Martin, they are a great telescope until something goes wrong. It does not happen very often, but when it does, you have no other option but to send back to Japan. The local distributor cannot fix them. As I have found out. They are a very heavy scope for their size built like a tank actually. Great for both visual and photo, the latter probably needing flatteners etc. There are others here that can probably give you better feedback. I use a Losmandy G11 mount and it is fine for what I need.
Basically you really cant go wrong with anything Takahashi if you can afford to purchase the brand.
The collimation issues I had started off with an accidental thump to the end of my scope by my roll off roof, and I was advised by Claude that there was a local who could re-collimate, that all turned pear shaped as they had no idea and basically trashed the scope and it had to end up going back to Japan for a complete re-build. It is just as well that company went bum-up as they were useless. Claude was advised of the damage that they did. The report from the Tak techs was very damming or is it damning!! That aside it is now totally as new and working beautifully.
The one thing if find odd is that considering they are such a high quality brand that they do not supply a decent case with the purchase, it is triple packed in cardboard and foam, but that is it.
I daresay that others here will put in their 2 bob's worth which is to be expected.
