Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian


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Subject: Moved Message
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.221.130)
Date: 08/25/2001 09:32:50 am PST
i have had the opportunity to sample about five of these scopes, and all were excellent performers. orion could be asking for more than what they are. if all that electronic stuff turns you off and you don't want to spend a whole lot of money, this scope is for you. the views are just as good (and maybe a little better) than any 10" SCT i have used. probably because of the smaller secondary obstruction. want something smaller? the XT6 and the XT8 are excellent performers also. now i have to decide which one i am going to purchase.


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Subject: Moved Message
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.192.20)
Date: 11/11/2001 05:13:46 pm PST
The choices that a first time scope buyer has... about the time I settle on a top price of about $700... for the Orion XT10.... Meade comes out with the LXD55.... a few $100 more (which to me is a lot!) and I get the auto finder gizmo... hard to resist. And to someone that is more familiar with the tripod style mount that you see at all the stores on all the department models... the Meade seems like it should set up much better in my back yard than the round Dob mount... until you read other reviews.

It would be great to be able to find a black and white review regarding these 2 (except that the Meade may or not be available since Nov 01 or the second half of Dec 02 or 03!

It sounds like the workmanship is comparible... and give or take a motor here, an eye piece there... they are really comparible in price...

To make things a little more difficult... there is no place to see scopes in this price range within about 300 miles of here!... Any advise for someone who is at the top of their budget, and wants everything for nothing! Is there going to be a difference in what I see when looking at the Moon?... or some far off star cluster? Is one going to be more blurry or distorted than the other? What about maintenance... is one more fragile than the other?

I really appreciate all the comments I have read on these 2 scopes!


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Subject: Orion XT10 Dob
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.192.158)
Date: 02/25/2002 09:34:06 am PST
I have to agree, the XT10 is a great bargain for the money spent. I started out with an ETX-90, yes I've had fun with it. But sometimes well meaning salespeople send you and your cash ,in the wrong direction. I purchased the auto star ,field tripod,doubler,9.7 and 13.8 lenses the variable moon filter and the promise of great portability. after adding an extended focus knob and shimming the focus shaft and adding a rigel finder I like this scope a little. The XT10 cost about the same after addind a 42mm 2'' lense wide and narrow band filters a "Telrad"and a few other eyepieces. I've got 10" inches of light gulping viewing pleasure in a well built, easy to manage ( I pack it all over Utahs west desert alone) Dob, with money left over for food and gas. heres a tip, buy an extra dust cover and drill a 4 to 4.5 " hole near its inside edge and you have nice looking and fitting aperature mask for planitary work. ORION is famous for their customer support!! I've found this to be true, they are timely and genuinely interested in their customers, this company is a great resource especially for for new comers. My advice is to go to star parties, call Orion and ask lots of questions to include resourcing this webb site before you spend your dough, it'll pay you back with a good choice and great views of our wonderful universe.
Sincerely Lightning Layne


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Subject: Re: vote by xxx.xxx.221.130
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.12.211)
Date: 03/11/2002 01:27:56 pm PST
>i have had the opportunity to sample about five of these scopes, and all were excellent performers. orion could be asking for more than what they are. if all that electronic stuff turns you off and you don't want to spend a whole lot of money, this scope is for you. the views are just as good (and maybe a little better) than any 10" SCT i have used. probably because of the smaller secondary obstruction. want something smaller? the XT6 and the XT8 are excellent performers also. now i have to decide which one i am going to purchase.


So which one did you purchase? I have the XT8. It can be carried, at least a short distance, in one piece. But due to sky conditions, I haven't had much chance to check it out, except on Jupiter, Saturn and the Orion nebula (all were very good). I just wonder if the extra two inches of aperture on XT10, giving potentially better viewing of DSO's is worth the negative effect re portability. It seems that once you get past the XT8, you're now into a "two trip scope" and not having any other scope, is it best just to stick with this one?


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Subject: Re: vote by xxx.xxx.221.130
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.65.182)
In Reply to: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.12.211) (Original Message)
Date: 10/27/2002 08:34:39 am PST
>>i have had the opportunity to sample about five of these scopes, and all were excellent performers. orion could be asking for more than what they are. if all that electronic stuff turns you off and you don't want to spend a whole lot of money, this scope is for you. the views are just as good (and maybe a little better) than any 10" SCT i have used. probably because of the smaller secondary obstruction. want something smaller? the XT6 and the XT8 are excellent performers also. now i have to decide which one i am going to purchase.
>
>
>So which one did you purchase? I have the XT8. It can be carried, at least a short distance, in one piece. But due to sky conditions, I haven't had much chance to check it out, except on Jupiter, Saturn and the Orion nebula (all were very good). I just wonder if the extra two inches of aperture on XT10, giving potentially better viewing of DSO's is worth the negative effect re portability. It seems that once you get past the XT8, you're now into a "two trip scope" and not having any other scope, is it best just to stick with this one?


i purchased the xt6 because the xt10 was a little to big for my apartment use at the time, and i was waiting for upgrades on the xt10 which has now happened. the xt6 has been an excellent performer and i think the difference in light grasp from 6 to 10 will be more dramatic than 8 to 10. now that i own my own home and i have very dark skies i will eventually purchase the xt10.


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Subject: Re: vote by xxx.xxx.250.247
By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.147.31)
In Reply to: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.250.247) (Original Vote)
Date: 09/13/2004 04:29:38 pm PST
>I purchased mine a few weeks ago and I finally got a good night to check it out!
>
>First off assembly was simple and everything worked as described. Only problem I found was the objective lens in the 8x50 finder was loose. The threaded lock ring was undersized and unable to hold the lens in place. Orion replaced the defective finder quickly and cheerfully.
>
>The scope was suprisingly close to being collimated out of the box. I removed the primary mirror to center spot it and was impressed with the mirror mount. I did make the change to the mirror clip washer location as described in Sky and Telescope though. I had originally planned on RTVing the mirror in place but at this point I don't think I will. I also plan on adding a small fan at the rear of the mirror cell to speed mirror cooling.
>
>The focuser is top notch, especially for the price range. It looks like the JMI NGF-DX3 is a bolt on replacement for those inclined to upgrade but at this point I'm happy with the stock unit. I do plan on changing out the factory secondary spider for something like a Protostar unit. I'm also investigating the sizing of the secondary mirror, the 2.6" mirror may be a bit large for my uses but I can't say for sure this will be changed. The finder works well although it seems like the cross hairs are wider then need be. I also mounted a Rigel Quick Finder between the focuser and stock finder. The Telrad which I prefer was a bit too wide to fit in this place. I cannot comment on eyepiece quality since they are both still in the box.
>
>The views so far have been very good. The scope eaisly split the Double Double and the larger globulars are impressive. The other night I had some very good views of Jupiter and Saturn and M42 was an awesome sight at 75x with a UHC filter. Over all the optics appear to be decent although there does seem to be some diffraction scatting that I want to try to tune out. I also plan on doing some baffling and lining the tube with flocked paper to try to reduce light scattering.
>
>Over all it is a great scope, an easy 10+ for the low price. It is fairly portable, the OTA eaisly fits on the back seat of even a small car. With a few small tweeks I think it can be an excellent scope.


You are right about the sizing of the secondary. I measured the distance from the primary to the secondary and it came to 37.25". This means that a secondary mirror of 54mm would maximize the 10" of aperture. Orion has a 52mm for $22.95 plus shipping which should serve well. I've heard that most distortion of mass produced mirrors come from the outer edges generally speaking. So the 2mm loss at the secondary would translate to about a 10mm loss at the primary...not too bad. The mirror which are quite large may also be an area of concern. Larry


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