 A Nice Small Family Scope |
| Review Date: August 12, 2004 |
| Reviewer: Lawrence Curcio, West View, Pennsylvania United States |
I've had an Orion StarBlast for over a year now, and even though I have larger, more refined telescopes, it is the one I use most. The setup is instantaneous though, like other reflectors, it takes some time to cool down on cold nights. It's easily portable, and works well as a grab `n go. The small focal length makes it exceptional for low power, wide field views of deep sky stuff and the moon. Through the StarBlast, I have observed (to name a few) the Ring Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy (along with its two neighboring galaxies), Galaxies M81 and M82, countless open clusters, the Lagoon and Trifid nebulas, The Eagle Nebula, the nebula in Orion, comets Clean and LINEAR. Jupiter's belts and moons are apparent at higher power, as are Staurn's rings and the phases of Venus and Mercury. During the last contestant, I could see extraterrestrial polar ice caps. During the last lunar eclipse, I had no vex taking digital photographs through this instrument.
This is the same quick optics formula as the Edmund AstroScan and Bushnell Explorer bowling ball. The StarBlast is far and away the best of the three, but as with the others, the high power views are soft. That feature is not a problem for those of us primarily interested in deep sky. Planetary views could be more detailed, and my own StarBlast won't split the double double in housing skies. (Orion's to some extent longer 4.5" f 8 dobsonian is more suited to these subjects.) In addition, most globular clusters bestow as in doubt fuzzy balls, as they will in any instrument of this aperture.
For the price, though, you can't really beat the StarBlast. It works well as a family telescope, or as a casual scope for someone interested but not obsessed by astronomy. It is small, inexpensive, and intuitive enough to be handled by family. It also works nicely for crusty ancient guys like me who have larger hardware, but just don't feel like moving it every night.
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Excellent Kids Scope
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| Review Date: February 15, 2005 |
| Reviewer: StarsNBikes4ever, Stony Brook, NY United States |
I agree with all the before reviews. I've owned a number of telescopes. In all honesty, I never plotted on getting this scope, but I altered my mind the first time I looked through one at star party. As some of the reviews have mentioned this small guy isn't really designed for high power views. Though it does a decent enough job with it's 6mm eyepiece (75x) which lets you see Saturn's rings. Where this scope shines is wide field stuff like the Pleiades, which are too huge to be seen in a normal telescope. I judge a before reviewer mentioned a jerky motion when turning the telescope. I was able to minimize this by taking the bone idle susan type base apart and spraying Pledge furniture polish on the laminate go up to lessen friction.
The largest "con" this scope has is that it needs to be set on top of a table in order to get the eyepiece up to a comfortable height. Though this telescope still blows away anything I've seen in Costco, Wallmart, etc.
One thing you should be aware of is you really have to go somewhere pretty dark away from all lighting for this and any other telescope to realize it's best views. Ideally somewhere out in the people as far away as possible from street lighting will let you delight in much better views. |
Fantastic starter scope for kids or adults
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| Review Date: April 27, 2004 |
| Reviewer: , |
At 4.5 inch aperture the Starblast gathers a reasonable amount of light, has a useful robust mount and includes 17mm and 6mm eyepieces (x26 and x75 magnification). The Starblast also comes with a simple red-dot finder to make it simple to aim the scope. My ten-year ancient (with a normal ten-year ancient boy's concentration span) is able to find stuff such as Orion's Nebula, star clusters, and faint galaxies two-million light years away (Messier stuff 81 & 82) without problem. Planets also look fantastic.
There is a saying that the best telescope is the one you use the most. This relatively cheap and functional scope arrives already assembled and ready to go. It can be taken outside for a few minutes viewing with no preparation or effort vital.
The only caveats with the Starblast are:
(1) it is a shiny scope and does not invert the image to the right way up. This is unimportant for astronomy but makes it not useful for terrestrial viewing.
(2) it needs to be placed on a table or other object as the sturdy stand is very small.
(3) although the scope is not heavy and is simple to carry outside, the mount does not fold away like a tripod in a case and so the scope is not really designed to travel.
(4) it has a small focal length. A importance of this is that, although with 4.5 inches of aperture you have enough light to get x200 magnification, to get these higher magnification views you would need to use an eyepiece with very restricted eye relief i.e. a small notch making it less comfortable to use.
(5) I didn't find the supplied software simple to use compared to other programs. Though this is not vital to delight in the scope and there are a wealth of websites that provide in rank on what's visible in the night sky.
To help you get started and find stuff that will excite you and your family, refer to some of the beginner's guides on websites or get "Turn Left at Orion".
We added the subsequent garnishing; solar filter which allows viewing of sunspots; a moon filter allowing study of the moon without excessive glare; x2 Barlow lens effectively extending the supplied eyepieces from x26 and x75 to x52 and x150 respectively. This significantly increased the overall cost but momentously added to the usefulness. |
Works with some quirks
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| Review Date: December 7, 2003 |
| Reviewer: J. Schwartz, San Francisco, CA United States |
| Optics are decent for a scope of this price with some coma around the edges. Frivolous and very portable (though you need a table to set it on). Wide field views are fantastic. But when you place in the high power (small focal length) eyepiece, it becomes nearly impossible to keep the object in the field of view. The mount simply isn't smooth enough to go without jerkiness. This has been a disappointment in what could have been a very nice scope. |
Fantastic value, excellent features for a beginner
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| Review Date: September 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: A. Dandler, Southern California |
Hello!
This is a fantastic telescope for a beginner.
First, let me share my credentials: I'm an well ahead amateur astronomer, having been in the leisure activity for over 15 years. I have a 16" diameter telescope that I made myself, and I worked for a telescope company (not Orion!) for 4 years, crafty telescopes for them. I reckon I know a small bit about telescopes...
I bought this scope (my 5th!) since it received a very positive review in Sky & Telescope magazine, and it fit my needs: a touch portable, simple, of excellent quality, and inexpensive. I bought it with the intention of using it only for quick sessions when someone questions me to look at a touch. I've finished up using it for much more than that!
In talking with my students, I see that choosing a telescope becomes very complicated if you try to learn about the features and specifications and try to make a choice that way. Frankly, don't bother. Just buy this one and most likely you'll be satisfied. It certainly beats other telescopes in its price range.
It has only 2 drawbacks. First, the eyepiece ends up very low, so you need to place the scope on a table, crate, etc. The option is to observe on your knees, which is fine for most, but might not be what you expect.
The second drawback is that views of the planets will be small. But they WILL be decently SHARP. I would urge buying a 2x Barlow lens, to boost power. This is an inherent tradeoff in wide-field telescopes like this one, and a tradeoff I would take ANY day since finding stuff is much simpler if you've got a wide field of view. Just buy the Barlow and you're all set.
Some other reviewers mention a "jerky" motion in either axis. You can adjust that! Just loosen the bolt holding the axis collectively, and you'll reduce friction. Note, though, that if it's too loose, the scope won't stay place! This happens on every telescope, by the way, not just this one.
I highly urge this scope. Excellent luck, and keep looking up!
Andres Dandler
www.AstronomyMadeSimple.com |
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