I have about four years of total observing experience. My first telescope was a cheap starter 60mm refractor.
I also observe frequently with a decent pair of 10x50 binoculars.
The Telescope and Accessories
About five months ago I ordered the Orion Skywatcher 120mm from Orion's web page. It arrived promptly within
five business days and neatly packed and undamaged. Included with this scope is the mount a EQ - 3 (which is really
a CG4), a polar alignment scope, 6x30mm finder, and two eyepieces (10mm and 25mm plossel).
With very little experience with real telescopes I was amazed by the sheer size of the scope and mount. I was
also impressed with the quality of the construction, not only of the scope but of all of the accessories. I was
also impressed with the quality looking coatings on the objective lens.
On top of the normal accessories I had also purchased a 40mm Sirius plossel and 7.5mm Ultrascopic eyepiece.
Both of which came promptly and undamaged. Lastly I purchased an Ultrascopic Barlow which took almost two full
months to arrive. On top of this it seems that this telescope is entirely incapable of working with this Barlow.
After some troubleshooting with Orion they also agreed that this Barlow just won't work with the telescope and
allowed me to return it almost three months after the purchase. I must mention that Orion has excellent customer
service and they were more than willing to bend their return policy rules to help me. In the end I exchanged for
a shorty Barlow also from Orion.
Location and First Light
First off I must mention that my review will be skewed by the fact that I live in a very heavily populated area
of West Michigan that not only suffers from many cloudy nights but a limiting magnitude of a little over 3-3.5
on a decent night. I live about five miles from downtown Grand Rapids and my view to the east is almost entirely
limited to lunar and planetary viewing. This was one major reason that I had decided to get a refractor as opposed
to a much larger reflecting telescope.
The first day it took me about an hour to fully assemble the scope and then another fifteen minutes for setup that
night. Luckily for me Orion was in the darkest portion of my night sky for first light. My first target was the
heart of the Orion nebula and the trapezium. The four stars were easily split with the 25mm plossel (40x). The
best views however were through the 40mm Sirius plossel (25x). With this eyepiece in place the whole view had a
ghostly pale glow. I than spent the next few hours slowly scanning the spring sky with the 40mm plossel. This telescope
has excellent optics for the price. Stars are sharp across almost the entire FOV, and this is with a 40mm eyepiece.
Jupiter, Saturn, and Moon
A few nights later I had the chance to catch Jupiter and Saturn before they set in the western sky. My first
target was Jupiter which I have spent much time on with my old telescope. This was completely different. At 25x
the planet and moons took their familiar shape while at 100x with the 10mm plossel the disk was plainly visible
with pastel banding visible. Taking it up to 133x with the Ultrascopic showed much of the same with slightly higher
contrast. Being limited to 133x I was looking forward to getting my Barlow (sadly I did not receive a working Balow
until well after Saturn and Jupiter had set in the west). The views of Saturn were similarly awe inspiring but
once again my lack of power has me waiting on edge to catch both of these planets in the coming months. The view
of Saturn was limited to a very small view of the disk and rings. Oddly enough some people (non astronomers) I
had over at the time were more excited about the view of Saturn than the much more detailed view of Jupiter.
I have however had plenty of time to observe the moon both pre and post Barlow. This telescope has helped to
make the moon probably my favorite target. All of me eyepieces show extremely high contrast sharp views of the
moon. The full moon fills the entire FOV with in the 25mm plossel (40x). I have even on a few occasions been able
to catch more than a few craters on the floor of Plato with the Ultrascopic eyepiece.
Deep Sky
When I purchased this telescope my previous experience with deep sky observing had been basically limited to
the Andromeda Galaxy. With this telescope I have been able to observe a great multitude of nebula, clusters, and
a few galaxies. A few of the best views have come from the great globular clusters. M13 is absolutely spectacular
showing up like a large glittering ball of light in all of my eyepieces. This telescope seems to excel at delivering
high contrast images of deep space. Considering where I live I have been more than satisfied with the deep sky
views. Initially I was concerned whether I would even be able to see anything but even faint deep sky wonders are
easy to find. A few of my other favorites in this scope are M57 (surprisingly I caught it in the eastern sky),
M27 (also in the bright eastern sky), M4, and the entire Scorpius - Saggitarius region.
A few Negatives
There are a few downsides to this telescope. First of all the mount is on the light side and is probably going
to be the first thing to be upgraded. Vibrations really intrude at high powers and small gusts of wind can ruin
an otherwise perfect observing session. Also false color can be an issue. Although not very apparent on the moon
it does show particularly on Jupiter and on a few of the very brightest stars. However it is not as bad as I thought
it would be for an achromatic refractor at f 8.3. It is also my personal opinion that it really does not matter
that much, at least it does not bother me as much as some people but the amount of color does not justify spending
$2000 more dollars for visual observing.
Conclusion
All in all this telescope has been an excellent piece of equipment. It has met and exceeded almost all of my
expectations. Considering where I live I have also been extremely impressed with the deep sky views of the Summer
milky way. I would recommend this scope to anyone looking for a good low priced refractor. I also recommend Orion
Telescopes mainly for their excellent customer service and tech support departments.
Addendum 11/14/00
The Diagonal
As a word of warning for the owners of this scope I am posting an update dealing with an issue I found with
the supplied diagonal. While doing some routine maintenance of my scope I decided to clean the mirror on my diagonal.
After carefully taking the diagonal apart I quickly noticed that the mirror was mounted seriously out of alignment.
After taking time to reflect on the situation I realized that my view of the scope was probably skewed by the fact
that my diagonal was defective.
The Remedy
Simple. I took a couple quick digital pictures of the diagonal and sent them to Orion. Within hours I had already
received a reply that they were sending me a new mirror diagonal (slight upgrade) from their catalog as soon as
possible. Once again I must mention that Orion has excellent customer service. I don't know of many companies that
would voluntarily send a replacement item no questions asked almost six months after I had made the purchase.
The New Diagonal
The replacement that I received came within three business days and was undamaged. It is their standard 1˝-inch
mirror star diagonal found in their catalog. It is my belief that this is probably a slight upgrade from the original
unit that shipped with my scope.
WOW! Everything looks much sharper. Stars are a little tighter, the moon seems a bit brighter, and the planets
are magnificent. I feel as if my telescope is finally really performing at or near its maximum potential.
Moon and Planets
For the first time since the purchase of my scope I have a really clear shot at Jupiter and Saturn. This scope
is really living up to the classic refractor expectations on the planets. The views of Jupiter are almost photo
quality during good seeing. I have pushed the scope to 250x comfortably on Jupiter before the mount begins to get
in the way.
Personally I like the view at 100x better as the banding is much sharper (although the view is small), the contrast
is extremely high, and the major moons fit neatly in the FOV. At moderate powers the disk shows great detail with
many bands visible and on one recent occasion a very faint view of the GRS. Jupiter by far has become one of my
top five targets since purchasing this scope.
Saturn, what can I say? The views are absolutely stunning. Even at low powers (under 100x) the detail is hard
to believe. The rings are clearly visible along with the moons and the dusty colored disk of the planet.
Increasing the power yields major improvements in the detail especially in the rings and on the disk itself.
Banding easily becomes evident at around 200x as well as the major ring division. In my opinion Saturn tends to
hold up at higher powers better than even Jupiter as I have pushed this scope near 300x with great results. Take
in mind that at 300x focusing becomes a real test of patience with the shaky mount.
The moon surprisingly has seen the smallest amount of improvement since the replacement of the diagonal. I guess
I could say that the view is slightly sharper but not much. Even with the bad diagonal I could catch a few craters
in Plato on good nights. It seems that I am still seeing the same small craters with the new diagonal. In other
words there has not been a major improvement.
It does seem however that star images and in turn some of the more local deep sky objects (clusters mainly)
have improved in terms of contrast and sharpness. Star images are now tack sharp almost to the edge of the FOV,
this also lends to the fact that clusters are a touch more pleasant to look at. As far as the rest of the deep
sky is concerned, I have not really seen much difference. Granted I am looking into mag. 4.0 skies at the best.
Conclusion
In retrospect I firmly believe that this telescope is clearly worth the money I spent on it. True, the diagonal
was a small hassle but overall I have been very pleased with the performance of this scope. I would simply urge
anyone out there who currently owns this scope to take a serious look at the diagonal and press Orion for a return
if it is defective. On the other hand I do not believe that this should prevent anyone from buying this telescope.
Just be careful and inspect your purchase. Most of all trust the fact that Orion is dedicated to customer service
and they will try their hardest to correct any problems that you may run into.
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