Review on Discover The Wonders Of The Universe With Orion StarBlast 4.5 Telescope In Teal Color by Zack Block

I was expecting a good rich-field scope, which the Starblast 4.5 certainly is. Views of the Beehive cluster M44 were excellent with the low power 17mm eyepiece. The higher power 6mm eyepiece is rather poor (awful eye relief), but using it I was surprised that I could just make out the faint companion of Polaris. A better high power eyepiece (highly recommended) made it much easier to see. Crescent Venus also looked quite crisp, as did the double star Mizar.The secondary mirror came well collimated, and primary mirror collimation was easy. The red-dot finder is just right for this scope. My only complaint is the cheap rack and pinion focuser. It is wiggly, not very smooth, and the rack comes covered with awful sticky grease. Surely Orion can come up with a mini-Crayford focuser?Overall a decent beginner's scope, which will be loaned out at our astro-club.