Celestron AstroMaster LT 76 review: go bigger than 3 inches
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 |
| 6 | Askar 91F | 89 out of 100 | £995 |
| 13 | Askar 103APO | 81 out of 100 | £999 |
| 21 | Celestron Cometron 60 | 73 out of 100 | £44 |
| 30 | SVBONY SV503 70ED | 64 out of 100 | £380 |
| 40 | Celestron 63ED | 43 out of 100 | £322 |
| 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 The rig on the mount
- 05 Watch the review
- 06 Should you buy it?
- 07 Questions and more about this review
In 30 seconds
Stars for Your Buck 13/100
Reviewed 10 May 2024 Updated 23 Sep 2026
- Rank
- #42 of 42 telescopes
- Verdict
- With reservations
Written by Damon Scotting 2 min read
Buy it if
- You can find one second-hand for well under $100 and want your first look at the Moon's craters and Jupiter's moons.
- You want a light, pre-assembled kit: 3.9 kg with the tripod.
- You want more magnification than a tabletop 3 inch gives: 35x with the 20 mm eyepiece against 15x.
Skip it if
- You are just getting into the hobby: a pair of binoculars is a far simpler and quicker way to learn the night sky.
- You want faint nebulae and galaxies: a 76 mm mirror gathers too little light for them.
- You would pay full price new: used, the same money buys a much bigger telescope.
The AstroMaster LT 76 puts a 3 inch mirror in a longer tube: the planets and the Moon are easy to make out, but so small a mirror gathers little light.
Specifications and features
| Celestron AstroMaster LT 76 reviewed #42 of 42 | |
|---|---|
| Recorded UK price | £200 |
| Aperture | 76 mm |
| Focal length | 700 mm |
| Focal ratio | f/9.21 |
| Optical design | Newtonian reflector, spherical primary mirror |
| Image circle | 1 inch (25.4 mm) |
| Back focus | not recorded |
| Focuser | Manual drawtube focuser |
| Weight | 1.77 kg tube; 3.9 kg kit |
| Length | 602 mm |
| Mount | Manual alt-azimuth on a steel tripod |
| Eyepieces supplied | 20 mm (35x) and 10 mm (70x) |
| Dew shield | Not supplied |
| In the box | Tube, pre-assembled mount and tripod, 20 mm and 10 mm eyepieces, StarPointer red dot finder, erect-image 90 degree diagonal, Starry Night Basic and SkyPortal app |
In the hand
On its alt-azimuth mount
Focuser and finder
Open front and spider
Tube clamp and handle
At the eyepiece
Aimed at the night sky
The rig on the mount
On the TeSeek 11, then on six other mounts
Watch the review
What YOU can SEE with a $100 Telescope?! · published 10 May 2024 · 8:36 · Watch on YouTube · 1,112,297 views, 13,517 likes on 2 Oct 2026
Jump to
- 1:42 Mirror size and magnification
- 2:04 The AstroMaster 76: a longer tube
- 2:20 The Moon and planets through it
- 2:37 Buying one used for under $100
- 2:48 The Biggest Telescope for under $100
- 3:45 Finding targets at this budget
- 5:59 What YOU can SEE
- 7:20 Final Verdict!
- 7:44 Go above 4 inches
Transcript of the review video 1,649 words · 12 chapters · searchable
Press a time stamp to play from there.
0:00 Intro
0:00 last time on astronomical we looked at what you can see with a $0 telescope AKA your eyes we looked at all of the marvelous sites that you can witness 0:08 for free now though I'm stepping things up a level as I look through multiple $100 telescopes in order to document what the night sky looks like through each of 0:16 them I'm then going to give my recommendation on what setup you should choose if you have a budget of less than $100 and the answer May indeed surprise you all right let's get started I'm Damon
0:25 The Cheapest Telescope Ever?
0:25 scotting and this is astronomical behind my back I have the first telescope that I'll be reviewing for this series the budget for this video is what you can see for a $100 0:36 telescope and right now I have a telescope that costs a lot less than that this is the cheapest telescope I was able to find available on the internet 0:44 I present to you the Celestron Cometron I'm not sure if it gets much more beginner than this so in my hands right now I have this very lightweight telescope 0:56 it has a 3-in primary mirror and actually a fairly decent design All Things Considered 1:06 I'm going to place it down on a table now because I want to showcase 1:15 to you how versatile this $22 telescope is yeah so this is the first telescope to kick off the series and I'm going to just be blunt in saying this don't buy it just 1:27 avoid this at all cost it's not worth the money at to it's going to lead to more frustration than actual enjoyment from the hobby itself now I should make myself clear here I'm not 1:37 saying don't buy this telescope because it's bad I'm saying don't buy it because it's extremely Limited in terms of what you can see the primary mirror is
1:42 Mirror size and magnification
1:44 76 mm or 3 in in diameter we want this as big as possible because the more light We Gather the better the quality of our observations 1:52 whilst the focal length is a measure of our magnification and for this tiny tube it's very small at 300 mm the objects we can observe are heavily restricted 2:02 for observing the likes of planets star clusters and the moon we're going to want a higher magnification which can be achieved in two ways one is by making the tube longer
2:04 The AstroMaster 76: a longer tube
2:10 which is basically what we have here with the Celestron AstroMaster 76 it's the same size primary mirror but with a longer tube the second is 2:17 through the addition of a Barlow lens which simply magnifies your view a large focal length allows us to easily make out the brightest objects in our night
2:20 The Moon and planets through it
2:24 sky such as the planets and moon giving us a much better view than our naked eye you can identify Jupiter's four largest moons as well as make 2:31 out a limited amount of surface detail as for our moon well you can see a lot of detail in its craters which is very nice both of
2:37 Buying one used for under $100
2:38 these telescopes were in used condition which means you can find them for well below $100 if you do have a budget $100 2:46 then that means that you should be able to buy something like this okay so this is our $100 setup this is a used telescope it's not brand new
2:48 The Biggest Telescope for under $100
2:56 so let's have a look what's inside in order to get the most stars for my buck I searched for the best used telescopes 3:03 available for under $100 right so now it is completely set up this is a telescope that costs 3:11 me less than $100 and now going to put the camera inside the eyepiece holder so that we can explore the cosmos and see exactly what you can see for a $100 3:20 telescope so the first thing to note with this blue wonder is that it has a much bigger mirror 130 mm in diameter the focal length is also relatively modest meaning the night sky 3:30 will will still appear very bright as well as decently magnified so why don't we start off by looking at one of our nearest Stellar 3:36 nurseries the Orion Nebula in order to find objects in a night sky you need to have a decent sense of direction in terms of where to point your scope and especially
3:45 Finding targets at this budget
3:52 at this budget level as the setups can be very fidgety and not to mention quite heavy all worth it though I suppose when you get to see 3:58 the moon in as much detail is this these are the views amateurs hope for when purchasing a telescope because even after all the messing around with the setup seeing this for the 4:08 first time makes it all worthwhile but to be completely Frank with you if you do have a budget of under $100 I wouldn't necessarily recommend this particular setup 4:18 what I would recommend instead might surprise you this is not a telescope as you can probably already figure out these are a pair of binoculars
4:20 Are these better??
4:30 I really wanted to Showcase them in this 4:36 video because they are very capable pair of binoculars they are 25x 70 which means you can get a fairly similar field of view to what 4:45 you can with this telescope the main difference being though is that with these you can find your target with a lot more ease so if I want to point these towards right now 4:56 star Betelgeuse I mean I can literally find it in a split second just it to my eyes then I can take my time to look at it for as long as 5:03 I want the only thing that prohibits me from observing for too long is whether or not my arms get tired but if that really is too much 5:08 of a trouble for you you can actually Mount the binoculars onto a tripod and then just sit in the comfort of your lawn chair and observe the 5:15 night sky all right hear me out is the quality of your observations going to get much better with this pair of binoculars as opposed to a telescope 5:22 not quite but are you going to have a far more relaxed stargazing experience one that won't put you off the hobby forever because you spend hours setting 5:29 it all up trying to achieve a focus it can be a nightmare we've all been there and it's because of this that I strongly believe binoculars 5:36 are a more than justifiable option for the best beginner setup you were giving a small amount of quality up in your observation for a tremendous amount of ease 5:45 yeah I get that it might seem a bit silly recommending this setup as opposed to that but if you are spending this much on your setup then 5:51 it's very likely that you are a beginner to the Hobby and therefore you want to develop a better understanding of our night sky before anything else so yeah I'd recommend
5:59 What YOU can SEE
6:00 when it comes down to which setup provides a better view of our Cosmos bigger is better the Sky-Watcher 130 is on a whole other level to the others 6:09 and when it comes to observing nebulae its views again are far superior compared to the others with the binoculars being the easiest of the three to pinpoint fainter objects like 6:19 nebulae in your field of view and when it comes to planets you should be able to see at least the faintest amount of surface detail on the 6:26 likes of Jupiter as well as the gaps of the rings around Saturn my favourite thing to look out for are the Galilean moons four faint star-like Points of Light orbiting the gas giant Jupiter you can watch 6:38 them dance over the course of the night and even document them over the course of several nights It Is by no means easy to accurately demonstrate what 6:45 you can see with your naked eye when looking through these telescopes however I have tried my best to do so here for some of these 6:52 shots the camera I was recording with cost $800 which is massively exceeding the cost of the telescopes but I'm hoping you can appreciate the insight I'm trying to give because it might not look too special 7:02 right now on your screen but nothing and I mean nothing beats the experience of seeing the universe through your own telescope for the first time it doesn't matter if your telescope cost $100 7:13 or 100,000 it is truly a one-of-a-kind feeling so on that note my final verdict the best piece of advice I can give to you is to buy secondhand
7:20 Final Verdict!
7:24 please oh please trust me on this you can get twice the telescope for a third of the price by buying used if you're really interested in stargazing 7:31 then I'd actually avoid a telescope as your initial setup there are so many parts that can go wrong and these are made 10 times all the more 7:37 agonizing when you're trying to fix them in the dark binoculars are a far simpler and quicker way to develop an understanding of our night
7:44 Go above 4 inches
7:44 sky that being said if you are diving into buying a telescope then try to go for something above 4 in that's easier said than done you won't find anything that size brand new for 7:54 under $100 but this is what I just found from hopping onto eBay and typing in telescope some really really good deals to be had if you don't mind looking for 8:02 them next time on astronomical our spending allowance increases to a $500 and we compare what we can see through these different setups that are within 8:11 this budget so make sure you're subscribed and stay tuned for further videos like this I'm Damon Scotting and this was astronomical
Should you buy it?
13/100 Stars for Your Buck
Pros
- “A large focal length allows us to easily make out the brightest objects in our night sky, such as the planets and the Moon, giving us a much better view than our naked eye.”
- “You can identify Jupiter's four largest moons as well as make out a limited amount of surface detail. As for our Moon, well, you can see a lot of detail in its craters, which is very nice.”
- It is the same 3 inch mirror as Celestron's tabletop Cometron in a tube more than twice as long, so it magnifies more.
- Light and ready to use: the tube comes on a pre-assembled manual alt-azimuth mount and steel tripod.
- The box has what you need to start: two eyepieces, a StarPointer red dot finder and an erect-image diagonal.
Cons
- “The primary mirror is 76 mm, or 3 inches, in diameter. We want this as big as possible, because the more light we gather, the better the quality of our observations.”
- “When it comes down to which setup provides a better view of our cosmos, bigger is better.”
- At this budget level setups can be very fidgety: the manual alt-azimuth mount has no tracking, so you need a decent sense of direction to find and follow each object.
- Beyond the supplied eyepieces, more magnification means buying a shorter focal-length eyepiece or a Barlow lens, within the telescope's useful range.
If you are diving into buying a telescope, then try to go for something above 4 inches.
Who the AstroMaster LT 76 is for
Complete beginner
Skip
Start with binoculars: there is far less to go wrong in the dark.
Bargain hunter shopping second-hand
Buy
Used, it can cost well below $100, and on a budget under $100 this is the kind of telescope to look for.
Nebula and galaxy hunter
Skip
A 130 mm reflector is on a whole other level for nebulae: go for something with a much bigger mirror.
Buyer paying full price new
Skip
Look on the used market instead, where the same budget buys a bigger mirror.
Owner of a tabletop 3 inch reflector
Skip
Stay with what you have: the AstroMaster LT 76 is the same size mirror in a longer tube, and a Barlow lens magnifies your view too.
Beginner who wants photographs
Skip
The manual mount has no tracking, so this is a telescope for looking. My recommendation for a first imaging setup is the Seestar S30.
Three alternatives I have reviewed
- Celestron 114 LCM 114 mm GoTo reflector that finds and tracks for you 42/100 £361 Read the review
- Celestron Cometron 60 60 mm tabletop reflector with a built-in phone holder 73/100 £44 Read the review
- ZWO Seestar S30 Smart telescope that finds, tracks and photographs by itself 88/100 £419 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 AstroMaster LT 76
Reviewed 10 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 AstroMaster LT 76 good for beginners? Not as a first setup. If you are just getting into the hobby, a pair of binoculars is the better start: a telescope has so many parts that can go wrong, and they are ten times more agonising to fix in the dark. Watch the review ↓
- What can you see through the AstroMaster LT 76? The Moon and the brightest planets are what it does best, with a limited amount of detail on Jupiter; fainter nebulae want a bigger mirror. Watch the review ↓
- What is the difference between the AstroMaster LT 76AZ and the AstroMaster 76EQ? The optics are the same: a 76 mm f/9.21 Newtonian with a 700 mm focal length in the same 602 mm tube. The LT 76AZ sits on a pre-assembled manual alt-azimuth mount, 3.9 kg for the kit; the 76EQ sits on the CG-2 equatorial mount, 5.03 kg. Only the 76EQ is sold in the UK. The specifications ↓
- How much magnification does the AstroMaster LT 76 give? The supplied 20 mm and 10 mm eyepieces give 35x and 70x, and Celestron puts the highest useful magnification at 180x. The specifications ↓
- Should I buy the AstroMaster LT 76 new or used? Used. You can get twice the telescope for a third of the price by buying second-hand. The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
- Can I do astrophotography with the AstroMaster LT 76? It is a visual telescope: the manual alt-azimuth mount has no tracking or GoTo. The 1.77 kg tube carries a Vixen-style dovetail, so it will sit on an imaging mount, as the rig module shows. The rig on the mount ↓
- How heavy is the AstroMaster LT 76? Celestron gives 1.77 kg for the tube, 2.14 kg for the tripod and 3.9 kg for the whole kit. The specifications ↓
- What have I not tested on the AstroMaster LT 76? I have no captures, measurements or star tests of my own through the AstroMaster LT 76; its collimation, its focuser and the equatorial 76EQ version are not tested.