[Retrograde (Pete)]

Thanks for all the great information guys.

Originally Posted by N1

http://www.hutech.com/

If cost is not the main concern, the FS60 probably won't disappoint.

Thanks Mirko. The main thing that puts me off Tak is the cost of accessories etc. I've never owned a Tak (or even looked through one ) so would have to collect flattener & anything else I'd need from scratch (although I'd still need a flattener for the other options).

Originally Posted by blink138

flash has a 60mm sharpstar fpl-53 doublet for sale on iis classifieds at the moment!
pat

Originally Posted by LewisM

I was going to say what Pat said. I have personally looked through the EXACT scope on sale, and it was surprisingly good! I mean, REALLY good - rich view with good contrast when coupled to a good eyepiece.

Thanks for the heads-up guys.
From a brief search it seems that Sharpstar provide donor telescopes for Stellarvue & this model should be functionally identical to the SV60EDS?
I understand Stellarvue provide added value with QC & warranty-support etc (although luckily we have Lewis in this case ).

At 330mm it's a bit shorter than I'd ideally like & for photography it's FOV would be similar to lenses I already own (although likely would give better results at that FOV)

Originally Posted by Profiler

If you are considering a Tak FS-60 then you should also consider the Televue TV-60. ........

The Tak can 'in theory' accept 2' EPs with appropriate adapters but in reality is totally impractical in such a configuration...........

the TV-60 features a clever 2 speed helical focuser design which can't be snagged and thus damaged whilst on the move unlike all others.

Good info thanks Profiler. I wondered about the TV60 (& also the TV76). I'm quite happy using 1.25"eyepieces with it & already have a good diagonal that size.
Is the helical focuser a real option with a DSLR + flattener?

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

I bought a Zenithstar 71 for grab and go a few years ago, it's well built and has nice optics.

For the past year it's also served as my imaging scope, as it's nice and fast at f/4.7 with the reducer/flattener, although as it's only a doublet there's a little blue halo effect on long exposures of bright stars, which can be edited out in post for the most part.

Cheers Dunk - the WO seems like an attractive option. I can get one with reducer/flattener landed for under $1k. I've seen some shots with it & some do exhibit the blue halos though. I guess most people do a little star reduction on their images anyway so fixing halos isn't a huge extra step (however I'm just not very good at it yet).