Orion SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope Telescope

by Orion

Product Details

• ASIN: B0002KV55M
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 1, 2003

Product Description

The XT12 IntelliScope takes big-aperture astronomy to a new level of performance and user-friendly fun. With design ingenuity and technical sophistication that make competing models yesterday's news, it will wow even the most star-savvy enthusiast. It's prodigious 305mm (12.0"), Pyrexparabolic primary mirror pulls down 44% more light than 10" optics and 126% more than 8" optics. What's more, the XT12 is an IntelliScope! Which means you can just plug the optional IntelliScope Computerized Object Locator into the scope's base and you're ready to find and view any of 14,000 celestial objects with the push of a button or two. Sound easy? It is. If you are ready for some outrageous aperture, then get the smartest big scope to come along in years -- the SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I was looking for, July 9, 2005

By 

J. Hubbard (Springfield, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orion SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope Telescope (Electronics)

I didn't find as many reviews of the 12" Intelliscope as I would have liked before I bought one so I'm glad to leave my feedback after having one for 2 weeks.

There is a huge difference in size between the 10" and 12". The 8" & 10" are almost the same - very portable, light, and a pleasure to use. Each has a 2" focuser with 1.25" adaptor so all your eyepieces will work. The 12" is at the very limit of portability for a single person. The base is a little too wide to fit between the doors in my house so I have to put the cradle arms through first, then turn them around the outside of the door to allow the base to slip through.

The 9x50 finderscope is actually good quality. I had no problems focusing it (unlike other's I've used) and it's easy to align using only 3 screws instead of 6 (those I have trouble with). The finderscope is mounted a bit too close to the focuser and I was unable to mount my Telrad inbetween the two. This leaves two choices - either place it down toward the mirror cell about 6" (a little ackward) or on the far side of the 9x50 finder (my choice). I rough aim with the Telrad, zero in with the optical finder and then view through the scope. I would have preferred though if the finder was mounted with enough room for the Telrad to be the main finder though. I suppose you could remove the optical finder altogether or drill new holes but I wasn't bothered by it enough to go through the trouble.

My scope was the demo unit at the store/observatory because they were out of stock so it's had thousands of public viewers and was about a year old. This I think gives me the ability to report on how they "wear". The mount is still very smooth - a moderate nudge in any direction allows for easy tracking. The variable tension knob on the alt. will loosen a bit after a while so you need to give a quarter turn from time to time ( for me 2-3 times in 6 hours). This tension is my favorite part of the scope - finally a dob that allows me to use any eyepiece combo and not have any balance issues.

I carried the scope from the house to the backyard 6 times in two weeks and didn't have to re-collimate. This more than amazed me for a big scope. I drove it about 120 miles to eastern oregon to view from dark skies and it needed about 1/16th of a turn of one knob on the mirror cell to get it centered again. In addition to the adjustment knobs, there are three locking screws that really hold the cell firm.

The eyepieces that came with it are ok so I gave them to a family member for their scope. Spending a decent amount on a scope like this also requires an investment in some Televue Eyepieces. My 35mm Panoptic has a great field of view (m81 and 82 with lots of room to spare - same for M97 & M108). This eyepiece got a fair amount of coma though. Since I love low power deep sky hunting, I'm going to have to buy a Paracorr. My 26 and 13 plossl's were sharp across the field and the 9mm nagler moved back to my favorite list.

Now a word on performance. From a dark site, I used my 9mm Nagler on M51 and could obviously make out the spiral structure. I've never used higher power on this before since it would wash out but I was looking for the supernova and the 12" aperture made it bright enough to startle me. I've never actually seen the arms in a scope I own before. The veil was prominant in my 35mm panoptic however a 2" OIII filter I borrowed displayed magnificent tendrils and silky strands all over. I had little difficulty spotting the central star in M27 and found that averted vision wasn't necessary (although it took me a sec to first notice it). All of the Messier globulars resolve well even under light polluted skies. Although M13 is brighter, M3 & M5 are easier to resolve into the core since it's not quite so crowded.

I almost forgot to mention the Intelliscope computer which I just bought a few days ago. The encoders were already installed except for the one that comes with the computer. It took about 4 minutes. The two star alignment is a breeze although the faster you center your two stars the better since the computer has no frame of reference for your location yet and as the sky turns it will be less accurate. After the alignment it gives you a "warp factor" which indicates how accurate it will be. I found little difference between warp 0 and .4 (yes, I got a warp 0 once). They all put objects about halfway between the center and the edge in my 35mm Panoptic (about 43x). The computer's database is comprehensive and I like the descriptions it has for each object (press enter to view description). There's an ID button that will tell you what you are looking at as well if you are just scanning and run into an unidentified fuzzy =). It's about as accurate, though not quite, for the planets. For about a hundred bucks, this is a great add on. I know many are purists and don't like computers, preferring a finderscope and star chart - if you live under light polluted skies, it can be difficult to make out new constellations and this will point you in the right direction. I use this to find new objects which I then locate on a star chart and commit to memory. You don't want an observing session to end just because you don't have a fresh 9v battery! For anyone new to the sky or just wanting to find a series of showpieces for a public viewing will enjoy the "Tour" feature. Punch in the month and it will determine what's visible and give an excellent array of galaxies, nebulae, clusters, and double stars. The nice part is, it won't just stick to the Messier list, you'll find some of the nicer NGC stuff. When viewing something, press cluster, galaxy, nebula and it will cycle through every object of that type it knows of in that constellation. I had quite a show when viewing M108 and asking it to show me every other NGC galaxy in Ursa Major!

Bottom line, this scope was exactly what I was looking for. I've owned reflectors from 3-10" and the 12" aperture is enough to finally enjoy some of the fainter Messier galaxies and not just struggle to detect them. The intelliscope computer is a tremendous aid that doesn't have to become a crutch. It's cumbersome to setup but once together, it's very smooth to operate. I doubt anyone (who doesn't mind the weight) would buy this and think they should have picked a different 12" dob.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Orion XT12 IntelliScope, October 16, 2004

By 

Mark Mitch "College Science Professor" (Henniker, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orion SkyQuest XT12 IntelliScope Telescope (Electronics)

A great product and straight forward to use. There is certainly not a starter telescope but does a great job. The assembly, while not complicated, does take some time to figure out. The instructions are thorough, but doesn't always match exactly what you get. For example, the starter holes for the eye piece rack were drilled on the wrong side of the base that I received. Not a problem to correct or work around but it can take time to figure out. If you're willing to spend some time tinkering you can end up with a great product.

This is a very large scope which means very, very large boxes. My only disappointment with this purchase is how long the shipping takes. Give the cost, I would have expected faster shipping but then I live in New Hampshire the warehouse is in California. The shipment was supposed to be in three boxes. I received two and waited almost a week before finding that one of the boxes was lost or misplaced. How do you misplace a six foot long box? Orion Customer Service was very helpful and shipped the missing item right away, but it still took a week and a half to arrive. Shortly, thereafter I needed to replace the azimuth encoder board. Again, the customer service rep was great on the phone but delivery time was another week and a half for a letter sized package to arrive by Priority Mail.

If you need to be taking it apart and setting it back up on a regular basis I recommend purchasing the padded case for the tube. This makes a huge difference being able to transport it with ease.

Taking it apart and setting up is fast and simple with only few parts to remove/reattach. Once set up it's very easy to use and locating objects is a very quick. I bought the intelliscope pull-to computer but you don't need it to located objects if you have a good star map and some patience.

Being able to switch between 2" eyepieces and 1.25" eyepieces quickly is a plus and makes moving from object to object a breeze. Unfortunately, image crispness of deep space objects has been disappointing but I still like the scope and recommend it.