Stoked up the 130 last night

[Exfso]

This damn broken finger has been giving me grief for a couple of months now, but bugger it, I have not looked through the TOA130 for ages. Looked pretty nice and thought, what the hell lets have a bo peep at Mars, visually of course. Plonked in the 12mm Nagler and yeah looked nice and still, but smallish, what the hell lets go for broke added a powermate to my 4 mm radian, and holy cow, could see detail on the planet. We are well over the theoretical mag of the scope, 500x is outrageous I reckon. One of those rare nights.:eyepop:

[croweater]

Howdy Peter, I also had a look last night. Views were a bit shaky early but by 11pm was best I,ve seen for longtime. Heaps of detail on Mars. I am on the hunt for a couple of extra eyepieces! I was at 218× and the conditions demanded a fair bit more. The view was very steady and best I have seen of Mars for years. I forgot to look at Saturn. Cheers Richard.

[Exfso]

Hi Richard, were you using the 8"? The moon was dead still, no swimming atmospherics that I could detect, amazing really. Did not check out Saturn, and Jupiter was getting a bit low. Anyone using a camera in this neck of the woods should have got some excellent data.

[croweater]

Yes was using the 8. Was hoping for another crack tonight but have high cirrus clouds ruining things.:( Hope things are better up there. Cheers, Richard

[Exfso]

Same here a lot more coming...oh well...

[JoeBlow]

I too had some pretty good seeing at my location in Sydney last night. In a few rare moments of excellent seeing, I was able to get Jupiter to snap into sharp focus even at 333x. It looked almost photographic at that image scale! Unfortunately these rare moments would only last for a few seconds at a time.

[MartinG53]

Hi Peter,
I am thinking of buying a TOA 130 NS from AEC. Can you give me any comments on the scope that would help me make up my mind. It is a big purchase. I am interested in visual observing of the planets, moon etc and would like to try deep sky imaging as my skills improve. Also what mount are you using for the scope. Any comments on the EM-200 Temma-2 mount would be appreciated by any in the forum. Are you happy with the scope?

[Exfso]

Martin, they are a great telescope until something goes wrong. It does not happen very often, but when it does, you have no other option but to send back to Japan. The local distributor cannot fix them. As I have found out. They are a very heavy scope for their size built like a tank actually. Great for both visual and photo, the latter probably needing flatteners etc. There are others here that can probably give you better feedback. I use a Losmandy G11 mount and it is fine for what I need.
Basically you really cant go wrong with anything Takahashi if you can afford to purchase the brand.
The collimation issues I had started off with an accidental thump to the end of my scope by my roll off roof, and I was advised by Claude that there was a local who could re-collimate, that all turned pear shaped as they had no idea and basically trashed the scope and it had to end up going back to Japan for a complete re-build. It is just as well that company went bum-up as they were useless. Claude was advised of the damage that they did. The report from the Tak techs was very damming or is it damning!! That aside it is now totally as new and working beautifully.
The one thing if find odd is that considering they are such a high quality brand that they do not supply a decent case with the purchase, it is triple packed in cardboard and foam, but that is it.
I daresay that others here will put in their 2 bob's worth which is to be expected.:rolleyes:

[Kunama]

Hello Martin,
The TOA130 is a very nice scope indeed, I don't know how it compares to many of the current alternatives as I have not strayed far from the green focusers in the last 5 years. I use mine only for visual and though I have only had this one for a couple of weeks, it is the second I have owned.

I have owned most of the Tak refractors over the past 5 years except the TOA150 and in the end it came down to TSA120 and TOA130. Both are exceptionally good visual scopes (I know nil of imaging). The TOA is heavy once you add the tube rings, dovetail, finder, diagonal etc, but still manageable.

I have never had any collimation issues but then I have never bumped them into anything (touch wood). Binoviewing with the TOA is a real visual treat as Allan Wade will attest. I have only had mine to 200X but there was plenty left I feel. My new 3.5mm XW will be tested this weekend (285x).

I use mine on the Alt Azimuth mount T-Rex by Kokusai Kohki with the Nexus DSC by AstroDevices, for me this is the perfect setup. With the Televue Binovues and the Baader 1.25X GPC fitted into a Zeiss T2 prism the system works well.

[Kunama]

Sounds like a great night Peter, what's the latest on the finger injury?

[Exfso]

Matt, I think it is stuffed. If it hasn't healed after 11 weeks, that is it I reckon, either chop it off or weld it solid...It is still red, swollen and inflamed and hurts like hell if I bump it, so something is ratsh!t with it...

[Kunama]

Get it wired slightly curved, easier to hold a beer glass that way !!! Hope it works out with time.