This was my first telescope and I have to say that it deserves all the good comments I have read around. Using it, I quickly learned the basic principles of stargazing without the complications of more complex scopes, like stability of mount, excessive weight, cooling, etc. More importantly, the images of deep sky objects such as nebulas and star clusters were so impressive that I eventually decided to take astronomy as more than an occasional hobby and move to a more expensive telescope. So what should I say more than this scope makes you fall in love with astronomy? Regarding the technical part, I have no major complains, except that it is quite impractical to use this scope for film astrophotography (with CCD the situation may be much better). The main problem is that the camera body of a 35mm SLR is heavy with respect to the scope, and this results in stability problems. As positive technical remark, I was able to obtain focused images of Saturn with a 3x barlow + 2x barlow + 7mm eyepiece, an impressive magnification. I don't know how many cheap scopes around can do this... As a last remark, if you are choosing your first scope, don't be worried by the relatively small aperture compared to more expensive scope. Indeed under the same sky conditions larger apertures are better, but in my opinion it is far more important to have perfectly clear and dark sky than having a massive tube. So you should better invest in portability to go far from the city, and this grab'n'go scope is perfect for this. Definitely recommended!Read full review
I wanted a simple grab and go scope with good aperture for the weight. I found the StarBlast to be all of that but alas without and equatorial mount. Then came Orion's equatorial mounted StarBlast version with Expanse eyepieces to boot. A great addition for a very marginal price increase. If you're not interested in equatorial tracking and want something of lighter weight, this scope would do well for you.
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