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Old 24-04-2009, 10:01 PM
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Peter Ward
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Telescope consumer guide: thoughts and ruminations

Must have had too much time on my hands....for your amusement.. some thoughts on a few pieces of kit I've had the chance to meet over the last few years

Royal 2.5” Refractor.

My first love who showed me Saturn. She was an equatorially mounted refractor with slow motion controls. Silver finish. 450x power! All I ever wanted after that was bigger & brighter.

Celestron 8

The Royal lied. Chuck really didn’t like Diana. As for 450x??? What was my 13 year old mind thinking. My first “big” scope arrived a decade later. It was black. Fantastic bang for buck. The heavens unfolded.

It took me some years to discover all C-8’s were not created equal, as the version 2.0 “CAT” I upgraded to (downgrade really, but the S&T advertising was slick in the mid 1980’s) was sadly a sow’s ear compared to my Vixen SP mounted original. After 35 years satisfaction still guaranteed.

Meade LX10 SCT

First one went back to the factory. Second one was not much better. Lacked contrast.
The forks hummed...I suspect at F sharp.....then again maybe D flat....

Losmandy GM100

Beautiful engineering. Now out of fashion, but the tangent arm drive in declination was sublime. No pregnant pause when reversing direction. Push either Dec button and the mount responded instantly. It worked beautifully. In a perfect world I’d still have one.

Losmandy G-11

Bought one as a little bird told me GoTo for the G-11 was soon to be invented. Still... hit it with a hammer...and not a lot happens...just keep on trackin’ . The design is very much Scott Losmandy’s baby, and has been developed enormously for well over 15 years....and continues to do so. Rigid, low PE, amazing payload capacity. It continues to evolve. Probably the best mount you can lift without getting a hernia.

Takahashi EM10.

Very precise and correct. GoTo placed somewhere in the 1960’s but functional with good American software and any PC notebook. Not an American 428 cubic inch muscle car (or Sumo WRX ) but packs beautifully into a Pelican case and is the perfect partner for travel or while on safari.

Questar 3.5

Nothing digital here...just inspired engineering from the generation that put men on the moon, flew the SR-71 and Concorde and probably also invented Velcro. They really *are* better than any 3.5” Maksutov since 1950. Simply the original “cool”.

Celestron C-11

Serious aperture without a too serious price tag. A beautifully behaved telescope that gave many years of service with a minimum of fuss. Not top shelf, but continually performed very well.

Astro-Physics AP130F6

I told the kids....if we have a bushfire...please grab the AP130.

Optical perfection in a small, fully machined optical tube that would easily double as an x-ray wave-guide. These telescopes are sublime. Perfect intra-and extra-focal patterns converge to a focus which delivers an image as good as the laws of physics allow. I’ve had many offers from others to buy it...from my cold dead hands....

Astro-Physics AP155

See AP130. But she’s a big girl. 4” focuser and field flattner makes her back-end even heavier....(no darling...your butt does not look big in black) but there are few telescopes out there than can deliver needle point images over a 6x7cm frame and are still waiting for CCD’s to grow up.

1st Gen RCOS 12.5” Carbon Tube

Big. Flashy, and with a little attitude. A top shelf performer to be sure, but lacked some refinement....that came in the later models.....

RCOS 14.25”

Carbon Fibre truss. Bugger-all flexure or focus shift. Zero expansion ceramic optics with superb thermal stability. Focus absolutely adjustable to 1/10,000th of an inch. Paul Jones took a while to get the optics right, but nailed them in the end. Mega $ bucks, while not Valhalla, produces images most sane mortals would be happy with....

Then again..is this an insane hobby or what...?

Last edited by Peter Ward; 24-04-2009 at 10:35 PM. Reason: pasted wrong version...
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Old 24-04-2009, 10:33 PM
jase (Jason)
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Yes...too much time on your hands Peter.

Didn't you also have a HGM200 at one stage?

I'll second Scott Losmandy's work, but the Gemini software could be improved...Rene needs to focus on some big ticket items such as absolute encoder support for enhanced robotic applications. This would provide value.
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Old 24-04-2009, 11:20 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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thanks for the history lesson Peter.

I am sure that there are a few others out there with as much scope and mount coverage as you guys (ok not the same hardware). it is indeed a pleasure for scopaholics to revel in the descriptions given.

without scope and mount reviews it would indeed be a mundane life
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Old 24-04-2009, 11:49 PM
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Blue Skies (Jacquie)
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Sometimes the new stuff isn't always better. The old orange C-8s have travelled remarkedly well over time, for one.

Thanks for the thoughts.
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Old 26-04-2009, 09:59 PM
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dugnsuz (Doug)
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Very enjoyable journey Peter - Thanks for taking us on it.

I too jumped from the crappy first scope (Tasco 4.5" reflector) to the C8 on the Vixen Super Polaris mount and know that "quantum leap" feeling!
Almost 20 years on, I hope to experience the thrill again.

Doug
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Old 26-04-2009, 10:06 PM
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leon
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Ah Peter, although I have not enjoyed all your toys, I have had such a brilliant time with the G11, and thanks to you enjoy the ease and accuracy of the Gemini.

Leon
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Old 26-04-2009, 10:42 PM
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Peter Ward
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leon View Post
Ah Peter, although I have not enjoyed all your toys, I have had such a brilliant time with the G11, and thanks to you enjoy the ease and accuracy of the Gemini.

Leon
A pleasure

There are a quite a few scope/mounts I didn't comment on: Losmandy GM200, HGM200, Meade 4" APO, Meade 4" SCT, Celestron 5, Guan Sheng 6" Newtonian, Taka FSQ106, Paramount ME, Paramount PME, Celestron 14....to give other than glib impressions would have taken a while !

I guess there was a point.... I don't think anyone makes/buys equatorially 2.5" refractors anymore...and the starting performance is so much higher these days for (relatively) the same sort of $.

There is so much choice these days, and I'm sure many others have or will take, a similar journey. The one instrument you *don't want* is the one that gives you grief rather than pleasure with each use !
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Old 27-04-2009, 09:44 AM
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telecasterguru (Frank)
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Peter,
Thanks for the thoughts, most interesting. What about imaging equipment?

Frank
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Old 27-04-2009, 10:22 AM
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netwolf
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Wow what a lineup of scopes, only in my dreams could i tick of all of those. But on the C8 i whole heartedly agree, the best thing i ever bought was a 8" SCT. Bot the Lx90 I had before and the C8 I have now are excellent performers. The C8 I have is Fastar and was originally I think sold on a Vixen mount same as yours. Its now riding ona CG-11 another remarkable mount, soon to be given a Ovision upgrade. The G-11 has a lot to offer and recent upgrades like the Ovision and other mods put it in a level playing field with the top end mounts.
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