Celestron

Celestron Inspire 100AZ

A thoughtfully-designed 100mm beginner refractor, built-in phone adapter, red LED light and a smart accessory tray make a first night genuinely easy and shareable.

75/ 100

Polaris Score

#3 of 6 beginner refractors

See the breakdown ↓

Aperture

100mm

Focal Length

660mm

Focal Ratio

f/6.6

Mount Type

Alt-Az

Optical Design

Refractor

Weight

5.5 kg

From$379.95

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Price tracked by PolarisObserved 24 timesTracking since Mar 2026

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Where to buy

High Point ScientificBest price$379.95→

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What it's built forOpen these in the simulator →

This telescope was built for sweeping wide.

A short, fast refractor with a generous true field — the whole sword of Orion in one view, star fields that spill past the field stop. It rewards low power and dark skies far more than chasing magnification.

Widest true fieldsTack-sharp to the edge

The view people remember

The Pleiades, blue and blazing.

A knot of hot young stars wrapped in the faintest haze of reflected light — best at the lowest power, where the whole cluster drops into a single glittering field.

See The Pleiades through this telescope →

Where else it shines

Within reach

Orion Nebula

Stronger structure — embedded stars plus dark lanes within the core

Open view →

Rewards a dark sky

Hercules Cluster

Brighter core with a hint of granulation around the edges

Open view →

Rewards a dark sky

Andromeda Galaxy

Definite galaxy shape — core stands out against the sky

Open view →

Also excellent on

Saturn

Recognizable disk with subtle markings under steady seeing

Open view →

✦

Tight planetary detail belongs to a longer scope. This one trades reach for a breathtaking field.

01What it's good at

What it's best at — and the trade-offs.

Best at

✓100mm of aperture shows the Moon, planets and brighter clusters with real clarity.

✓A built-in smartphone adapter lets you snap the Moon on your first night.

✓The mount includes a red flashlight, a phone dock and a tool tray, beginner-friendly touches that matter.

✓A refractor is maintenance-free: no collimation, quick cooldown.

Trade-offs

!An achromat leaves faint colour fringing on bright objects.

!No tracking, objects drift at high power.

!The included eyepieces are entry-level.

!The dew shield doubles as the lens cap, which some find fiddly.

02In plain English

What These Numbers Mean

Aperture

100 mm

Four inches of aperture, enough for detailed lunar work, Jupiter's belts and moons, Saturn's rings and the brighter clusters and nebulae. Faint galaxies remain out of reach, which is normal at this size and price.

Focal length

660 mm

Short and wide, so low-power views cover a generous patch of sky and finding objects by hand is easier. High magnification comes from short eyepieces rather than the telescope itself.

Focal ratio

f/6.6

Fast for an achromat, which makes wide, low-power views easy but shows violet fringing around the Moon and bright planets. It is a visible compromise rather than a defect at this price point.

Optical design

Achromatic refractor

A sealed two-element lens means no collimation, no mirror to cool and essentially no maintenance, so it works within minutes of being carried outside. The trade-off is the colour fringing that ED glass exists to remove.

Weight

5.5 kg complete

About 12 lb for the whole telescope including mount and tripod. That is light enough to carry outside fully assembled with one hand, which is the single strongest predictor of how often a first telescope gets used.

Mount

Manual alt-azimuth with smartphone dock

Intuitive up-down, left-right movement with a panning handle, plus a built-in phone holder for casual lunar photos and a red flashlight in the accessory tray. There is no tracking, so objects drift and need nudging at high power.

02The Polaris Score

How it scores, and why.

75/ 100

Celestron Inspire 100AZ

#3 of 6 beginner refractors

Performance

Ease of use

Portability

Upgrade potential

Polaris weighs optical capability, how easy the scope is to live with, how portable it is, and how far it takes you before you outgrow it — not list price or brand.

03Who it's for