New scope (or should that be old scope?)

[MortonH]

Recently took delivery of an Intes MK-65, one of the original Russian 150mm f/10 Maksutov-Cassegrains.

Considering its age (about 15-20 years?) it's in fantastic shape. Had an extremely brief first light on the moon last night - just enough to see that the optics are in very good condition. Scope hadn't cooled down enough to see if any collimation is required.

Since I already have a Skywatcher 150mm Mak-Cass I'm looking forward to some side-by-side comparisons when I have time.

The most interesting feature of the Intes is the screw-on diagonal with integrated helical focuser. I've already discovered that I'll need an extension tube to achieve infinity focus, but other than that it's good to go.

The finder is really good. Many Intes finders were poor and small but this is 50mm with focus adjustment and is nice and sharp.

And it's small and light - around 2kg lighter than the Skywatcher, but still very well built.

Will I keep both? Who knows. Plenty of fun to be had first.

[Irish stargazer]

Congrats on the new scope. Scope acquisitions always cheer me up (whether I need them or not);)

[MortonH]

Yep, spent a blissful hour yesterday unpacking the box and putting the bits together. :D

[Larryp]

Good one, Morton! Claude from AEC sent me one to try out many years ago, so I am familiar with it.

[LewisM]

Great buy there Morton. I bet she performs like a champ.

Love the Maks, though never seem to keep one more than a few months as the refractor bug keeps gnawing at me :)

Won't be buying anything for a long while now myself.

[MortonH]

Thanks, Lewis. I was thinking about your new Vixen when I posted this. :D

Since my mount has dual saddles I quite like a Mak on one side and a refractor on the other - best of both worlds. But next chance I get it'll be Mak v Mak!

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one Morton, sounds promising, looks quite compact too :)

[JB80]

It looks very nice.
Look forward to seeing the side by side review, that should be interesting.