Order a Starblast from our supplier (tell them we sent you)
A good definition of 'The Best 'Telescope' is the one that you would use the most. That would make the Orion Starblast one of the World's best telescopes. Even experienced astronomers, who own telescopes costing a hundred times more than this little reflector, have bought one.
So what makes it so good?
Firstly its size:
You can keep it fully set up with a pillow case over it to keep the dust off. If you get a clear night or just some breaks in the cloud, it's easy to whip it out and plonk it down on a garden table or upside down bin. It's little 113mm mirror will have cooled down in half an hour, once you have finished sweeping around the sky looking at wide views of star fields. It's also easy to fit in the boot of your family car and take away with you.
Secondly its optics:
It has a parabolic primary mirror. These are optically much better that the cheaper spherical mirrors that are found in some small reflectors. Sure the eyepieces are not the best, using little lenses to keep down the cost whilst preserving optical quality. So you get clean views but not much of a field with the higher powered eyepiece. The short focal length also results in low magnification. Saturn will appear as a tiny ringed sphere. This can be greatly improved with a Meade 3x Barlow lens. Beware of other Barlows - they may not reach focus.
Thirdly build quality:
Most of the scope is well designed and put together: the tube is made of steel; the secondary mirror has thin supports; the altitude bearing has Teflon and ball-bearings; the tube has collimation adjusters; the base is substantial; there is an eyepiece rack; the red dot finder is excellent.
On the slightly negative side, the tube clamp is plastic and the hand bolt is not captured - so put the scope together and dismantle in the light so you don't drop the bolt. The azimuth (side to-side) bearing can be a little stiff or sloppy. Most astronomers love tinkering with their kit to get better performance and this is the one part of the scope that gives you a nice challenge. You'll only get annoyed with it when you're using almost silly magnification (x225 with the 7mmm and 3x Barlow) where a feather tough steering push is needed to track objects.
Setting up the scope
Don't wait until night time to use the scope. You need to align the finder and get used to pushing the scope around the sky.
Set the scope up and put it on a firm base to bring it up to a comfortable height.
Point the scope at a distant object like the top of a telegraph pole.
Switch on the red dot finder to maximum brightness and see if it is anywhere near your object. If it is way off, loosen the fixing finger bolts attaching the finder bracket to the telescope tube and get the dot as close as you can. Tighten the bolts. Check that the object is still in the centre of the telescope's view. Adjust the fine control on the right-hand side and under the rear of the finder to get the red dot right on your object.
Now practice putting the dot on objects and looking at them in the scope. TAKE CARE NOT TO POINT THE SCOPE ANYWHERE NEAR THE SUN - it won't damage the scope but it could BLIND YOU FOR EVER!
When you take the scope out at night, switch the red dot to it's lowest brightness and don't forget to switch it off when you finish observing.