Takahashi TSA-120 vs. TOA-130 - Page 2

issdaol (Phil) · #21 26-08-2014, 10:49 AM

I would not be too concerned about the Takahashi supplier here.

In my experience with them they have gone out of their way to look after me and give me the best possible price. In fact the level of sales service from them has been equal to and superior to Bintel (who I also think are very good) in a lot of instances.

However I dont expect them to be repair experts if anything happens or goes wrong with my gear. But I am sure they will help facilitate any warranty work or repairs that need to be sent back to Takahashi in Japan.

thomqos (Russell) · #22 26-08-2014, 12:50 PM

Yes I agree. My experience is all good so far. Prompt & helpful.

thomqos (Russell) · #23 26-08-2014, 10:24 PM

Does anyone have suggestions for a locally available hard case for the TSA-120?

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #24 27-08-2014, 06:54 AM

Look at the link here for Astronomy Alive , they do a very good custom case , I am getting one made now for my iStar 127mm , I will report here when it arrives .
Brian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomqos

Does anyone have suggestions for a locally available hard case for the TSA-120?

RD400C (Garth) · #25 27-08-2014, 09:18 PM

I found that a pelican product has done the job for me. Have a look at the range. Cheers Garth

LewisM · #26 27-08-2014, 11:49 PM

I may have a spare aluminium hard case that may fit it. Will measure it tomorrow.

thomqos (Russell) · #27 31-08-2014, 08:10 AM

I looked at some pelican cases online. Found one that was about 100 x 30 x 30cm, but it was dearer than the tak. Case! Close to $1k.

RD400C (Garth) · #28 31-08-2014, 10:28 AM

Have a look at this one, it fits a TOA 130 ok, I think the TSA would fit in with accessories etc

http://www.seaoptics.com.au/products...arge/1740-long

SkyWatch (Dean) · #29 31-08-2014, 10:57 AM

I use a Skywatcher one for my TSA102. Fits it really well with a bit or room to spare (and mine has the fixed dew-shield so is longer).
Seem to be two types available now: http://www.astroshop.com.au/products...sp?id=MAS-064C
and this one:
http://www.ozscopes.com.au/skywatche...nium-case.html

One of those might fit.

Based on my 102 I am sure you will love the view through the 120!

- Dean

casstony · #30 31-08-2014, 11:16 AM

The dew shield on the TSA120 is quite wide - it would pay to measure it and ask if it fits in the Skywatcher case before purchase.

thomqos (Russell) · #31 03-09-2014, 09:24 PM

Thanks. Will check it out...

thomqos (Russell) · #32 18-10-2014, 03:41 PM

Well here's a 1st light report - finally.

My tsa-120 rolled up yesterday & I took it out last night for first viewing.
Transparency was'nt great & seeing a little average.

I don't have a finder yet, but I've hooked up a telrad to the top mounting ring; I got the parallax rings & joe nastasi was great; he made up a little aluminium plate which bolts to the top ring so I could stick my telrad on it. I highly recommend doing this.

I first pointed to saturn and stuck in my 35mm panoptic for 26x.. I got a little worried. Then I switched to a 17.3mm delos for about 50x... Something was still wrong; no rings, or even at least an elongated disk! Now I got more worried! Then I went to 150x and realised I was actually looking at mars :-) Oops! It was pretty small with maybe a hint of detail, but the seeing was swimming so I gave up & went back to low power.

47 tuc. Looked really nice - best at about 50x. However, I was entranced by the view of ngc6752 in pavo for quite some time, studying it with a variety of magnifications from 26x up to 100x. Like 47 tuc, i found it looked best in my 17.3 delos at about 50x. I could see maybe two dozen tiny pinpoint stars superimposed over a diffuse glow. A very pleasing view. Ngc253 looked washed out, which I think was a testament to the transparency last night. Certainly the low power views were pleasing and sharp. I did look at 1 bright star at 150x to check out the airy disk.. It looked very clean. Only my view of mars wasn't too pleasing - at low power the disk didnt really look like a disk, with what I thought was a little flaring to one side as I racked to either side of focus - but maybe that to some extent was because at that stage I was expecting saturn ;-). However, at 150x the disk was clearly defined & gibbous. Noticeably dimmer than in my 10", as expected.

I am pleased so far with the scope. Build quality is absolutely exceptional and the scope looks soooo much better than it does in photos, which don't do it justice.

My other scope is a 10" f6 newt. which has first rate optics. At this stage, the view through the tak. so far is certainly just as sharp, but I don't think better. Some people promote refractors as having almost magical powers, but the reality is that they are bound by the same laws of physics as a top quality newtonian. We'll see how it stacks up better over time.

Though I will do side by side comparisons with my newt, my first experience with the tak. Certainly didn't leave me wanting for more aperture.

The scope is a joy to use & sits like a rock on my g11 mount, which will eventually also mount my newt. once I rebuild it into a new OTA.

garymck (Gary) · #33 18-10-2014, 05:58 PM

Hi,

I too have just got a TSA 120, and I also have a CPC 1100 in an observatory.

I purchased the Tak reasoning that I live in a light polluted are (Geelong ) and no matter how large an aperture I've tried fuzzies are dim or nor viewable at all. This means that targets for visual are going to be globulars, clusters, doubles, asterisms and planets. The planets are taken care of by the c11 which has excellent optics. All the other stuff is taken care of by the Tak. The view through it is aesthetically beautiful, tiny stars , high contrast, maximum resolution for the aperture. I have owned large newts with good optics, but every time I go "wow" at a view it is always when I look through a refractor....hence the TSA purchase. Something pretty dire would have to happen for this scope to part company with me. My lady has instructions to carefully pack it in to my coffin :-) when I keel over.

cheers Gary

thomqos (Russell) · #34 18-10-2014, 10:36 PM

Gary,
Yes, Last night I certainly just enjoyed casually looking at star fields. Very pleasing seeing sharp stars everywhere.

What rings did you get for your scope?

Russ

garymck (Gary) · #35 18-10-2014, 11:41 PM

Russ,

I got the Tak Clamshell - like it very much. Couldn't come at the Tak finderscope & bracket due to price, so used an old GSO that I airbrushed to Takahashi colors - I posted the formula for the paint elsewhere here.

cheers
Gary

SkyWatch (Dean) · #36 19-10-2014, 10:32 AM

Sound great: thanks for the report.

Did you manage to get a case for it?

Happy viewing!

- Dean

Dave47tuc (David) · #37 19-10-2014, 12:38 PM

[QUOTE

My other scope is a 10" f6 newt. which has first rate optics. At this stage, the view through the tak. so far is certainly just as sharp, but I don't think better. Some people promote refractors as having almost magical powers, but the reality is that they are bound by the same laws of physics as a top quality newtonian. We'll see how it stacks up better over time.

Though I will do side by side comparisons with my newt, my first experience with the tak. Certainly didn't leave me wanting for more aperture[/QUOTE]

Hi Russell,
Glad your TSA has arrived

you obviously will not get a great view of Saturn or Mars now. The Tak will not compare to your newt

As we have tested many years ago that 10" of yours is some scope and will out preform many a scope.
But some may say things differently, but they have not looked or tested your 10"

But the Tak will complement your Newt very nicely that's for sure.
Hope you have many satisfying nights under the stars with it

thomqos (Russell) · #38 20-10-2014, 06:22 PM

well i'm certainly itching to put the tak. through it's paces more.
have'nt got a hard case for it yet though; i'm stuck on that problem presently... does anyone in oz have experiences with scopeguard cases?
anyhow, my bank account is SEVERELY abused at present...!!!. so i will wait a while for the hard case decision!!!

pluto (Hugh) · #39 20-10-2014, 08:09 PM

I use a Tenba case with my TSA-120, it's not a hard case but it's fine for how I transport my scope. It is made of really tough nylon and has rigid walls and base, I think it would protect the scope from minor scratches and dings though not from a heavy hit. It has straps in it attached to the base which I securely fasten around the scope when it's in the case so that it doesn't move around.

Depending on how you transport and store your scope it could be an alternative to consider.
It's this model:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...34_TriPak.html
And here are some pics with a TSA-120 in it:
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds...fied_id=726253

thomqos (Russell) · #40 12-11-2014, 11:07 AM

Well last night was the 2nd time I got to use my TSA-120.. For a few reasons, I haven't been able to get it out the last couple of weeks.

The seeing was really good last night so I cranked up the magnification and OMG!!!... this scope produces great star images...!!! Achernar's Airy disk at magnification looked amazing!!! From 150-375x, I've never seen anything like this...!!!!! The lack of diffraction spikes really made it easy to see an apparently perfect airy disk. Stars just look beautiful!! Star colours seem to be presented nicely.

At 50x with averted imagination I think I could see mottling in NGC253 & NGC55 from suburban Melbourne. 47 Tuc. looked great & the scanning the LMC was fun at 26x. But I spent most of the time just looking at stars, because they look so nice!

However, not everything is perfect though... at 375x on Achernar, I could easily see false colour as the seeing caused the image to shift in & out of focus. In focus it seemed OK, but at 375x it's sometimes hard to tell whether the image is in focus or not due to the seeing.
Has anyone else noticed this with the TSA-120?

Am nonetheless very pleased with this exceptionally built scope.
Still don't have a hard case yet :-(