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Thanks all. Yes I am very impressed with this scope. Mechanically it is absolutely perfect, the Feathertouch focuser smooth and delightful to use.
As for the optics - the first question I asked before ordering was whether the scope would reach focus with a prism diagonal (they have a shorter light path) and a Nagler eyepiece. Catalin advised me that any diagonal would need to take up 66mm of focus travel. On setup during the day I focused on what I thought was a distant tree, and popped in a 7mm Nagler - unable to reach focus with the rack all the way out. Big worry all day. (I did not ask for any special tuning for this scope, so I assume I have the general purpose version suitable for photography. I don't think I would ever be able to tell any difference anyway.)
Night came. Swung the scope to Saturn. Perfect view with still 10mm of focus travel left (moral of story - trees 300m away are not at infinity). Crepe ring clearly visible.
Then to Antares, Xi Scorpio, 2 Scorpio, Nu Scorpio - all stars well resolved at only 131x. And that my dear astronomical friends is the beauty of well made Apo refractors - you do not need high magnification to achieve good resolution. That along with the superb contrast (I noted that the sky between stars in clusters like M7 or NGC 6231 was very very black).
Having previously owned a 130EDT Astro-Physics, I believe that this scope is giving me every indication of being better in every way than the AP.
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