Strengths:Solid mount; lightweight portable scope; comes to thermal equilibrium quickly; OTA has extra features including mirror adjustment screws and a nice finderscope; OTA performs very well at higher mag (85 to 112x)
Weaknesses: Suffers from severe coma at mag below 37x, a disapointment for wide field scope;supplied 25mm lens is useless
Comments:This is my sixth telescope, and I have side by side compared this scope to others including refractor, SC, and Dob newtonians. It compares favorably, and is an excellent scope at higher power mag, but falls down at low power mag,reducing its utility.As shipped the scope was out of alignment, and I worked hard to max alignment. To use this scope you must have an alignment tool, and preferably experience aligning mirrors.To get the most from this scope a variety of lenses are required, so plan on spending the money you saved on the scope, on a set of lenses. No polar alignment scope is provided, which is the only missing piece in an otherwise excellent value package.
Pros: Solid mount, many nice features on OTA
Cons: Severe coma below 37x; requires many lenses
This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.