Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great scope for the money, just hope you get a good one!, July 1, 2006
This is a great little scope to use as a spotting scope and for the occasional astronomical gazing. It works just fine as a nice big telephoto lens for your SLR camera as well with the appropriate T-adapter. Comes with a decent carrying case too, so it really is a perfect grab-and-go scope for terrrestrial viewing and light astronomy.
It does not have the aperture to really pull in any dark-sky objects, but is just wonderful on bright planets, the moon, and easy doubles. Do not expect to really use this scope to see very many Messier objects, unless you have incredibly dark skies and lots of patience.
The build quality is very good for what you pay for. Other scopes in this price range can be really junky, but this one seems decent. I am not an expert but I do know what good optics are and this one gets an all-around very good rating, excellent for the price. No problems with collmination or other abberations. The optics are much better than my last scope of similar size, a Meade ETX-70. I also briefly owned a Meade ETX-125AT UHTC - a $1,200 scope. The little Apex 90 is severely outmatched compared to that, but when you can own 5 Apex 90's for the same price, it really puts things into perspective! Again, great value here.
So why not 5 stars? It took Orion three tries to ship me a scope that worked. On the first two scopes, the focus was broken. Exact same problem with both scopes. Straight out of the box, neither would focus as the focus knob would only make a couple of revolutions before hitting the stops (the focus knobs should turn 25ish times). Both times replacements were shipped via 2-day Fedex at absolutely no charge to me, and the returns were prepaid as well. On this note, their customer service is some of the best I have ever used (period). Real people who actually speak English answer the phone on the first or second ring. Astounding. No automated voice system, no outsourced help. Two thumbs way, way up there. It was still just a bit of hassle to get two defective scopes in a row.
In the end, I'm happy with my purchase and look forward to purchasing other Orion scopes in the future. Their reputation of inexpensive but decent scopes seems true.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great scope, not so great finder, March 30, 2009
First, the hots. I love this scope. It is light and easy to use and Just Works. It's 90 mm and a Mak, so you're not going to be using it for serious deep-sky work (i.e., faint nebulae and galaxies). That said, under dark skies it turns in an impressive performance. Under radically dark skies in rural Oklahoma this thing gave me the best view I have ever had of the Orion nebula, and this is coming from someone who is normally a Dob guy. But the real strong points for this thing are the moon, planets, and double stars. And birds, during the daytime. And mountains, if you've got any nearby you'd like to spent some time looking over. And any other reasonably bright targets you might think of.
Not-so-hots: the tiny finder is fairly useless. I swapped in a 6x30 right angle correct image finder and never looked back. The correct image prism diagonal is okay for daytime work but for astronomy you will want a nice 90-degree mirror diagonal; the difference is noticeable.
The scope weighs just over three and a half pounds naked, but kitted out with a diagonal, decent finder, and eyepiece, it's getting to five pounds or a bit beyond. I put it on a cheap plastic photo tripod from a department store that I don't care to name and hardly ever used it. Switched to a nice Bogen/Manfrotto setup and it's like a whole new scope. There is a saying in amateur astronomy that the mount is half the scope, and I think that's maybe a little conservative. I'd rather use a merely acceptable scope on a good mount than an outstanding scope on a wimpy mount. Plan accordingly.
Some final hots: comes with a very nice little bag and packs well for travel. I have flown with this scope in carry-on luggage and will do so again. Great for digiscoping, you can really reach out and touch stuff with this thing. Built like a tank, rides like a glider, packs like a thermos. Get one and get ready to have some fun.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good grab and go scope, August 9, 2006
I just purchased this nifty little scope and after a few nights worth of use I would say that I am more than satisfied. Though aperature is normally king, I purchased this scope specifically for travel, particularly backpacking trips into the Sierra Nevadas. This introduced a new limiting criteria that I've never worried much about before when purchasing a scope - minimizing weight. At under 4lbs this one fit the bill perfectly.
Even with the small aperature and light polluted skies I've been able to pull down some satisfying views of Jupiter, the moon, various clusters and some deep sky objects (the full moon is ruining my true deep sky evaluation). The focuser is smooth and a quick star test indicates a relatively good factory collimation.
My only gripe (-1 star) is the small finder scope. IMHO it is too close to the main tube and the stright through finder is uncomfortable at any severe angle. However, once swapped out for my existing 9x50 right-angle finder everything is fine. The carrying case is good and the scope is indeed happy on a lightweight photo tripod (again, backpacking friendly).
I do suggest you plan on buying a relatively wide angle eyepiece (I went with a 41mm) to get as much of the sky in the eyepiece as possible given the f/13 nature of the scope.
All in all this seems like a solid, highly portable scope. In fact, this sucker is so easy to carry and setup that its already stealing time away from my 8" dob.
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by Terence Dickinson
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