Orion Apex 102mm

4.0 Orion Apex 102mm Mak

Quality Optics, Good Price

Stock Diagonal

One of the scopes I am asked about the most is my Orion 4" maksutov. I use this scope primarily for splitting double stars which it does superbly, plus planetary and lunar viewing on which this scope just does an awesome job. The OTA is well made, largely constructed from metal and nicely finished in burgundy. The Apex comes with a 45° diagonal that provides a correctly-oriented field of view . I keep a good quality Stellarvue dielectric 99% star diagonal in the case along with the one supplied with the Apex. In my opinion this is an essential accessory if this scope is to be used at higher magnifications, particularly for planetary use.

Optically the scope is superb and I can't really fault it in that respect. There is however a problem with internal baffling or rather the lack of it. This is only noticeable when observing close to bright objects such as the Moon, but it must inevitably reduce contrast. The source of the problem is off axis light reflecting off the side of the baffle tube - a common problem with all types of Cassegrains and by no means unique to this scope. This scope is not perfect but then how many telescopes are?

For a scope that measures just under 300mm (12") in length this a real performer. I have had some really nice views of the planets, especially Saturn which I caught on a particularly good night. It also makes a great Lunar scope. In terms of image quality it easily handles 200x magnification on a good night. The limiting factor with this scope seems to be light grasp rather than resolution. I have pushed this scope to 325x and it has still produced reasonably sharp images - it simply runs out of light long before that point. One thing I really like on this scope is the focus control, it is very smooth, my scope shows no noticeable image shift and allows fine adjustments to be made with ease. This is a 102mm telescope and performs exactly as it should for the aperture. Overall I'm very pleased with this scope.