Orion warranties against defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase for Orion brand products. This warranty is for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only. During this warranty period Orion Telescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’s option, any warranted instrument that proves to be defective, provided it is returned postage paid to: Orion Warranty Repair, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076. If the product is not registered, proof of purchase (such as a copy of the original invoice) is required. This warranty does not apply if, in Orion’s judgment, the instrument has been abused, mishandled, or modified, nor does it apply to normal wear and tear. This warranty gives customer’s specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights, which vary from state to state. For further warranty service information, contact: Customer Service Department, Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville CA 95076; (800) 676-1343.
Some items may be covered by a warranty period shorter or longer than the standard one year warranty. Specific warranty information is available on the product detail page of the website

Periodic Error Correction, or PEC for short, is a system that improves the track accuracy for the drive by reducing the number of the user corrections. PEC is designed to improve photographic quality by reducing the amplitude of the worm errors. Using the PEC function is a two-step process. First you guide for at least 5 ½ minutes (the time it takes the worm to make one revolution) during which the system records the corrections you make. This “teaches” the PEC chip the characteristics of the worm. The second step is to play back the corrections you made during one recording phase. Keep in mind, this feature is for the advanced astrophotographer and requires careful guiding.

Any quality optical lens cleaning tissue and optical lens cleaning fluid specifically designed for multi-coated optics can be used to clean the exposed lenses of your eyepieces or finder scope. Never use regular glass cleaner or cleaning fluid designed for eyeglasses. Before cleaning with fluid and tissue, blow any loose particles off the lens with a blower bulb or compressed air. Then apply some cleaning fluid to a tissue, never directly on the optics. Wipe the lens gently in a circular motion, then remove any excess fluid with a fresh lens tissue. Oily finger-prints and smudges may be removed using this method. Use caution; rubbing too hard may scratch the lens. On larger lenses, clean only a small area at a time, using a fresh lens tissue on each area. Never reuse tissues.

The moon moves at a slightly slower rate from East to West than sidereal rate, so the motor speed needs to be reduced. If it North or South, the polar alignment should be checked.

SkyQuest XT Dobsonians are designed for visual, not photographic use. The Dobsonian mount is not an equatorial type mount, so it cannot be motor driven for long exposure astrophotography. You can take great shots of the moon with film or digital camera, but that is the extent of astrophotography with a Dobsonian telescope.

Any quality optical lens cleaning tissue and optical lens cleaning fluid specifically designed for multi-coated optics can be used to clean the exposed lenses of your eyepieces or finder scope. Never use regular glass cleaner or cleaning fluid designed for eyeglasses. Before cleaning with fluid and tissue, blow any loose particles off the lens with a blower bulb or compressed air. Then apply some cleaning fluid to a tissue, never directly on the optics. Wipe the lens gently in a circular motion, then remove any excess fluid with a fresh lens tissue. Oily finger-prints and smudges may be removed using this method. Use caution; rubbing too hard may scratch the lens. On larger lenses, clean only a small area at a time, using a fresh lens tissue on each area. Never reuse tissues.

Trouble shooting Vista 64 Drivers - 04/2010

If 32 bit drivers have been installed on a 64 bit computer running Windows 7 or Vista:

1. If there has been a previous installation, the camera should be plugged into the computer.
2. Click on start.
3. Click on Control Panel.
4. Click on Hardware and Sound.
5. Click on Device Manager.
6. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
7. Right click on Orion StarShoot camera.
8. Click OK when the warning message appears.
9. Click on uninstall and check the box to uninstall all associated software, click OK.
10. Go to Control Panel and uninstall any StarShoot software such as PHD
11. In windows explorer, find the c:\windows\system32\drivers folder and delete the file named ssagload.sys.
12. Restart the computer
13. Install the 64 Bit driver as per the instructions on the web.
14. The camera should get recognized at this point.

Forcing the 64 bit driver installation when needed on Windows 7.

There have been some instances when the device driver wizard will not launch when you plug in the camera but the computer chimes.
1. Open the device manager.
2. Look for Other Devices on the list of devices.
3. There may be an "Unknown Device" listed under Other devices. This is most likely the camera.
4. Double Click on the unknown device (or right click and select properties).
5. Click on the Driver tab.
6. Click on Update Driver.
7. Select Browse my computer for driver software.
8. Click on Browse and then locate the folder where the needed driver is and then click next.
9. Windows should install the driver.
10. If successful, the StarShoot camera will appear under the USB serial controllers list and the camera is now installed.