I have been a long time customer of Explore Scientific and just had my first malfunction in a weather station. I contacted customer service by email and my email had a response in ten minutes. The level of care and concern for quality products and service is absolutely mind blowing. Great people and awesome products at a reasonable price. Lauren in customer service was exceptional. Buy with confidence. read more

I was sold a defective mount from them and they ignored my support ticket, Will never buy from them again

lots of reviews whining that they didn't get their new bauble immediately. ES is a fairly small (in terms of employees) business. they are diligent and polite and are clearly trying to satisfy a large number of people. give 'em a break. they're braving headwinds in an industry which is claiming lots of victims. read more

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! I've had nothing but terrible experiences with this company, and it's been one disaster after another. I placed an order for two eyepieces totaling almost $2,000--one costing $599 and the other $1,300. Only ONE eyepiece arrived, and there was ZERO explanation or refund for the missing one. When I called, I was given excuse after excuse from Rebecca about being "busy" because of Labor Day, along with endless apologies, but no real solution. After trying to sell me an eyepiece I didn't even want, she finally said she found a replacement and promised overnight delivery. Did that happen? Of course not! I waited a whole week with no package. When I called AGAIN, Rebecca didn't even remember who I was (after we had a long conversation about the problem), put me on hold, and then said she'd call me back. Thirty minutes later--nothing. So I had to call HER again. What do I get? More apologies, more excuses, and ZERO accountability. If I hadn't followed up, nothing would have been done. This is TWICE I've had to chase them down to get what I paid for. The icing on the cake? She tried to say she was "just about to email me" when I called her again--clearly trying to avoid dealing with an upset customer. It's obvious this company doesn't care at all about its customers or delivering on its promises. Absolutely horrible service all around. Save yourself the headache and take your business elsewhere! read more

I was looking for the telescope of my dreams (and one that would last the rest of my life) and found it at Explore Scientific. I purchased the 152ED APO refracting telescope and it out-performs my 8" SCT nightly. I am an experienced observer, and I don't think you can do better than Explore Scientific to give you the best telescope at the best price. If you are a beginner, this is also the place to start. Telescopes of all sizes are available and you will not be disappointed. Imagine the first view of Saturn or Jupiter through a telescope. The rings of Saturn are amazing! I completely trust the products coming out of this company. They are second to none. read more

Explore Scientific - The best optics and most solid mount I've ever experienced. Explore Scientific 152ED APO Refractor & Explore Scientific Losmandy G-11 Mount - Hobby Shops Near Me - Springdale, Arkansas

Explore Scientific is not only a manufacturer of high quality telescopes and mounts, but they also provide great customer service, and go out of their way to give back to the astro community through outreach and social media events like weekly virtual star parties. They also have one of the best warranties in the business. If you are looking to get into astronomy, or you're in need of other optics, such as bird watching gear or spotting scopes, I highly recommend Explore Scientific. read more

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I have been doing business with Explore Scientific and one of large Distributors for almost a year now. And also a regular viewer of the company's worldwide outreach for all Astronomers customers or not. Customer service and support has been above and beyond what you would expect from companies at any level. I recommend becoming a member of the in-house club Explore Alliance you get extended warranties, also early access to and sometimes discounts on new products before the public has access. The products that Explore Scientific carries are of a higher quality than you will find at other outlets from my experience. In always check Explore Scientific's various distributors first in case they have a special deal, if not I go to my favorite hobby suppler knowing my purchase will be the best I can do. one more think, the Customer Service Reps are the best I have ever done business with. Harold Locke read more

Can not say enough great things about everyone here! They made my telescope purchase so easy. Everyone there came and helped me decide which scope was perfect for me and I could not be any happier with the final decision. Thank you so much! read more

Explore Scientific - My first light! Lots of work to do on my photo quality, but the scope is amazing! - Hobby Shops Near Me - Springdale, Arkansas

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I was looking for a unique and functional gift for my nephew's new bedroom. Explore Scientific delivered. The store front will be my new go to for fun unique gifts. It is so much fun to have a place you can walk in and really look at these things in action. The staff was helpful with usage tips and tricks. Glad to find a local go to for scientific items. read more

I purchased two telescopes, one for us and one for my son. None of the eyepieces fit , they are a tad too big. I have emailed twice, they wrote back once asking for pictures, which I sent, and now they emailed again, many weeks later, saying they didn't get the pictures. These were holiday presents that we haven't been able to use, so much for customer service there. read more

Awful -- avoid at all costs. I ordered an eyepiece filter that was listed as 'in stock'. ES immediately charged my credit card and generated an order number. Then for five days nothing -- no shipping confirm or status update. After I called was told that the item 'is and has been out of stock and backordered -- no date given for when it will be back in stock'. OK then -- #1 Why was it shown as available for purchase on the website when I ordered? #2 Why when I ordered it wasn't it flagged as 'not available' as opposed to taking the order and immediately charging my credit card? #3 Why did it take ME having to call to be informed of this mess and then having to specifically ask for the charge to be reversed (recall there is no expected restocking date). Sorry this appears to be a bait and switch shop. I was told that 'due to Covid blah blah blah.' Sorry guys that doesn't cut it. Hiding lack of product availability and then charging people's credit cards for stuff you don't have isn't legal or ethical. Buyer beware -- which is a shame since I've been told their products are good. read more

I have ordered multiple products from Explore Scientific, and while each experience wasn't perfect, customer service was accessible and transparent in resolving issues. You don't find companies anymore that execute on their promises with the level of integrity I see at Explore Scientific. Doing business with Explore Scientific is a pleasure. Their products are top-notch as is the support they provide after the sale. read more

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As with the other reviews, Explore Scientific was recommended to me through my membership at Space.com... I placed my order on August 3rd, payment was immediately taken and I was messaged " order had been received ". The next day I received an email stating order had been shipped and to allow an extra day for processing if it was through USPS. Never received a tracking number. No response from the business by phone, email, or " live assistance ". Take note other small businesses, leaving your customers in limbo is the exact opposite way of running a successful business... They could have simply posted a notice on their website, sent out a robo call, or bulk email stating what the issue is. ( Which at this point appears to be that they accepted payment for way more product than they actually had in stock. ). I will be cancelling payment for their failure to even supply a tracking number. read more

boo to explore scientific! I ordered and paid for two of the 62 degree $80 eyepieces, but recieved one of the 62 degree eyepieces and one of the beautiful 82 degree $280 eyepieces. I spent several hours trying to solve the issue and discovered the company has mislabeled the barcode on the 82 degree $280 eyepiece box as a 62 degree $80 eyepiece. Being the honest person I am, I notified customer service (likely saving the company a significant expense) and asked for a label to ship the big eyepiece back, and to please ship asap the little eyepiece I had paid for. The company refused to ship my little eyepiece until they recieved their big eyepiece back from me. I cancelled the order for the small eyepiece and asked for a refund which has not yet been provided. Booo booo booo, , , you not only lost a sale but you lost a customer!!!!! read more

I recently purchased the Explore Scientific BT-82 SF Binocular Telescope and I am absolutely delighted with it! I had wanted a really nice large binocular for quite some time. Something that would be a "grab & go" observing instrument. I had tried out various 70mm, 80mm, even 100mm straight through, single power binoculars, but even when mounted solidly on an appropriate tripod, they were all very difficult to use! Trying to observe objects higher up in the sky was trying and frankly, pardon the pun, a "pain in the neck"! Therefore I had been researching the 45 degree angle binocular telescopes for a while, which also had the added benefit of having interchangeable eyepieces. I settled on the Explore Scientific's BT-82 SF Binocular Telescope for several reasons. First I had tremendous confidence that Explore Scientific would supply a quality product, and also would provide great after sale customer service if needed. I had met and knew most of the staff, including CEO Scott Roberts, quite a number of years. Also, I live close enough to Springdale, Arkansas, where their distribution center, sales showroom, and offices are located. I am a firm believer in actually seeing, and inspecting a product before I buy it, especially an optical instrument in this price range! I also have an ES Twilight 1 mount & tripod that I had purchased a while back to use along with a 127mm Maksutov telescope as another "grab & go" observing package. So figuring that maybe the Twilight mount could do "double duty" as a mount for the BT-82's, I came up with a home-made 90 degree bracket out of some solid oak, metal angle brackets for stiffening, and a "Vixen-style" dovetail mounting bar. This works great and provides a solid platform for observing with the bino's! The slow motion controls on the Twilight 1 mount provide an added feature when tracking an object smoothly across the sky! I have been extremely happy with the views through this bino-telescope! (B-T) Since I live in a very light polluted suburb of a mid-sized city, I concentrated mostly on the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn to test the B-T's out initially. I was quite impressed with the very smooth independent helical focusing mechanisms for the eyepieces as well as with the helical locking rings that center and lock each eyepiece in place! The B-T also has adjustable inter-pupillary adjustment that makes it easy for other to change to compensate for their individual eye spacing. One other nice feature is the built in retractable lens hoods! Back to observing impressions, the Moon was amazing to look at with both eyes! The view almost seems 3-dimensional! Even with higher powers! I have a pair of Explore Scientific 8.8mm 82 Deg, AFOV eyepieces, which give roughly 53X power, which provided a very detailed view of the Moon. Views of Saturn and Jupiter were equally impressive! I got a chance to try out the B-T in really dark skies when I headed to the Nebraska Star Party the first week of August this year (2021)! Since this was one of the main reasons I wanted these binoculars was to see how they would do on large deep sky objects such as star clusters and large nebula. This was the only instrument I took, and I had a blast with them, as did many others that took a look through them! Of course up there under the pristine dark skies the objects I wanted to try them out on large deep sky objects such as M31, the Andromeda galaxy, the Veil Nebula in Cygnus, and probably what was a favorite of many who looked through the bino-telescope was the "Coat Hanger" cluster! At the lowest power, 20X, with the largest true field of view of a little over 3 degrees, you could see the entire "upside down coat hanger" in one view. Stars were pinpoint over the entire field of view! M-31 stretched all the way across the field at this power too, and you could see companion galaxies, M-32 and M110 in the some field of view! Although it was still quite faint, you could see the almost the entire Veil Nebula was visible in a single view! All in all, I am very happy with this ES BT-82 Binocular Telescope! I have to be honest though and say there is a little residual "achromatic" color around bright extended objects such as the Moon and the bright planets, Jupiter and Saturn with them, but I did not consider it objectionable. The build quality and overall finish is superb in this instrument. Also they are quite heavy, weighing in at around 10 pounds, so so they have to be solidly mounted to enjoy using them! One other tiny "nit" I have with them is the plastic threaded screw on front lens caps. Out in the field in the dark you have to be very careful that you start threading correctly or they could be easily cross-threaded. I am looking for some soft vinyl slip-on covers of the proper size to fit over the front of the lens hoods. I would highly recommend this Explore Scientific BT-82 SF Binocular Telescope for anyone looking for a low power, wide-filed of view observing instrument! read more

Explore scientific bent over backwards to fix a problem I had with a defective telescope. Was supposed to repair but they ended up replacing it and followed up extensively to make sure I was happy. They may have at one time struggled in the area of customer service but Kent Marts was more than accommodating to me and I love my new scope! This is an honest 4 star review although I'd like to think that with a little QC they could be a consistent 5 stars going forward. read more

Very nice telescopes and binos. Very knowledgeable staff. If you are interested in Astronomy, birding, eclipses, microscopes, STEM education for kids, this is the place. read more

I don't have much to add to the existing negative reviews. This company was recommended by the American Astronomical Society, and took my money for 100 glasses on Aug 2, 2017. My plan was to distribute the glasses to friends and employees. Since that time, Explore Scientific has ignored emails, and I can't even leave voicemail because the customer service mailbox is full. The president, Scott Roberts, responded to a text asking for my order number, but has not replied to subsequent texts. This looks like a small business -- but it's acting like a BIG business, ripping off the customer and dodging corporate responsibility. A decent response would have been, "We feel awful. We cannot fulfill your order. We have issued a refund." But, instead... just radio silence. I hope there's a very good explanation here. Barring that... I hope this eclipse ruins then. read more

Wow, I am very concerned after ready the other review here. I am a school principal that ordered 300 eclipse sunglasses back on 8/2/2017. We have not received our glasses either. I have an email confirmation. Every number I call also says the voicemail is full. I then emailed everyone on the website and got a response to call/text Scott Roberts who is the founder of this company. I did both - l left a message and sent a text to the number they gave me: 949-637-9075. I have had no response of any kind. The next eclipse in our viewing area isn't until 2045 and obviously at this point its impossible to get glasses from anyone. This company has prevented an amazing learning opportunity for my students from occurring. I couldn't be more disappointed. read more