6" refractor on ebay

[ving]

I was this close (holds thumb and finger1cm apart) from considering this....

6 inch, f8 acro refractor on a eq5 (i think it is) going cheap cause the guy didnt put it in the telescopes section.... he ships to oz, but wont take payments to here?????

nice looking setup tho, i'd say its a skywatcher. comes in a nice case too.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/F1200150-EQIV-A-6-Achromatic-Refractor-Telescope-NEW_W0QQitemZ8253842897QQcategoryZ6 2242QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

also dont have the money atm... i'll be looking at buying a refractor mid year i think... if i am lucky and can get it thru SHMBO.

http://i17.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/05/7c/af_2.JPG

[janoskiss]

Mount does not look strong enough to me. But the main thing is that buying from China over ebay, especially from a new ebayer with 0 rating, is a huge risk I wouldn't be willing to take. Don't do it Vingster!

[ving]

yeah i know steve, i dont plan on doing it. I saw the zero rating too.
but like i said, he doesnt take payments from australia anyhow... he seems like an ebay newbie to me.

there is someone selling a 6" f8 skywatcher that lives in nowra tho.... $800 inc postage. once again the mount doesnt look great but fine for visual... fact is I am just looking anyhow. :)

[Starkler]

Dave, what do you expect this scope to do that your dobbie wont do ? :whistle:

[ving]

well the slightly longer focal length (f8) would give better contrast with planets... hey i didnt say i was dumping the dobbie!!!

its a refractor, so everything that goes along with that i guess. but mainly planets. no obstruction. but being a 6" plenty of clusters and stuff too........

:whistle:

...and stuff...

just throwing some ideas around in my head :)
I am thinking an f6 is more likely tho... and that would be more portable too

[janoskiss]

Longer focal length only gives better contrast with reflectors that have a 2ndary obstruction. Longer focal lengths can use smaller secondary, which gives you the increased contrast (more light in the Airy disk less in the rings). For refractors it does not matter. But for an achromat you get less false colour with larger f-number. Still, the false colour of an achromat negates any benefit of an unobstructed aperture for me. Refractor's gotta be apo if it's going to be used for planets as far as I'm concerned (with the limited knowledge and experience I have). But people claim to get great results with "fringe killer" filters. I'd love to see one in action.

[ving]

ditto steve, and i'll be trying before i buy i can tell ya that :)

[[1ponders]]

I shuddered when I saw that mount. :scared:

[ving]

are you ok paul????

[[1ponders]]

Trying to use that size refractor on that mount would be like trying to fire a cruise missile from a shoulder launcer.

[ving]

yeah but should i call a doctor? i do worry you know :p

[janoskiss]

Sounds like you'll need to go the Afghanistan for some training before you can use this scope, David! :P

[ving]

lol!

[gbeal]

Ving,
I agree with Steve, going to a cheaper achro unit would be a backward step when you already have a decent dob. Even for imaging, as the mount would cause you to shudder too after a while.

[ving]

mkay gary :)
just looking... thinkingof something light so i can take the family and the scope :)

sugestions?

[janoskiss]

6" refractor is not it then. They're big and heavy. Your Dob will probably be more portable. I myself have settled on a 5" Mak for an ultra-portable and grab-and-go scope. I am still waiting to hear from Bintel to see if they can get me the Orion 127mm one. The mount I still haven't decided on but it will be an alt-az of some sort.

[ving]

5" mak.... never thought of that... bit loing in the FL dept tho

after seeing RBs 6" on the week end and sneeking a peek when his back was turned (;)) it made me think.... but a 5" mak... i could easily fit the family in the car! :)

what do that go for?

[janoskiss]

Yes, they are tiny. $US399. Longish FL (1540mm) but that's great for planets. And everybody loves planets. :D You know you want one, Dave. It's been over a week since I asked about this scope still haven't heard nothin'. We could join forces and put some pressure on Bintel (or be nice and get a discount).

http://www.telescope.com/images/us//local/products/viewlarger/T09825Avl.jpg

[ving]

hey that looks pretty flash :)

still... the FL.... but it looks flash!
about f12 isnt it?

[janoskiss]

Yes about f12. But you can still get over 1 degree true field of view with a long FL eyepiece, so it's quite versatile. And being so slow it won't be fussy about eyepieces. El cheapo wide fields should work well in this scope.

[ving]

focal reducers are cheap hey?

[RB]

Wonder if this has anything to do with a certain peek-a-boo someone took through a certain refractor at Kulnura on Saturday night? :confuse3:

[ving]

partly.... you werent suppose to know that i looked :eek:

no, i have been thinking about a short tube for ages, but seeing your made me think f8 posibly wasnt too long.... i am still undecided

[gbeal]

Vingster,
the Mak idea has merit, I should know, being a Mak fiend.
If a refractor is your cuppa, and bearing in mind the grab and go, as well as the family, maybe join virtually everyone else and look at an 80mm or some flavour.

[RB]

:lol:
You're more than welcome to use it as long as you like next time vingsta.
I'll bung in a focal reducer to make it a f/5.5 for ya, so you've got the best of both "outta-this-worlds", how's that?

:)

[ving]

:thumbsup:

[ausastronomer]

David,

As others have mentioned, that 6" achro refractor would be about the largest step backwards you could possibly take. Optically it will be dramatically inferior to your present 8" dob and that mount is just an absolute shocker. A 6" refractor is a big telescope that takes a lot of mounting, adequate mounts are not cheap. Paul's analogy was appropriate, like firing a cruise missile from a shoulder launcher. Forget it, an absolute nightmare IMO.



Andrew's new scope is actually a 5.1" APO not a 6". The TOA 130 and Takahashi mount would have left minimal change from $15k, if any. Why would you think a $400 refractor is going to do something similar to Andrew's scope ?

The 5" Mak is a great little scope but its going to show inferior planetary views to your 8" dob. Is your 8" scope collimated properly ? I don't think I have ever looked through it ?

CS-John B

[[1ponders]]

Here's something to ask yourself ving. "Where am I going to grab and go it to?" Ie will you be taking it a fair way out of Sydney (nice dark skies), or will you only be taking it over to the Rellies places (same same old). If it's a get to a dark site scope then as a pack and go scope you could do a lot worse than getting an ED80 or Zenithstar on an AltAz mount or similar. But if your staying around the burbs and it's not going to be that much darker why not save your pennies for a light pollution filter for you existing 8" Dob. They look fairly grab and go if your not going too far.

[janoskiss]

Well, I'm considering the 5" Mak because I want something even more compact and easier to handle (i.e. move from place to place) than the 8" Dob: Something I could take anywhere in the boot without using the entire back seat for the OTA and half the boot for the mount like with the Dob.

Ah, and I found the ED80 lacking a little in aperture for planets. But under dark skies the ED80 is excellent for mid-low power and wide views.

[Starkler]

That is the ed80's strength IMO, but my 15x70 binos also do that well enough to satisfy me, so the 80 just stays in its box now :whistle:

[mickoking]

G'day Ving


I have a 120mm skywatcher refractor and I love it. I had one of the best views of the orion neb the other night using a 27mm panoptic with it, fantastic.

I quite often use the skywatcher in conjuntion with my 250mm Dob, its a good combo :thumbsup:

[Starcrazzy]

Hey Janoskiss, there is a guy selling a nice 5" mak..An etx 125, hardly used, with autostar..oh yea,,,that guy is me..lol:)

[janoskiss]

That's why I asked if you would sell just the OTA, but you said no (as I expected). I just want a compact scope and a simple AZ mount to put it on; no goto or motors or electronics.

[Starcrazzy]

yea, sorry..i just rememberd that..:drink:

[Starcrazzy]

Hey janoskiss..I am considering getting the 10" gso to put on my eq mount...how would you rate the gso's optics??

[gaa_ian]

Of course you still have the tripod & mount to consider !
I guess it would go on an EQ5 ok ? & a sturdy steel tube tripod.

[ving]

at the moment my 8" is perfectly collimated :) it offers fantastic views.... ok i was off track with the 6" apo but ultimately what i want is about 5-6" of aperture in a small scope that i can pack into my car as well as my family. my 8" doesnt allow the family to come along....
I often visit my mother in port stephens and she has pretty dark skies there. so i am thinking a short tube reflector or now a mak as a travel scope.

oh and i didnt expect a $400 refractor to do the same as a tak worht 10x as much... dont know where you read that :P if i could aford a tak, i'd get one :)

[janoskiss]

I do not have the experience to be "rating" optics of this quality. The best scopes I've used so far are the ED80 and the GSO Dob. The GSO was giving me a lot of grief initially as most nights I couldn't get decent clear images of planets beyond about 80x and star images always looked soft and washed out outside the very centre of the field even with good EPs. I tried a number of things to remedy the problem, and learned a lot along the way. In the end it turned out to be insufficient cooling of the primary. The "leave the scope outside for 1/2-1hour and you'll be right" rule just does not work most nights. Since I fitted a 0.3A fan, it's been a real pleasure to use this scope. It does 300x without a problem in good seeing.

[jjjnettie]

I was thinking of replacing my broken binos with a small refractor. Maybe an 80mm spotting scope that I can mount on the camera tripod, something small enough for the suitcase when you go away.

[Starkler]

I have toyed with the idea of getting a 120mm f5 short tube achro on an az-3 for widefield portable viewing. Dave47tuc used to have one and it wasnt half bad for dso's at low power. The focuser was pretty bad though but splendour trading sell the crayford as used on the ed80 pretty cheaply which will fit and would certainly be a worthwhile upgrade.

[Stu]

Hey Guys, One thing that I think is often assumed is that the telescope made in china 10 years ago would represent what is being sold today. The 6" F8 achro USED to be an absolute dog. Lots of colour. These were the old type with non-collimatable cell.

The new 6" F8 synta scope with the collimatable cell is a good scope. The cell is excellent with very low colour almost semi-apo like and the spherical correction and contrast you get is well worth $1500, probably more in my opinion. I know people who really like this scope and others that which they had never sold it.

Don't spit too much on the new version until you have looked through one. Blind reviews are not worth the computer screen they are written on. :)

I would love to own the new version, on DSO's under outer suburban skies it would give some very pleasing very sharp views.

Still, the only refractor you can point at venus is an Apo. Infact, the only scope full stop in my opinion. For planets a long focal length triplet is the best.

[Stu]

The sore neck must count for something! (<- insert nurse smilie here)
How long do you spend looking at wide fields? umm...must be that bannana lounge trick.

My neck just gets too sore.

[janoskiss]

4" Flourite Tak, Stu? What happened to the Televue 4"?

[Starkler]

THems fighting words :whistle:
:fight:

[ausastronomer]

David,

If thats what you are after keep your eyes open for a 2nd hand Celestron C5, 2nd hand 5"/F10 Mak from Intes Micro or the new Synta made 6" SCT. These scopes are all F10 which makes them a little more versatile IMO than the slower F12 to F15 5" Mak's.

Check out Houghy's 5"/F10 Mak at Lostock if he takes it with him. That is an Intes Micro M500 that he has and they are an outstanding scope.

CS-John B

[Stu]

Umm... well I could wait 2 years or get something almost as good now and who knows what will happen later. I have a soft spot for the Tak flourite scopes, more so than the triplets. Don't know why.