Orion 10020 SkyQuest XT12i IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope

This scoope is one of the greatest I have ever had. I have now 3 scoops. One refactor that was my first and now it is the first scoop is going to my grand daughter. The second scoop is a 4.5 inch reflector still very good. And now with my 12 inch, wow to see things that my 4.5 could not reach out too. Even my grand daughter loves this new scoop. Oh she is just short of being 3, and she tells me what she likes to look at.

Thought this telescope would be of decent value until started using it. The encoder disks never stay so I was constantly getting warp factors of 30+. Had to spray WD-40 on the base to make it easily rotate since it didn’t smoothly rotate without it. The finder scope is also approximately 8 degrees off from the OTA which makes it unusable.

I am very much enjoying this telescope. Assembly was not overly difficult and I was able to complete it alone in a couple of hours. My shipment arrived quickly and was very securely packaged. There was a packaging error in my box where I received an incorrect part but after a phone call direct to Orion, I had a replacement part in just a few days. Using the intelliscope feature was extremely frustrating until searching forums led me to a simple fix. The azimuth encoder disk tends to spin on the base which makes accurate locating impossible. Some double sided tape, as suggested by many others, solved that problem and now precise alignment is quick and simple. I have used the object locator to find several deep sky objects now and even in my extremely light polluted backyard this telescope was able to pick them to out. I can’t wait to get this scope out into a truly dark sky location. Transporting will be problematic unless you have a decent sized vehicle. The scope fits crossways in the back seat of my crew cab truck and the stand will ride just fine in the bed.Invest in some quality eyepieces to enjoy the full potential of this massive telescope. I bought the explore scientific 82 degree set and am extremely pleased. I would also suggest a crosshair eyepiece to assist in accurately pointing at your chosen alignment stars. I use the Orion 20mm illuminated reticle and it works great.

Orion certainly makes decent telescopes, but all prospective buyers should be warned: Orion won't do business with you if you've bought one of their scopes 2nd hand: they won't return calls, sell you parts, or anything else you might expect from a decent company. Why does that affect folks who are buying new from Orion? Well, if you want to sell your scope in order to upgrade, the buyer will be out of luck when it comes to getting parts, so he or she may be contacting you so that you can act as a go-between with Orion. In the end, that will affect the resale value of your scope. Let's hope Orion changes this absurd policy, but until they do, I'd look elsewhere for a scope.

Easy to put together, easy to operate (even in full manual with some star hopping).In retrospect I could have gone for the full manual version just as well.

It's a little bulky to pack around but I'm having a lot of fun taking it camping

I bought this a few years ago and love it. But, it is so heavy to move in and out of the house that I don't do it often enough. One hint, if you are around 6ft tall, put the base on three cement blocks. That brings the eye piece right up to your eye, no bending at all. I don't really use the intelli part, just star hop with a telrad. If I had to buy it again I think I would go with the 8" for ease of transporting, but I wouldn't trade in my 12. Worth getting a nice quality wide field of view, low power 2" eye piece to go with it.

After months and months of researching scopes (particularly Orion's and Zhumell's Dobsonian scopes) I decided to purchase the XT12i.The quality of the scope is great and the only real gripe I have (if you can even call it a gripe) is the sheer size of the scope. Of course, I was aware of the size before I bought the scope so this isn't really fair with regards to the telescope's review.Eighty-three pounds of gear though is a rather hefty load to transport anywhere by yourself. I am a military male in my mid-twenties and I was super-motivated to get this thing out in the field and I must admit it drained me physically. It's important to get an accurate measurement of your vehicle or other mode of transportation for your telescope because I "assumed" I wouldn't have a problem fitting it in my moderately-sized compact car... I was wrong. I can indeed fit the scope in my car in two separate pieces (base and tube) but the two take up so much space that I cannot even safely fit my wife in the car while I'm transporting it. This is again obviously no fault of the scope but it's something that all potential buyers should be aware of before purchasing.If you are new to telescopes (Orion categorizes this scope in the "advanced" class) the setup may seem a little overwhelming, but it isn't very bad. The biggest step will be "collimating" your new telescope in which you fine tune the mirrors to ensure proper alignment. This was made much easier for me with the help of a laser collimator--you can buy these from Orion or other companies as well. The instructions were simplistic and had plenty of pictures. With help from my wife setup went very smoothly.As for setup in the field the XT12 shines. Other than the sheer size and weight of the scope the setup is very, very easy. You simply lay out the base and rest the tube assembly on top of it. Next you screw in two knobs on the side of the base and you are more-or-less ready (One may need to wait for the telescope to acquire the right ambient temperature) to observe!Like the other reviewer I have no complaints (other than the size, again not the scope's fault) but I haven't been lucky enough to get a lot of observation time. So far I've seen M42 in Orion, Venus, a double star, Pleiades and some other constellations. Sirius shines like the sun in the scope--it's amazing! If you live in a place which experiences lots of rain, cloudy conditions or extremely cold temperatures you may want to choose a smaller scope as the XT12i requires a moderate amount of work to move to and from shelter. Orion sells separately a bag (another hundred + dollars) which will temporarily cover the scope from rain (which is good to have when you are set up in the field and catch a temporary amount of rain). I live on the "windward" side of an island and so I must constantly deal with cloudy skies and rain.In the end, would I recommend the scope? Definitely! It's very well-made and viewing through it is amazing. You may find yourself wanting to upgrade to premium eyepieces though (think anywhere from another 300-1000 dollars) because the stock ones aren't great. I upgraded immediately to Tele Vue Nagler 31mm and 7mm eyepieces (these two ran me almost a thousand dollars--or almost the price of the scope itself). I also felt the need to buy the carrying case for the scope (another 100 bucks or more), a barlow (more money) and several other accessories. If you think the price for quality observing stops with the purchase of the scope think again. Just like many other hobbies there are many hidden expenses--unfortunately in astronomy the expenses tend to run moderate through severe.I would NOT recommend this scope for people of small stature or particularly young/elderly people. The setup and transportation of this unit may be too much for someone who is not physically capable. I do however feel it's a great scope for families and children too as long as someone is able to handle the size.Seeing the moon through the XT12i (oh and buy a moon filter or polarizing filter!) was inspiring.. amazing. My wife was with me as well and we have never seen the moon in such clarity and grandeur. The XT12i gave us such an amazing view of the moon that it's hard to put into words.Every night that passes I'm constantly gazing in the sky to see if there's a possibility of pulling out the 80-pound beast. I highly recommend buying a quality pair of binoculars (Celestron, Orion, Bushnell, Garrett Optical) though to allow you flexibility when wanting to view the sky but only have a limited amount of time.I hope this review has helped!EDIT::November 2012:Since my initial review, I have had many nights out with my scope. I have been able to see many, many celestial objects and it has been a real joy. Some of my favorite things that I have seen through the scope are the globular cluster Omega Centauri (and many other magnificent globular clusters such as M13), magnificent Jupiter and Saturn, the Perseus double cluster of open clusters NGC 884 and NGC 869, and many, many other wonders. There have been many nights when I have had stable seeing, and I was able to see the Giant Red Spot on Jupiter and its different colored bands. I have also been able to view probably around 5-6 moons around Saturn (I believe they were all moons, but some may have been stars appearing near the orbits of the other moons). Saturn is a joy to view; it and Jupiter are my favorite solar system objects, alongside the moon. The moon is still a magnificent thing to observe. I have viewed a huge list of open clusters and nebulae, as well as double and variable stars. One of my favorite things to do is simply roam the Milky Way band and use my wide-field 31mm eyepiece (bought separately) to see SO MANY STARS. Also, do not be afraid to install and use the Intelliscope feature. I put it off for a long time, and when I finally installed it I wondered why I waited so long. As long as you have a flat surface, it is simple to set up.I still highly recommend this scope. It is a 12" light bucket, although due to its large nature it may not be suitable for everyone.