The Galileoscope is a $15 kit that allows you to build a refracting telescope. I ordered mine in mid-May and it arrived Tuesday of last week. The first thing I noticed is that it’s made of fairly lightweight plastic. What did I expect for $15?

The next think I noticed is that the included instructions are just bad. They refer to parts of the telescope without actually telling you what they look like. I’ve never actually used a telescope before, so I was just guessing on putting it together.

On May 15th, I placed an order for the equipment needed to attached my Nikon D200 to the Galileoscope I ordered the same day. I received an email two days later that the parts were backordered, but should be available in a couple of weeks. I wasn’t too worried about it, as the Galileoscope hadn’t even started shipping yet and I doubted I would receive it until sometime in July.

Yesterday, the Galileoscope arrived. I had not received the parts from Adorama yet, so I logged into my account to check the status. All it said was that it’s backordered as of May 17th. There was no projected ship date.