 My 1st telescope...wow!!! |
| Review Date: March 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Pulaski, Runnemede, NJ United States |
Ordered this, a 13% moon filter, and 3x barlow. Took longer to unpack and take inventory of the parts than it did to place it collectively. Simple instructions and certainly well confined for shipping. Mount is simple to swing but not simple enough to get free wheeling.
Main mirror needed slight adjustment which took about 2 minutes to fix. Alignment with spotting scope was equally as simple. Overall, did not have any tribulations or any issues that weren't easily addressed by the instructions.
Did my first test tonight. I live a few miles east of Philadelphia and within a 1/4 mile of a ridiculously lit up Super Walmart. And the only place I could do a test was in my drive way linking houses on a busy suburb street. We got 10 inches of snow last night and this was the only place that was solid.
Given my crappy place full of light pollution, my only real expectation tonight was to verify that the spotting scope and the main scope were in alignment. So I keen at Orion's Nebula (M43) with my spotting scope and then took a look through the factory supplied 25mm eye piece with no barlow.
WOW!!! Even with my crappy place, M43 was incredible!!! I could easily see the nebula and make out the hues and colors. Equally incredible, my spotting scope and main scope were dead on!!
I then wheeled the scope towards Saturn which was only a few degrees over my neighbor's roof, a real no-no when it comes to stargazing. Well, if this was crappy circumstances, all I can say is WOW!!! It was just as incredible. Even though the rings are tough to make out since the rings are right on in terms of their plane, it was still simple to see as well as plenty of moons circling. WOW!!!
Then tried the 13% moon filter on the crescent moon. WOW!!! Wish I could describe it better, but the first peek at this stuff is just incredible!! I cannot wait to get out this weekend to rural area and look at this stuff. I'm giving it 5 stars now simply since the product's quality right of the box was top shelf and what you can view out of it is simply incredible even with my dreadful light tainted place.
And even though I was only out hard for a few minutes, my neighbors wondered what I was doing and when I gave them a peek at Saturn, the ooooohs and aaaahs were priceless!!!
If this thing in some way broke by tommorrow, I feel like I already got my money's worth.
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I Told You I Might Get the XT8 - I Did!!!
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| Review Date: October 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: R. Kirkham, Rushville, Illinois USA |
If you look at my review for the XT6 I gave that instrument 5 stars but cautioned readers not to buy it. At that time I said that, given a chance, I might jump up to an XT8. I got the chance, and I grabbed it. Here is what I learned.
The 6 has a abstractedly longer focal length. This means that if your main purpose for viewing is to see object within our solar system, i.e. planets, moon, etc. It won't make much difference which scope you hold. the 6" is cheaper and lighter. Solar system stuff are bright and look excellent at about 200X, which either scope can give up on a excellent night and neither can give up on a terrible night.
But I don't look mainly at solar system stuff. I like to look at deep sky stuff, like nebula, galaxies, double stars, etc. For these, the more aperture, the better. 8" is notably more aperture than 6". It is right that the 8" weighs more than the 6. I am 52 years ancient. I can lug either around my yard, but I added a cart for the 8". My yard is nearly an acre and I would rather pull it around than carry it. In my earlier review I said that I might keep my XT6 as a travel scope. That wasn't necessary. The 8" is simple take apart, place in its bag, and carry to other locations. The bag is necessary for travel. I did keep my 6". I started teaching seminars and now have 5 scopes. I evenly use reflectors, refractors, composites, EQ mounts, alt./az. mounts, and dobsonians. The XT8 is my favorite. I reckon I'll keep this one for awhile.
I've tried the goto scopes. They are handy, but given the choice of costs my money on electronics or aperture, I'll go with the aperture. I have some scopes with EQ mounts. Given the choice of costs my money on a fancy mount or aperture, I'll take aperture and the simple dobsonian mount. EQ mounts are only necessary for photography. This scope is about as huge as an inexpensive portable scope gets and about as small as a serious visual scope gets. It is a fantastic beginning and intermediate scope.
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Exceptional and honestly portable telescope
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| Review Date: May 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: P. Fowler, Phoenix, AZ USA |
Just bought this as a gift for my high-school sophomore daughter. I spent a lot of time comparison shopping on-line. Ordered it via Amazon, and it arrived in just a few days. Two boxes. Took me a bit longer to set it up than others who have posted here, but screwing collectively the base pieces was honestly simple, and then mounting the tube to the base was a snap. I like the handle, as it makes it more portable, although it is still bulky and I am still working on the best method for carrying it out-of-doors each night for our family sky-watching. Anyway, I REALLY like it so far. We bought the 3x Barlow lens too. We started using it during the new moon phase, and Saturn was out. Very cool to see Saturn's rings so clearly. Then last night we used it to look at the half-moon, and all I can say is...WOW! I felt like I was orbiting the moon and looking down from 60 miles. You can see darkness of party craters, and the clarity is incredible. Very crisp image. The 3x Barlow really enhances the view, and really magnifies well.
I also like the way you can rotate and pitch the tube. I didn't want to buy a 'scope with a tri-pod since of the extra weight and I didn't want to pay for the tri-pod. The base that comes with the xt8 is basic, but very functional. I reckon it works well, and I reckon it will be simple to carry it in our minivan out to the high people where the light pollution is reduced. So far we are very pleased with this hold. |
Wonderful first telescope
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| Review Date: July 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Michael Markiw, Pittsburgh, PA USA |
I've been interested in astronomy for most of my life and permanently chose to hold a telescope. I spent a while doing my investigate and matured on the Orion SkyQuest XT8 due to its size, high marks for quality equipment, and its price.
As others have noted, it took longer to unpack and verify not anything was gone than it took to assemble the base and mount the scope. Unfortunately, I did have to spend some time aligning the primary mirror (called collimating) and then sighting in the spotting scope. Not anything very complicated, but it did take a small bit of patience. The instructions on collimating the mirrors are included and were quite clear.
The telescope comes with one 1.25" 25mm Plossl eyepiece that, when paired with this scope, gives a magnification of 48x. The eyepieces can easily be swapped out and the telescope can accept either 1.25" or 2" eyepieces.
Once I permanently had everything assembled and aligned I got it outside and set up for a first viewing. I live in a housing area with moderate light pollution in the skies (mostly low on the horizon) near Pittsburgh, PA. I was concerned that this might prevent me from getting excellent views, but that was not the case. My very first target was Saturn, which was honestly close to the sky glow of light pollution. I was blown away by the clarity! With just the basic, included eyepiece (25mm Plossl) I was easily able to see Saturn and its rings, despite them being nearly edge on at the time. I place a 2x Barlow lens into the eyepiece and the puffed up view allowed me to see faint banding in the atmosphere, and a tiny point of light that might have been Titan (one of Saturn's moons). I was just astonished by how easily I was able to use the telescope.
The next target for viewing was the moon, which was nice and high above the horizon, visible as a waxing crescent. I was able to pick out party craters and mountains, and the serration of the image made it feel nearly as though I was much closer to the moon as a substitution for of looking through a telescope.
In small, if you're looking for an exceptional telescope for a beginner or a more veteran sky watcher, you'd be hard pushed to go incorrect here. |
Fantastic Telescope
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| Review Date: April 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Jackson, NJ |
| I bought this for my boyfriend for his birthday and he likes it!!! The assembly only took about 45mins and he was able to see numerous planets/stars very clearly. I would beyond doubt urge this telescope to anyone that is looking for a 'starter' telescope. |
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