Review on Enhance Your Stargazing Experience With Orion'S Premium Telescope Accessory Kit (1.25-Inch, Silver) by Teambringit Truitt

I wanted to avoid accessory fever with my new SkyQuest XT8 but after a few nights of observing I decided I need more eye pieces and filters to get the most out of the scope. I was on the wire between this and the similar Celestron version with an extra eye piece/filter or two for $30 less. I did a bit of research and felt that the quality of this kit must be better. Reviews mentioned that the Barlows in the Celestron kit essentially duplicated a lot of the larger eye pieces and others mentioned the Orion accessory kit was better suited for the XT8 due to the focal lengths. I went a head and got this one.Shipping was pretty fast (3 days) and the package was well packed. The small lock and key mechanism on my case does not work, but it is not a deal breaker because I have no intention in ever using it. The case is also plastic, not aluminum but I did not expect this kit to go that far. It does feel pretty solid though. On the inside is plenty of room for filters, extra spotting scope, and maybe two 1.25" or one 2" eye piece if you cut the foam right. I used the space for a spotting scope for some laser pointers and a (red) flash light instead. I also was able to tuck the XT8 manual and tools under the foam just in case.The eye pieces and filters seem pretty good quality for the price. They are all metal bodied and feel of solid construction. I was impressed with the difference between the eye pieces. Going from the stock XT8 25mm EP to the 40mm was like the difference between a 19" monitor and a 40" tv. The image was also surprisingly bright. The smallest EP is great for looking at tiny objects. I was able to read a bill board on the Las Vegas strip from about 12 miles away with it. The filters impressed me quite a bit too. I was expecting the same effect you get as looking through cellophane but they were all very clear.I would recommend this to anyone new to astronomy without a club near by to sample different EP's/filters.