TS ONTC F/5 Newt

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Has anyone got any experience with these scopes?

They look pretty well spot on for my purposes when combined with the Skywatcher 0.9x coma corrector.

At 900mm this will give me a sampling rate of 1"/px which is bang on what I'm after.

So, sanity check before I push the button... anything else I should consider instead?

Assuming I go ahead, does anyone have a recommendation on the size of secondary to get? Total newbie when it comes to newts.

By the way, does anyone know about duty on reflectors? When I was looking recently I saw that refracting scopes have a duty exemption.

[SpaceNoob (Chris)]

I believe GSO truss newts are imminent.... perhaps keep an eye out for those too?

[LewisM]

You may want to ask Alpal about his complications with his TS ONTC ...

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

As a scientific instrument they should be exempt from duty but I recently found out that doesn't mean it doesn't incur costs to get out of customs. My stellarvue refractor was just over $1000 aus to import but cost another -225 dollars to get released from customs as they do charge a processing fee.
As for newts and alternatives.
I bought a vixen rs 200 from a local dealer then sold it , I found I missed it so much I bought the SW quatro 8 inch f4 from the same dealer. The focuser needs upgrading ( don't they all?) but am really happy with it. Great collimation knobs on the primary and feels well made. Hope to put a full review soon.
I bought the TS aplanatic coma corrector at the same time as it apparently is exactly the same as the SW one; however I found my mpcc so far is ok. Will try it out later.
In my mind nothing wrong with the SW newts or the vixen ones. Actually really tempted now to sell this 8" to buy a 10" SW CF. !! It never bloody stops ,,,
Have fun deciding
Graham

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Originally Posted by SpaceNoob

I believe GSO truss newts are imminent.... perhaps keep an eye out for those too?

Thanks for the heads up mate, unfortunately I'm an impatient bugger...

Originally Posted by LewisM

You may want to ask Alpal about his complications with his TS ONTC ...

Cheers Lewis! I dropped him a line; apparently his issues were his own doing, but he did upgrade his mirror at additional cost, but he upgraded it to the one mine is coming with, so all good it seems.

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

As a scientific instrument they should be exempt from duty but I recently found out that doesn't mean it doesn't incur costs to get out of customs. My stellarvue refractor was just over $1000 aus to import but cost another -225 dollars to get released from customs as they do charge a processing fee.
As for newts and alternatives.
I bought a vixen rs 200 from a local dealer then sold it , I found I missed it so much I bought the SW quatro 8 inch f4 from the same dealer. The focuser needs upgrading ( don't they all?) but am really happy with it. Great collimation knobs on the primary and feels well made. Hope to put a full review soon.
I bought the TS aplanatic coma corrector at the same time as it apparently is exactly the same as the SW one; however I found my mpcc so far is ok. Will try it out later.
In my mind nothing wrong with the SW newts or the vixen ones. Actually really tempted now to sell this 8" to buy a 10" SW CF. !! It never bloody stops ,,,
Have fun deciding
Graham

Thanks Graham! I thought I read somewhere about scientific instruments being duty exempt but I couldn't find Customs info backing it up. I did find a specific exemption for refracting scopes though.

Thanks for pointing out about the customs fees; I believe I have to go through a broker who charge their own fee ($77), plus the customs fee itself, in addition to GST (and hopefully not duty).

I pulled the pin on the scope tonight, so now the long wait begins, since they're all made to order.