Skywatcher Black Diamond ED120 OTA

[HarryD]

Hi all

Nice and cloudy in Sydney for the long weekend :mad2:

Any thoughts on the Skywatcher Black Diamond ED120.

I am looking at something like this to mount on an EQ6 Pro GEM and take some photos.

Cheers

HarryD

[Smyths77]

Hi,

There was a recent article in a British magazine called "BBC Sky at Night" October 2008 which compared some 120 mm ED refractors. The Skywatcher Equinox-120 was reviewed along with a Vixen ED115S, a Meaded 5000 ED APO 127mm and another similar triplet to the Meade. The Sky-watcher compared favourably to the others. The opinion of the reviewer was it had the best optics along with the Vixen - all were very good though.

SS

[toryglen-boy]

i have the very magazine. !!

Havent you heard of the sky at night over here?


:shrug:

[TJD]

looks like a good investment i personaly prefer larger scops that are the same price dob ota you can get a 12'' blackdiamond sw for $1300

[chris lewis]

I have had my Equinox ED120 version on a HEQ5 mount for about 6 months now. It It has given me very good images and service. I traded it on an Orion ED100 which was good in it self - however the ED120 is really like an ED100 on steroids. It gives me that extra headroom for magnification and brightness esp. on planatary viewing - Jupiter and Saturn displays a wealth of detail. 300x on steady nights is easily achievable witout deterioration of image. There is minimal CA - no more the the ED100 and it is an F/7.5 compared to F/9 of the ED100. The FPL- 53 doublet glass gives flat images that are sharp to edge and it displays no obvious zonal errors.
The consistency of the quality of the Synta doublet lens appears excellent worldwide. Quality of the Equinox is of a high standard. The 2x speed focuser is smooth. It is to be noted however some have had concerns which is related to roughness when focusing.
The ED120 has proved popular on othe overseas forums and generally gets excellent reviews and comments.
I think the 'almost' 5 in. ED120 'APO' - APO certainly for visual use - is an excellent choice for cost effectiveness and portabilty.
I have a colleage with a lovely Televue 127 APO and the ED120 gives about 80% - 85% of the performance of the TV and the TV costs over 3x times the price. My friend also comments on this also so it is just not my bias showing.
I have not done any A.P. so cannot comment but again results from others appear very favourable.
Get this and later a 12. in Dob. - and you will be smiling.

Chris

[DJ N]

Hi there Harry,

I bought one of these Skywatcher Black Diamond ED120 myself early this year, more so for use for astrophotography. I have it mounted on my EQ6 Pro together with an ED80 which I use as a guidescope. To put it simply, I agree with Chris's comments - they are one heck of a scope. Of course they do not really compare to Takahashis etc, but bang for buck I think they must be right up there. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a couple of links to some images with my ED120.......

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=43158

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=41550

Hope this helps in you making a decision.

Cheers,

Daniel

[Wavytone]

Harry some of us would like to get some observing in over the next two weeks, a clear saturday night would be much appreciated :) The correlation of new 'scope purchase and cloudy nights in Sydney is a well established phenomenon.

[saturn c]

ed120 nice scope.

[rustem]

hi greg

Bloodhound31, a fellow member here uses one of these on the eq6 for A.P and a great job he does.

A recent pic here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=435267&postcount=1

check his home page out here

http://www.asignobservatory.com

cheers rob

[allan gould]

Have the triplet 127mm and found it to an almost perfect scope. Flat field, sharp and no CA.
Especially with the Moonlight focuser - make sure you get one with the hand figured Japanese glass and not the machine figured chinese glass.
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-430
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/guides/prostar-gp2.htm
and one night of astrophotos taken with this scope and a 20D here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=37280&highlight=night
A review is here http://www.myastroshop.com.au/guides/prostar/prostar127-review.pdf
In my opinion a great scope worth the money and works well with my HEQ5 Pro

[Moon]

I would be interested to know how the optics of the Skywatcher Black Diamond ED120 compares to the Skywatcher Gold PROED120 ED OTA when used for AP. There's a big price difference (eg at Andrew's it's $2999 vs. $1799).

[chris lewis]

[QUOTE - 'make sure you get one with the hand figured Japanese glass and not the machine figured chinese glass'.


Interesting - how do you tell the difference between the Japanese and Chinese versions ?
I understand they all have the Hoya FDC-1 glass which is the equivalent of FPL-51.

Chris