esprit 150

[thebonz]

I am intrested in the esperit 150 for visual use. Are there any owners that have experience in visual performance an cool down. Any comments appreciated.
John

[AG Hybrid]

You might want to look up other 150mm triplets and their reviews to help with this. I don't think there are too many of these floating about in Australia. At least mentioned here anyway. Also, they would be used for AP more so then visual as the several thousand dollar price tag for one of these would score you a nice C11 Edge or C14 which would out perform it in almost every way for visual use.

That being said I would definitely have one for visual use. Because magic triplet APO optics. It weighs a lot though 14.5Kg just for the ota? Rings, diagonal, eyepieces, finder, would pushing about 18 kilo's. Then again if you $7000 to spend on an OTA you can probably afford to mount it too.

[Logieberra]

Check out the Tak TOA 150mm for sale in the classifieds.

[Camelopardalis]

I know a couple of guys up here that own the 150 for imaging, although I've also had a peek visually. Very sharp and noticeably more light throughput than my Esprit 100. I've never looked through a competing 150mm apo so have no frame of reference, but if you're up this way get in touch and I'll hook you up with the one of the owners.

As Adrian says, and speaking from experience having carried one :lol: it's not a small or light scope, weighs about the same as a C11...

[The Mekon]

I have also thought about buying the Esprit 150mm for visual. Correct me if I am wrong but the scope appears to be based on the design of the TOA 150, so consequently heavy, which does put me off. The local price is value at $7K - even in comparison with Marcus Tak currently in the classifieds which is a great deal for those wanting the real thing.
Have missed my AP 130EDT since selling it, also I am looking at the CFF range - they are much lighter than Taks, and a 140mm F7.5 would be perfect.

[Slawomir]

CFF has a reduced price on their 132mm f/6.9 oil spaced triplets with 3.5" FT focuser. It would cost probably $7500 to land it in Oz including gst. It is not 150mm like the esprit, but optical and mechanical quality apparently on par with the top brands.

[casstony]

The guys at https://teleskop-austria.at/ tested five samples of the Esprit 150 and found Strehl ratios ranging from 0.9 to 0.95, decent but not quite up to TOA standards if you want to do high power planetary viewing in stable skies.
http://interferometrie.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/1501050-esprit-4-samples.html?view=sidebar

[Slawomir]

Thank you Tony for providing the link - it would also be interesting to see Strehl ratio values for blue and red colours.

[casstony]

Yes it would, though the strehl ratio in the other colours is still decent as indicated by the relatively straight and equidistant lines in the ronchi tests.

[Slawomir]

Found one here: http://airylab.net/contenu/mesures/astro/rapport%202012-03001.pdf

It shows Strehl ratios at red, green and blue with and without a corrector for one particular telescope.

[casstony]

Suavi, I note the date on that test is 2012 and the results are a bit ordinary. Skywatcher had a lot of trouble with their Esprit lens cells in the first couple of years. The Esprits tested in the other site might be more representative of recent production since the guys at Teleskop Austria repair or adjust scopes as needed.

[issdaol]

Personally I would be going for the TOA150 advertised on the Icetrades here.

Guaranteed to perform both visually and photographically with outstanding build and accessories.

However it is a few $k more than the Esprit 150 so maybe the extra price is an issue......but at least with that unit you will have the comfort of knowing its already been proven to be and excellent unit :-)

[Atmos]

If you can muster up that little extra bit of cash, dropping it on the TOA150 on the classifieds would be worth that bit extra. Considering what they go for new, it is a great chance to purchase a great instrument.

[thebonz]

Thanks all for the input. Some interesting threads to look at.
John