Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic Dobsonian Telescope for Adults - High Powered Beginner Astronomy Telescope for Moon, Planets & Deep-sky Objects

A great beginner-intermediate level scope that should last for years.What I like the most:Great optics that are clear and bright. Appropriate for viewing the moon, planets, and an assortment of nebulae and messier objects. It has a true, parabolic mirror that does a great job of focusing the image onto the secondary mirror. I have mixed feelings about the tension springs--which work, though I generally prefer tensioning systems that are more adjustable. Finally, it's offered at a great price for an 8-inch reflector.What I think might be better:The assembly directions for the base could be a little bit better. They are not horrible, but there is certainly room for improvement. There are a couple of places where I had to guess which washer went where. Second, the red dot scope is pretty bad. The way it mounts is great, but the scope itself is subject to lots of parallax and the dot isn't really round. I'd recommend replacing it with something better. I went with a Rigel Systems Quick Finder. Finally, mine arrived wildly out of collimation. I don't know if this is a result of shipping/handling, or if the factory screwed up, but it took me a frustrating hour to get it correctly collimated initially. While I'm no expert at collimating, neither am I a novice. It was so far out that the laser beam shot out the front of the telescope and I had to use a collimating cap at first. Fortunately one was included.Final thoughts: Buy it. The pros vastly outweigh the cons. This is an excellent Newtonian/Dobsonian telescope at a very reasonable price.Pro tip- it isn't exactly light. If you want to move it without separating the OTA and base, you can use a hand cart to safely move it without risking throwing it out of alignment.

The Orion XT8 Classic is a great telescope at a wonderful price for new telescope users or those upgrading from a small, very inexpensive telescope to something more capable.Setup: The XT8 sets up easily and the instructions provided by Orion are not difficult to follow. Basically, you are assembling the Dobsonian base, which isn't hard to do. If you can bake a cake using a recipe from a book, this won't be hard. :-) The tools provided are all that are necessary to do so, but a power drill with a screwdriver and hex bit make quicker work of the assembly.Collimating: You most likely will need to collimate your scope, since the primary and secondary mirrors were likely pushed out of alignment during shipping. The instructions provided are all you need to do this along with the collimation cap. A laser collimator (optional equipment) is even better, but not needed for most folks. Take your time collimating by moving one screw on the primary or secondary mirror at a time and observing the results and you shouldn't have any problems. Moving more than one screw at a time can make your work harder, as it can become difficult to isolate which screw and mirror you need to adjust. Again, if you can follow written directions well, this shouldn't be hard. :-)Finding Things to See: If you have a decent knowledge of the sky, a no-frills reflector Dobsonian (like the XT8) is great for you. If you need a bit of help finding things to see, consider getting an electronic aid to find the objects you want to see. A lot of great applications for smart phones or tablet PCs allow you to do this by simply holding your phone/tablet to the sky and revealing the names of stars, objects, and constellations. I use Star Walk (among others) on my iPhone and iPad for this with great ease. If you want to find things very, very easily, then consider upgrading to an intelliscope or go-to scope, which does the work for you for a bit more money. The Dobsonian base can be a little tricky to maneuver to find what you want to see at first, but with a little practice you'll get the hang of it.Eyepieces: The XT8 comes with a 25 mm Plössl lens, which is a decent lens that gives you 48-power magnification with this scope. This okay, but you'll definitely want other eyepieces since there are better ones out there. Strongly consider getting 2-3 eyepieces (in the 10-32 mm range) and a 2-3 power Barlow lens, which would give you a set of power options for viewing. I'm using Tele Vue eyepieces and Barlows, which are a little higher quality than most of Orion's offerings, but if you're new to the hobby you'll likely have fun and not notice much difference with sub-$100 eyepieces and Barlows from most companies. :-)Overall: This is a great buy from Orion, giving you a scope that pulls down a lot of light at a modest price. I would definitely recommend this to those interested in getting into the hobby. :-)

So I purchased the xt8 in March 2016 after doing countless hours of research, I have not had a chance to use it yet, but will update after a few nights of star gazing. That being said I want to point out a few things. First, wow this thing is huge, and seems well made. Some people had said they only got only one of the two boxes, Orion obviously saw this because my two boxes came attached to each other, furthermore the FedEx guy apparently doesn't understand the words FRAGILE, or DO NOT DROP!!! I watched in horror as he slid and dropped it right out of his van, but not to worry, Orion did such a good job packing it that it was unharmed by shipping. Next, assembly, now sure the manual lacks some information, but Orion has a YouTube video of an employee assembling an xt8 step by step with all kinds of little pointers, which is FAR superior to a black and white instructions, so assemble was not only easy, it was kinda fun. Others had issues with the red dot easy finder scope, same deal, go on YouTube. Finally and most importantly, WOW, for less than $400, are you kidding, this thing is massive!!! If it works half as good as I hope it will be money well spent. Thank you Orion, I can't wait to use it and I'm sure I will be buying more accessories from you and recommending you to friends/family. Again I will update after I use it.UPDATE: Awesome, if you can afford it, BUY THIS SCOPE, I'm serious it's worth every penny!!! Also, if you have kids it's great, my 9 year old loves it and can use the EZ Finder without a problem, and it's stable enough that it will offer great views, even for a 9 year old novice!!! Make sure you get a moon filter, if you look at the moon, and you will, without one it hurts, I actually wonder if it can do damage, with one, holy cow you can see craters inside craters, mountains and shadows, really cool. Have fun and clear skies