Hardin vs. Orion

I'm in the market for a beginner 10" tube dob and since the Discovery split-tube is out of my price range, I was looking at the Orion XT and the Hardin. Are there any cons that I should look for in these choices? Are the optics of comparable quality? Would I be happier with one over the other?

Any thoughts or information would be helpful.

I have owned 3 Orion telescopes, I will say the one quality that they have in abundance is customer service. I have heard that Hardin telescopes are a great scope as well. I have never played with one so I couldn't say, but thanks to the great service at Orion I probably never will own a Hardin either.

I'm in the market for a beginner 10" tube dob and since the Discovery split-tube is out of my price range, I was looking at the Orion XT and the Hardin. Are there any cons that I should look for in these choices? Are the optics of comparable quality? Would I be happier with one over the other?
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Hardin is no longer in the scope business, like ORion they were/are importing scopes made in Asian. Hardin imported the Taiwanese Guan Sheng Optical scopes while Orion imports the Chinese Synta scopes...

There are several vendors that now import the GSO DOBs, one of them is Astromart Supporter Dale Pelenka at www.dbaastronomyproducts.com

Both the Orion and the GSO/DBA are good scopes, I have an older GSO 10 inch DOB and I have had many good views.

A significant difference, one that leads me to recommending the GSO over the Orion scope is the focuser. The GSO scopes have quite a nice Crayford focuser while the Orion scopes have a somewhat flaky Rack and Pinion focuser. With some work, they Orion focusers are pretty good but still not up to the GSO.

Otherwise I think they are quite similar, as they ought to be since the original Orion XT-10's were actually made by GSO...

If you want intelliscope, the Orion is your only choice other than Digital Setting circles but otherwise, I think the GSO fom DBA is the one I would buy.

Jon

Hardin, GSO scopes have a better focuser, but the optics are not as good as the Orion from what I have seen.
The Orion XTi is a better scope, but still has a crapy focuser.
Depends on which is more important to you I guess.