SingAstro

Hello to all. Just signed up and waiting for advice, tips and hopefully get more involved!
Always had a fancy for astronomy and started when I was in secondary school with the humble binoculars. Now a family man, my daughter has rekindled the old flame again! Was surfing the web and bumped in astrobargains.com which have good deals for the starting hobbyist. Would like to know if the "Orion StarBlast™ 4.5 EQ Reflector" is a good starter buy for a general usage telescope. Don't wish to spend over 1K as I my work often takes me away. So something like mentioned where I can enjoy my hobby and do it with the kids. Would this Orion telescope be ok for the singapore hazy skies?

Interested in advice, tips and anything. Thanks in advance!!

Try Mct .. its gd and light..

WELCOME TO SINGASTRO!

The orion starblast 4.5 is a pretty good scope. But I'm sure you will soon outgrown it due to it's aperture and very short focal length of only 450mm Good for wide field. But for planets, i think you can see, but not too much details even though adding a 2x barlow. The optics are pretty sharp and it has many good reviews by people around the world. If you intend to get the starblast 4.5, i sugggest you don't use the eyepiece given. It's junk. You need a better eyepiece to bring out the real performance of the telescope.

welcome to singastro! do read up the faq and articles which we have found useful for beginners. Besides the vendors you can also check out the BnS section but I suggest you join for a session and try out the scopes before deciding. The starblast is a nice little scope but in singapore, aperture (size of lens/mirror) is king! Get the biggest you can afford and handle.

Thanks for the feedback and advise. Will see how my schedule goes and hope I can meet up with some experienced ones for trying some scopes out. I do agree with the bigger aperture for the singapore skies. Being a photographer aperture means alot! lol! Will consider and take things slowly for a better experience overall! Thanks again! Any more advice is appreciated!

Welcome to Singastro... Beginner tooo.... Stay where? Weixing is quite a regular in Tampines. Take a look at observation section.

HI Kazumacat!
yah beginner. stay Pasir Ris near Loyang Avenue and near the flyover at Tampines Ave7. At least if I can't see stars I can watch Planes...haha

The scope is good, alright. And welcome.

Welcome and I'm newer than you Hope you enjoy your star gazing

Thanks for the welcome all!

Well not rushing into a scope as yet but weighing the differences for a hobbyist like me and fun for the kids!