ed120?

[garymck]

Has anyone actually looked through an ed120? Opinions? Reviews? I know the Skywatcher version is mucho dollars, but I believe The Telescope Shed has the Saxon branded version for $2550. If it was any good it would be a great buy.....but without a chance to get a look through one, I'm reluctant to jump. There have been other threads on this, but noone seems to have actuallu looked through one....

cheers
Gary

[chris lewis]

There is a brief review here [below] on the Orion F7.5 ED120 on 'Andys Shot Glass' . He compared it with a AP 130mm APO and basically he says it performed to within 90% of the 'top end ' Astrophysics APO. Some of the other brief overseas forum comments indicate that CA is not obviously worse then the F/9 ED100 version and can take 300x easy. The price you quoted above would appear to be good value - the Skywatcher, Orion and Saxon have the same FPL-53 lens with the Crayford focuser - just different paint schemes. Bintel quote $A4800 for the orion ED120 version ! Hopefully that will come down. Bintel are also are advertising the Meade 127mm 5000 triplet APO for $A2800. The delivery dates for these are still unsure ? end of year. It surprised most why the ED120 version was far more expensive then the Meade triplet 127mm APO - however it is important to note that new Meade APO uses 'FCD1' lens [by Hoya] which is equivalent to the earlier FPL-51 lens [as used in the earlier Meade APO telescopes]. FPL-53 gives about 10% better color correction then the older FPL-51 / FCD1 lens. FCD1 is an really an 'entry' level APO lens and Meade no doubt will be hopeing to get improved color correction by making a triplet lens. The ED120 uses the more expensive and better CA corrected 'Ohara' FPL- 53 glass - which is almost pure fluorite and is up to 3x times the cost of the Hoya FCD1 lens used by Meade - hence the price difference. There are issues also with getting 3x lens absolutely aligned - plus they have longer cool down periods. A full review of both the ED120 and Meade 127mm will be interesting untill then the Saxon ED120 version looks tempting.http://www.andysshotglass.com/120ed.html

[Starkler]

Another ED apo scope in this size class at 115mm is the Vixen ED115S.
I happen to know someone who is selling one (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=22915) ;)

[[1ponders]]

Thanks for the comprehensive summary Chris, especially relating to the different glass types :thumbsup:


:lol: @ Starkler

[garymck]

Hi,
the problem with Andy's shotglass as a review reference is that he is an agent for Orion and sells the stuff....Also most of the "tips" he uses came from someone else (and the sources are not acknowledged) , if one is kind, one could say that his site is very "derivative" :)

Would one trust a review by a salesperson?

cheers
Gary

[ballaratdragons]

Gary,

there is one member in here with an ED120, but I can't remember who it is, sorry.

You'll just have to wait until they read your thread.

[ballaratdragons]

Ahhhh, found who it is! Anthony has one.

See here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=216753&postcount=23

and this comment:

[Starkler]

I believe Anthony works for Bintel who happens to sell this scope. I'm not making any suggestions as to bias or otherwise, but one should be aware in any case.

[chris lewis]

'garymck'- you are correct. I should have noted that 'Andy Shotglass ' does give somewhat biased reviews which are slanted towards the Orion brand of telescopes. I hope I did not appear biased myself. I will await the reviews between the Meade 127 and Synta ED120 as I am in the market for a 5 in APO shortly. The Williams Optics 132mm APO is out of my price range at the moment !

[anthony2302749]

Hi

I see that my name was mention, explains why my ears are burning. True I own an ED120, true I work for BINTEL. I was a were of this thread when I saw Gary's first post, I could have made a comment then but chose not to due to what Starkler has pointed out in his coment. If anyone wants further input and option about the ED120 from me you can either PM or phone me at work.

By the way the ED120 is still sitting under the computer desk. I am planning to drag it out for the lunar eclipse next week.

[garymck]

Chris,
your reply was full of good info, you certainly did not appear biased at all. Your post had FACTUAL info - the sort we need more of....

cheers
Gary

[ballaratdragons]

If I had a few lazy grand to get another scope, I would consider the ED120 very highly!

Think about this: How many complaints have you ever heard about the ED80 or the ED100? ;)

[h0ughy]

ooohhhhh I would love one of these and the 2.5K mark is not bad relatively speaking:whistle:
wonder if they would take two kids and a iou for the wife:thumbsup:.......then maybe not:scared:, they could sell me for fertiliser.......:help:

it would be a fantastic scope - for those that cant afford a nice tak...:rolleyes:

[avandonk]

From my questions all over the 120ED is not as good as the 100ED or 80ED but you have to look very hard at high mag to even start to pick it. For a start it is a hard ask to be as good at f/7.5 as f/9. End of story!


Bert

[h0ughy]

true, very true, but from some of the images I have seen you could do a lot worse with bad guiding of seeing. either way it would be nice to use. Would you need to use a field flattener with it?

[avandonk]

All refractors have field curvature apart from the FSQ series as they have a built in focal reducer field flattener. I would have to check out the 120ED but it would be fairly standard I would imagine. You really only need FF when you have a full frame camera. Sorry I am wrong to get a truely flat field a carefully placed focal reducer (high quality achromat or better) is a must.
Thats if you want close to some sort of perfection!

Bert

[Stephen65]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the Meade 127mm APO, it's been a vapourscope for quite a while. The latest announced release date was October but that was back in April and nothing has been heard since...