within minutes of carrying it outside.
“What the Celestron 114 LCM lacks in light-gathering capabilities it makes up for in its motorised tracking features.”
Specifications and features
| Celestron 114 LCM reviewed #41 of 42 | |
|---|---|
| Recorded UK price | £361 |
| Aperture | 114 mm |
| Focal length | 1,000 mm |
| Focal ratio | f/8.77 |
| Optical design | Newtonian reflector, spherical primary mirror |
| Image circle | 1 inch (25.4 mm) |
| Back focus | not recorded |
| Focuser | 1.25 in rack and pinion, single speed |
| Weight | 2 kg tube; 5 kg complete |
| Length | 457 mm (18 in), optical tube |
| Mount | Motorised alt-azimuth GoTo, NexStar+ hand control, 40,000 objects |
| Eyepieces supplied | 25 mm (40x) and 9 mm (111x) |
| Dew shield | Not supplied |
| In the box | Tube, motorised mount, aluminium tripod with accessory tray, StarPointer red dot finder, 25 mm and 9 mm eyepieces, NexStar+ hand control |
In the hand
Set up on its tripod
The 114LCM tube
The NexStar+ hand control
Open front, secondary and spider
The StarPointer finder
The single-arm mount
Planets and the Moon
The planets and the Moon
Jupiter
- Date
- not recorded
- Gear
- Celestron 114 LCM
The rig on the mount
On the TeSeek 11, then on six other mounts
What is it for
Three things it is for
It finds and tracks for you
I chose the 114 LCM for one particular reason: it has a GoTo function. It is a fairly decent size, and I can type in the objects I want it to find and track for me.
The NexStar+ hand control
Turn it on and the hand control reads Initializing, then LCM Ready: press Enter to begin alignment. With the 25 mm eyepiece in, select an object and centre it; the first one it offered me was Jupiter.
Setting it up
The process is not exactly straightforward. The GoTo mount needs a lot of information about your whereabouts to align correctly, and setting it up can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
Watch the review
What YOU can SEE with a $500 Telescope?! · published 15 May 2024 · 8:02 · Watch on YouTube · 103,084 views, 1,836 likes on 2 Oct 2026
Jump to
- 0:28 Celestron 114 LCM
- 0:58 How accurate the GoTo is
- 1:31 Turning it on and aligning
- 2:02 Jupiter through the 114 LCM
- 2:21 Setting it up takes 10 to 30 minutes
- 2:40 An 8-Inch Telescope
- 4:44 My verdict on the 114 LCM
- 6:18 Comparisons
- 6:40 Buying used instead
Transcript of the review video 1,476 words · 13 chapters · searchable
Press a time stamp to play from there.
0:00 Intro
0:00 last time in Astronomical we looked at some teeny tiny telescopes that were available for under $100 now we're getting bigger and better as well as introducing computerized GoTo mounts that 0:09 will counteract the rotation of our planet and allow us to take long exposure images of the night sky which means that today we're going to see views 0:16 like this and take images like this all for under $500 I'm Damon Scotting and this is Astronomical this is one of the only times that you'll ever see me use a
0:28 Celestron 114 LCM
0:30 brand new telescope on this channel this was the first ever telescope I had it is the Celestron 114 LCM computerized telescope I was 15 years old at the time when I used all 0:41 my savings and my birthday money to buy myself a telescope and I decided to go for this for one particular reason and that is because it has a GoTo 0:49 function I'll have a telescope which is a fairly decent size but I'll also be able to type in certain locations and objects I want it to find and track for me it's not perfect
0:58 How accurate the GoTo is
0:59 by any means GoTo setups really are I'd say they struggle to get pinpoint accuracy with a target trying to find so you do have to move it around 1:07 a little bit but yeah they're just they're a guide and it makes the whole process a lot easier for you to do so let's have a 1:16 look pop that on there voila right so we've got our telescope it is now plugged in and then upon turning it on you're greeted by
1:31 Turning it on and aligning
1:36 a message it says initializing and then once that's done it says LCM ready press enter to begin alignment we then need to insert an eyepiece into it so in this case we 1:47 have a 25 mm eyepiece press enter to begin alignment right select object the first one that comes up is Jupiter and it says centre 1:56 Jupiter that bright point of light above me is not a star it is in fact the largest planet in our Solar System Jupiter so we're going to change
2:02 Jupiter through the 114 LCM
2:03 the direction point towards Jupiter and then we see Jupiter in a crystal clear focus and it takes me back to when I was 15 years old looking through 2:16 this telescope and it looked the exact same back then as it does now yeah the process for achieving this view of Jupiter isn't exactly straightforward
2:21 Setting it up takes 10 to 30 minutes
2:25 when setting the GoTo mount up you need to give it a lot of information about your whereabouts in order to align it correctly in terms of setting it up this can take anywhere from 10 to 30 2:34 minutes but once successful you can now roughly locate 40,000 different objects in the night sky with just a few clicks the question is though is this view of Jupiter worth almost
2:40 An 8-Inch Telescope
2:44 $500 because $500 is a lot of money and what if you are not interested in any fancy GoTo features you just want the most stars for your buck 2:53 well in which case you could go after an 8 inch Dobsonian telescope arguably the largest size telescope you can purchase for under $500 one that is capable of used such as this full disclosure the one I'm 3:04 showcasing here is the latest Celestron StarSense telescope that enables users to navigate the night sky with the help of their smartphone the views it can achieve will 3:11 be very similar to those from other 8 inch telescopes that don't have additional features like this one does such as the 8 inch Sky-Watcher 3:18 Dobsonian telescope one of the most popular telescopes ever released if you have $500 and you want to explore the night sky at your own leisure 3:26 and see as much as you possibly can with your naked eye then this is your safest bet what the Celestron 114 LCM lacks in light-gathering capabilities 3:35 it makes up for in its motorized tracking features but what if you want all of it but still for under $500 what if you want a portable telescope that can precisely find any objects in
3:39 ALL-IN-ONE Package
3:44 the night sky with minimal input and then what if it could do long exposure images with its inbuilt camera so that you can share the night sky 3:52 with your family and friends well if that sounds interesting to you then be prepared to meet astrophotography's latest game changer this is the revolution 4:00 of smart telescopes the thing is GoTo telescopes were considered smart telescopes they gave you the ability to slew towards any target in their catalog provided 4:09 you first input some important details such as time location and a sense of where other objects were in the night sky by aligning your telescope 4:17 but these smart telescopes exceed well beyond the usefulness of a stellar guide because they require next to no external input whatsoever to precisely pinpoint any object in the night sky within 3 minutes from unpacking your ultra 4:30 portable smart telescope you are taking long exposure images of the cosmos and that is because it is the best pound-for-pound telescope on the entire 4:38 market nothing else comes close to it this is the Seestar S50 smart telescope each of the telescopes I've shown in this video have their own respective pros
4:44 My verdict on the 114 LCM
4:47 and cons for the 114 LCM it has GoTo capabilities but it is a tiny reflective telescope that still requires a camera and camera adapter to take images 4:56 the 8 inch telescope has more than three times the light-gathering capabilities of the 114 LCM and as a result can produce much clearer images but alas it has no 5:06 GoTo functions and still has the same issue as the 114 LCM in terms of no camera you can of course use your smartphone to capture the brightest 5:13 objects in a night sky but the ultimate goal for every astrophotographer is to be taking long exposure images of our night sky which is where 5:20 the Seestar S50 comes in and blows away all of the competition it can track and precisely pinpoint deep sky targets before then using its special built-in 5:30 dual band-pass filters to bring out as much detail as possible the inbuilt sensor is what allows it to continue to precisely tracking the motions of our night sky and 5:39 to capture and stack these images live before your very eyes it's incredible what it's able to do but there is of course an elephant in the room
5:46 What YOU can SEE with a $500 Telescope
5:47 this video is about what you can see with a $500 telescope not what your camera sensor can pick up this is the biggest gripe 5:55 astronomers have with the smart telescope revolution for many newbies seeing is believing the skepticism is rampant when a telescope can produce such incredible images images that even with 6:06 an 8 inch telescope you will really struggle to replicate the Seestar S50 is really struggling from its own success in the sense that large parts of 6:13 its audience are struggling to truly believe that these images were produced from such a tiny and cheap setup so there we go boiled down to its simplest components you can see this
6:18 Comparisons
6:22 with a $500 telescope you can see this with a $500 GoTo telescope and you can't see this with a $500 smart telescope but you can take 6:31 images like this which the other two cannot do unless you introduce a camera and image stacking software which will undoubtedly push you well over 6:40 $500 so far in this episode I've shown you exclusively brand new telescopes but I am a strong advocator for purchasing used telescopes instead as they promise
6:40 Buying used instead
6:49 exceptional views and value for money a quick eBay search provided these results which are all fantastic value the largest telescope that I've covered in this video is an 8 inch 6:58 telescope but you may even be able to stretch your budget to affording a used 10 inch telescope with some very helpful accessories in terms of naked eye observing the 8 inch telescope is the best of 7:09 the bunch for a $500 budget you can get that either brand new or used if you buy used that will give you a little wiggle room to purchase 7:16 a camera for your telescope but if not you can always stick with your mobile phone camera and achieve some very nice images of the moon one thing to note though that no 7:24 one ever really warned you about when observing the moon with a telescope of this size it is practically blinding you'll see what I mean there's there's a reason Moon filters are a thing
7:33 $1000?
7:35 all right next time in Astronomical I'll be showing you what you can see for a $1,000 telescope setup so stay tuned for that and clear skies I'm Damon Scotting 7:45 and this was
Should you buy it?
42/100 Stars for Your Buck
Pros
- Motorised GoTo: pick a target on the hand control and the mount slews to it.
- The NexStar+ hand control holds a database of 40,000 objects.
- “We see Jupiter in a crystal clear focus.”
- Motorised tracking counters the rotation of the Earth, so a planet stays in the eyepiece.
- It is a complete kit: tube, mount, tripod, finder, two eyepieces and the hand control; add eight AA batteries and it is ready for the first night.
Cons
- GoTo is a guide, not pinpoint: it struggles to land exactly on a target, so expect to nudge it around a little.
- Alignment is slow: it wants a lot of information about where you are, then a centred bright object, before GoTo works.
- “The 8 inch telescope has more than three times the light-gathering capabilities of the 114 LCM and as a result can produce much clearer images.”
- It has no camera: a smartphone at the eyepiece catches only the brightest objects.
The 114 LCM has GoTo capabilities, but it is a tiny reflecting telescope that still requires a camera and a camera adapter to take images.
Who the 114 LCM is for
Beginner who wants GoTo
Buy
The GoTo mount does the finding, and that makes the whole process a lot easier.
Moon and planet observer
Buy
Its 1,000 mm focal length suits the Moon and planets, and the tracking holds them for you.
Most stars for the money
Skip
If you do not need GoTo, an 8 inch Dobsonian is arguably the largest telescope this budget buys.
Deep-sky photographer
Skip
My recommendation is the Seestar S30: it tracks, captures and stacks by itself. The 114 LCM is a telescope for looking.
Observer short on time
Skip
An alignment comes before the first target every night.
Owner of an 8 inch Dobsonian
Skip
Stay with what you have: the 114 LCM adds GoTo and tracking, not light.
Three alternatives I have reviewed
- ZWO Seestar S30 Smart telescope that finds, tracks and photographs by itself 88/100 £419 Read the review
- Celestron Cometron 60 60 mm tabletop reflector with a built-in phone holder 73/100 £44 Read the review
- Celestron C5 127 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain tube for the planets, on your own mount 49/100 £850 Read the review
Questions and more about this review
Reviewed by
Damon Scotting
The Telescope Man Verified
BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham
About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book
I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded
Eight questions, answered
Questions about the Celestron 114 LCM
Reviewed 15 May 2024 ·Updated 23 September 2026
I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded
- Is the Celestron 114 LCM good for beginners? It suits a beginner who wants the telescope to do the finding and the tracking, and who does not mind a careful alignment before each night. What is it for ↓
- What can you see through the Celestron 114 LCM? Jupiter with its cloud belts: the planet frame on this page is my view through it. Planets and the Moon ↓
- Can you do astrophotography with the 114 LCM? Not long exposures: its mount and tube are built for looking. For long-exposure images of the night sky, my recommendation is a smart telescope such as the Seestar S30. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
- Is the 114 LCM better than an 8 inch Dobsonian? Not for the views: the 8 inch produces much clearer images. It has no GoTo, though, and no tracking. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
- What comes in the box with the Celestron 114 LCM? The tube, the motorised alt-azimuth mount, an aluminium tripod with an accessory tray, a StarPointer red dot finder, 25 mm (40x) and 9 mm (111x) eyepieces and the NexStar+ hand control. In the hand ↓
- What powers the 114 LCM? Eight AA batteries in the mount; an AC adapter is sold separately. The specifications ↓
- Should I buy a telescope like this new or used? I am a strong advocate of buying used: used telescopes promise exceptional views and value for money, and a budget like this can stretch to a used 8 inch telescope, or even a 10 inch with some very helpful accessories. Watch the review ↓
- What have I not tested on the 114 LCM? I have not taken long-exposure images through the 114 LCM, nor measured its optics, its GoTo accuracy or its tracking; this page rests on my own observing with it, Celestron's specifications and today's prices.