f/8.8, 5×24 Viewfinder, eyepiece 1.25″ Kellner, EQ 1 tripod.

These orion telescopes are good for children or anyone who wants only to use the telescope for casual viewing. This telescope is simple to set up and simple to use. It’s lightweight makes the ShortTube very portable and easy to move around.

This is not a deep sky telescope, but when it comes to the planets it performs quite well. I would suggest you buy a barlow lens to add magnification to the 1.25″ eyepiece for more detailed viewing.

You will see Saturn and her rings very clearly and Jupiter with 2 to 3 cloud bands (3 with a clear sky) and four of Jupiter’s moons which appear as bright stars. Our moon has a lot of detail in it and will give any child a lot to study.

I have put together photos of the planets and other objects taken using different size telescopes to show you what you can expect from a telescope, please go to my page on Telescopes – Myths and Misconceptions.

There are a lot of plastic parts, but that’s to be expected for a telescope under $200. The optical tube is a compact 18″ long aluminum tube. It also comes with the EQ1 equatorial mount which will accept an electronic drive.

If astronomy is going to be a serious hobby I would not recommend this telescope to you there are much better orion telescopes.

Orion Telescopes Recommendation

I would recommend this telescope for a child or casual user but not for the serious astronomer.

These orion telescopes usually sells for around $249, but you will find them at CatalogCity for $189 along with a large select of orion telescopes