102mm ED, opinons?

[bojan]

Still searching for "perfect" :P scope..

Anyone has experience with this one?
http://runder.en.made-in-china.com/product/DbiQPemJvMUq/China-102mm-F7-ED-Refractor-Telescope.html

[Merlin66]

Looks very similar (identical?) to the Kunming United Optics scope...
These were available in Europe rebadged as Lyra, Telescope Service and others.
I got the TS102 version while in Europe. Great scope, great price.
http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1958_TS-Optics-Planetary-Refractor-102-1100mm-F-11---2--Crayford-Dual-Speed.html

[dannat]

for visual ?-i looked thru one, not perfectly CA free -hint on bright stars
if you can find a 110 f6 they are a good unit also

[MortonH]

In the basic info it says it's a waterproof reflector!

But these are decent scopes from what I've read.

[brian nordstrom]

:shrug: Price ? , I did not see one .
But yes as said these Kumming Optical scopes are very nice and from what I have read are on par with the Long Perng scopes in build and optics so in my book that can't be a bad thing .

Do you have a price anywhere ? .

Brian.

[issdaol]

Hmmm not sure if I would classify this as the Perfect Scope over a Tak TSA102, or a Televue NP101 etc

Unless price is the main concern??

[bojan]

I still do not have any price info..
As for my criteria for "perfect scope"... price is certainly a major factor ($5k+ for NP101 is prohibitive for me).

A friend of mine pointed me to this doc (it seems website is not safe, my security manager keeps blocking it, but the image is geting through):
http://www.teleskop-shop.at/testphotos/Refractor_color_test/Vega_testphotos_apochromats.jpg
He believes the scope I am looking at is the same as Astro.Prof 102/714.. so not exactly perfect.
Those test images od stars are from the FOV centre of course.. and FF will be necessary anyway, which is ~$300 on top of the scope.


I am thinking about 80/48 TS triplet.
http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/70450-ts-triplet-fpl-53-apo-80480-arived-today/
It seems the lens cell is also available:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TS-Optics-TS-APO-Objektiv-80-480mm-Triplet-FPL-53-in-justierbarer-Fassung-/130906138690?pt=DE_Foto_Camcorder_T eleskope&hash=item1e7a9d2842

It looks reasonably free from CA. and FL is rougly what I want from it (for anything deeper, I will have my 10" F5.6 Newt).

[SteveInNZ]

The photo in your original post has Orion written on the side of the OTA so I did a search for Orion 102mm f7 ED and while Orion don't sell it any more, there was a reference to US$900 in the search listings and the reviews seemed quite favourable..

Steve.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Throw in my $.02.
While I (foolishly) sold mine a while back I recommend Sharpstar/Astrotech/TS 105 f6.5.
Large enough to make a difference over an 80 or 90mm, but still remains easily portable.
The copy I had was amazing - crisp, clear with pinpoint stars to the edge and held high magnification (150x) like a champ. The only other 4" scope that I have enjoyed as much was an SV105 with the LOMO lens costing more than twice as much.
You can find them "pre-loved" on the interweb for quite reasonable prices and I think the NIB items are only around $2K.

[Wavytone]

Bojan, That looks exactly identical to the Orion 102mm f/7 sitting in my garage, about 6 years old, it was $1200 from Bintel but the exchange rate was more favourable than now.

Nothing wrong with mine, its sharp, perfect grab-n-go scope. Optically I'd give it 8.5 out of 10 - it will take a 5mm or even 4mm eyepiece for high power and on bright stars you will see diffraction rings, although the image does have traces of yellow colour similar to the Astro Prof 102/714ED which as you suggest is almost certainly the same lens. I'm pretty sure it was rebadged in the US by several companies.

By the way mine (the Orion version) has a 2" focuser and with say the LVW 42 down to the 3.5mm you have a huge range of magnifications to play with.

In comparison the budget-priced fast achromatic scopes are not diffraction limited and only good for low to medium power.