So, it appears that you've made your mind up to go 'scope instead of binos. So be it, you know your wants and situation better than anyone else. That being said, short tube 80's are extremely popular no matter who makes 'em (Takahashis are popular with people whose mythical uncles have just left 'em those East Texas oil wells). The Orion comes with everything needed in a package deal...

I went looking for the Paragon tripod specs, specifically how much weight it'd handle (there's nothing worse than a flimsy tripod when you're trying to get a steady image). Didn't say...but you might want to consider just buying the tube assembly, and going for the XHD (eXtra Heavy Duty) tripod. I wouldn't consider it overkill, and if you ever upgrade the scope to something a tad bigger, you're covered.

According to here, ..."By the way, the Celestron 80WF, the Orion ST80, Skywatcher and a lot of other telescopes are the same. All made by Synta (China)...". If this is to be believed, then reviews about the other brands mentioned are directly applicable to your situlation.

Here's a thread on another astronomy board about ST 80's.

A user's review.

A review from Cloudy Nights

Another user review.

Astromart's review of the Celestron 102, the next step up. An interesting read.

If you've already got an appropriate tripod/rings/finder, Orion sells some nice larger refractors in the tube-only mode.

So, if I recall right, this is to take down Florida way and watch the Shuttle launch, right? If so, you've got the time to practice a bit turning that 80 into a telephoto lens...we want pitchers!!!

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