What I like:
1. The focuser is smooth and much easier to use to come to focus at high powers out of the box.  Orion’s refractor rack and pinion focusers require some adjusting before they get close to the smoothness of this Mak’s focuser.
2. No Chromatic Abberation.
3. 1300mm of focal length in such a short and light weight tube (about 5 pounds).  I’ve found that most objects I like to look at are smaller than 1 degree in size and want powers from 50X to 100X.  This long focal length allows the use of longer focal eyepieces for the powers I use most which helps to keep my eye from having to hug the eyepiece or to use a heavy and cumbersome barlow.  A 13mm eyepiece gives 100X which is the usual maximum power my seeing allows.
4. Price.

What I do not like:
1. Cool down time.  Most of the time this is not a problem as I usually put it outside at least an hour before viewing but could be a problem for quick looks when the weather suddenly clears.

From: | Created on: 10/16/2009 1:48:46 PM

This scope gets used only for birding and terrestrial applications . It sets up easily on my Manfrotto 190 tripod and with the supplied 25mm Sirius Plossl yielding 52x power in this scope it is really ideal for brightness and long 520 yard , or more , viewing . While not a reflector scope expert , Id say that the quality of this made-in-China scope is very very good . The views are surprisingly clear .
Star viewers always complain about the little any-brand finder scopes as useless . However , for birding use the little 6x26mm finder with crosshairs is quick to synchronize with the Orion on initial setup and is first rate for quickly finding the object with its 330 ft field of view ; then look through the Orion .  One drawback is that the 102mm Apex is a trifle heavy at about five pounds to carry long distances , so Id suggest the Orion 90mm model for greater versatility .
Oh yes , the focussing knob has 26 &1/2 full revolutions lock-to-lock , so very accurate crisp focussing is easily achieved . I no longer even bother using my lighter weight expensive Minox 21-42x 62mm refractor scope nor my two other refractors either . Am going to also buy a 20mm focal length eyepiece which will give me 65x power in my 102 Apex which I think is maximum for decent brightness on a clear sunny day . I give the scope an 8 rating only to allow for something more expensive to compete with it . Am totally satisfied and recommend it for those who dont mind carrying the extra poundage . A true bargain for the price . Try one out before you even think of spending six to eight times as much on one of those  expensive German refractor type scopes if you are either a birder or an amature star gazer.

From: | Created on: 10/16/2009 1:48:45 PM