Honestly, I expected Orion to stick around as at least a retailer, if not a major manufacturer, for a long, long time. But my confidence was shaken when their retail website, Telescope.com, went offline in July 2024.
The bulk of their products used to be made by Synta Optical Technologies, the same Chinese company that owns Celestron and Sky-Watcher. However, a lawsuit by Orion with Synta in 2019 that ended with Orion’s acquisition of Meade Instruments had ended that relationship.
Due to their breakup with Synta, many of their highest-quality products—which could mostly already be found elsewhere—were being increasingly replaced by poorly made instruments (mostly manufactured by KSON Optical in China) with subpar optics, plastic parts everywhere, shoddy mechanical design, and overall poor value. Other suppliers were primarily Guan Sheng Optical and Long Perng Optical in Taiwan.
All of these companies marketed similar, if not nearly identical, products under other brands. Unfortunately, Orion didn’t always offer the best deals or prices on them.
Orion’s customer service was excellent—the only exception being if I bought their stuff used. Orion didn’t carry a large spare parts inventory and refused to service any secondhand product.
History of Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars was founded in the garage of Tim Gieseler in Santa Cruz, California, in 1975 as Gieseler Electronics, later changing to Optronic Technologies.
Originally, Optronic’s main product was their AccuTrack devices, a series of drive correctors and other motor drive parts for equatorially-mounted telescopes. By the late 1980s, however, Optronic products were becoming less and less needed as telescope drive systems became more sophisticated, so they sought to branch out, selling telescopes as a vendor under the “Orion” brand name. Eventually, Orion began manufacturing and importing its own telescopes and, for a time, no longer resold non-Orion-branded telescopes – though they later resumed this practice.
Historically, Orion has primarily been known for two things: their Dobsonians and their importation of various high-quality telescopes from overseas—originally Japan, but mostly China and Taiwan after the 2000s.
Orion used to sell a variety of products from manufacturers like Vixen in Japan and Intes in Russia and offered these fine products even when other companies like Celestron dropped them in favour of less expensive versions from China.
Orion was also one of the first manufacturers of inexpensive Dobsonian telescopes, alongside companies like Coulter Optical, and the first to import quality Maksutov-Cassegrains from Synta in China.
However, after the shakeups due to their lawsuit and its success, Orion’s portfolio was increasingly becoming a series of overpriced products that other retailers offered for less and some other low-quality instruments that I wouldn’t have recommended anyone to buy. Unsurprisingly, that wasn’t enough to keep them afloat—they ceased operations in July 2024.
Hi ..and thanks for your time in putting together a great site. How do you feel about Orions Giantview bt100? You mentioned that many of their products are offered under other names, at better prices. Can you tell me what companies offer similar 100mm, 45 degree binoculars? I may be able to pick up a used bt100 but wanted to ensure I couldn’t get them new at a similar price point. TY… Don
I think the BT100 EDs are the same as the Oberwerk and APM ones. The regular BT100 I don’t know of any equivalent to; that being said they are achromats and if you plan on doing any lunar/planetary viewing you certainly want ED glass with these relatively fast scopes!