Reviewer: Richard Scott

My pier-mounted scope, which I break down to take to a dark site once a month needs to be re polar aligned often. But a neighbors growing tree is now blocking Polaris, making aligning using the mount's built in polar scope impossible. I purchased Orion's 12.5mm Illuminated Plossl to drift align my GEM mount through my 11" SCT. I had never drift aligned before, but with a little help from online tutorials, and this new eyepiece, I now have the best polar alignment I have ever pulled off. This eyepiece does what it does very well. Dark skies, sharp double crosshairs and pinpoint stars. My only negative comment would be that the dimming of the illuminated double crosshair is limited. I would like the illumination a tad darker. But in defense Orion, in it's printed instructions, suggests stuffing a bit of paper into the illuminator. I think I will take them up on that. In closing, I recommend this product if you are in need of a good but not budget busting drift alignment illuminated plossl for a long focal length scope. Richard

Reviewer: Terry Carpenter

I ordered this online and it arrived 3 days later. I have a Skyquest XT8i and this makes the 2 star alignment simple. I would not do without this great eyepiece.

Reviewer: Brian Godsey

This eyepiece is very helpful in improving go-to pointing. I used it the other night and the objects were in the field of view. The eyepiece is well made and a great value. Thanks Orion

Reviewer: Jim White

Hi, I'm using the 12mm vice the 5mm illuminated reticle as my C11 would be pushed too high in the magnification with the 5. Ok, what not to appreciate here? nothing. I like the double crosshair design as I can put the star 'in the box' even when it is wigglin' all over the place. I waited too long before buying this. The first result was that my goto accuracy increased as a direct result of having well centered alignment and calibration stars - now goto's are spot-on with my CGE... but it just makes sense. I have since loaned it to others doing align's at scope parties and they will have their orders in soon :) I rate this somewhere 'really nice to have' and 'must have'. It's my 'align and cal pal'. Thanks for a great product at a great price. :)

Reviewer: Frank Milone

I'm very pleased with this product.I use it as a star alignment tool for my CPC 11 and it works very well. I find it to be a quality product at a very good price.

Reviewer: Joseph Conrad

I got this to help with the alignment of my Celestron Nexstar 8se, and it works very well. By using it to center the alignment stars in the FOV the accuracy of my goto has increased dramatically. I also use it to center an object in the FOV before switching to a high power eyepiece. Its optics are not the best so using it as a regular eyepiece isn't real practical but to use it as a tool it is well worth the price

Reviewer: JOe Martincic

This product is an essential for accurate sighting of stars. it saves guess work and speeds the process and should be included with every object locator purchase.

Reviewer: Mark Bender

Quality Product, well built, good optics. Double crosshair is a good idea, enables centering of a star for dead-on GOTO alignment. Wish I had got this product long ago, as it is much more accurate for centering a target than "eyeballing" it with an equivalent F.L. eyepiece without crosshairs. Only reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars is that, even at minimum brightness dialed in, it is still a touch too bright, however as the batteries age, this will drop down in intensity to a more desireable level. Highly recommended.

Reviewer: Jon

I was having a terrible time getting a consistent warp score below +/- 0.5 with my Computer Object Locator on my 10" Intelliscope. To get a low score you have to get the star in the CENTER of the eye piece. I have astigmatism which only compounds the problem. Using this eye piece it is a snap. I highly recommend using this eye piece for star alignment. The illumination is uniform and it's easy to use. Nice product.

Reviewer: Joseph Conrad

I was looking to improve the GoTo and tracking features of my Celestron NexStar 8se and decided on this item due to price and the excellent service and quality I have gotten from Orion in the past. Shipping was very quick (ordered Wed, received it Friday) just in time to try out on the Saturday after the new moon. Worked very well. Looking forward to trying more things with it, including using it with my StarMax 127.

Reviewer: Mark Whitaker

I use this eyepiece in my drift alignment procedure. Star images are clean and crisp with good contrast in my light polluted skies. I like the lower power but some users might prefer the 5mm Ultrascopic. I also use this eyepiece to center the calibration stars while running the GOTO calibration. I have found that by doing this, I am able to find objects in my CCD camera without having to pull the camera and insert an eyepiece. Of course, this is a function of mount accuracy but having this eyepiece surely simplifies the overall process.

Reviewer: George Stradley

I use this eyepiece for star alignment. I have extremely bad astigmatism and have difficulty in centering a star in the eyepiece. I find this eyepiece easier to use than adding a barlow to a 25mm eyepiece.

Reviewer: Knute Dresden

I am successfully using my illuminated Plossl for off axis prime focus astrophotogaphy from my backyard. This unit works very well. It was shipped very quickly from a very easy to use Internet Site.

Reviewer: Ken

This little Eyepiece works well for it's intended use. It is very cost-effective for starters. It uses dual crosshair lines so that the middle is a "square". I use this EP during my alignment procedure and it gets my scope set up for accurate gotos after using it to align with. Note to the purchaser... start with Polaris as your first alignment star as it doesn't move as much. THEN slew somewhere else...