Orion AstroBlast Telescope Unboxing

Orion AstroBlast Telescope Unboxing
On July 1st, 2021, these photos were uploaded to the Astroimaging server

Inside the box, the Orion 4.5-inch f/4 AstroBlast telescope comes fully assembled and connected to its Dobsonian mount. Remove the packing paper, screw on the red dot finder, and the telescope is ready for use.

Left: The fully assemble Orion StarBlast telescope was well protected with form fitting styrofoam panels. Separate items included the red dot finderscope, two eyepieces, a collimator, and the operating manual.

The one box package is actually a box inside a box for extra shipping protection, and arrived in about four days of shipping time. The prepayment included customs charges and tax, so the delivery was fast and no need to wait for money to be collected at the time of delivery.

Left: The OTA was fully assembled, however the optics, both primary and secondary (diagonal) mirrors needed collimating. To collimate, a telescope collimation PDF guide was downloaded from the Orion website. Also included with the telescope is a small plastic eyepiece collimation guide with a hole in the center.

Right: The plastic bag was carefully removed so it could be recycled as a telescope protective dust covering. The OTA was already mounted onto the Dobsonian mount with a large ring mount so the tube can rotate for balancing. One can simply reach into the box, grab the telescope, and lift it up and out.

Left: Orion's EZ Finder II is a zero magnification red dot finderscope designed to help find naked eye visible sky objects at a glance. It easily bolts onto the tube. It was removed and replaced with a practically zero weight resin-lens 5x24 finderscope by Celestron originally intended for the Celestron FirstScope.

Right: The diminutive size and low weight of the complete telescope make it a "grab and go" variety telescope. Pulled out of the box and directly placed in a chair, the small size becomes evident. Loosen the ring mount holding the OTA to remove the protective paper.

The Orion StarBlast Dobsonian has a total weight of 13 lbs. The removed OTA optical tube assembly weighs only 4 lbs. and the entire Dob mount weighs 9 lbs. The telescope has a handle on the mount and can be carried with one hand.

The telescope is known as a tabletop telescope. Here it sets on a small stable round table that will be used for observing both indoors and outdoors. The table, made in Taiwan and purchased at furniture street, folds up for transport and has a safety catch underneath.

The Orion StarBlast has a front end dust cap and a tight but smooth oving 1.25-inch rack & pinion to hold eyepieces and accessories like cameras. Both mirrors, primary and secondary are fully adjustable for precise collimation.

Left: The Orion StarBlast telescope, Dobsonian version, comes with 17mm and 6mm Kellner eyepieces. The telescope works well with added simple low cost aspheric design eyepieces. In this photo, the Orion EZ Finder II is replaced with a Celestron resin-lens 5x24 plastic finderscope which has performed well on other telescopes. Originally designed as an accessory for the Celestron FirstScope, it has practically no weight, yet offers magnification and light gathering ability to see more stars. The primary mirror is claimed to use low expansion borosilicate glass.

Manual push drive motions in azimuth are very smooth and the altitude has a locking knob which can set the tension on the motion. The ability to balance the telescope is an excellent feature when attaching accessories.