Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian

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Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
Besides the overall valve a "10", there service dept. is a 11 of out 10. No, mistake here. I read and heard about there outstanding after service, that what influence me. I, know cause I had problems with my primary mirror and they solved my problem without hesitation. Thanks Orion...

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=57366

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I received my xt10 about 2 months ago and I love it.The mount is great,although I haven't used any heavy 2" eyepieces yet,so If I do I'll just add one of the 2 springs which I haven't even needed yet.I did add the milk jug washers for the alzamith motion
The optics are very good,I've seen the cloud belts on Jupiter up to 6 on good nights,the GRS,moon transits and shadows on the planet of the transit,Saturns Cassini division,wispy structure in the orion nebula.The reason I gave the optics an 8 is because I expected more from the Andromeda galaxy.Only showing a hint of a spindle and it was illuminated in the middle like a ball of light.No visible structure though,as was the same on M81 and 82.I didn't see any dust lane or resolved stars nor have I been able to find it again.Could this be the eyepieces?I had a problem with the secondary mirror where the screws made holes into the plastic in the back of it so the screws would no longer move the secondary.I got some epoxy and filled in the holes and it works like new.Easy to set up for even a beginner.Orion could ask for a lot more than what their asking.Other scopes in this price range of mid-sized dobs are low quality and need to be upgraded.Finally customer service is class A,they'll help you with any problems and replace any damaged parts.Does anyone know why I can't get much detail with galaxies under mag 5.5 skies.Overall, I rate the xt10 a 10+.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:8 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 6 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=58502

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I received this scope a couple days ago and after hearing all the reviews i had high hopes for it. The high hopes went away real quick when i put it on jupiter for the first time. Jupiter was a wash in scattered light the whole field of view was full of it. I could virtually get no detail out of jupiter what so ever this is the worst view i have ever had through a telescope i was highly disappointed. I then decided to star test it and found it to have a severe turned down edge. I sent it back to orion thank goodness they have a good return policy. I thought about trying another one but was afraid to take another chance and loose more money on shipping costs. This turned out to be a wise move for my friend bought one of the xt8 and it to had severe optical problems and he sent his back. I could only give this scope a 2 becuase even though the mount is very good and it is a very inexpensive scope it is not worth the money if the optics are no good. After sending it back i ordered a 10" premium dhq from discovery i think the extra money will be well worth it. Hope your experiences are better than mine.

Overall Rating: 2
Optics:1 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:3
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=82201

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
This is my second post for this scope. I have been using the XT10 for 6 months and adore it. I bought it for deep sky and the occasional lunar/planetary. It excels for deep sky, giving some of the best views I have ever had (even compared to the clubs 16" Newtonian). Everybody who has looked through this scope has been impressed, especially when I say how much it cost.
Planetary views have been good overall. Although I am tempted to buy a Starmax/Apex 102 for planetary viewing.
I have replaced the original 25mm/9mm Sirius Plossls with a mixture of Ultrascopic/Celestron Ultima/Meade 4000 eyepieces. This is a must to get the best out of the telescope (or any telescope). The standard eyepieces were okay, although the 9mm had a manufacturing fault.
My only gripe (minor) is the base which is a bit sticky and does need the milk bottle top modification. The mount overall is excellent. Its rock steady, easy to assemble and smooth in declination.
Overall a great scope which gives breathtaking deepsky/lunar views and satisfactory planetary views.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 6 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=97608

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I purchased the XT10 for about $550 from Orion's seconds list. It is a super bargain for a 10" DOB. It works great with all my eyepieces even my giant Rodenstock BW/Optik UWA 40mm. And it also works great with my Swift binoviewer and a pair of Meade SP 4000 26mm eyepieces with a Siebert 1.3X 2" barlow. A Lumicon OIII or Orion Ultrablock filters help seeing DSO's here in NJ.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=111686

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I started with this scope with absolutely no experience in Astronomy and so far I am quite pleased. After purchasing the XT-10 orion ran a special for free shipping and even though I had already placed my order they refunded me the 75 dollars! Hows that for service. It was extremely easy to set up 1 hr. It was well packaged and It was perfectly collimatted on arrival. I did buy a telrad because although I did like the finder scope I found it difficult to use. I do recommend buying a zoom eyepiece. I have tried the meade and vixen both work great and are extremely easy to use. I was going to originally purchase the XT-8 but it was out of stock so I took the plunge with this one and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is just starting out. It is not really that heavy and yes you can move it short distances without taking it apart. I have compared this telescope with an 8 inch SCT and a 18 inch dob. Yes the 18 inch dob is awesome but it weighs 150 lbs, and the optics are just as good as an SCT 10 in my opinion, just without the GO-TO and tracking. For the price and quality you cannot go wrong. I highly recommend this telescope to all who are just starting out. Aperature is everything and this scope performs with the best.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=111876

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
Excellent mechanicals and very easy to use. Finder is not bad at all and the Correct Tension springs work as advertised. Unfortunately the optics on my XT10 were nothing to write home about. Too bad because I liked everything else about the XT10.

Overall Rating: 6
Optics:5 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
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Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=122193

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
Optics: The mirror is ~1/2 wave under corrected (via star test) and shows some surface roughness. Images look impressive at low power, but break up at higher power. The telescope focus seems to "mush" into place rather than snapping to a tight focus. In conversations with others, it sounds like there is significant variation in mirrors, so your experience may vary.

A number of things need to be done before using this scope: The clips on the mirror and secondary were introducing significant pinching and astigmatism: I backed off all clips. Speculation is that they were tightened to prevent mirror motion during shipping. I found that my focuser was significantly out of square with the main axis of the telescope and had to shim it. The inside of the telescope is a reflective gray rather than matte black or black w/baffling. This means that the aperture is vulnerable to street lamps or other external light sources.

The mirror tends to sag a bit near the horizon, introducing some astigmatism.

Mount: The mount and mount concept work great, at least initially, but I have noticed that the mount has deteriorated in altitude performance over the last year--the springs have weakened significantly, making it difficult to balance the telescope with 2" lenses or barlows. In addition, the teflon/hub interface seems to have developed some sweet spots that the telescope likes to fall in to. At high power, the performance is a bit annoying: you nudge the telescope to see a cluster, only to have it snap back to the previous position when you let go.

Value and ease of use: Despite problems, this is a 10" aperture that provides reasonable mid and low power images of deep space objects that costs only $600.

Overall, while the telescope makes you hungry for good tracking and perfect optics, it is a cheap way to bag globulars, galaxies, nebulas and other deep space objects.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:7 Mount:7 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=133526

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
This is a vey well made telescope. The optics are very good, but they do have some astigmatism. The movement is very smooth. It is easy to set up and is easy to use. I recommend this scope to anyone who is looking for an inexpensive mid-sized dob.

Thomas

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Mount:8 Ease of Use:8 Value:8
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=133990

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I have had this scope now for about 2 months. What can I say, out of all my scopes I am enjoying this one the most even though it cost 1/5 of my other 11" dob and my heavy and complicated to setup LX200. This scope is an incredible value for the beginner and veterians alike and I like starhopping over goto. It is very well made and the quality of parts is excellent. For a 10" it is quite manageable even for this lazy stargazer. It really is a matter of plop the base down, get the OTA and set in base, insert eyepiece, observe! No truss polls, no collimation before each use. Great. Cool down is an issue but no different than any other scope.

The optics are excellent on this scope and the views to date have been equally excellent. Star testing does show a minor TDE and there is still very slight astigmatism even after loosening the clips as suggested by others. However, I have not found these defects to effect the views as of yet. Once the planets are better placed we will see. Then I may spend some more time isolating the source which may very well be the secondary.

The Altitude bearings are buttery smooth and have no sticktion or stiffness. I have not needed the correct-tension springs as of yet and the scope stays put whether I have the 27mm Panoptic or a plossl. The Azmuth bearing is another story. It was so stiff out of the box, it was not useable. I have remedied the problem by using Magic Sliders, 6 total, to replace the teflon like material that Orion uses. It has helped a lot and there is no of that sticktion in the movement. However, I would like it to be a little more easier to move so I may add some more Magic sliders. I do not want to get involved with waxes and other lubricants. I did try some ebony star laminate, buy have temporarily removed it because I may prefer the existing laminate. Still evaluating. So as you can see the mount, while well made, needs some tweeking. But for the money spent I am not at all disappointed and am finding the tweeking enjoyable, even though I am all thumbs.

The finder is excellent, sharp and bright. The focuser is very smooth with only a small amount of slop. It can probabily be adjusted out but in actual use has not been one bit of a problem. The primary and secondary mirror cells are nicely done and collimation is a snap, however, the primary cell adjustment screws are a little stiff, two are anyway.

All in all, this is an excellent scope and I highly recommend it. Only hope the communist Chinese versions are as good as the taiwanese models.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Mount:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=140244

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
After a lot of research, I decided on the XT10 to cure the apeture fever I had caught after 3 years with my Meade 4500 4.5" reflector(don't get me wrong, that is a great 'scope). I received the telescope 4 days after it was shipped. The box for the scope was pretty beat up, but everything was in good shape. Assembely took about 40 minutes. The altitude motion was excellent, but the azimuth motion was a little stiff (as expected), so I put 5 milk-jug washers on it. That really helped it for a time, but after a few days the azimuth motion got REALLY bad. I took the mount apart, cleaned it (some sand had got on the teflon pads), put 1 more washer on it, and oiled the teflon pads. That got it back to really good, but it may come back. Also, the screw holes for the screws that hold the primary mirror cell on the tube are a bit too big, so the cell will shift a bit if you carry by holding the cell (as I have to do.)
The included 8X50 finder is awesome. Actually being able to see though the finder and see anything is great. Adjusting it is a snap, but when putting it in the mount, the o-ring can be a hassle. The included eyepieces are not Sirius eyepieces( I have a 40 and 20mm). The 25mm is good. The 9mm is not so good. It shows out of focus ghost images on bright objects, whereas a 9mm MA I have does not. It is not hazy in the fov like the MA is however.

I have not had a chance to get to real dark skies to do a good test on it, so I will more when I get a chance.
One of my first targets was M57. This is a good "friend" of my 4.5". With the 40mm(31X), It is easy to find, and the hole is visible. Cranked it up to 139X with the 9mm and it was great. M31 was a great site at all powers though not a whole lot better than the 4.5" the F8 focal ratio on the 4.5" is a major factor with my not so good skies. M27 was also good, with the "apple core" shape very visible. The double cluster in Perseus was great in the 40mm. M13 had star easily visible to the core and the image blew away the 4.5"'s. I woke up early one morning to get a sneak peek at the winter objects. M42/43 was absolutly awesome. The inter-most region glowed a blueish color, while the outer regions glowed greenish. The amount of detail visible was too much to put here. M45 was also good, though not a whole lot better than the 4.5". Most of the bright OC's will not look a whole lot better.
Saturn at 139X was good, with the Cassini division easily seen, and cloud color variations visible. Jupiter was low, but showed its 3 brightest cloud bands and polar regions. The moon is really great in this scope.

More to come.
*UPDATE* 9-15-2002
I am still having problems with the azimuth, but I am slowly figuring out how to make it better. I pushed the 'scope up to 416X on M57 with the included 9mm Plossl and a camera 3X converter, and the image was very good, with no major breakdown. M33 was easily visable in mag 3.5-4 skies.

*Update* 10-12-2002
I did a star-test on the optics, and they came out very well (I am going to get a Ronchi screen and try it to), with just a tiny bit of down-turned edge. I see that Orion is selling a new "upgraded" version of the XT10. I hope the optics are as good on all them as they are on mine, and I hope the mount problem has gone away.

*Update*12-03-2002
I am getting more and more pleased with the XT10 the more I use it. Saturn is really great in it. The past few nights I haved logged about 25 new objects with it. I did some galaxy observing the other night, and M82 showed good detail.

Noah
Clear and Dark Skies
www.exeat.com/stars/noahm3

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Mount:7 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 15 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=131835

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I had an Intes MIcro MN56 which has a 5" mirror for viewing the planets. The optics are very good, but I somehow wanted something bigger to reveal more detail and show up deep sky objects better.So I bought an Orion XT10. After very careful collimation with a Cheshire eyepiece and a two hour cool down, I did a star test under fairly stable seeing conditions using a red filter. Results were initially quite good, but with two slight problems. There was a little TDE and the stars image seemed a liitle skewed. I was able to fully correct for the TDE with a 1/10 inch black card mask aroung the outside edge of the primary mirror and the skewed star image was corrected by slightly tweaking the primary mirror collimation screws. Obviously the primary mirror centre spot was not the true optical centre and I adjusted the position of the centre spot.
Now the star test comes up nearly textbook perfect. Star images are very sharp. Globular clusters such as M13 and M92 have been awesome sights with tiny jewel-like stars visible right to the clusters core! Planetary nebulae are great with an O111 filter. The moon has been razor sharp at x400. I use a Televue barlow and orthoscopic eyepieces and also a Televue plossl 8mm eyepiece.
Mars has been very good. With a 25a red filter and a variable polarizing filter you can dim it down so that the soft surface markings on the planet become apparent and I have made some nice drawings of Mars detail already. I saw Jupiter in July low down as it was late in the year to view this planet at its best. Even so, the low contrast details of the planet were beautiful, especially with filters. I think this scope is as good as a large aperture refractor so long as you are VERY careful to get accurate collimation, the large central obstruction won't matter at all.
The movement of the azimuth part of the mount needed some playing around with to get it smooth, otherwise it can jerk a bit. So far, I've had success using candle wax between the teflon pads and the upper part of the base. This has to be repeated with each use, but its no big deal if you want silky smooth movement. Using this, I've had no problem tracking the moon and Mars at x33 or more. I like to see the planets and the moon moving silently across the FOV and then carefully move them back in. You really don't need to spend money on equatorial mounts and motor drives unless you intend doing astrophotography.
Also it's great to slew into deep sky objects with star hopping. I learn the sky this way and with a Rigel Quickfinder + Orion 9x50 right angle finder and good star charts, its better than Go-To!
All in all, this is a fantastic scope and I enjoy using more and more. Rating of 10!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=288005

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
This is a great telescope and I would highly recommend for anyone interested in observing deep-sky gems.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=325080

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
Love It. Despite the size I can sit in a chair for almost any viewing direction. Many others that have looked thru it really like the views better than the ones they see thru SCT scopes. Generally much brighter and easier to see dim objects.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:9 Mount:8 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=329400

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
The best i've bought :)

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=368335

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
I received a second from Orion for $469. The optics are very good. Detail on Jupiter equivalent to or slightly better than a 1/6 wave MK67. Globulars are beautiful balls of diamonds at 100X through an UO ortho. Uranus is a beautiful aquamarine ball with two moons visible. Antares's companion almost always visible. Still have not been able to see the Veil Nebula around 52cygni in these very light polluted skies. Many galaxies. Central star in dumbell always in very light polluted skies; sometimes directly seen without averted vision.

300X gives a very nice bright well corrected image. When pushed up to 700X, no image breakdown on any features on the moon; just spread out.

Star test shows dissimilarity of the inner and extra focal images with a ring around the central black hole; a zone? Yet, the images are very good. No astigmatism. On steady nights, the image snaps. Views of moon are crisp. Views of Jupiter up to 170x andsometimes up to 300X are very detailed though not much color. Resolves double stars well as smaller near perfect maksutov's and refractors (MK67, ETX90, ED80) but without there sharp feel and velvet black sky. All stars up to 2nd magnitude are pinpoints. Bright stars are not pinpoints at 90X and above but the normal scintillating porcupine like objects (good, just not as ascetically pleasing as the smaller scopes). On very steady nights, at 30X per inch and above, can see the airy disk and diffraction ring.

It is a good solid dobsonian mount. A bit stiff even with the seven milk jug washers added.

The price allows me to leave it outside all thet ime and not worry about it being stolen because (1) price is low and (2) its bulky. Easy to dissasemble into two parts for transportation. Good lifting procedures allows a strong back to carry it to anywhere within a short walking distance.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=370160

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
A well executed package. Mounts is quite smooth and the scope comes with the following usefull features: pyrex optics, collimatable 2" focuser, thin 4 vane spider, 8x50mm finderscope, and an eyepiece holder. Initially the scope came with an oversized secondary mirror(2.5"). The images were only average at best. Disappointed I replaced it with a 1.5" secondary I had lying around. The result was the sharpest 7" telescope I've ever looked thru. Orion's E and F easily visible in very humid conditions. With my fingers crossed I ordered Orion 52mm secondary for $25 which would give the scope an aperature of about 9.75". I liked this idea because it is rumored that most of the error in mass produced scopes comes at the outer edge of the mirror which in this case would be alleviated. The result was that it worked wonderfully. E and F still visible in Orion. Saturn held 400x very sharply with no loss in detail....even the light banding on the globe still visible. I hope this helps someone.
Larry

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=390383

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
About a half year ago I picked up an Orion XT10 F4.7 from there Seconds/Used section.

On all objects the views given have been superior to diffraction limited or better examples of each of the following: APM 104mm Triplet Achromat, 106mm Astro Rubinar, 10inch Meade 1060 Research Series Reflector, Orion 80mm ED, 90mm ETX90 and a 1/6 wave MK67 maksutov. All of these were diffraction limited or better.

From a light congested urban area with ZULM of Magnitude 5, I was able to see a dark dust band on M31 that I could not remember seeing in the 10" 1060. I could see the crepe ring that I could never see with the MK67. With the proper on axis and off axis masks, the aesthetic view of double stars was just as good as the maksutovs or ED80. E and F in the trapezium are always visible whereas F is only occasionally visible in the MK67. Antares companion is almost always visible whereas it could only occasionally be glimpsed with the 6" mak and with the 10" 1060. For the first time, within the urban location, I could glimpse the Veil Nebula. Globular and tight galactic clusters are spectacular. On steady nights, sub .5 arc sec separated doubles are visible.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:9 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=391497

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
Quick set up. Easy alignment

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Mount:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=431628

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian
DON'T BUY THIS! YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!!

Overall Rating: 2
Optics:3 Mount:1 Ease of Use:1 Value:1
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=502352

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