NCRAW
10-02-2009, 10:40 AM
It was an exciting moment to come back home and see the parcel box sitting in the living room waiting for me (luckily mom was paying us a visit and she was home to sign for it, thanks mom!!).
Quickly change and rip through the box - before I continue, I will post some pics as soon as I can – and there it was. It came in aluminium case with a cardboard packing on top, all nicely packed by Grant from Highpoint Scientific in the US.
The inside of the of the case is well foamed and padded and there are cuts for a diagonal and EPs, however non is useful for me as the spaces are too small for my 2” diagonal and the Baader EPs. Maybe I will have to make my own cuts.
The scope is nicely finished in gloss black with metallic orange ring on the dew shield. The shield is retractable and is smooth. The scope is compact and light, definitely a grab and go. The focuser is a single speed Crayford style but smooth and accurate and hold well. I’m not going to use the scope for AP but heard it hold position well even with a big SLR after tightening a hex screw on the underbelly of the focuser. The focuser is also rotatable again smooth to rotate and lock in place.
The inside is black powder coated and done well though I noticed that there was a small section inside the focuser was not well coated as the rest but that should not have an effect. It also seems that there is excess powder inside as I had some on my finger when ran it inside.
The lenses look good and well coated. They are FPL-53 confirmed by Celestron and coated with Celestron XLT (if I recall) coating. The only negative feedback that this scope gets, and now I know what everyone who owns it is talking about, are the three silly bunny ear like lens spacers which stick out and cause diffraction during 60 sec plus exposures. It is not possible to remove them as they are glued. Couple of guys on Cloudy nights added a foam ring which effectively reduced the effective diameter to 76mm but eliminated the problem.
The lens cap is metal made and felt to protect the dew shield. The scope also has one odd feature that no other scope has, a small see through peep hole that is some sort of a finder which is removable by unscrewing it. It is pretty much useless and im trying to figure out how to replace it with the red dot finder I bought. I might need to purchase the base that the red dot finder bracket sits in and then modify to suit.
The other thing to note is that the scope comes with a built in L-shaped Dove tail that fits the CG-5 mounts and also has a standard camera tri-pod female thread. So you don’t even need rings or a dovetail.
I carried out a quick test during the day and night by fitting the 1/12 GSO 2” diagonal and the 21mm and 5mm Baader lenses plus a quick fitting test of the Celestron Ultima Barlow. Everything fits nicely and tightly. The scope has non marring copper rings to hold the dia in place and can fit either 2” or 1.25” dia/EPS using the adapter supplied.
A quick look through the Dia and Baader EPs and everything looks very sharp during day and night. This is my first scope so I can’t comment on moon colour and all that but everything looked super white to me, and this is viewing through my room window glass which was, embarrassingly, a bit dirty which also explains some of the haze I noticed sometimes during the day.
Looking at the moon for the first time through a scope, I was really blinded by the brightness!! I don’t know if I should use sunglasses hehe.
I had the scope in my lap so was pretty much impossible to test the 5mm EP as the moon kept jumping out.
So overall, I’m happy with my purchase and for USD350 I can’t really complain. I will keep this scope for a long long time and might actually never part with it, its like your first born and as I move up, this will become my grab and go (along with a an Alt-Az mount im thinking about buying for those quick viewing days).
I already know what my next scope will be but for now, I hope that Melbourne gets some good rains this week and I can venture out into my backyard and have a look at the heavens next week. Hope to catch up with people on a night viewing session sometime soon. Not sure who owns an Onyx here so im happy to catch up with members in Melbourne if they are interested in seeing the scope for themselves. I really think it is a bargain at this price.
Quickly change and rip through the box - before I continue, I will post some pics as soon as I can – and there it was. It came in aluminium case with a cardboard packing on top, all nicely packed by Grant from Highpoint Scientific in the US.
The inside of the of the case is well foamed and padded and there are cuts for a diagonal and EPs, however non is useful for me as the spaces are too small for my 2” diagonal and the Baader EPs. Maybe I will have to make my own cuts.
The scope is nicely finished in gloss black with metallic orange ring on the dew shield. The shield is retractable and is smooth. The scope is compact and light, definitely a grab and go. The focuser is a single speed Crayford style but smooth and accurate and hold well. I’m not going to use the scope for AP but heard it hold position well even with a big SLR after tightening a hex screw on the underbelly of the focuser. The focuser is also rotatable again smooth to rotate and lock in place.
The inside is black powder coated and done well though I noticed that there was a small section inside the focuser was not well coated as the rest but that should not have an effect. It also seems that there is excess powder inside as I had some on my finger when ran it inside.
The lenses look good and well coated. They are FPL-53 confirmed by Celestron and coated with Celestron XLT (if I recall) coating. The only negative feedback that this scope gets, and now I know what everyone who owns it is talking about, are the three silly bunny ear like lens spacers which stick out and cause diffraction during 60 sec plus exposures. It is not possible to remove them as they are glued. Couple of guys on Cloudy nights added a foam ring which effectively reduced the effective diameter to 76mm but eliminated the problem.
The lens cap is metal made and felt to protect the dew shield. The scope also has one odd feature that no other scope has, a small see through peep hole that is some sort of a finder which is removable by unscrewing it. It is pretty much useless and im trying to figure out how to replace it with the red dot finder I bought. I might need to purchase the base that the red dot finder bracket sits in and then modify to suit.
The other thing to note is that the scope comes with a built in L-shaped Dove tail that fits the CG-5 mounts and also has a standard camera tri-pod female thread. So you don’t even need rings or a dovetail.
I carried out a quick test during the day and night by fitting the 1/12 GSO 2” diagonal and the 21mm and 5mm Baader lenses plus a quick fitting test of the Celestron Ultima Barlow. Everything fits nicely and tightly. The scope has non marring copper rings to hold the dia in place and can fit either 2” or 1.25” dia/EPS using the adapter supplied.
A quick look through the Dia and Baader EPs and everything looks very sharp during day and night. This is my first scope so I can’t comment on moon colour and all that but everything looked super white to me, and this is viewing through my room window glass which was, embarrassingly, a bit dirty which also explains some of the haze I noticed sometimes during the day.
Looking at the moon for the first time through a scope, I was really blinded by the brightness!! I don’t know if I should use sunglasses hehe.
I had the scope in my lap so was pretty much impossible to test the 5mm EP as the moon kept jumping out.
So overall, I’m happy with my purchase and for USD350 I can’t really complain. I will keep this scope for a long long time and might actually never part with it, its like your first born and as I move up, this will become my grab and go (along with a an Alt-Az mount im thinking about buying for those quick viewing days).
I already know what my next scope will be but for now, I hope that Melbourne gets some good rains this week and I can venture out into my backyard and have a look at the heavens next week. Hope to catch up with people on a night viewing session sometime soon. Not sure who owns an Onyx here so im happy to catch up with members in Melbourne if they are interested in seeing the scope for themselves. I really think it is a bargain at this price.