This review is from: Orion StarBlast 4.5 Astro Reflector Telescope!

I’ve had an Orion StarBlast for over a year now, and even however I have larger, far more sophisticated telescopes, it may be the one I use most. The setup is instantaneous though, like other reflectors, it takes some time to cool down on cold nights. It’s effortlessly portable, and operates nicely like a grab `n go. The short focal length makes it superb for low energy, wide field views of deep sky objects along with the moon. By way of the StarBlast, I have observed (to name a few) the Ring Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy (along with its two neighboring galaxies), Galaxies M81 and M82, countless open clusters, the Lagoon and Trifid nebulas, The Eagle Nebula, the nebula in Orion, comets NEAT and LINEAR. Jupiter’s belts and moons are apparent at higher power, as are Staurn’s rings plus the phases of Venus and Mercury. In the course of the last opposition, I could see Martian polar ice caps. Throughout the last lunar eclipse, I had no trouble taking digital photographs by means of this instrument.
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This is the same fast optics formula as the Edmund AstroScan and Bushnell Voyager bowling ball. The StarBlast is far and away the greatest of the three, but as with the others, the high power views are soft. That feature is not a difficulty for those of us primarily interested in deep sky. Planetary views could be far more detailed, and my own StarBlast won’t split the double double in suburban skies. (Orion’s somewhat longer 4.5″ f 8 dobsonian is much more suited to these subjects.) Furthermore, most globular clusters present as unresolved fuzzy balls, as they will in any instrument of this aperture.

For the price, nevertheless, you can’t really beat the StarBlast. It works well as a family telescope, or being a casual scope for somebody interested but not obsessed by astronomy. It can be small, inexpensive, and intuitive sufficient to be handled by children. It also works nicely for crusty old guys like me who have bigger hardware, but just do not feel like moving it every single night.

BUY Orion StarBlast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector Telescope HERE