Orion SkyView Deluxe 8

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Brand and Model:Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
Price ($USD):$549.00
Type:Newtonian
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:200mm (7.9")
f Ratio:f/4
Focal Length:800mm
Finder:6x30
Electric Power:Optional
Mount:SkyView Deluxe EQ
Tripod:Adjustable Bronzed Aluminum
Weight (lbs):45 lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:-Polar alignment scope
-AccuTrack SVD
-Moon Filter and 2 FC Plossl EPs

Vote Highlights Vote
Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
After reading ratings from other users I bought the OTA only and mated it to a EQ5 mount with dual axis drives. This is my third newtonian as I have a 4.5 eq and a 10" dob. I don't think I have ever done so much work on collimation. When I got the scope it was way out and I had to work for quite a while to get it close. However, the results were well worth it. The night was awful for seeing because fires were putting much ash in the air (California) but I was able to see some of the brighter deep sky objects. Two weeks later I got to try it with some better skies with much better results. A week later we went up the mountain to a dark site and tried to put it through the paces. Disappointing at best. We arrived at dark and the collimation was so bad from the ride and or the cold air that we struggled with it all night. I am looking for a laser collimator that can be used in the dark.
Now for the best part. Since then I have become accustomed to the idea of checking the collimation before every use. It is now a joy to use and wouldn't trade it for the world. It is a great deep sky scope. Good views and optically very good. Great is a word that I would reserve for perfect mirror and this one isn't quite there. The mount that I bought for it is perfect for the job (the EQ5).
I did make some other changes though.
I was disappointed with the fact the it only had a 1.25" focuser and have swapped it for a 2" for some of my other eyepieces (this requires modifications to the tube). I also added a red dot finder as well as a 9 by 50mm finder scope (the 6X30 was worthless). All told I have about $750 into this scope and am very pleased.
If you want a scope that travels more like a SCT and gets the better images of a newtonian this is the scope for you. The low price and compact size make this a real steal.
DS
Chris
Sacramento CA

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Ease of Use:6 Value:10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=135916

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
I purchased this telescope when Orion discontinued the SVD8 EQ for $429 which included a free motor drive. Great value!

Coma was extreme when I first looked through this telescope and the views were horrible. Everything "appeared" to be collimated correctly. To make sure, I center-marked the primary and purchased a laser collimator. After collimating the scope, I took it outside, checked the collimation again and I had to make a few adjustments. This time, the views were spectacular even though I live in a light polluted area. Jupiter was very clear with bands visible along with five of its moons. The moon was very clear and impressive. With an 8" mirror, you must use a moon filter as the image is too bright without it. Stars were now pin-points and no coma was evident at all except for a very small fraction of a sliver around the edges.

Bottom line, this is a really good telescope, but it must be perfectly collimated and you will need to collimate the scope every time you move it from one place to another. The scope is somewhat undermounted however and I would recommend at least an EQ5 mount and a wooden tripod for stability. Also, upgrade to an 8x50 view finder.

I have owned an Orion 130ST EQ and a generic 4.5 inch reflector before. Both of these scopes, in my opinion were harder to collimate and always produced slightly blurred images. The Orion SVD8 has better hardware for collimation which makes it much easier to do than cheaper scopes. The SVD 8, once collimated, produces much better views and a sharp focus.

Now, I can't wait to get it out to a dark site in a few weeks.


-Frank.



-Frank.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:9 Mount:5 Ease of Use:6 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=233504

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
I have owned this scope for about a year. While there are a few things I would like to have different, the optical tube all in all is of good quality. If you are afraid of collimnating a scope, don't get this one. With the short f ratio, f4, it can be trying at times. However it will make you a pro at it after a few times. When collimnated properly, this scope performs nicely. Mine is a nice parabola, but as is true with most of the chinese reflectors, there is a little roughness. You get what you pay for. If I were rating the OTA alone, I would give it a 10 because of the quality vs. low cost. Make no mistake folks, a quality newt is not a cheap thing to make.

The mount for this scope is another matter. The SVD mount does not even come close to being heavy enough for this scope.Shame on Orion for putting a nice quality tube on such a crappy mount.If you are buying this scope for general observing (it does a nice job an planets at high power dispite the large central obstruction)and plan to keep it long term, budget enough for a good quality mount.After tinkering with the SVD mount for a while to try to take out the vibration,and rough RA movement,I gave up and mounted the scope on a Celestron CG-5 with wooden legs.It performs nicely in this configuration. At least, you will want to replace the legs on the SVD with wooden legs, (about $15.00 and some time).Also the counterweights put too much stress on the RA bearings so the drive that Orion sells for the mount is almost impossible to adjust for the correct speed.

To sum it up, this is as nice of an 8" Newt as you can get for under $1000. Order the OTA only, $449.00 and get a heavier mount.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40274

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
The SVD 8" is my second scope as a novice back-yard astronomer... Overall I am
very pleased with the SVD 8". It provides excellent views of deep-space objects, and performs very well on planetary work. It's short focal length
make high magnifactions a bit harder to obtain. A laser collimator will probably be required to get the most from this scope due to it's short focal length. I check collimation before every use, but have rarely had to adjust it.
The images provided are very bright and sharp. Very nice optics.

The mount could use a bit of work though. The mount is not very smooth in
operation, and would benefit from a good greasing when I get the time. It is
stable enough for casual viewing, but forget photography. The optional DC tracking motor is too weak to fight the stiff mount, and accurately track stars. Again, a good greasing should fix this. Also, the scope is impossible to rotate in the mounting rings unless you completely unfasten them and lift the scope out part way to rotate it.

The finderscope (6x30) is also marginal, an 8x50 upgrade option would have been
nice, but is not offered by Orion at this time.

The tube itself is top-notch all-metal construction. No cardboard or plastic parts are used. This scope should provide a lifetime of exceptional viewing.
The short-comings in the mount are more than made up for in the crisp, bright
images of the 8" tube.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40273

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
I LOVE this scope...just traded it in for Orions Chinese made Skywatcher 120mm Refractor (what a lemon that was).....viewing throught the 8" Newt is a pleasure...I just returned from the Sonoma County coast where there is literally no light pollution and what I saw was amazing...stars easily split...Orion Nebula was brilliant...Saturn went from a fuzzy pink peach to a very clear planet and the Cassinni division was very easily seen....I give this scope a solid 10...Scott

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40272

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
I submitted the original comments for this scope about 6 months ago. I have since used it many more times most recently from a very dark sky on a night with excellent seeing conditions. I was very impressed and I am changing my original rating of 8 to 10. That would make my actual rating average a 9, the mount accounts for the one point deduction. The optics perform excellently on deep sky objects. On my latest observing session, I panned the Milky Way from Sagittarius in the south to the Andromeda galaxy in the north and stopped and studied dozens of objects in between. The detail presented to me through this scope from this dark sky was very impressive. I was out all night. While not ideal for observing the planets it also performed well on Jupiter and Saturn later that night when they came into view. I was able to make out 7 of Saturn's moons and the Cassini division is plainly visible. As I mentioned the mount could be heavier. I use this scope often and have had to re-grease it twice now since I originally purchased it. The arrows that mark the setting circles are kind of broad and far from the small marks on the scales. This made it difficult to get close to objects when using their coordinates. I remedied this by filing a small groove into the existing arrows and gluing in a short piece of a pin to extend out to the hash marks. One of the pins had to be bent into a small Z shape. It was an easy solution and it worked well.
If you enjoy observing deep sky objects and have access to a dark sky site, this scope packs well.
Get one you won't be disappointed.

DRK

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40270

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
I am a fan of this 8 inch. its fast f4, and compact so its a telescope
I will use time and time again, as apposed to those behemoth 5 foot long
8inch things dob or EQ... its only about 2.7 foot long. and the mount
seems strong enough. I have only used mine several times and not under
the best conditions.. I have however done a few interesting things.
I found M22 fairly easily, and most of fuzzies in sag.. I checked out
the moon and after ajusting the collimating plate it was reasonably sharp
(i would say about 90 to 95% of my ussr 4.5 inch newtonian)
I would imagine it is because I just probably havent setup the the secondary
mirror yet and it needs better collimating.. but i am over impressed.
mount seems strong enough, the motor tracks well..

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40269

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
My 8 rating is somewhat arbitrary, this is my first real telescope so I don't have anything to compare it to. After only two months I am very pleased though. I can make out magnitude 8.5 galaxies from my, light polluted, back yard and it has very wide views of star clusters that are very sharp. The scope required collimating when I received it but has not required any major adjustments since. It may also be a little heavy for the mount. It seamed to stick a little in certain positions. I took the mount apart and put some grease in the right spots and it works much better. Very smooth and pleanty sturdy.

I can't wait to get it out to a dark sky.

DRK - San Antonio,TX

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40268

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
For you tinkers, that would like to get that little extra something out of your Skyview Newt or any of the Skyquest scopes. I made the following modification to my SVD8; it increased contrast on the planets dramatically by minimizing the diffraction caused by the 4mm thick spider vanes. I made a new spider with thinner .5mm vanes, using the parts from the existing spider and a hack saw blade. You can also do this with ΒΌ" aluminum stock if you don't want to damage the existing spider and if you can do the extra work required to tap the central disk, for the collimation screws.

Here is how I did it.
Take the existing spider off; remove the mirror holder, the thick vanes and the collimation screws from the spider's central disk. Now you should be left with just the round disk with the 4 holes in its face. Where the spider vanes were inserted into the disk, there are some grooves in it. Use those grooves as a guide and cut slots into the disk, about 6mm deep, with a hacksaw. These grooves will hold the new thin spider vanes. Here is the weird part. The vanes will be made from an old hacksaw blade. Draw a line down the length of an old hacksaw blade about 6mm from the smooth side of the blade. Use the line as a guide to cut the blade lengthwise with tin snips. You should end up with a long thin slightly bent metal strip. Cut it into thirds. Make sure that the pieces when inserted into the grooves you cut in the central disk will end up sticking out about 5mm beyond the diameter of your primary mirror. Use "JB Weld" to glue the thin metal strips into the grooves you cut on the central disk. If you have never used "JB Weld" don't worry, this stuff works great. Just make sure both pieces being glued are clean and apply the glue to both surfaces with a toothpick or something to make sure the glue is on all the surfaces. Now place the new assembly on a piece of paper on a flat surface and let it dry overnight. While that is drying you can make the threaded ends for the other end of the spider vanes. I used 4mm hex head screws for this next part, but you could also use the existing treaded rods if you don't mind damaging them. Cut the Hex head screws or the threaded rods so that when attached to the outer ends of the thin spider vanes, they will be able to lap over the vanes by about 4mm and the over all length, radius, of the spiders arms will match the original spider. Using a "Dremel" tool with a thin cutting wheel attached, cut grooves into the threaded end pieces 4mm deep. Make sure you have a lot of these thin cutting wheels because you are probable going to break some of them. Glue these small threaded pieces onto the ends of the spider vanes as previously described and set the completed assembly aside to dry over night. Once everything is dry you can clean up the excess glue by sanding it flush and giving the whole thing a shot of black paint.

Put it all back together and look at an out of focus star. The spider will be almost invisible, compared to before, and you will notice the difference in the contrast.

DR Kelly

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40275

Orion SkyView Deluxe 8
I don't have enough experience with many telescopes to actually rate this one, but I can share my experiences. This is my second scope. The first was a SVD 90mm refractor. I later purchased the OTA 8" reflector. I also needed to purchase an additional 7lb counterweight, and Orion gave me a longer counterweight shaft at no charge (Orion has wonderfull customer service). I have yet to have a chance to use this scope in good conditions, but I can say, after using the 90mm in excellent conditions, the 8" on a bad seeing night is as good if not better than the 90mm on a great night. I was able to resolve Andromeda Galaxy with a full moon in the same part of the sky. Orion Nebula is fantastic, even with poor seeing. I cannot wait to use this scope on a good night.
Solar system viewing is also excellent, but is dependent on accurate colimation of the scope. I use a laser colimator, and find that the scope needs minor adjustments for every session. After initial setup (requiring removing the primary mirror, calculating the exact center, and placing a marker), colimation is a no brainer with the laser. At the moment, I have 172x capability. At that mag, Jupiter and Saturn are still bright, clear, and sharp, even with color filters.
My favorite is using the 25mm eypiece. Just tooling around the milkyway is a blast. I was amazed at how many stars resolved in the Pleides. Stars are nice and sharp, but again, precise colimation is a must.
I would say that I definately got my money's worth.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: <none>
Date:
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Link to this vote: http://excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40271

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