First off, this is NOT a “beginner” or “child’s” telescope. Though it certainly CAN be. Rather it is an astonishingly portable and highly competent instrument. For anyone. The optics are first rate and the ease of use is nearly unparalleled.I have been a mainly visual stargazer for 8 years and own and have owned some high end ED refractors,, including a Tele Vue 85, Takahashi 76, and Stellarvue Access 80, among others. Is this little Sarblue their r equal? No. Of course not. But for 1/8th to 1/20th the cost, it is still a joy to use and the night sky images it serves up are, well, surprisingly sharp and snappy.The PROs:1. It’s polycarbonate body (OTA…Optical Tube Assembly) is super lightweight yet sturdy. I am impressed with the overall build quality. And the focuser is smooth and precise. No problem achieving sharp focus.2. The included 20mm eyepiece (a Kellner, I think; possibly an aspheric) is quite good with a nice large eye lens.3. The smartphone holder is the easiest to use of the 4 I own.4. The fully multicoated optics are excellent…and not just “for the price”. Excellent, period. I had it out last night for the first time, and had only an hour or so. The seeing was okay, but not great. In that time I enjoyed bright, sharp, contrasty views of 3 double stars (Sigma Orionis, Iota Orionis, and H3945 in Canis Major (two near perfect pinpoints, pale red primary and pale blue secondary). Also, the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) and open clusters Messier 47 in Puppis, NGC 1981 in Orion, NGC (a “bent hour glass core shape) 2244 in Monoceros. And Messier 41, an open cluster 4 degrees south of the super bright Sirius.5. The price-to-performance ratio.6. The little tabletop tripod is both lightweight and rock solid. The latter quality surprised me. Would be easy to use at a park picnic table where the seats are a couple of feet lower that the tabletop.7. The portability. I mean, it’s like carrying around an 8” sandwich.The CONs:1. Ummmm…..I’m thinking.2. I’m inclined to say that this is not a wide field instrument, so not suited to lower power wide field observing. But this is NOT a flaw, rather it is just part of the ( folded long focal length) Maksutov design which is best suited for higher power lunar and planetary observing. Still, based on my first light experience, it DOES a decent job on brighter compressed open clusters such as those alluded to above. Ditto double stars, another Mak plus.3. There is no finder included other than the two little questionably useful pointed “gun sight” bumps on the OTA. But this is easily correctible. Keep reading.4. The smartphone holder can be used only with the included 20mm eyepiece, and not standard 1.25” eyepieces whose top diameter is too large.RECOMMENDED UPGRADES:1. Buy a green laser pointer (all over eBay for 5 bucks) and attach it (riding up next to the 2 gunsight bumps so it is directly aligned) to the OTA with 3M double-sided tape (see photo).2. Use a photo tripod as a mount which you extend part way or all the way (about 4 feet high) which allows you to use a patio chair or whatever so sit and observe in comfort. Amazon Basics offers an excellent one and it comes with its own carry bag, so like 16” or so long when fully compacted:https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Samsung-Panasonic-eCost-Microfiber/dp/B00J8RM35Q/ref=asc_df_B00J8RM35Q/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198070155062&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15082464307572345082&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032854&hvtargid=pla-385574432337&psc=13. Consider getting a zoom eyepiece such as the 1.25” SvBony 7-21mm which will give you a wide range of magnification options. This is especially useful in lunar oBserving where one short barrel twist at a time will bring you closer, closer, and closer still to the Moon’s craters and mountain ranges to the point where you get the feel of looking down at the lunar surface from an orbiting space station.4. If you plan to do a lot of photography with this telescope, get a 2x Barlow lens which doubles the magnification of any eyepiece. So it turns the included 20mm eyepiece from 37.5x to 75x. To see the effects here, look at the two photos of a distant (about 100 yards) tree branches; the first taken with the 20mm EP, the second of the same area of the tree with the 20mm plugged into a Barlow (which I have attached in the first photo in this review).