Orion SkyQuest XT8 PLUS Dobsonian Reflector Telescope Kit

This is my second 8" scope. I bought it hoping to be able to more clearly see DSO like nebulae and some galaxies. The scope came quickly and was in good shape. After reading a lot about collimation, I decided my other scope, an older Celestron G8, was in need of this process (which was previously unknown to me - a poor customer service aspect of Scope City in San Francisco), so I spent time collimating the Dobsonian right out of the box, though it was not far off the mark. I am using this scope at 1800 ft. elevation in Italy where there is not nearly the light pollution I have in the San Francisco area, so expected much better results. So far, after about 5 good nights of viewing, I am seeing more, like I can see pretty clearly the bands on Jupiter (not the red spot though) and Saturn is pretty good such that I can make out the rings, but none of the views are as clear or "close" as I expected, and using the higher power eyepiece the images are rather fuzzy - not what I had hoped. I've been reading about the eye piece quality and wonder if investing in other, better eye pieces might make a difference. I'm about to try a Baader Hyperion 8-24 zoom Mark III, hoping the quality is better than I've been experiencing. I think this is a good scope, especially for the relatively inexpensive cost, but maybe my expectations are too high. I have yet to really see any nebulae or galaxies, although I've been using the Starry Night software to help me locate them. I will update my comments after trying a different type of lens.

Absolutely awesome telescope best purchase ever. Wanted an 8 inch for ages but never like the idea of a dobs however it's got to be astronomy at it's easiest no fiddling around and no computing just point and view. Even the finder included is very accurate once set. Can't recommend this scope enough.

Maybe I was expecting too much, I'm a bit disappointed. Even with this size telescope don't be expecting to see clear views of andromeda or the crab nebula. It's tough to find objects and even when you do they are still very small. Objects also move quick across the lens, it can be difficult to keep track manually.

i bought this as a present for the whole family & from the perspective of complete novices this is an amazing telescope, we have been in awe of the things we can see - so many more stars than we realised were there and we live in an area where we get great skies just with the naked eye!the scope looks stylish just sitting in the corner of the room ready for the next evenings viewing - we're all very pleased - brilliant - we would recommend to all

Excellent Product and service

good value

Brilliant piece of equipment