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

Just 3 things first before I get into the meat of the review . I really loved that the StarBlast was calibrated from the factory, for me it was only a little bit off due to shipping bumps. But otherwise I highly recommend not messing with the secondary mirror too much.Always make sure you read the instructions first to avoid being frustrated. And if you do not already, make sure you have a 2mm Allen wrench or (Hex socket). And Once it was all set up; I had a 17mm, 6mm 4mm to work with, having ordered the 6 and 4 mm, plus a 2x barlow lens. Which combined with the 4 mm, brought the magnification to X225 (one short of the mag limit on the StarBlast at X226, also called "maximum useful magnification".).This is plenty thought to see the stripes on Jupiter, the slight discoloring of Saturn with it's ring dipping and raising. If you have the money for a 6" I would highly recommend going for the extra 1.5" of Aperture. But this one is a fantastic option for me personally. I ordered a Laser collimator from Astromania (twas the cheapest) and it worked out perfect. You make sure it's aligned close enough, turn on the laser then use the 2mm wrench to adust three screws which push it different ways.BUT.MAKE SURE U HOLD THE SECONDARY MIRROR as you adjust it, you do not want it to turn. I'd recommend putting some kind of mark just past the medal spider center strut, so you can make sure you get it back to the calibrated orientation. You then look down the barrel and align the laser in the center dot on the primary (the big mirror) mirror, you then fine tune the primary mirror via the adjustment knobs. These kind of telescopes are a lttle more vulnerable to dust and particulates, so make sure it's covered any minute you're not consistently using it.With the help of the Moon Filter too (Use it for 8mm and above, below that - the magnification blocks out some of the light anyway. I haven't spied Uranus yet, but my favorite so far is Jupiter. The telescope is WELL BUILT! The regular bumps that would knock the hell out of your image in other telescopes? Don't phase this one. It's sturdy and smooth, making target acquisition smooth when the laser target finder is tuned in. Highly recommend this product for ANYONE who is starting out in astronomy, and is on a budget. It's a tad vulnerable to high wind but it stands it's ground.I still have yet to drive like 40-50 miles out of town to really start to see some incredible things. But every night, even with bad light pollution (I live in Fort Worth), you can always observe most planets and always the fantastic moon with it's phases. I even tracked a satellite! It was flying across the sky, I switched to my 17mm and tracked it, It was BOOKIN' it across the sky lolThank you Orion! This purchase has made me very happy!