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Last updated: 31 October 2003
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Last updated: 31 October 2003 |
Subject: etx 125 vs Orion Shortube 120 Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 17:03:41 From: rdhester2@earthlink.net (dan hester) Thought your readers might enjoy the results of tonight's shootout between my ETX 125 and my new Orion 120 short tube refractor: I recently bought the Orion because I assumed it would be great on deep sky objects. Well, here are the results after both were set up side by side, cooled down for two hours and viewed with many of the same eyepieces. Bear in mind that that the Orion is only a 600 mm scope compared to the ETX's 1900. You would think the deep-sky views through the refractor would blow the socks off the ETX....But.... 1. M13 Visible through the Orion, but not especially bright. Pretty small, some peppery look at the core. 25 mm Orion premium plossel. Same eyepiece in the ETX 125. About twice as bright. Twice a large. Twice as resolved. More actual stars showed around the object than in the Orion. 2. M22 Same results as above. The list goes on and on. I tried the new contrast filter made by Orion with both scopes. It did nothing except add a little contrast on the moon. The Orion would not take enough magnification to even view Mars. The ETX was just reaching its prime at about 200x. I tried a Celestron 32mm, Meade 26, Meade 15, Orion 10, the Orion simply could not come close to giving me ANY view comparable to the ETX. It is possible that the Orion has defective optics, but one thing is for sure...the ETX 125 has very, very good optics. Admittedly, I was a little surprised. I knew the Meade was great on Planets and the Moon. But I didn't realize what a good deep-sky telescope this is. I have yet to see any friends scope that is a better all-around performer. Next time I let someone talk me into a refractor...I'll do what they do....spend several thousand dollars for one that probably has comparable optics to the ETX. In the meantime, I'll calling Orion and my local dealer to try to get my money back. So far, The ETX 125 RULES. DAN
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