Steve Trego said:
Hi,
I am looking to purchase a new telescope and was wondering how the Celestron Omni 120 is and if anybody has viewed through it. I've looked at the reviews and no one has reviewed it as of today. I am looking at this or an 8" Zhumell Dob as my first "real" scope; any advise?
Thanks -- Steve
Hi Steve: I think both scopes are very reasonable choices as a first "real" telescope.
The Omni 120mm F/8.3 is a achromatic refractor on a CG-4 mount. Celestron upgraded the tripod on the CG-4, the previous version was prone to vibration with the 120mm F/8.3 but I think the new tripod/mount should be reasonably stable. As an Achromat, you will see noticeable false color around bright targets, planets, bright stars.
The focuser is serviceable but historically the Celestron/Orion rack and pinion focuser could be better.
Eventually you would want to add a drive for motorized tracking.
The Zhummell 8 inch DOB is quite a bit less expensive than the Omni XLT-120 but it is an 8 inch vs a 5 inch so it is more capable on most all targets. It will take quite a bit longer to cool down than the Omni and it will require collimation. The mount is simple but using is more intuitive than the Equaltorial mount of the refractor and it is stable.
Both are good telescopes, if you can, looking at and through both scopes would be good. My own choice would be the DOB because it will show more but it has it's issues with collimation and cooldown.
jon
