Reviewer: Greg

Bought the XT6 two years ago. It provides good light grasp to see brighter nebulas, (andromeda comes to mind, as well as the ring nebula). Planetary observing is quite good. Distinguishing the Cassini division in Saturn is fairly easy. Collimation is easy with the included collimation eye piece. Construction of the scope is good. The tube is metal and finished very nicely. I would recommend this scope for the serious beginner to the experienced person looking for a scope with some aperture that is still portable. Even if I move up to a scope with more aperture (as my budget allows), I will keep my XT6. Good job Orion. You have all my future business.

Reviewer: David Gonzales II

I've now how had my Orion XT6 for well over a month and I must say that it has been a fantastic buy! This telescope delivers images of superb quality at an affordable price. The 6" aperture provides good light grasp and mount is simple and easy to use. I was able to easily view the planet Saturn on my first night out. I was absolutely amazed by what I saw. The detail of the planet was superb. I could easily make out several different colored cloud regions on the orb of the planet itself. The rings were amazingly well defined and the Cassini division was easily seen. The overall image was crystal clear and I amazed several friends and family members with the view. One viewer even commented that it looked so good it had to have been fake! I then waited later in the late night so that I could view Jupiter as it rose in the sky. Finding the planet was easy since it appears as a very bright star. I used Jupiter to dial in the finder scope with what I saw in the objective. Since I've done this, I haven't had to adjust the finder scope again and the cross hairs point directly at whatever I am looking at. As the image came into focus, my jaw dropped once again. Jupiter was clearly visible along with its four large Galilean satellites. It was a very interesting sight as each of four moons lined up within the same plane around the large planet. Jupiter itself was a fun target to observe. The large planet was streaked with cloud bands of various colors that were easily observable. On one night, I was even able to see the great red spot within one of the cloud bands. Over the next few nights, I decided to find some other targets to observe. The included Starry Night software was very useful for showing exactly what and where these targets were in the sky for my exact location on Earth. I also downloaded another free program called Stellarium to help find objects to view as well. It does take some practice to find some of the targets with the scope and it took me a couple of days to get better at it. Aiming the telescope was very easy with the Dobsonian mount. All you do is use the knob on the front of the telescope to slew it as needed. For deep sky targets, I also used a green laser mounted on a tripod to point in the approximate position I wanted to point the scope at. I then used the finder scope to follow the beam until it terminates. I could see several globular clusters of stars in my scope. The included eyepieces magnify images to 48x for the 25mm and to 120x for the 10mm. I found that the 48x magnification was the best choice for finding and viewing these targets. The globular clusters appeared as a dense ball of stars and gradually tapered off in star density as you moved towards the outside of the cluster. I also saw a couple of open clusters of bright stars that were closely packed together. I enjoyed observing the different colors of the stars as well. Some are red, others white or yellow and some appear as orange or red. Nebula were also observable with this scope. They appear as white streaks of gas within the eyepieces. They seem to have almost a 3D appearance. The skies where I live in are quite hazy with significant light pollution from San Antonio. (I live in the suburbs) I suspect that the view will be even better when I use this scope in darker and clearer skies. After about two weeks of owning the scope, I purchased several accessories for it. I picked up a filter set so I could see more contrast on the surface of planets and I also picked up a barlow lens so I could double the magnification of my scope. When I used the barlow on the 10mm lens, I could then see with 240x magnification. Even with this high magnification, I noticed that planetary images remained crystal clear. Observing the moon brought some of the most spectacular sights that I've seen yet. At higher powers the view is simply captivating. You can easily see lunar mountains, craters and fault lines. The detail with which they are viewed is amazing. It seems as though you could never run out of new things to see. As the earth turns the view gradually moves what you are seeing through your eyepiece. As you are viewing it almost seems as though you are orbiting the moon itself. Everyone who viewed the moon with this scope uttered "Wow!" the first time they saw it. I also purchased a white light solar filter so that I could observe the sun during the day. This was a nice addition and I was able to clearly see a small sunspot the first day I used the filter. The only downside with this scope I noticed was that the dust cover was very tight and difficult to put back on the front of the scope. This caused a few flecks of paint to come off and fall onto the primary mirror. This problem was pretty minor however and it may have just been a quirk with my particular unit. Overall, I've been very impressed with this scope. The optics are great and the views are consistently good across a variety of targets. I also really loved the portability this scope has. It is quite large but it is still fairly simple to move around with the attached handle. This makes it quite managable to move between indoors and outdoors as necessary. It should be fairly straightforward to transport in a vehicle as well. I hope to take it outside of the light polluted skies of San Antonio to a darker Texas ranch location sometime in the near future! The say the best scope is the scope you will use the most often. Since I've gotten it, I have probably used it about 20 times already and I look forward to seeing more with it. The 6" aperture gives plenty of light grasp yet remains portable. I feel that any larger of a scope would start to become cumbersome to transport and you might use it less. Do yourself a favor and get this scope!

Reviewer: Jarek Carr

This is my first telescope and I was amazed at the views of Saturn I got. The eyepieces included can even show moons and ring shadows on Saturn. Thanks for a great product!

Reviewer: Tom Walton

My daughter and I brought this scope out for the first time last night. There were some high clouds moving across the sky, and we have a lot of light pollution in our area. We were having a hard time finding anything, and then bam! We found Mars. After that went behind a cloud, we moved to Saturn, and the view was nothing short of amazing! My 14 yr old daughter was captivated by crystal clarity of the image. We're both hooked - now I'm going to have to get a barlow and some filters...You will really enjoy this telescope. Easy to set up and use and amazing optics.

Reviewer: Tony Waleszczak

Christmas Night I stood on my back porch watching the clouds move overhead. Then, it became clear and I saw the moon with my newly opened telescope. The Lunar Eclipse in February looked great then I found Saturn and the Orion Nebula by chance and they looked like they were out of a science textbook! Thank You.

Reviewer: B. Ross

This is a great telescope we are enjoying it very much. I also liked the accessory pack with all the extras. I would like to let your staff know that they did a great customer service job. Thank you B. Ross

Reviewer: Bruce Grim

I purchased the SkyQuest XT6 as a Christmas gift for my grandchildren in Dayton, Nevada. They have been thrilled with it; as have their parents. As a long time member of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society I am very familiar with Orion's product line. One suggestion I might make is that the right angle finder supplied with the XT6 be replaced with a straight through finder, as my grandchildren and their parents had great difficulty finding objects until I replace it with the straight through finder. For children the straight through version makes pointing much easier, especially on a Newtonian scope.

Reviewer: David Myren

As a child growing up in rural Iowa I always longed to have a really good telescope to get a closer look at the planets, nebula's, and star clusters which lit up the dark night skies. Unfortunately, 30 years ago good telescopes were hard to come by and priced outside the range of my parents' income. Now, thanks to Orion, I have that telescope I always wanted as a kid. I now live in a big urban area and the skies are not nearly as dark as those of my childhood but our Orion 6 inch reflector still provides excellent views of the planets and numerous deep sky objects. Just last week I wowed our neighbors with a striking view of Saturn, the Orion Nebula, and the Pleiades. My children (ages 10, 7, and 3), my wife, and I have spent many hours together experiencing the Universe with this great beginner scope. I have already ordered the 8mm and 17mm Orion Stratus Wideview eyepieces to further enhance our new hobby. Thank you Orion for fulfilling a childhood dream of mine and allowing me to share it with my own children.

Reviewer: Ben R.

I was looking to get my four year old son his first scope when I came across the XT6 Dobsonian. It looked like a decent scope for the price so I ordered it. I was extermely impressed when the scope arrived at my door barely 3 days later. To make a long story short, the scope is great. Easy to assemble, easy to collimate, easy to use... It does weigh a bit but thats to be expected with a scope of this size. I would highly recommend replacing the hard plastic cover that come with it, it started to chip a little bit of paint off the scope and down into the optics. A shower cap works wonderfully to keep out dust. The tension springs make moving the scope, and keeping it in place easy. My son opened it on Christmas day, but didn't appreciate it for what it was until that night. He saw the moon close up for the first time, he got to see amazing detail of craters and mountain ranges. The moon filter provided works great to reduce light during a full moon. All in all this is a great scope for looking at the moon and near earth objects. With solar lenses im sure views of the Sun would be amazing too. You can't beat the quality you get for the price you pay for this scope. It got here fast and wasn't damaged, came with tons of goodies, and when my son looked at the moon through it for the first time all he could say was "Wow". That makes it all the more worth it for me. Thank you Orion for a great quality scope at a great price, and for helping make some family memories.

Reviewer: Jared Holloway

Great beginning telescope. Assembly is not to difficult, and the telescope works great. I recommend you also get a solar filter for this telescope provides great solar viewing.

Reviewer: Matt Wedel

Several things to love about this telescope. First, everything arrived two days after I placed the order. Second, the scope was in perfect collimation right out of the box. Third, setup was dead easy. I put the base together on the living room floor while watching TV. Fourth, observing set up is also a cinch. I carry it outside about half an hour before I want to use it (to let the mirror cool down). That's it. Fifth, the views are spectacular. Six inches is a lot of aperture in a telescope that can be carried by one person. This scope gave me my first views of cloud bands on Jupiter, the double cluster in Perseus, and the Great Nebula in Orion. My only regret is that I don't have more time to spend looking.