Philip M's Stats
- Review Count2
- Helpfulness Votes27
- First ReviewApril 25, 2010
- Last ReviewApril 30, 2010
- Featured Reviews0
- Average Rating4.5
Reviews Comments
- Review Comment Count0
- Helpfulness Votes0
- First Review CommentNone
- Last Review CommentNone
- Featured Review Comments0
Philip M's Reviews
The 3x Orion Tri-Mag Barlow Lens delivers a 3x magnification boost to your eyepiece. It is great for lunar and planetary observing and perfect for extracting higher powers from short-focal-length telescopes which can be hard to magnify high enough.
Rating
A good Barlow for the money!
PostedApril 30, 2010
I bought this Barlow to go along with my Orion XT8 Dob Classic Telescope. After ordering it, I was thinking I should've gone with the 2x, after some people said it was too powerful. I got it, placed in my scope, along the XT8's included 25mm plossl eyepiece, and it worked pretty good. The Views: The Moon looked amazing with just the 25mm, and when I added the Barlow, it looked pretty good through it. Most people wouldn't recommend a 3x Barlow with a 25mm eyepiece on the Moon, but it wasn't a bad view. The contrast was dulled, and some of the edges became fuzzy like, but it still popped with awesome detail. Mars without the Barlow seemed like a small red disk. For the most part, the Barlow just increased the size when I added it, making it slightly fuzzier, but it didn't enhance, or add any detail to it. It was just slightly bigger. Venus was the same way. Saturn, on the other hand, was an awesome view with the Barlow. Even with weakened contrast, and fuzzy edges, you could still see awesome detail, slight cloud bands, a line for the shadow created by the rings. And of course the rings looked good too. I could also see 8 of Saturns moons. Although, you of course would be better off just buying a 8mm eyepiece (or smaller), instead of turning a 25mm into an 8mm with this Barlow. But it would be better used for turning much larger eyepieces (75mm), into smaller mm'er eyepieces. Hope this review helps anyone who needs it!
Share:
+24points
24of 24voted this as helpful.
The SkyQuest XT8 Classic has features for both beginners and experienced stargazers. Its large aperture will help you see more. Its stable base glides easily and gives you total control to point at any celestial object. All for an affordable price.
Rating
My worries and fears were put to rest!
PostedApril 25, 2010
After months of deciding on whether or not to get a telescope, I took the plunge. And at first it felt like I was diving in cold water. I ordered the Orion XT8 Classic Dobsonian, realizing, for me, it was the best price, for the best quality. It arrivedvery quickly, with the box being a little beat up, but it was double boxed, so it stayed safe, thankfully. I was actually surprised by the size of the optical tube, thinking it was much smaller. The assembly was worrying me a bit. First, like the manual will state, check for any damage, and take an inventory to make sure all of the pieces are there. The manual was a bit vague, and overly professional, making it difficult for a beginner like myself, to understand what certain pieces, and bolts, ect. were, but with some deductive reasoning, it wasn't more than a small inconvienence. The assembly is a two person job, and does require two tools necassary to build the telescope that were not included: A Phillips head screw-driver, and a cresent wrench. I of course had the screw- driver, but not the cresent wrench, which I had to go get. After it was all completed, I began on collimating. To be honest, this really worried me. I was afraid of having to adjust the seconday mirror (small oval mirror near the top of the tube), because I was fearful of accidentally messing it up while adjusting it. Fortunately, the manual does explain that the adjusting of the secondary mirror should happen rarely if it all. My worries were eased. But still being confused about the primary mirror, I was still stressing over it. While using the included Collimation Cap, my Telescope did indeed show me the primary mirror did need some adjusting, and after some tinkering with it, I have near perfect now. To help ease anyone else who may be worry about it, its not that big of a deal. If you are unsure just how much your Telescope needs adjusting, just take it out on a clear night, point it towards a bright star, and while your view is on the star, -unfocus- the view. You should see a donut shape. A block spot in the center, that is your seconday mirror your seeing. When the black spot is not a centered 'donut hole', your primary mirror needs adjusting. Hope that helps anyone who needs it. After collimating it, all that was left to do was test it out, and have fun. Owning such a pricey product, that does require a certain amount of maintance was making me very leary, and almost paranoid, but once you really get past the learning curve of using it, you really do get comfortable with it. Mars: Don't get you expectations too high for Mars. While using the included eyepiece, it just appears a very small disc shape, with reddish hue. I bought a 3x trimag barlow, which only made the disk shape bigger, and slightly increased the amount of color. But of course, Mars is now out of opposition (closest proximity to Earth), for the next 2 years. In 2 years, under the right conditions you -can- see a white dot near the bottom of Mars. That is the Martian Polar Ice cap. Jupiter: So far, after only owning my Telescope for just near 3 weeks now, I have not been able to see Jupiter. But that is only because it is not out this time of year, but is coming out soon! Venus: I actually just saw Venus for the first time last night. It is similar to Mars in quality. It is bright, and you can make out a cresent shape, along with a very faint yellow hue. And that is with my 3x Barlow. Saturn: Saturn has given me the most trouble! But don't worry. That was entirely my fault. I had mistaken the star Arcturus for Saturn, being the beginner I am. But last night, I found Saturn was near the moon, which was an easy check-point for locating Saturn from there. The Finder Scope really was a major help. I got it in the scope with the 25mm eyep
Share:
+2points
3of 4voted this as helpful.
Philip M's Review Comments
Philip M has not submitted comments on any reviews.