Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian


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Brand and Model:Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
Price ($USD):$199.00
Type:Newtonian
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:114mm (4.5")
f Ratio:f/8
Focal Length:900mm
Finder:6x30
Electric Power:n/a
Mount:Dobsonian
Tripod:n/a
Weight (lbs):17.6 lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:Without spending a fortune you can get a telescope that will not only satisfy the kids, but the kid in you! Our SkyQuest XT4.5 is a quality telescope, with point-and-view simplicity that makes it easy to use and makes stargazing fun!

The optical performance is far and away better than flimsy department store models. Its 4.5" (114mm) mirror, housed in an enameled steel tube, gathers 260% more starlight than a 60mm refractor. More light means you can see a lot more celestial objects in greater detail, from Saturn's rings and Jupiter's cloud belts to hundreds of star clusters, nebulas, and galaxies.

The XT4.5's sturdy "Dobsonian" base features Teflon/Nylon bearings, so the tube glides effortlessly up and down, left and right. The XT4.5 package includes a 6x26 correct-image finder scope and two fully coated 1.25" Sirius Plössl eyepieces. One year limited warranty.

Manufacturer's Webpage

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Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
This is my first telescope, I've had it for 3 weeks, so I am a novice at rating telescopes, having no other scope to compare to. I do have 25+ years of photography experience. Since I have no other telescope to compare this one to, I would say the views are excellent and impressive. The build is solid, and it's light weight lets me take this little dob out for quick looks-I am a small woman-and even better, for longer sessions. The 25 and 10 Sirius plossls give impressive views-sharp edge to edge. It is on the short side, so I just sit on a milk crate until I can make a small (cushioned) stool. Works fine for me, a taller adult may want to set this on a short end table or something similar.

Viewing Saturn in the 10mm ep (91x) took me about 30-40 seconds for the equatorial belt to appear without the barlow-it had not yet arrived. The temperature in and outside was about even, so no real cooldown was necessary. The insructions say to give this scope about 1/2 hour to cool down.
Once the barlow did arrive-Orion's 2x Shorty Barlow Plus-a 3 element apo design, worth the extra money-don't skimp on barlows, that with the 10mm, brought it to 182x magnification, and saw cloud bands, the equatorial band, Cassini division, and visible rings on Saturn right away-a real treat. I saw Jupiter for the first time right at 4 am, (both Saturn and Jupiter closer to the zenith) a light tannish color, with a few bands-did not see the "red spot", only a quick look, but I did see 4 moons-fantastic. And I've read this scope can't be pushed much over 100x-ha! I guess that depends on the seeing.

The Moon, seen full, without the barlow or Orion's variable polarizer (they had arrived 3 days later), was still a knockout in either the 10 or 25 ep-very detailed and crisp views of the craters, Tycho and the Southern Highlands-you can't help but get hooked by astronomy once you've seen these views-especially Saturn. Not to mention the Pleiades, nebulas, clusters-I'm still learning, and I believe I have much to discover and look forward to with this telescope. The views with an additional 32mm Sirius plossl are fine-very sharp, contrasty-great for searching the skies. Barlowed, the view remains sharp. While the 10mm tends to blackout with the barlow, you have to keep your eye position at the right spot. While this may annoy others, it is something I work with. I cannot spend high dollars for expensive eyepieces, and for me these really give sharp to the edge views, pinpoint stars.

After figuring out how to collimate this scope, it held adjustment well. I went out last night, a star test showed concentric circles-very consistent once the secondary is aligned and the allen screws are properly tightened.

The mount is very sturdy, I move the scope as needed in my yard. The springs are tight, which I do like, and when I bring it inside I leave it assembled. Trying to follow Saturn high in the horizon, you may find tracking a bit stiff. I may eventually raise the spring mount screws about 1 inch to smooth this out. For now, I am enjoying looking forward to the next evening or early morning viewing. A great beginner's telescope, the 4.5" aperture seems very adequate for learning and discovering the skies. For it's build quality, portability and ease of use, excellent views, and potential, I rate this a 10 easily.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 6 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=146393


Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
The overall rating is based on price/performance ratio. That being said this scope does a GREAT job for me in the grab and go category. It is designed with kids in mind - nice bonus.

Optics - easily reached theoretical limiting magnitude of 12.5 - M81 and M82 showed detail beyond smudges, M13 starting to resolve at 90x, split double double at 120x, Jupiter crisp with two bands at 90x and good color, Venus showed beautiful crisp crescent etc. This thing does good (given aperture) on a wide variety of objects. The included eyepieces are quite good - I've made a point of using them instead of my premium EPs and they've done just fine. The finder works well though its a bit faint - I'd prefer a unit power finder. Focuser seems plenty good to me...

Movements are somewhat stiff - the scope is simple and I've read about simple remedies for this - turns out it doesn't bother me enough to actually fix! Stability is excellent. For adults this is a hands and knees scope - a very very short stepping stool helps or a sturdy table. For kids this is not an issue - it was perfect size and several kids, including some four year olds (!) who took right to it at our last star party. I did the finding, but they did the rest no problem.

Portability is superb - very nice handle for carrying around and not too heavy. I love that its a one piece scope to move.

Conclusion: At $200 this makes a great grab and go scope. I think you'd have to spend several times more to beat it for that use. For kids its also a winner - its their size - and they are drawn right to it. Great job Orion.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=365680


Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
This was my first scope, so I took it to my "astronomy guru" to check it out...he did a start test and was VERY impressed. This little 4.5" outperformed two (more expensive) telescopes that my friend owned. He didn't know whether to believe that ALL the XT 4.5's looked that good; perhaps I just had the "luck of the draw." In any case, I am VERY satisfied with my "kid's scope".

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Mount:6 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=74232


Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
The optics are quite a bit better than I thought they would be. Stars focus down to small pin points. The mount is surprisingly light and stable though is still susceptible to wind. I've placed a 2" focuser on the scope so that I could use my 30mm 80 degree bw-optic. It works great in this F8 scope so I'm pretty happy. I also think the correct image finderscope is a nice touch.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=389350


Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
I purchased this scope for my 10 year old daughter as a birthday present. What a great scope! It is easy for her to handle and not so big that she can't carry it outside. The optics are very sharp, much better than I expected. It star tests real well. The mount is nice, but it is a little prone to vibrations when trying to get critical focus. This in part due to the focuser being quite stiff. There are not adjustment screws. The only way to adjust would be to remove the pads in the drawtube houseing and try thinner ones until the desired stiffness is obtained. The motions of the mount are very smooth and controlled. No problems there. The tension springs on the altitude bearings are very tight and even I have struggle to get them on. My daughter can't to it, but this is a minor issus since the scope is so easy to carry for her fully assembled. The finder is ok, useable, but I put a Rigel Quickfinder on it which is much easier.

Its a great kids scope, that Dad will like to. It is a little low to the ground for both of us, to I purchase some table legs and will be attaching those to the base to get it and us a little higher off the ground.

High recommended.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:8 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=277339

If you remove the focuser, clean it with mineral spirits-remove all the "glue" lube that it is sent with, and just use some regular automotive lithium grease (I used a dab from my grease gun), this will make focusing so much easier, views will "snap" into focus much easier.  When I tightened the plate screws, I did not tighten all the way-left them backed off a bit without the assembly being loose.  This proceedure took maybe 15 minutes at best, works great!!

kowen

>I purchased this scope for my 10 year old daughter as a birthday present.  What a great scope!  It is easy for her to handle and not so big that she can't carry it outside.  The optics are very sharp, much better than I expected.  It star tests real well.  The mount is nice, but it is a little prone to vibrations when trying to get critical focus.  This in part due to the focuser being quite stiff.  There are not adjustment screws.  The only way to adjust would be to remove the pads in the drawtube houseing and try thinner ones until the desired stiffness is obtained.  The motions of the mount are very smooth and controlled.  No problems there.  The tension springs on the altitude bearings are very tight and even I have struggle to get them on.  My daughter can't to it, but this is a minor issus since the scope is so easy to carry for her fully assembled.  The finder is ok, useable, but I put a Rigel Quickfinder on it which is much easier.
>
>Its a great kids scope, that Dad will like to.  It is a little low to the ground for both of us, to I purchase some table legs and will be attaching those to the base to get it and us a little higher off the ground.
>
>High recommended.

Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
Great scope, mount is unstable at times. Warning ; scope nose dives when putting on or taking off springs. kneel in front of the scope to prevent this perhaps fatal crash into the floor.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:7 Mount:5 Ease of Use:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=271577


Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
This has got to be one of the best buys in telescopes today. At $200 it can not be beat. I bought it as a grab and go scope. It gives great views on all objects. I modified a small plastic lawn table to put the scope on to bring it up to a better height. I use it more tan any of my other scopes. See my review at Cloudy Nights.com.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=186859


Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian
Good telescope for the price

The mount is solid and the tension springs work great
The optics are what you would expect from a 4.5" spherical mirror -
in other words, you won't be pushing above 100X. It was hard to get sharp focus on Jupiter and Saturn at 101X using the supplied 9mm Plossl eyepiece.
The 25mm and the 6x30 finder seemed to be fine.
A star test showed a triangular star out of focus, indicating pinched optics.

It's a good beginner's scope for only $200.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41068

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