I restore broken telescopes, all the while sharing tips, fixes and reviews. I also show how to use simple smartphones to take great astrophotos. Join me on the adventure. (Note: Mean-spirited comments and comments with any politicians names are deleted as soon as possible)
I have one from Orion almost just like that one. Nice little scope especially for quick views. I will never sell the one I have. Also I have many Celestron telescopes. They are as good a quality telescope as you can get for a reasonable price.
About 50 years ago I bought a guider sold by Gieseler Electronics, which later became Orion. Still got that thing around here somewhere... In recent years I bought several of their Dualbeam Astro Lanterns with 2600mAH powerbank, and I suggest buying one or more if you can find them.
Have these linear Omegon Binocular Head Pro Tritron bino-viewers, 1.25''. I Iove them no going back to a single eye views. Using both eyes helps average out any issue in them giving the best of each eyes limits. I was unable to achieve focus with the other type on my dobsonian with out too much effort .
@@reflactorfrom what I read most of the bino viewers are from. The same manufacturer and are rebranded for each reseller. I went with the Omegon because of it darker color and it may have been a little cheaper.
With the costs of everything going up so much in recent years, people have less leftover to spend on hobby items like telescopes. I have a refractor telescope and want to buy a reflector type but thats going to have to wait awhile.
Now THIS is what DIY is supposed to be!! Every other DIY-er (hmmm...guess I've never seen that word typed out before 😅) is all; "For this mod, you'll need this $250..." 😳 ummm...nope! Thank you SO much for this!!!!
Sad shame of Orion/Meade gone. I still have my Meade 90mm Refractor I got when Nature's Company was still around in the shopping mall, that's how I got into advance telescopes and not the cheap ones at Toy's R Us and other toy stores.
I’ve enjoyed your video very much. I have an equatorial mount Celestron reflector scope. It’s about 20 years old and the mount controls turn very hard. Can it be saved and re-greased? I’ve never seen a video on that. Thanks for your reply.
The part where Orion Telescope was located, Watsonville, is on the south side of the Santa Cruz mountains on Monterey Bay. When I lived there, it was still somewhat "affordable", but Silicon Valley started spilling over the mountains soon after.
Boy, I'm glad I got my Orion reflector before they shut down. I suppose I've had it about a year now. What made me choose Orion? It got good reviews.. I borrowed the little tyke from a local library after having seen a review on it, loved it, then ended up with a Space Probe 130. It's proving to be quite the awesome scope for a beginner (me). I also recently replaced my dslr camera with an awesome ebay find, which contained a adapter ring. It works wonders over trying to tie my smartphone to the focuser (I saw the smartphone mounts on the wall behind you😁). It's sad to hear they're gone now though. I hope this is the last telescope I'll need to buy. With my limited space it's perfect for me. Good info, very informative video. Thanks for putting this out there.
Unfortunately, there's no service from Orion, but there is probably lots of advice in the forums over at CloudyNights.com. It's the go-to place for telescope owners seeking information.
Do you need to make sure that the phone is perfectly aligned with this telescope and also if I’m using a Clock drive can I use the app to polar align before hand? 0:02
Celestron, Skywatcher, and Explore Scientific are still going strong. If you need used parts, I'd check out eBay or the classified sections of Cloudy Nights. You can still buy adequate replacement parts on Amazon.
I grew up knowing Orion and Meade telescopes existed and I've used them before. It is unfortunate they have gone out of business. Warranties are only as good as the company remains around to service your equipment. It is also why proprietary systems are so dangerous - basically making your gear worthless overnight.
This is why I never recommend newbies get electronics or go-to mounts. Besides what I’ve seen as common malfunction, when these companies go out of business, there is no longer any support for the equipment. Much better to get yourself a scope that you manually find the object you’re looking for, and learn the sky!
In the past when I sold any big GoTo Dobsonians, I would have to educate people new to the hobby and explain that these are probably not the best beginner telescopes for them. A good manual Dob is ideal.
This is sad news! I've had my Orion refractor since the early 90's and I purchased a few accessories from Orion since then. I remember Tim working at the store in Watsonville, he was very helpful.
Hello! This is a very nice and interesting information I really would like to see, but there is a little periodic zooming in and out that doesn't allow me to continue viewing the video. If that was on purpose, it's a pity, because it prevented me to see the full video. Best regards.
Every planet/moon/sky image from all of my videos is recorded with my smartphone camera held to the telescope eyepiece. I use the adapter shown in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GcpLAZKICw0.html
Just got one of these used today. Used it tonight beside my 6” dob. And while it was not as powerful, it was way more fun than I expected! And it came with a red dot finder. The lenses are not great but I have others. Will be a great addition to star parties.
Admittedly, these little Dobs are a lot more fun that I expected. It's hard to beat them for portability. It's the perfect size to keep in the trunk of a car.
