I have owned an incarnation of this scope, "Focal" branded (or something like that). It was free, on the side of the road. I took it home, and cleaned it up. Mirror, even though subjected to salt water river spray for probably 20 years, had only one MINOR spot. The tube was a little rusty, so I cleaned and repainted (in classic Celestron Orange of all things!).
I was not expecting much out of it visually, but I was STUNNED by actually how good it was!!! Yes, the mount is nothing much at all, but the optics, being Toya, are VERY VERY good (except the finder, which like most of its genre, are garbage).
I sold it at a garage sale for $40. Kind of regret it, as it surely gave sharper images than most cheap Chinese Dobs I have looked through.
$85 is highish in my opinion on it, but considering the optical quality, maybe not so bad. Be nice to make it into a Dobsonian with one of Alex's mounts.
PS: it's amazing what can be done with small scopes, despite the rampant Aperture Fever:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=118280
Just takes longer...
