need fast response please

[LewisM]

Are the older gold tube ed100 refractors from skywatcher apochromatic? Can the r &p be easily replaced with the crayford dual speed from the ed80?

Thanks

[DJ N]

Hi Lewis,

I reckon yes and yes.

The ED100 is a pretty good scope..... I had one for a very, very short time.... the only reason it went back was because I updated to the ED120.

As for the focuser, as I have a Moonlite on my Black Diamond ED120, I used the dual speed focuser from that on my "old" gold ED80 Series Pro. I am pretty sure the ED80 and ED100 will utilise the same tube (except different length).

Hope this helps,

Daniel

[MattT]

Lewis I have a Saxon 100ED f9 and it shows very very little false colour. It's probably there a little but I tend not to see this sort of thing. Planets are very nice through this little baby. Direct focuser replacement like the GSO one you once had is straight swap. The single speed crayford on mine is 96mm, the ED 80 might be too small. In short a nice scope, don't know how it goes for photography.
Welcome back to refractor land :lol:
Matt

[LewisM]

I bought an Orion dual speed focuser at Sirius Optics today, fitted it in the shop. Even BETTER than the dual on my ED80. REALLY nice in fact! Of course, the old ones are single speed Crayford, not R&P, and actually quite nice too.

Just got to change that bling gawdy gold tube... white and black here we come again :)

Bought a field flattener too from Agena seeing everyone locally seems out, and at $200 delivered, that to me was hard to beat.

We shall see how she goes photographically - if need be, I see a focal reducer in it's future :)

[Type M]

The Synta 100mm has very good correction and is close enough to being an apo in performance that it seems like a waste of time to argue about such things. It is a f9 so longer focal length than the f7.5 80mm and 120mm. The standard focuser is "good enough" for most things but if you can afford to upgrade to a 3rd party model then I recommend doing so because it will make a great scope even more great. But dont let that make you think there's anything really wrong with Synta's focuser. It will do the job unless you are very demanding. I think the 100mm ED is one of the best deals around no matter what colour the tube. :-)

[Waxing_Gibbous]

The 100 ED is as close as you'll get to apochromatic in the (brand new) price range.
A common mod is a Moonlite or FeatherTouch focuser which improves "handling" no end.
However at this money you might also look at the Sharpstar/Astro-tech 106. At f6.5 it's faster than the SW100 ED but it has great optics and can be pushed to f13 whithout grief.

[Larryp]

In this price range, you could get a North Group 102mm triplet, which is a true apo.
You would need to replace the focuser probably.

[LewisM]

I am happy with the trade. Got a dual speed Crayford, all fitted and she's a beaut.

Now deciding which focal reducer to use. f/9 is a bit slow... :)

[2stroke]

Going to get the orion one for ours to take it to 7.65, looks like bintel arn't stocking them anymore so ill have to buy else where.

[Type M]

Skywatcher have exactly the same fr as Orion because I think they are both made by Synta who just stick different badges on them for the reseller.