The XT8 comes with a single eyepiece – a 25mm Plossl. All objects look yellow. 6 eyepiece filters – 5 color planetary filters and a 13% transmission neutral-density Moon filter I found this Orion set but I dont know if it is worthwhile or if it is better to buy some of the individual eyepieces you mentioned. We’ll find out and you can see the comparisons between XT8 and XT8 Plus too, in this Orion XT8 review. The SkyQuest XT8 is simply the bigger brother to the other highly recommended telescope in the SkyQuest XT6 and much like the XT6 the XT8 also uses reflector based optics to … For deep-sky objects, a lot. Orion SkyQuest XT8 has an aperture of 8″ as we can already see in its name. If you have a flexible budget, you may choose to increase your budget and pick the best from our $400 to $600 telescopes’ category. Just to clarify….the 6mm? The XT8 is exceptionally well-suited to the beginner astronomer. This is actually quite helpful, but the springs look a little silly and are difficult to attach and remove. The entire Messier catalog (with the possible exceptions of M74 and M33 if you have lots of light pollution) is visible without a lot of difficulties, and you can start diving into the Herschel 400 and other dim deep-sky catalogs. It is certainly enjoyable, but you can, in fact, make your own filter with some Thousand Oaks film and cardboard/plywood for a … If you chip the paint/veneer you will expose what is basically pressed-together sawdust which will quickly warp and rot. The 8″ aperture is very reasonable because of multiple points. The XT8’s finderscope is a simple red dot. My main gripe with the SkyQuest XT8’s mount beside the small bearings is the fact that it is made of particle board. Also it is worth mentioning since writing my comment I stumbled across the page on eyepieces on here and am now considering the celestron zoom or Baader hyperion zoom eyepiece. You could buy all of them, but the 6 and 9 are the most useful. *Rankings and ratings are calculated by comparing similar telescopes, in this case, 12 telescopes between $300 and $400. The Plus boasts having slightly higher reflectivity (94% versus something like 92%) mirrors, but in practice, you are very unlikely to ever notice this. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. But after 20 years on the block, does the XT8 – or its Plus upgrade – really still deserve to be crowned king of the beginner telescopes? Would you recommend configuring our own set from Orion’s build-a-scope website? Sorry for any stupid questions I am totally new to this thanks. 2. Older XT8s came with a so-so rack-and-pinion focuser with knobs that dug into your skin. Also, an 8” will almost never be able to achieve full resolution during the day for solar viewing due to, well, the heat from the Sun. I bought an XT8 per your recommendation. The 20 is a bit redundant with the 25mm. Saturn doesn’t look much different than I remember it in my Celestron 76eq when I was a kid. 3. Several aftermarket vendors also offer custom new bases for your SkyQuest XT8, or indeed any commercial Dobsonian telescope. Hello. The Plus also includes a 10mm Plossl which works well but is a little short on eye relief – a 9mm “gold-line” will be a vast improvement – along with a Barlow lens, which can be used with the 10mm for 240x. As ridiculous as this may sound, is any other than the sun dangerous [for your eyes] to look at through the scope? Many thanks, Sophie, I would get a 30mm or 42mm Superview, 6mm and 9mm goldlines, and a 2″ UHC filter like the Orion Ultrablock, Hi Zane, thanks for your reply.