Which Refractor Is Best for $7000

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Originally Posted by clive milne

Before they were Veblen... I only paid $3600 and that was for a 7" made with the infamous NASA glass pour.

That's right - I believe they're now marketed as the Galaxsee 400x in Aus.

Cheers
Andrew.

[gregbradley]

Rally brought to my attention Takahashi TOA150.
This is a great scope and I know it is outside my 7k budget but I feel this will be one that I may be happy with for a very long time.

Takahashi and unquestionable in they're color correction and quality.
But furthermore I hadn't really considered everything in detail regarding the type of idealic setup I am hoping for. So all up I think conservatively I need to budget 20k. I can definitely feel that black hole in my pocket feeding on my wallet.....


+1.

TOA150 may be the best scope in the market in its class. Main complaint about it is it is a heavy scope and front heavy. But its performance is remarkable.

I think there was one that sold on Astromart recently quite "cheaply" at about $6500. Usually they are around $7500 to 8500 2nd hand.


Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

TOA150 may be the best scope in the market in its class.....

There have been various "shoot-outs" between Taka 150's and AP155's.

I suspect the market has decided the "winner".

While Taka's do come up 2nd hand, and AP's do so even more rarely...but also sell for significantly more than the original sticker price (if well looked after)

But hey...every man has his price....

I'll sell my AP300 Honders for a very reasonable $55K... Any takers?

[RobF (Rob)]

Hang on Johnny. There's no such thing as a scope that does it all and keeps you happy indefinitely. If you've really only been in this game since late last year (when joined forums?) you need to learn to crawl before running.

Have you learned how to polar align, guide, collect decent data, process etc? Sure a quality OTA will be a joy to use, but you'll still need a good 6 months of bruising your noggin' on the brick wall made up of those things before the extra few thousand you've invested will yield best returns. You definitely need to have some idea of mount, objects you prefer to shoot, optimal focal length and best camera for flattened FOV. There's a lot to be said for keeping your focal length under 800mm or so while learning to track and auto-guide initially. You need excellent guiding (and seeing) to gain from the resolution longer FL's offer.

Nothing to stop you whacking an eyepiece in and enjoying superb views of course if it all gets too hard from time to time!

[clive milne]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I'll sell my AP300 Honders for a very reasonable $55K... Any takers?

If you put a Ferrari sticker on it,
included one of these:
http://media.sdreader.com/img/photos...6/27/pump1.jpg
And could show us how to defy the laws of physics...

you'd be on a winner.

[johnnyt123 (John)]

Lol Clive......

Rob thanks for your information.
Honestly my alignment skills suck.
I can barely polar align and rely heavily on my guide camera to keep things in check.

I am not sure if I would but a scope of this caliber from overseas and hope it doesn't get damaged in transit....

There is a lot to consider so I will bide my time.....

[clive milne]

The TOA 150 by the way (in a rare moment of seriousness) is a pretty good
choice. If I was going to go down the refractor path again it would be either
the TOA 150 or the FSQ 106.

And even for a pragmatic, cynical bar steward like myself... it wouldn't take
too much to sway me to the dark side again.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by clive milne

If you put a Ferrari sticker on it,
included one of these:
http://media.sdreader.com/img/photos...6/27/pump1.jpg
And could show us how to defy the laws of physics...

you'd be on a winner.

Clive...I think you are a cool dude.

But I wasn't even thinking: Yay! "pi$$ing contest".

It was a *joke*......(it's not for sale)

P.S.
I lie.
I'd accept $500k or a low Km Fezza 458.

[RockHound]

Originally Posted by johnnyt123

Lol Clive......

Rob thanks for your information.
Honestly my alignment skills suck.
I can barely polar align and rely heavily on my guide camera to keep things in check..

Have you tried EQAlign?

http://eqalign.net/e_eqalign.html

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Rally brought to my attention Takahashi TOA150.
This is a great scope and I know it is outside my 7k budget but I feel this will be one that I may be happy with for a very long time.

Takahashi and unquestionable in they're color correction and quality.
But furthermore I hadn't really considered everything in detail regarding the type of idealic setup I am hoping for. So all up I think conservatively I need to budget 20k. I can definitely feel that black hole in my pocket feeding on my wallet.....


+1.

TOA150 may be the best scope in the market in its class. Main complaint about it is it is a heavy scope and front heavy. But its performance is remarkable.

I think there was one that sold on Astromart recently quite "cheaply" at about $6500. Usually they are around $7500 to 8500 2nd hand.


Greg.

Agree with Greg here, look on Astromart - they do come up. US exchange rate is still working in your favour, though expect to pay $500 + in shipping + duties and GST etc.

[Octane (Humayun)]

I'm not on Astromart, but, if one of these bad boys pops up, can someone let me know?

H

[gregbradley]

You'd be hard pressed to do much better than this for US$5400:

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds...fied_id=811982

It won't last long. The only reservation is 2.7 inch focusers are only good for up to APS sized sensors. 35mm or larger require 4 inch. But you could buy a 4 inch greasless AP focuser to upgrade it later. But the reducers would not fit but could be sold. An AP 4 inch flattener though is around US$2000.

Greg.

[clive milne]

Originally Posted by Octane

I'm not on Astromart, but, if one of these bad boys pops up, can someone let me know?

H

TOA-150

http://www.astromart.com/classifieds...fied_id=813431


Perfect condition. Includes Scopeguard case, tube balance weight, Tak rings, 3 Tak extensions, finder bracket with quick release and delivery to US 48.

The unit is currently an F model which is quite satisfactory for visual use. The criticism for the F model is that Tak used a nylon type of material for the internal focuser rails and under heavy attachment loads the nylon will deform slightly, the B model replaced these rails with steel along with some other changes. There has been no change in glass or coatings between the models.

I have three pricing options depending on how you plan to use the unit and for comparison purposes the current street price for a new B model and these extras delivered is about $13,400.

If you must have a B model I will ship the unit to Texas Nautical and have the F focuser replaced with a B focuser for $9,800, you pay for delivery from TNR. There is an 8 week lead time for the new focuser. The F focuser is yours to resell.

If you can live with the appearance of the F model but want the performance of the B model I will ship the unit to Texas Nautical and have the rails replaced with the new B model steel rails in the focuser for $8,700, again you pay for delivery from TNR. TNR can make this upgrade in a few days.

If you plan to use the unit visually or for light loads I will ship it to you as is for $8,400.

The unit is in mint/as new/unblemished condition. Photos on request. PayPal private has no fees.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Me to H ,my 'Lifetime' subscription to AM got canned last year , they wont answer any questions I sent them about this ? , so I suppose its just a dead few hundred dollars !!! .Out of my pocket ! ( stilll waiting for my 'T' shirt )
Cloudynites ( and IIS ) all the way now .

On the 7k question , I still think one of these new SW 152mm f/7 Quad's are worth a look at ?
Anyone looked thru one yet ? .

Brian.

Originally Posted by Octane

I'm not on Astromart, but, if one of these bad boys pops up, can someone let me know?

H

[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

The only reservation is 2.7 inch focusers are only good for up to APS sized sensors. 35mm or larger require 4 inch.

I'm pretty certain that a 2.7" focuser is large enough for an unvignetted image on 35mm

4" focusers are designed for medium format, like a pentax 6x7

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Originally Posted by Kal

I'm pretty certain that a 2.7" focuser is large enough for an unvignetted image on 35mm

4" focusers are designed for medium format, like a pentax 6x7

I had 2.7" focusers on my Starfires, and used to do 35mm photography (film) with no vignetting

[Kal (Andrew)]

yeah a google search shows this post by Roland stating that the 2.7" focuser on the traveller won't vigentte when imaging onto 35mm:


The Traveler itself is not the source of any vignetting. The inside
dimensions of the 2.7" focuser allows much bigger than 35mm coverage with no
vignetting. Adding the Field Flattener again does not cut into the light cone of
a 35mmfield. If any vignetting does occur, it will be at the very rear end at the
T-ring. It is the T-ring opening that could potentially restrict the light
reaching the 35mm film plane. Check the size of the opening of your camera. For
full unvignetted coverage, your camera opening, including T-ring, must be larger
than (34mm^2 + 24mm^2)^1/2 in diameter (does anyone know what I just wrote
there?)* Unfortunately, we have no control over camera manufacturers and their
T-ring system.

Roland Christen

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

My SKY90 has a Takahashi , Japanese'd sized 2.6 inch R&P focuser thats really expensive and nice to use , wont fit the 2.7 inch gear , and its as good as my ( Now sold) FT3035 , in a 127mm triplet) .
R&P Rule ..
Tak 2.6 inch vrs 2.7 inch of the rest of the world . 0.75mm pitch both .
Brian.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Agree with you, Brian. R&P is the only focuser on a refractor. I was pleased to see Stellarvue make a very nice R&P unit to fit to their refractors.
I remember well, the Astro-Physics 2.7" R&P unit-absolutely buttery smooth, and would never slip no matter what load was on it-I used to hang a Nikon F2 on it, and it was one heavy camera!

[gregbradley]

AP is likely different to other manufacturers as Roland often gets a wide corrected circle on his scopes. Perhaps I got that wrong, it wasn't so much vignetting as coma. Flatteners for it vignetted and without the flattener there was bad coma in the corners. This is a Tak FS152 I am talking about so other scopes may be slightly different.

My FS152 had coma natively on 35mm in the corners and when I used the TOA35 flattener it vignetted badly. A 4 inch focuser/flattener solved that problem. The usual astrograph setup is a 3.5 or 4 inch focuser that is offered. 2.7 inch is often for older smaller camera chips or for visual. You may get away with it but you would be taking a risk if you are planning to use an STL11 or larger sensor. I think it comes down to the size of the corrected image circle.

So if you do decide to use a 2.7 inch focuser you run the risk of too small a corrected image circle giving coma in the corners or a flattener that may end up vignetting. Perhaps it won't but most likely it will. Anyway that was my experience with a Tak FS152. Other scopes may vary with an AP most likely having the largest corrected circle in its class.

Greg.