I bought this in December before the tractor tradgedy, and its just as well otherwise I'd be scopeless. It just arrived this morning, as I wanted to wait for the upgraded 2.5" focuser version. This scope has the same optics and tube as the well-received AT106 by AstroTech.
I believe the only differences are the focuser and the logos on the lens cell.
Its quite light and easily fits the bill as a "grab & go".
Initial observing impressions are highly favourable.
It exhibits only the very faintest of fringing on the moon and that is confined to the outer 5% of the field. It may also be due to atmospheric interference as the moon was pretty low.
Contrast and detail are excellent. To my surprise, it even handled silly-high powers well (5mm and 7.5mm with and without Barlow). The scope showed no perceptable image degredation! Astounding.
I was unable to do any serious checks on field curvature as the Moon is pretty bright, obscuring starfields. Plus its pretty much all curved anyway.
Likewise, splitting doubles and discriminating clusters will have to wait a bit.
The Sharpstar / AT has a native ratio of f6.5 and I've previously only experienced this ability to handle big magnification at shorter focal lengths with scopes like the NP101, SV105 and TAK106. All of which cost double or more.
Roll-on the new moon!!
New "Sharpstar" AL106
