While thinking of buying a new Dobsonian telescope. You might have come across the zhumell brand. This is quite a new brand of telescope compared to other telescope brands. Zhumell’s telescopes are made by the same company which makes some of the telescopes of Orion. The telescopes are manufactured by Guan Sheng Optical (GSO) in Taiwan. This GSO company makes Dobsonian telescopes for other brands as well. So, you might find similarities in many telescopes under different brands. For example, Zhumell Z8 & Apertura AD8 are exactly identical telescopes but have different colors and are sold under different brands. You will also notice Orion’s Skyline 8″ is the exact same telescope as Zhumell Z8. Though these are identical telescopes, the price and the accessories given by these companies are different. Some companies do charge extra for the top quality accessories, some give them for free.
Considering all this, Zhumell provides good quality accessories with the Z8 telescope. As this is a Dobsonian telescope, you probably know how the telescope will be performance-wise.
So, let’s see the detailed full review of this telescope.
Zhumell Z8 SPECIFICATIONS
| Type | Newtonian-Reflector |
| Aperture | 8″(203mm) |
| Focal Length | 1200mm |
| Focal Ratio | 5.9 |
| Mount Type | Dobsonian |
| Highest Useful Magnification | 400X |
| Lowest Useful Magnification | 29X |
| Weight | 55lbs (25kg) |
REASONS TO BUY
+ Great well coated optics
+ Very beginner-friendly
+ Generous 1200mm focal length.
+ Easy to setup
REASONS TO AVOID
– Weight, It is a heavy telescope not very portable.
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This is a Newtonian reflector-type telescope. It has an aperture of 8-inches. Its focal length is 1200mm and its focal ratio is 5.9. It has the highest useful magnification of 400X and the lowest useful magnification of 29X. The weight of the telescope is 55 lbs, around 25 kg.
Zhumell Z8 Optical Tube
The Z8 has standard-quality optics. The 8-inch aperture is quite big & collects a lot of light. The optical surfaces are coated & because of this, you will get crispier and sharper images. The optical tube assembly of Z8 has a parabolic mirror. As the mirror used is a parabolic mirror, you will not face any spherical aberrations.
The optical tube assembly has a dual-speed Crayford focuser. The focuser provided with the Z8 is of very high quality. When compared with the computerized telescopes, Dobsonian telescopes require a little more effort to learn and get everything right. This might be difficult for a beginner initially but with practice you will get much better. This is good for people who are really curious to learn different aspects of astronomy in detail.
Zhumell Z8 Mount
The Mount of the telescope is slightly better than any other Dobsonian telescope. It uses roller bearings instead of Teflon bearings. Plus the advantage is it has a tensioner on the side that moves up and down and does a good job of holding/balancing the optical tube in the position.
When you unbox the telescope, the Mount is very easy to assemble. It will not take more than 5 minutes to assemble the Mount.
Zhumell Z8 Accessories
The telescope comes with one 2-inch 30mm eyepiece for a wide field of view and one 1.25-inch 9mm eyepiece for higher magnification.
The Crayford dual focuser is of very high quality and does a good job of allowing different sizes of the eyepiece to be used effectively. 8×50 finder scope is average but does a great job. The 8x magnification with a 50mm aperture makes it easier to locate the intended celestial object.
The telescope comes with a moon filter. This filter is useful to observe the moon at high magnification. It will bring clarity and will show you the moon in detail for ridges, craters, mountains, and oceans of the moon’s surface.
Unlike other telescopes, Zhumell provides a cooling fan for the optical tube. This is super helpful to remove the trapped hot air in the tube and bring back the optical tube temperature to normal outside temperature. This way you can enjoy long stargazing sessions without any disturbances.
What can you see with Z8?
The performance of the telescope is superb and at par with the other 8-inch telescopes. With Z8 you can see Jupiter and its cloud bands, you can see the moons of Jupiter and the great red spot. You will also see Saturn’s ring and the Encke division of its rings.
The moon will look great through this telescope. You can see lots of details of the moon with this telescope. Z8 will show you Venus and its phases. If you put enough effort you can also see Pluto with Z8.
In deep space objects. It will show you emission nebulae like the Orion nebula, and lagoon nebula. You can see the star cluster and the Andromeda galaxy. You can see many objects in the Messier catalog.
Astrophotography with Z8
As the telescope uses a Dobsonian mount astrophotography with this telescope is not possible. For astrophotography, you need your mount’s one axis parallel to Earth’s axis to consider the rotation of the earth. We have explained this in detail in this article.
Pros
The big aperture is of great quality which collects lots of light and gives sharper images.
Provides more useful accessories which are of good quality. Usually, the telescope accessories are expensive when you think of upgrading. Sometimes it may cost you more than the cost of the telescope itself. But that’s not the case here.
Cons
The biggest disadvantage of all the Dobsonian telescopes applies here as well. The weight of the telescope is too much. It is normal when compared to other Dobsonians of the same size. But if you are thinking of buying a telescope that you can take to various stargazing locations then it will be difficult to carry this telescope around.
Should you buy the Zhumell Z8?
Zhumell Z8 is a great telescope for optics, performance, and usability. It is very beginner-friendly and setup time is not more than 20 minutes even for beginners.
If you are looking for a good powerful telescope that is value for money then definitely you can go with a Zhumell Z 8 model.
You will not be disappointed by its performance.
If you want to know more about space, and stargazing then check out the astronomy section on our website.
