Excelsis - Display Vote

Orion AstroView 120mm EQ Refractor

About 3 weeks ago I receved my Astroview 120. The Difference between the Astroview and Skywatcher is that the Astroview now has a adjustable Lens cell. I will explain the pros and cons of it later on in the review. I guess i should say I live in Auburn Washington, A suburb of Seattle and have mag 2.5-3.0 skys on top of the hill where there are less street lights. At my House in the Valley Castor and Pollux are dim and Polaris requires averted vision. My poor Sky conditions is part of the reason im getting a Refractor. It is also important to note that this is my second telescope and have had a Meade 4500 with a POOR mount. I have only gotten M42 and M31 with the 4500.

I recieved the scope 3 days after the order was placed. The box appered in good condition at the door except the Orion Catalog was partially hanging out of the Box. After draging the Box (55lbs. and 50 or so inches long) inside I opened the box and removed the contents which were all in perfect condition. Setup was remarkably simple takeing only 30minutes to assemble.

The Finderscope (6x30) is of good quality, and far far supirior to the meade Ceral-Box 6x30 which i also still own. The best thing though is that the bracket which the finderscope is aligned in is So easy to set up, Only 2 minutes and the scope was aligned.

The suplyed Eyepieces are the equivilent of the Meade MA serires, and are to be replaced immendiately. Ordering a Epic ED-2 5mm Tommroo. The Mount Appered Giant OVERSHADOWED my Meade 300 mount which is recomeded to people who have filed Bankruptcy in the last year.

The OTA was in perfect condition and is of good quality. This is obviously a very durible scope.

The next Day the skys opened up and I got my first views. I took the Mount outside and then went to balence the OTA when the first flaw became apperent. The new Adjustable Lens cell also added a good hunk of metel to the Front of the scope. When Balanced the rings are toutching the Orion Logo at the Front. The Adjustable Lens cell I believe was a bad idea and well explain in more detail later. My first target was the 4 day old cresent moon. WHOA! The detail along the terminator is outstanding! Craters, More Craters, Mountains WOW! Very Impressive. Then I realized, wait, this is achromat? I didnt notice the false color. Back I go and there is a faint, well very faint ring of Purple huging the moon. This ring is barely noticeable and is close to the color correction of the Meade APO's. Then to the west Venus apperes! Unlock RA/DC, Center in Finder, Ah, nice! The First thing noticed is the Gibbous Phase. Then you notice that Venus at 100x is quite small and the need for the eyepiece intensifys.
Then Jupiter, low in the west comes in through averted vision and is readly visable through the finder. 2 Large Belts, 2 smaller ones with 4 moons are visable. False color is more obvious on Jupiter because it is more yellowish then white. Again not nearly as much as I thought. By the way, The Scope on Concrete is very unstable at 100x, I move it into grass and it steadys out better. I here that Sand in the Tripod helps It Stableize.
As Jupiter sinks under the tree line, I wait about 1 hour for the sky to Darken.

Sience the skys are NOT Dark yet I pan over to Vega to run a star test at 100x. All i know is that it was very symetrical.

With little deep sky experience, let alone when M42/31 arent visable I attempt M13, Which is near the Zenith in Mid June.

I though that viewing near the Zenith would be a good idea with my poor sky conditions. NOT! Rember how the scope is very front hevey... well What this mean is that with a undersized tripod I struggle to get under the finder scope. I try to Find it with my book Turn Left at Orion. No luck. This beginer will report what he finds when he finds on a later Date.

Over all on my limited observing targets the scope has great optics Ans Setup is EZ. all lost pts goto mount, Eyepieces, and A tiny Amount of False Color!

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:7 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date: 06/27/2002 12:40:25 pm PST
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.0.123)
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=107974

>About 3 weeks ago I receved my Astroview 120. The Difference between the Astroview and Skywatcher is that the Astroview now has a adjustable Lens cell. I will explain the pros and cons of it later on in the review. I guess i should say I live in Auburn Washington, A suburb of Seattle and have mag 2.5-3.0 skys on top of the hill where there are less street lights. At my House in the Valley Castor and Pollux are dim and Polaris requires averted vision. My poor Sky conditions is part of the reason im getting a Refractor. It is also important to note that Iam 13 and this is my second telescope and have had a Meade 4500 with a POOR mount. I have only gotten M42 and M31 with the 4500. 
[wemaster note: quote snipped]


Addition: August 30/31st (Not sure!) 2002.

With the Planets gone and Venus sinking I have really learned how to find some objects. I can now find M13, Which is grainy at 100x and with the New Epic ED-2 5mm the Edges are a little resolved. M27 shows its distintive Dumbell Shape, and at 100x the Ring is a Ring with the Middle occasionly during good seeing seemingly falling out. The Double Double in this Scope is Easily split, as Is Alberio. I found M8/20 once and It was Awesome. I went out to my first deep sky event in July. I had never seen the Milky Yay and was ancous to see other scopes And do some real Observing. Sadly on the Way up the Locks on RA/DC broke and I didnt see a thing through it. Orion swiftly sent me a whole new mount with no charge that works just grate! Zenith observing is ALOT more confirotable with a Right Angle Finder, also from Orion and good quality. 

The Refractor puts up some surprising Deep Sky Looks and Is much more comfortable with a Right Angle Finder

Back