[Wavytone]

Hi Colin... yup... I've had the Santel at 440X quite often. Initially I didn't expect there was much point taking a Mak this size past 300X but ... there is with this beastie, and I'm surprised how often it can go that far. Nearest competition is either a TEC 10" or possibly a C11 but I haven't had the opportunity to do a side by side comparison with one, yet.

Built like a russian tank - it is mechanically crude but effective with fixed optics and a crappy JMI crayford focuser. This year I'll overhaul it - mirrors to be recoated (they're 15 years old), add lifting handles (its heavy), blacken the interior parts, add a new backend, new Crayford focusser, new finderscope (the russians one is not great) and more blocks/rails for accessories and a heated dewcap.

The previous owner didn't dare touch the collimation for years - it was very close but not absolutely perfect - and with patience to perfect the collimation the result is simply amazing.

Saturn and its tiny moons are IMHO more stunning than Jupiter.