This scope has shown me the faint members of Stephan's Quintet, the Encke Division of Saturn, all Six of the Trapezium, a wealth of Jovian details, and variable stars slightly past 14.2 magnitude on many occasions. The Motor Drive One of my favorite aspects of this scope, is that it contains a motor drive. It is very relaxing to sit in a chair, lock the drive clutch, and observe an object. The motor drive has been invaluable for making variable star estimates and planetary observations. Many times I have done variable star estimates of faint variables at 225X with the TV 9mm Nagler eyepiece attached to the Celestar 8.
Higher magnification darkens the sky background, allowing fainter stars to be observed.
The motor drive has even been a big help in locating and observing faint deepsky objects, such as Stephans Quintet. For observing Stephans Quintet, high powers were used again to increase image contrast. As you can see many of my visual observing is actually done at magnifications of 150-225X. While the lack of a motor drive would not make these observations impossible, it would make them very difficult to do. The Optical Tube Assembly only weighs 25lbs, and the tripod weighs 15lbs. This makes the scope very light and portable.