Vixen VMC 200 and 260L

[gregbradley]

Are these scopes any good?

I have seen some quite good VMC200L shots.
The 260 sounds good buts it F11.3. Could be a handful for 10 inches
of aperture.

Any comments about these?
I am thinking of getting a 260 to tide me over until something more sizeable is ready.

Its competitors are the 10 inch AstroTech RCs, Meade ACF and Celestron HD. Possibly even a larger 14.5 inch F4 Newt with a Wynne corrector and feathertouch focuser.

Greg.

[Tandum (Robin)]

Get the 260. MyAstroShop has em on special and the reducer knocks it back to F7.1. When your done with it I'll have it

[rider]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Are these scopes any good?

I have seen some quite good VMC200L shots.
The 260 sounds good buts it F11.3. Could be a handful for 10 inches
of aperture.

Greg.

I've got the VMC200 on order as a grab-and-go scope, its only 6kg, and with no collector plate its cools quickly, so I hope to be able to sneak in some quick viewing session when I travel for work.
The VC200 is probably photographically better than the VMC200 if you are into happy snaps.

The 260 "big-cat" looks good if you have the cash.
The current model focuses through the primary mirror, I'm hoping they will lock it down like the 200 in a future model.

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

Greg,

Who makes the 14.5" F4 newt?

Frank

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by rider

I've got the VMC200 on order as a grab-and-go scope, its only 6kg, and with no collector plate its cools quickly, so I hope to be able to sneak in some quick viewing session when I travel for work.
The VC200 is probably photographically better than the VMC200 if you are into happy snaps.

The 260 "big-cat" looks good if you have the cash.
The current model focuses through the primary mirror, I'm hoping they will lock it down like the 200 in a future model.

Its a bit hard to understand the differences between the VMC and the VC. Vixen don't explain it too well. The VC is a lot more expensive than the VMC yet the bigger models are only VMC.

Focusing through the primary mirror is risky. But an add-on focuser would handle that.

Originally Posted by telecasterguru

Greg,

Who makes the 14.5" F4 newt?

Frank

Hi Frank,

It is a 2nd hand scope I think it may have been made by an amateur. It
works with a Parracor which don't cover large chips so it may require some fiddling around to fit a Feathertouch focuser and Wynne corrector.
Not sure how easy or hard that would be. It has a carbond fibre tube though.

Greg.

[Terry B]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Its a bit hard to understand the differences between the VMC and the VC. Vixen don't explain it too well. The VC is a lot more expensive than the VMC yet the bigger models are only VMC.


snip

Greg.

The VC has an aspherical primary and a built in corrector in the focussing tube that gives a very flat field across a 35mm size camera.
The VMC has a sperical primary mirror and a meniscus type corrector behind the secondary mirror but no corrector in the focusing tube.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Terry.

So I take it the VC is the better system. It sounds like a Tak BRC250 type style of scope.

A lot of scopes now are 2 mirrors and correctors. Its all the rage.
Planewave CDK, Orion Optics ODK, Ceravolo astrograph, Starizona Hyperion.

Perhaps Vixen and Tak were the first to mass produce that sort of system.

Greg.

[rider]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

So I take it the VC is the better system.
Greg.

The VC is setup primarily for photography, the VMC is an all round scope for visual and photo astonomy.

I received my new VMC200 yesterday.
(it has been bought for visual astronomy as a high-end grab-and-go scope and is mounted on an I.minitower)

First impressions:
-It has a beautifully flat field,
-perfect collimation out of the box,
-lots of contrast compared with a traditional 200 mac,
-wow! its light! (5.9kg),
-I won't be swapping the rack and pinion focuser for a moonlite - it's THAT good,
-I was expecting really bad diffractions spikes from the thick spider, but they are unnoticeable for visual work.

One thing to note is that these scopes are usually set up with Vixen's flip mirror arangement.
I am using a push-in Willam Optics diagonal, and it only just has enough inward throw to obtain focus at infinity. My SCT threaded diagonal with push-in adapter would not quite reach focus.

[gregbradley]

Hi Rider, nice to hear from you.

Thanks for the writeup. I was looking at possibly getting a VMC260L on Astromart but its since sold and I have gone in another direction.

Cheers mate,

Greg.