Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: Greg Allison
Received my AstroView 100mm EQ and
couldn't wait for sunset. Easy to set up
and use. Sharp images, great viewing all
from an urban setting. I'm out in the
yard most every clear to partly cloudy
night.This scope I could recommend to
anyone without hesitation. I absolutely
love mine!!
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: marc daignault
I like it a lot, but if I were to get another
i`d a dual focuser model.
The focus section of this scope is a
little " sloppy " where it slides in and out.
Otherwise its a great scope.
I`m wishing now however that I`d
gotten a dobsonian type 8".
That`ll be my next one
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: Eugene Samsonov
After carefully considering many
different options I have decided to go
with AstroView 100 as my first scope
when getting back into astronomy after
25 years. This scope has very positive
reviews all over internet, both for its raw
performance and its price/performance,
though I personally found the following
characteristics most appealing: it is
reasonably compact and portable, it
matches or even beats 4-5" reflectors
and catadioptrics for image quality,
while, at the same time, not requiring 3
hours for thermal stabilization, and then,
since I am not (yet) into
astrophotography I did not really need a
full apochromat. So far I am very happy
with my choice. The scope takes about
10 minutes to set up, another 10 minutes
to align and then it is ready. From my
rather light-polluted back-yard near
Seattle I am enjoying Moon, planets and
double-stars up to about 10th
magnitude. Deep-sky objects are
nothing to write home about, they
appear as vague clouds, though I am
hoping to get better once I am able to go
to some dark-sky site. The mount is
surprisingly stable, the slow motion
controls are adequate. The reasons for
giving it 4 stars instead of 5: many
accessories which it comes with require
an immediate upgrade to match
expectations--primarily, the finder
scope, which is pretty awkward to use,
and then, to a lesser degree, the 10mm
plossil eyepiece. Also, the declanation
circle is off by a couple degrees and it is
not possible to adjust it. The R.A. circle
is almost free-wheeling, and the plastic
cover for it and the polar scope just
barely stays in place (it really doesn't).
So, basically, both circles are close to
useless, and one has to rely on star-
hoping to find the target. But, again, for
that amount of money the complete
scope set up is still very enjoyable and
allows for a great introduction into what
is up there in the night sky!
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: Hank Stratton
I've had my Astroview 100 mm EQ
Refractor for a year now. I'm seeing
stars and planets better than I was
seeing with my Meade telescope. This is
one I recommend to all I talk to for star
gazing. Thank Orion!
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: David A
GREAT telescope! I use this for wide field
views, and the scope is perfect for this.
There is some CA, but not enough to
even be concerned with at low powers.
Even at higher magnifications, it is
minimal (CA). What surprised me is how
solid this mount is for the small tube. I
was going to replace the mount, but I
think it's a keeper! Overall, very sharp
optics, high contrast, and very
enjoyable to use!
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: Kevin Berglund
I have had my Astroview 100mm
refractor about a year now so I have
had ample opportunity to use it. Let me
put it to you this way. If you want a
telescope that is portable, easy to use,
optically and mechanically excellent then
the Astroview 100mm EQ Refractor is for
you.
At F/6 this scope provides breathtaking
low power wide field views of deep space
objects like open clusters, nebula,
galaxies etc. but, to my pleasant
surprise, it can handle high magnification
very well for close lunar and planetary
observation and for spliting double stars.
The optics star test very well and I must
say that having a collimatable objective
is a nice touch. This in conjunction with
the collimating eyepiece and the
collimating instructions that come with
the scope allows the user to have the
optics in perfect alignment for before
heading outside under the stars.
The Astroview mount has smooth
motions and is a very stable platform for
this scope. I can easily carry the whole
setup from my garage out into the yard
for an observing session. The two plossl
eyepieces and 6x30 finder that come
with the scope are of good quality and
perform well but, and this is about the
only improvement that could be made to
this scope, I would like to see the finder
upgraded to an 8x40 or even a 9x50. I
have done this to my scope and it
certainly makes finding fainter objects
easier.
At a local star party last spring I had my
Astroview 100mm setup beside a fellow
with a 100mm apo refractor costing
almost four times what I paid for the
Astroview 100mm. He was totally
surprised how well the Astroview images
compared with the images his apo
refractor showed. His comment at the
end of the night was " I spent four times
as much as you did for only slightly
better performance, why?"
Orion, you have a winner here with the
Astroview 100mm Refractor. I would
also like to ad that the Orion dealer that
I dealt with here in Canada provided
excellent service and will certainly get
my business again. Thanks again for a
great scope!
Kevin
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: S. Bucki
I bought this scope to replace my old
ST80 as a grab-and-go scope for quick
nightly sessions and weekend trips. I'm
a fairly experienced star-gazer and have
used (and owned) a wide variety of
telescopes. The scope arrived well
packed and in very good shape. It
turned out to be actually somewhat
bigger and heavier than I expected.
Optical performance is excellent for the
type of scope and price point. A quick
star test revealed well corrected optics,
with no apparent defects. The coatings
are excellent, and the tube is nicely
baffled, resulting on very good contrast.
Visually, the images are pleasant, with
barely noticeable chromatic aberration.
The scope performs well on all kinds of
objects (planets, binary stars, deep
space objects). The focuser is
somewhat stiff, but as with my older
scopes, I expect it to improve with time.
The mount is solid and very stable--the
OTA and the mount are a well-matched
pair, neither is too big or too small for
the other. The mount is not as silky
smooth as my premium quality GEM
(which, in all fairness costs by itself
twice
as much as this scope and mount
combined), but I have not noticed any
rough spots. The inclusion of a polar
alignment scope is a nice touch. The
setting circles are large and clear, and
they are a useful aid to locate faint
objects. The two included eyepieces are
well selected and of worthy quality.
They are keepers even if you decide to
upgrade later to premium quality
oculars. The only improvement I would
like Orion to do to make this scope an
even better packages is replacing the
6X30 finderscope with a good
quality red-dot reflective sight. It is
easier to use, especially for novice
users, and I don't think it would result in
a price increase of the package. In
absolute terms, I rate this scope 4 stars,
that could easily increase to 5 with a
better finderscope and a little bit of
attention to the mechanical aspects
mentioned above. When it comes to
price-performance evaluation, this scope
is 5 stars it's almost unbelievable how
much of a scope and mount one gets for
a relatively small amount of money.
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: Dennis
I can only assume that the other person
does not realize that you can use
different eyepieces to see different
distances. I know that's elementary,
but it seemed necessary to point that
out to the guy.
I have been really pleased with this
scope. Some part of me does wish I had
coughed up the extra cash for the 120,
but that's life. I really enjoyed
checking out the lunar eclipse a few
months ago, and Saturn is pretty neat.
I have some new eyepieces coming in
soon, and I'm pretty excited to start
checking out Jupiter, Mars, and the deep
space stuff too.
Realistically, this is more like a four
star scope, but I had to offset this
other guy's absurd review. Great .
Orion AstroView 100mm EQ Refractor Telescope
Reviewer: Rakoh A Bauer
Had I not known that Saturn had rings,
might not have noticed them. Binoculars
do as well. Pretty good up to about 200
yds. The moon looks good.