Orion's Recent Catalogs: AstroView Refractors

Has anyone been pouring over those catalogs from Orion, packed with all kinds of low cost telescopes? I am having
trouble deciding between the 3.9" f6 Astroview refractor
and the 4.7" f5 model. I am looking for multifunction
scope that can work as a rich field, solar, and medium
power star splitter. It would be nice if it could show
the shadow of Jupiter's satellites on the disk, too. I have heard that the late model refractors from China are
better than the early models, but I don't know for sure.
Can someone comment on one or more of the above models?
At first I liked the 4.7" f8.3 refractor on the new beefy
mount but I would like to have 3 degee field for rich field
viewing. Thanks

I own the Orion Astroview 120ST.

You can read my review of it at Cloudy Nights...

http://www.cloudynights.com/reviews3/Astroview120.htm

If you have any questions at all that are not answered in the review, I'd be happy to answer them for you here or via e-mail.

I had the opportunity to look through the 4.7" f8.3 and the 4.7" f5 at the same star party Saturday night. These observations were made at different times for the two scopes, so I have to qualify that this is not a side by side comparison. I was really exicited about this, because I've been thinking of adding one of these two scopes to my stable (I have a Meade 60mm refractor, remounted on an Orion EQ-1 mount & tripod and an Orion 130ST EQ reflector). Anyway, I have to say, both the f5 and the f8.3 gave up INCREDIBLE views. I was able to look (at different times) Saturn, Jupiter and M42 in both scopes. I was careful to compare them with similar 1 1/4" eyepieces in place. Now I am a novice at this so a more critical eye may have found more problems, but both scopes seemed to perform very close to the same and both performed GREAT. Both had very little abberation(sp)no ghosting and no rainbow effects toward the edge of the FOV. I really didn't notice any difference between detail and clarity for either scope. I think either would be a good chioce, I'll probably base my decision on size, in which case the f5 ST will be the winner. It seemed as comfortable with planetary stuff as the f8.3 and the f8.3 seemed to do the deep sky stuff as well as the f5. Oh, one side note...and I was sure not to tell the owner, but they even seemed to be comparable to a very expensive Takahashi that showed up at the star party. I think you would be happy with either telescope. Let us know what you decide.