We purchased this a gift for a family member who has been wanting a telescope for years. Now it is a favorite for our grandchildren too.Looking forward for many hours of star and planetary gazing.

Unless you buy a computerized telescope for a lot of money there's no getting around the fact you'll need to invest a little time learning about things like Right Ascension and Declination. I won't go into the things you need to know to view the planets and other astronomical objects, just do your homework on that first. To view objects you need to set the ez-finder up correctly, it's very easy to do, but you need to invest the time to understand that task. Once done you can sight any star with it and even the 10mm eyepiece will have it in view.I'll just address a few nuts and bolts impressions of this scope, from an engineer's perspective. It's an excellent price for a well made item. The main tube that houses the primary and secondary mirrors is metal and sturdy. The equatorial mount is metal and solid. The tripod is lightweight with aluminum legs and offers plenty of support. Overall I felt it was built well, the RA and DEC fine adjustments worked perfectly. The parts that matter most are the eyepieces and mirrors, I've looked at the moon, Jupiter ( with moons), Mars, and Sirius so far and they look great. I appreciate that Orion makes this product, they did a good job.Years ago I bought a large 8" Dobsonian for my daughter, that was a mistake in that it was too big to manage, although it delivered great views. This scope is compact, light-weight, and easy to transport. Kids tend to lose interest if you make something a burden, so I would recommend keeping it simple, but still giving them the challenge of learning how it all works. This is a great scope for that. Since my kids are grown now it's still perfect for my wife and I ( and friends) to easily take it out and get some wonderful views of the night sky and all the infinite beauty out there.I've attached 2 pictures I took of the moon using the included cellphone bracket. Nice little addition to snap a few cool images.TL;DRExcellent quality telescope for the money, compact, light-weight, for any level user willing to invest a modicum of time to learn some basics :)PS: Orion, update your manual. It is missing things like how to use the phone adapter and what the screws are for on the main tube bands on top (like that knurled aluminum knob? Users shouldn't have to search the web all over for things like that, it's your product, document it well). Have someone proof-read and verify your docs, they are fine overall, but do have some errors and omissions.

I'm very pleased with this purchase. I bought them for star gazing. I just received them and have yet to use them for that. I did check them out though and they are awesome..

I bought this in anticipation of my new telescope and was hoping to use this to help find basic things beyond the Moon and planets. Using a telescope that you have to manually adjust is a pain, but this book helped out tremendously by giving basic directions on finding nebula and galaxies. Despite being a "beginner's" book I feel like this will be a good companion in my gear box even when I move on to a motorized telescope. The book is well written, and the author has some obvious knowledge of astronomy. It was also nice to read that he has not been doing this for decades making me feel like no matter how much terminology and there is to learn about telescopes as long as I continue to practice, I should become more competent and hopefully teach someone else my knowledge through my experiences someday. I accidentally bought two of these books for some reason, but I'm glad I did as one is in my bookshelf as a study guide for planning my night viewing and one is tucked away in a box I store my notepad and extra gear in.

We use these for star gazing and it's very cool the detail they add to the sky. We've also used them on hikes and get to see a great deal more. Highly recommend.

I love this item it I can wear it around my neck and forget it is there being so light weight. Being a woman it fits perfect in my purse. I recently took a trip to the mountains and caught some deer action with it and star gazing . Great product.

It is a good product for beginners. It takes some effort to get used to it. Once we figured out how to use it, kids are really excited to use for star gazing.

I liked how easy it was to set this telescope up. Put it together and had it outside star gazing the same night. Comes with some great accessories. Item was shipped and received pretty quick. I would recommend this scope.