Home > Consumer Reviews > Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian Telescope

The 8"f6 Dobsonian telescope is popular for good reason. It is simple to manufacture and easy to use. It is car portable, gives good views of planets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies. It is small enough to give wide field views (as wide as 2.28* with a 41mm Panoptic eyepiece), and large enough to reveal the rings of Saturn, cloud bands on Jupiter, and high magnification views of double stars.

This scope by Orion has better than average optics, and provides surprisingly good views of deep sky objects. Under a dark sky I have observed four galaxies in the Virgo cluster through this telescope.

To provide the best possible views, all Newtonian telescopes require collimnation, so tools for this are required. The Kendrick Laser Collimnator is excellent.

Finding deep sky objects with a Dobsonian can be difficult, especially in light polluted skies. You may want to consider the Orion SkyQuest XT8i IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope with Object Locator. This allows you to spend less time searching and more time observing. Otherwise, a 7x50 straight through finder can help.

You will want a low power wide field eyepiece (32mm-40mm) for finding objects, a medium power eyepiece (12mm-20mm) for deep sky, and a high magnification eyepiece (5mm-8mm) for observing planets and "lunar orbit".

Telescope was given as a gift. Have been told this was the best gift ever. Easy to use and loads of fun.

Product as stated. I would recommend that you also purchase the padded carry bag.

This telescope is amazing! Finally took it out on a clear night in Florida, I checked out Jupiter and I was astonished. The detail in a slightly light polluted sky. I was blown away. I would suggest getting a barlow lens, i went with the 3x multiplier and i decided to also get a zoom lens(8mm-23mm). I am extremely happy with this telescope, it was my 1st investment in one since my dad bought me one when i was little. Oh yeah, get a moon filter too, your eyes will appreciate it.

This scope is super easy to setup and easy to use!! I'm very green when it comes to telescopes. This one is great for this reason! Only need to know anything but point and view! =]