Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope for Beginners - Compact & Portable for Travel or Backyard Astronomy - Includes Eyepieces and Accessories

This was my first scope.... So I'm no astro nerd expert. But let me tell you, your mind will be blown. Shipped quickly, easy assembly, I glanced over the instructions.... trial and error, it takes a little practice to get the hang of this thing if you've never used a telescope. The laser sight works pretty good, for some reason I can't get mine to stay sighted in perfectly, probably need to read the instructions more carefully, but the scope works fine overall. Focuses well, really picks up light.... you know how you feel like you can almost see a bizillion stars in between the brighter stars? Well, they're there. You can stare into a dark area with this thing and boom there are more stars there. I did a little research before the purchase. This seemed like the best bang for your buck as far as a good entry-level scope that can collect a decent amount of light. Started eyeballing around, learning the constellations.... the moon is crazy detailed and close up... haven't gotten a chance to view planets yet.... but I see satellites all the time zipping around up there, star clusters... and I live in an area with somewhat bad light pollution, haven't even tried it out in the country yet where the view will be better. Maybe I'm nuts, but this is better than watching T.V. I sit out there in the bed of my truck in the driveway just eyeballing around, staring at stars... they're all different colors... flashes of light.... you can really see them.... like, you can tell they're just like the sun but just really far away.... I don't know. A couple of weeks ago I was out there eyeballing the stars late at night sipping on a screwdriver and staring at one star in particular and pondering existence and if we're alone and whether or not there's a god and all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks and I can hardly put in to words what happened.... but it was a religious experience. Strange. Hard to explain. Best way I can put it is that I was overwhelmed with a mix of love, grief, peace, a longing, fear, happiness and sadness, all melded in this one powerful crippling emotion. A presence. I no longer have any doubt in my mind. If you've never had a religious experience.... well, maybe you'll have one eventually. I hope so. Aside from possibly triggering life-altering experiences, this little light bucket is your eyeball into the cosmos. I love it. One of these days I'll go for a bigger light bucket but this one is great... very portable.... I've been using it as much as I can for about three months now, cloudy winter skies sometimes... learning all of the stars.... the great thing is that the stars change with the seasons. Always something new to see, somewhere else to look and explore. Your mind will be blown! If you're thinking about whether or not to buy it, buy it. Stare at the heavens. Ponder existence. There's so much to learn, so much we don't know. Go for it! As an inexperienced amateur with nothing to compare it to, I've been very pleased with the scope and its performance. Exceeded my expectations, very well worth the money. I will come back and dig up this review should it prove to be cheap and break or have a serious malfunction. If no updates, assume I'm still out there in the driveway sipping on a screwdriver. *UPDATE APRIL 2019* - It fell apart. What a cheap piece of garbage. Naw I'm just kidding. Still works as good as the day I got her. Since I wrote the original review I've seen the planets, seen a band or two of clouds on Jupiter as well as the moons, seen the rings of Saturn, eyeballed Andromeda, the brighter Messier objects... star clusters... etc. And great news! Moved out into the boonies where I can really see the stars. Almost zero light pollution. One really clear night the ole' lady and I were camping and looking at the night sky... I put the scope in the center band of the Milky Way... you could see as many stars through the scope as you could see in the entire night sky with the naked eye. Its just ridiculous. Watch the Tim and Eric documentary on space. It will blow your mind. Great scope. She's been bounced around in the back of my truck on crusty rutted gravel roads and still held up great. I wouldn't recommend doing that but it is a fairly durable piece of equipment. SOON... someday soon I'll order the XT8 (the step up with the 8" aperture.) Amen brother. ***2ND UPDATE JULY 2021*** With the apocalyptic plague still ravaging the planet, its nice to know the ole' Starblast is there when I need her. She's still holding up great. Been bounced to hell and back in the back of my crusty farm truck. Mud, skeeters, southern humidity, dew. She's impervious. The stars don't care about the plague. They were there long before we came around, they'll be there long after. Its kinda comforting. When the bad man on the T.V. gets you all worked in a frenzy, just throw that T.V. in the yard and go enjoy your Starblast. I've seen all kinds of crazy crap going on up there in the sky. Spotted a new, previously not seen by me star cluster the other night. Even seen dual satellites up there, following the same trajectory. ALIENS. POSSIBLE DUAL ALIEN CRAFTS! Amen brother. Keep on keepin on.

I live in a light polluted city and took the small and convenient 4.5-inch StarBlast Dobsonian telescope to an open park field to show my young children Jupiter and Saturn. I was very disappointed the first night where I just used the two eyepiece that came with the StarBlast (17mm and 6mm). As an amateur astronomer I previously used 8-inch Dobsonian and could easily see Saturn's ring and Jupiter's stripes. But even with the 6mm on the StarBlast, Saturn's ring was so tiny that my 4 year old couldn't tell it's Saturn and Jupiter was so so tiny I couldn't see the stripes. (Though the Jovian moons were clearly visible.) I thought perhaps I should get a bigger scope. But I decided to get some accessories for the StarBlast to try again. I immediately purchased this Barlow Lens 2X (Bysameyee 1.25 Inch, $26) and an Orion E-Series 7-21mm Zoom Eyepiece ($63). Using either one immediately brought out the true potential of the StarBlast: Saturn's ring was clearly visible for my 4 year old and we can faintly make out the stripes on Jupiter. Given there was a quarter moon close between the two planets and we were in a light polluted city, I was VERY satisfied with the results. The kids were excited because they could easily identify the planets. Of course, using both together was the best. If you have to buy just one accessory (either the Barlow or the Orion Zoom eyepiece mentioned above) for the StarBlast, go with the 2x Barlow Lens. Using the Barlow with StarBlast's 6mm eyepiece gave the largest view (since the Zoom eyepiece can zoom to 7mm, not 6mm). However the problem with the 6mm is that since it has such a small field of view, it was sometimes hard to find the object as these stellar objects constantly move and also kids sometimes bump into the scope (also the red dot finder isn't as user friendly as a Telrad, but that's not too much of a problem) so I had to rely on the 17mm to zero in on the object and switch back to the 6mm. But since I have small kids, it was a hassle to switch back and forth. So that's where the Orion 7-21mm Zoom comes in. Wow! So convenient to find things when they move out of view, I don't even need to refocus during the zoom. It was also extra fun when the entire quarter moon fits in the 21mm and the kids can ZOOM into the 7mm themselves to look at some craters in detail. They had a blast! If you just use the Zoom Eyepiece without the Barlow on the Starblast, you don't get to see objects extra big, but it's fine, you can still clearly make out Saturn's ring and barely Jupiter's stripes. In conclusion, I highly recommend getting both the 2x Barlow and Orion Zoom to bring out all that the small but mighty StarBlast scope has to offer! I don't need a big scope in a light polluted city to inspire the kids after all! StarBlast with the 2x Barlow and Orion Zoom give me all the convenience, kid friendliness, and astronomy potential we need. P.S. After I try to observe some brighter galaxies (Andromeda) and other Messier objects I will update my review.

Costo contenuto. Spedizione perfetta.

Excellent product. Expensive in India

I bought the telescope for my girlfriend, who has always had a fascination with astronomy (and secretly bought it for myself too!). Haven't had a lot of clear skies since we received the starblast, but so far we have not been disappointed. We are both beginners to astronomy and I was looking for something to explore our mutual curiosity for the night sky. Being able to see objects in the sky, knowing how far away they are, even though they are small with this telescope is a cool experience! I don't have experience with other telescopes to compare this to, but am very satisfied with this purchase. It's lightweight and easy to throw in our vehicle and drive out to the outskirts of town and view the night sky in the back of the truck. No setup required! Although as others have mentioned, bringing a crate or something to prop it up is helpful. We still need to learn more to truly understand what we can get out of the starblast, but the nice part about this telescope as that the setup was so easy that you can start exploring right away, and learn as you go! There was an issue in the shipping process, but I contacted Orion directly and they not only responded to me quickly but they fixed the situation to my satisfaction, and did it without hesitation or complaint! I was very impressed with their customer service. Am very satisfied with both the telescope and the company that makes it!

This telescope is great and only took 20 mins to assemble from the box and then was ready to go. It uses a dobsonian mount with means it is a tabletop telescope. It has two really good quality eyepieces, a 17mm and 6mm eyepieces with covers. They provide good views. The red dot finder that comes with the scope is easily the best and easiest to use finder I have used. It only took around 10 minutes to align the red dot finder. After I alligned it everything else was a breeze. Focusing is smooth and you get great detailed views of anything really. Observing planets is pretty good for the price point and I would recommend it to anyone. It comes with starry night software which is great to plan ahead when you want to observe specific objects. You can also register for a 1 year warranty. Overall this scope is probably the best beginner scope you could get. There's an eq version but I would recommend waiting a bit before using an equitorial mount but if that's what you want I would sya go for it. The orion starblast is a great affordable scope that provides clear and great views and is the best beginner scope.

Truly an amazing telescope for the price and is a must buy.