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Orion SkyQuest XT8
| Brand | Orion |
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| Availability | available |
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Product Info
Overview
Reviews
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Oct 17, 2009
My first scope.
Pros:In the house to outside viewing in under 5 minutes.
Cons:
Smooth movement.None.
Comments:This is a great first scope. The scope has enough aperture to satisfy anybody interested in Astronomy and viewing for their first time. Assembly and setup is a breeze. If I want to go outside to view "right now" .... I would be looking through the eyepiece within 5 minutes at the most.
Bottom Line: Would you recommend this item? Yes
In cold weather you want your scopes to cool down to ambient temperature as the air in the tube will cause currents that will distort your view somewhat. I leave this scope out for 1/2 hour usually for deep sky (galaxy viewing, Nebula viewing). Also for newbies.... you want your eyes to adjust to the dark for a minimum of 1/2 hour preferably before trying to view deep sky objects. That's for another forum though.
I added a Telrad finder to easily find Messier Objects. I will review this next so look that up also. The moon looks amazing through the scope. You can make out mountains along the shadow (terminator line) during different phases of the moon cycles.
Saturn looked amazing last year when the rings were tilted more than they are now. The image was crisp and had good contrast. Jupiter is amazing to look at. I could make out the the different cloud banding and the great red spot. I have also seen shadows from Jupiter's moon going across Jupiter. You get good resolution with this scope.
Galaxies are grey smudges if you are viewing from light polluted areas. Although I was able to make out the central core of "Andromeda" galaxy on a moonless night a couple weeks ago.
I will never get rid of this scope. It is impressive looking. It looks like a canon and it is a nice instrument to show off to friends.
Buy a laser collimator for optics alignment and have somebody have it set it up properly if you are in doubt about any of the set-up.Aug 22, 2009A true space explorer
Pros:Excellent telescope with super optics, quality construction and hardware
Cons:Not owning this years ago..
Comments:After much research and consideration about what kind of telescope I'd like to own I zeroed in on the Orion XT8. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made within the realm of astronomy.
Bottom Line: Would you recommend this item? Yes
The order process was simple and professional. The shipping was fast and both boxes arrived together, one with the base and the other with the scope. Everything was accounted for with no damage.
Set up was a breeze. The instruction manual is of good quality with no stone left unturned. Before long it was sitting there ready for collimation, another process that sounds difficult but turns out to be fairly easy once you get a handle on what you have to do. It only needed minor adjustments out of the box.
Moving the telescope isn't to tough. It's kind of big but not so bad that it's cumbersome. And with 8 inches of aperture to catch that light I don't mind a little extra junk in it's trunk. LOL
Facing the southern sky Jupiter was begging to be viewed first. After sighting in the EZ II scope (a very easy process) I was ready. The aiming was dead on and I had no problem finding my target. I tried out the included 25mm lens. Sharp, clear, perfect view. An awesome sight to behold.
I plan to use this incredible scope for many many years to come. I simply love my Orion XT8! I recommend one to anybody even remotely interested.Mar 15, 2008Orion Skyquest XT8
Pros:Very portable; High quality views
Cons:None
Comments:I own an XT10, but found a good deal on the XT8 that I just couldn't pass up. That's a purchase I'll never regret I assure you. The XT8 delivered awesome views, and worked out just fine for mounting on my CG5 computerized mount. The mirror in this scope is of very good quality, and impressed a host of people at a local outing recently. This is an excellent starter scope, and I recommend them all the time.
Bottom Line: Would you recommend this item? YesAug 13, 2007Great Scope! Buy it!
Pros:Fast Set Up; Large Aperture
Cons:None
Comments:I was actually saving to buy an Orion XT10 when I perused the clearance section of the Orion site and saw that they were selling off the discontinued XT8 models for $259. The new model sells for $369 with the only difference being the smaller 6x30 finderscope and a 2" rack and pinion focuser (they have since upgraded it to a 2" Crayford).
Bottom Line: Would you recommend this item? Yes
The XT8 showed up in 2 separate boxes on successive days. Assembly took about 45 minutes and required a couple of crescent wrenches. It was fairly well collimated but I did adjust it anyway.
First light: I can't say enough good things about this scope. There are no alignments to do. You just drop it on the ground and start observing although you should let it sit for a while to obtain temperature equilibrium. The first night I found M5, M44, M67, M51, and M97. Awesome stuff. I think I only found 3 Messier objects with my previous 4.5" reflector. Now I'm steadily progressing through the Messier catalog.
The XT8 is portable as I can handle it outside by myself when completely assembled. Anything larger than this scope (like an XT10 or XT12) will probably be less portable. One other benefit of the XT8 is that it is f/5.9. This is just slow enough that it enables it to handle cheaper eyepieces such as the Agena 2" SWAs and the Agena 1.25 WAs. I have viewed Epsilon Lyrae through an f/4.7 XT10 with an Orion Epic ED high power eyepiece and the stars looked like fans (horrible coma). This doesn't mean that the XT10 is a bad scope - it just means that you'll have to invest more $ on eyepieces to get quality views. Not so with the XT8. The Orion Deepview 35mm, the Agena SWA 26mm, Orion Ultrascopics, and the Agena WA 8mm all work exceptionally well with this scope. All these eyepieces were purchased for less than $80 a piece.
I have since added a couple of accessories to my XT8 that I highly recommend:
1) A Telrad reflex sight
2) An Agena SWA 2" eyepiece
3) A GSO (or identical branded) 2" 2x ED BarlowSort by
