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[neilo]

A really newbie doing research on my first telescope purchase after a long time viewing the heavens through bino's. I've decided on a dob as a great first scope purchase. I've narrowed it down to one of the two scope above but was looking to hear some users personal pros and cons. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks and this is my first post and am really enjoying the forum so far!

[Paulie pchris00]

I can't help with the Zhumell, but my first telescope was an Orion XT6. it is still my primary scope, and for the most part, I've been quite happy with it. My guess is that the XT8 is slightly heavier, but mine weighs about thirty pounds; easily managable. My views can be quite good. The one caution I have for you is that knobs and screws like to come loose. Maybe I have more problems with them than most people because I haul it around so much, but I've lost one knob holding the secondary spidervane, and one knob holding the primary mirror. I have yet to call Orion for replacements, so it's out of collimation, but still performs okay. I hope this helped you a little bit, and maybe a Zhumell owner will weigh in on their scope. Good luck.