Orion AstroView 120ST EQ

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Orion AstroView 120ST EQ
Maybe I just got a good sample, but my 120 ST performs great. I also have a Tak FS-78 and a 8 inch SCT, and my Orion ST still gets alot of use. It can't take the high power that my Tak can, but the lower power view is bright and very sharp,and on some things I like the ST view better. I do use the Orion with a Televue everbrite diagonal and Pentax XL eyepieces to boost the Achros performance. The bottom line is for lower power views the 120 ST performs good for me.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=174190

Orion AstroView 120ST EQ
I have used a lot of telescopes over the last 12 months, buying and trading and selling scopes to see which one's I like. For $319 for OTA, this scope is hard to beat.

First of all, let me say that a purchase from Orion is risk-free. They offer a 30 day guarantee and will happily refund or exchange your scope. In my case the first 120ST I ordered had paint flakes between and behind the objectives. In talking to some other scope manufacturers like Bill Burgess this is common in all scopes, as objective lens cells are painted and the paint flakes when objectives put in place. I called Orion about this on a Monday and I had my replacement scope on Thursday - they sent it before I even had a chance to return the first scope. Not only that, but they paid for shipping the replacement+shipping other scope back to them. They even had a tech inspect replacement scope prior to shipment to make sure it was problem-free.

The replacement scope is problem free. It is awesome, baby. Stars are pinpoint refractor jewels against a jet black background. Consistent images both sides of focus.

The images were superb of the DSO's I observed with it the first time the clouds cleared. The Orion Nebulae with 16mm UO Konig II was the best image I have seen of it since I had a 6" Criterion Dynascope with 1/10 wave mirror. It was very bright and contrasty with a lot of detail. The trapezium was there and clean. It was every thing one would expect to see with a 5" achromat.

It reminded me of images seen in a friends Intes MN61. The Intes provided more detail owing to 1" more aperture, but pinpoint stars and black background and sharpness of images/contrast were very similar.

M81 and M82 were first found with a cheap 25mm ep, but then I used the 16mm UP Konig II and I felt like I had "fallen" into space - the view was spectatular. These were not just faint fuzzies - you could view both in the same fov and see some details - at least easily discern the structures were different in each galaxy. It was a great 3-D view of these objects.

I tried more maginfication with both the Orion Nebulae and M81/M82 using UO Orthos (12.5mm and 7mm) but views of these DSO's was most pleasing with the 16mm UO Konig II.

Open clusters were truly remarkable - you just have to see the Pleaides through a nice wide field refractor and an ep like the UP Koneg II to appeciate the view. It is hard to describe.

Planets were a mixed bag - but this is not a planetary scope at 120mm and f/5. Jupiter had a purple glow that interferred with viewing. Two bands were clearly visible as were 4 moons. The definition of this scope and great optics were evident, though, as a small pinpoint moon on one side was just either coming out or going behind the planet.

Saturn was better. No false color or annoying purple glow. Rings wide open and Cassini Division clear. The image of Saturn is small in this f/5 scope, but it took magnification well. In the 7mm and 12.5 UO Orthos one band on planet was clearly visible.

I think the views through this scope on DSO were better than in a Vixen 120 NA refractor I used last month. Stars were more pinpoints in the Orion and focus was better to edge of FOV. In Vixen only the center 1/3 of FOV was in sharp focus. The Orion was in focus through most of fov except for very edges. Not bad for a f/5 that costs $1,100 LESS than the f/6.8 Vixen !!!!

The Vixen waqs much better on Jupiter - I did not see any of the purple glow on Jupiter in the Vixen. I could also resolve more details on Jupiter in the Vixen. But, for $1,100 more I should get a better view of something !!!!

I must say that observing conditions were very good tonight. Transparency was excellent, and location was a dark suburban sky. Not a dark site by any means, but darker than my front yard !

It is a great grab and go scope at only 8 lbs, and will reveal so much more detail than a 3" or 4" scope.

I would have given the scope a 10, but weak point is focuser. It works well and does the job - no problems or obvious flaws, but scope will perform much better with a replacement focuser allowing micro adjustments.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=202225

Orion AstroView 120ST EQ
Bought this last year when the importer was brooming the OTAs out the door for an extremely good price of $239. Now Orion is selling the scope for a still reasonable price of $319. This is a short-focus refractor that has some healthy secondary chromatic aberration-currently using a Wratten 2A, but there's a Sirius MV-20 on order. A lot of scope for the money. The optics are mounted on a recent EQ-3 mount which is also a lot of mount for the money.
Don't be a silly boy and compare these scopes with $7000 apos and $3000 mounts - Buy one and enjoy!

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Mount:8 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=348866

Orion AstroView 120ST EQ
I recently purchased the OTA from Orion. My main scope is a Celestron 9.25 equipped with a standard 2" William Optics diagonal fitted to a 2" TeleVue extension tube. This scope was to serve for wide field, poor seeing and grab and go observing.

As stated, there's plenty of false color when attempting to push the magnification, and on bright objects in general. owever, as a wide field telescope, I was VERY pleased with the views. This is my first experience with a wide field scope, and the views with a Siebert 36mm 2" Observatory Class wide field eye piece reminded me of why I originally wanted a telescope. Views along the Milky Way were unreal; it felt like thousands of stars were visible at any one time, along with milky tendrils in the background. Sagitarius was also incredible; the scope/eyepiece combination captured the entire Sag. star cloud, and then the Lagoon and Trifid in the same starry field.

There are some minor issues with the OTA; it could use additional baffling, and the end of the focuser tube required blackening - it is glaringly bright went looking down the tube. Also, the relatively short focuser tube does not fit tightly in the focuser housing, allowing some light to creep through the back of the scope. As with all the cheap chinese refractors, the focuser has the gunky 'grease' that makes focusing somewhat sticky.

All things considered, I plan on enjoying this scope for a long time. I plan on purchasing a 2" barlow for direct insertion in the focuser tube, providing essentially a dual focal ratio instrument. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Aries will come out with a chromacor for fast achros, but until then I'll probably get either a 2" Baader, Sirius or Williams violet reducing filters.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Ease of Use:8 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=374334

Orion AstroView 120ST EQ
I had an Intes MK67 and thought it was a great scope (it WAS a great scope) except for the friggin' cool down time it required. After I got the 120 ST refractor I sold the Mak and have not missed it because the 120 gives wonderful, contrasty widefield views and is practically always ready for immediate use. I lined the optical tube and focuser with black flocked paper, and the images of deep sky objects are contrastier and more pleasing to my eye than with the MK67, tho not quite as bright. I can push my 120 ST to at least 150X and the scope gives surprisingly good views of the planets, tho this is not the scope's forte. I think this telescope, especially if used with higher end eyepieces, is one of the best values out there.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Mount:8 Ease of Use:8 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=393124

Orion AstroView 120ST EQ
I bought this used for $125.00. This is one of the very first Short Tube 120's sold in the 90's. The optical quality is a bit
difficult to give an Apples to Apples rating when you have ED lenses, Flint and Crown, 3 element APO all in the same size but not even close in performance. So I have decided to judge these as a specific optical configuration. so if I were grading a Simple $395.00 Achro against a 3 Element APO that costs 4-5 times more. that wouldn't be fair.
I also have it mounted on a Modified Celestron NexStar SLT Go-To mount.At F5 this should have so much Chromatic Aberration that color would overwhelm. IT DID NOT!
As soon as you get one of these tubes you will immediately notice things like, the draw tube is too looseor it strips, Since mine was used the rack and pinionhad been out, there are thin strips of lead as lube. those needed to be replaced. Once back together it was as smooth as new.
Another Mod done on the tube was cutting it 2" short by a Machine Shop. We had him cut the holes NOT circular but as Ovals, this can be used to align the optics if the are off.
Upon inspection of the objective and cell there were smudge marks, dust, and slivers of metal from the cutting.
I needed to remove the Opjective from the cell. so I unscrewed the ring and gave it a little shake and good news it rattled! Some lenses are in the cell fit quite tightly!
The trick is to have a level area to work, find a roll of Toilet paper that are about the same diameter of the Objective.
If I can find any markings on the sides of the lenses, I mark them on the cell for a home mark.
I put the roll under the cell centered on the objective.
NOW slowly slide the cell down reying to keep it Horizontally FLAT! If it feels like it is getting hung up
stop immedietly, you can JAM the elements and it isn't pretty getting them out without Clam shell chips in the lens
getting it out I used my cleaner, then White Kleenex pulling one way per tissue,repeat this on all sizes, wearing new white cotton gloves helps.
Each element goes together 1 way only so take notes, a camwer shot while they are an inch apart to see which curv etc..bigger curve goes to the smaller. I aligned the side pencil marks, then I put one strip of fat Scotch tape all the way around. I put the Objective in the same way as coming out. Once the scope was clean aligned and put back together
I put it on and even tho the tube is 2 lbs over "suggested load the SLT Mount worked fine!
after aligning the Go-To the Double Double was punched in perfect with a 70 degree 20mm Plossl. The dark sky was Inky Black and the object was dead center.. So far so good.
I used the tour option and it sent us on a pre decided group of pbjects, The Owl looked like an owl, same as the Blue Snow Ball. I chose a tight double and swung over and there was the tiny double, I used my ED 1.25" Barlow and televue 7.4mm eyepiece. as I guessed collimation was slightly off.
I loosened the fociser and I slowly used the oblong holes perfectly. scope is in perfect alignment.YES!!!
Next is Jupiter, with the Barlow and 10mm Jupiter looked better than i had hoped for! a bit Greenish/Purple, so i put on a Minus Violet filter Vblock, now jupiter is Yellow, so I put my lightest blue filter stacked with the Yellow, this time it is good. end results are a greatly portable rig with Go-To,
that can be used for deep sky or Planetary. the Airy disks and Diffraction rings look good. now I get to play with the Bino viewer, but before that a heavy set of Wooden Super Polaris legs, My next thing is get the Baffles in proper position. These have a standing 3 month back order wait for new ones. I got lucky, so when somebody tells you your new scope is on 90 Day back order, time to say YEAH!
I hope I have helped people out.
Larry Duane

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:10 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=610692

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