Of these three telescopes, which would you recommend and why?

[serenity72190]

Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian Reflector

Zhumell Eclipse 114 with Motor Drive Telescope

Orion StarBlast4.5 Astro


I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive beginner scope that is worth my money.

[suitti]

Before i start, i don't believe in beginner telescopes. Get what you'll use.

Of these three, i'd go with the Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 Dobsonian Reflector. It's on a Dob mount, which is very sturdy. Poor mount is the single biggest reason why any scope is poor. It's generally why you should not consider anything at Costco, Walmart, ToysRus, or your grocery store.

I'd go with the SkyQuest over the StarBlast, because the StarBast - though nearly the same optics, is built low to the ground. You could use on top of a sturdy table, but it's really built for tiny kids and, uhm, dwarfs.

And, i'd go with either over the Eclipse 114, because i've done business with Orion, and they have extremely good service, in case anything goes wrong with shipping.

Now, it may be that the Eclipse has a very good German EQ mount. I wouldn't buy it without using one. Is the scope steady once it's put where you want it? Does the wind blow it around?

I'd try the SkyQuest before buying it too. One way to do that is to visit or join an astronomy club. They may have something similar you can try. A club member may have the exact scope.

Here are the 3 P's for picking a telescope. Price, Performance, and Portability. Price and portability can be show stoppers. Price less so, since you may be able to wait until you have more cash. But a scope that doesn't fit in your car is stuck where ever it ends up. That leaves performance. For deep space, what you need is as much light gathering as possible.

The push-to computer also comes under the category of performance. Before buying my scope, i joined a local astronomy club and borrowed each of their loaner scopes in turn. One was a ten inch reflector. I spent half an hour not finding a fairly bright galaxy in my back yard. It was too dim for my sky conditions. Then, i repeated this for another galaxy. Spending an hour to not find two galaxies is not something that will sustain me in the hobby. With a push-to computer, i can observe a dozen objects an hour. In in very short time, i found that very few galaxies can be seen from my heavily light polluted back yard. And, an oxygen 3 filter lets me see most nebulae.

What did i buy? I got an Orion xt10i. That's a ten inch reflector with an object locator computer. The tube length is 48". It fits across the back seat of any car. I had a $1000 budget, so the $800 scope fit. I bought an oxygen 3 filter (about $89) at the same time. I might have bought the 12" scope, but the tube is 8" longer, and doesn't fit in my car. I might have gone with a truss dob with a larger mirror, but at the time, it was over my budget, and there was no computer.

Really, you can join my club for 26 years for the price i paid for my telescope. And my club has loaner scopes, a 12.5 inch in an observatory, and a 22" Dob - totally fabulous. Some members of my club don't bring their scopes to events, because so many others do. One guy will probably never buy a scope. In any case, you can wait until you have more cash, and have looked through a bunch of scopes.

But if, for some reason, this won't work for you, the Skyquest will probably be a very good scope, and in any case, it will likely hold more of it's value than other scopes, should you want to upgrade down the line.

But here's a way to upgrade sooner. For the cost of a new Skyquest xt4.5, you may be able to get an Orion Intelliscope xt6i on the used market. Check out astromart.

<edit>

Very funny. The first four answers each promote a different scope. And there are only three choices.

[Isaac J]

well i own an Orion sky quest XT10 dobsonian reflector,and i simply love the optics.and Ive always loved the dobsonian mount.,i have no experience with the zhumell eclipse,but the starblast is poor in my opinion and its not as advanced as the Orion skyquest.but the decision is yours.i would pick the Orion skyquest.

[BeachBum]

I've no experience with any of 'em, but I do like the Dob design for lots of telescope for little bucks $$...at least potentially, 'cause some dobs can cost a few coins...Zhummell is one of the names in optics that makes amateur astronomers go ga-ga...

I always tell people to start out with a good pair of binoculars and a reclining lawn chair! Get to know the stars by buying a good star chart....look at Meade.com for their 'LightBridge' series...<$400 for a nice 8" scope , wow! the other big player in the field is Celestron.

[Carlos_dfc]

For a start - forget the Eclipse 114 - it has a spherical mirror, with corrector built into the focuser - this doesn't work too well - accurate focus is near-impossible by the time you get up to 100x

The Starblast has faster optics than the other two - and a parabolic mirror, which is a BIG bonus over the eclipse.

The Dob is also nice - but 4.5" is rather small by dob standards

For the price of the Starblast, you could get a 6" dob by Orion, Celestron, or SkyWatcher.
That would be my choice in that price-range.