Having had no luck with emailing Skywatcher for this info, I think someone here may be able to give me clarification.
Where does the Gold Pro Series scopes fit into the SK range?
Were they:
1. Just the colour between Blue and BD's with the word Pro thrown in, or
2. Are the a special series with some feature no present in the Blue/BD series.
I'm not sure but I think the only difference between the blue and the Black Diamond range is the focuser, with the BD having dual speed. As for the gold, I don't recall seeing an achro gold. They may have been a special edition for ED glass, even though ED glass was available in blue tube and BD. So confusing!
Sorry. Should have been clearer.
I have the gold tube SK Mak (tip of the hat to Lewis) and a friend has a gold tube 80ED.
They distinguished the series with a gold and cream colour scheme and they added the words Pro Series which I don't think is on any other series either Blue or Black Diamond. I am wondering whether it was a series that,
1 ran beside the Blue as a 'special' series, or
2. was just the transitional colour between the blue and black with the Pro Series logo as a bit of marketing.
It's possible that the words Pro Series was added because they DIDN"T do a gold tube Achromat and therefore the series was a range that was largely CA free. I suspect this is the case, but was curious about other opinions or knowledge.
Interesting to see on the skywatcher site that only the ED80 BD has the Pro Series designation and not the larger ED scopes or Maks. Why? What makes the ED80 a 'Pro'. It's only a standard ED doublet. It doesn't stand out from the 100 or 120 optically that I am aware of. Corredct me if I'm wrong though.
Trev
Didn't see that in the photos Kevin. I think I am right that the ED and the Cassegrains are the Pro series because they don't suffer from the CA that the Achros do.
I think the gold and the blue achros ran side by side.
Mystery solved. I think.
I didn't think you could get the Gold scopes new anymore; they must still make them for some of the overseas markets by the look of that.
I don't think any blues refractors were marked pro series and I've seen a blue 127Mak and that wasn't a pro. (Open to correction on this point).
What I think they did was introduced the Gold tube 'Pro' series to include the ED Doublet refractors and the Maks to run beside the blue achromats and used it as a marketing device. (regardless of single/dual speed focuser by the looks of it).
So having had the blues scopes, and then splitting off the Maks and Apo Doublets to run them as a Pro Series distinguished by gold colour, they have now rationalised the colour schemes to one colour (BD) and marked the ED refractors as Pro Series (I presume the little oval decal toward the rear says Pro Series or similar - I couldn't read it in those images), although I would argue the Esprit triplets better qualify for the title but it is obviously a marketing thing designed for the doublet ED scopes.
It seems the original Pro Series (Gold) was about limited, to no, Chromatic Abberation scopes but didn't include the Dobs or Newts, just ED Refractors and Maks refractors while maintaining the Achromats as a blue colour. (tho I am open to argument if anyone knows of Dobs or Newts labelled Pro).
Until new info arrives it seems clear to my mind, and I hope it has put it into perspective for you too Kevin.
Ahahah: just noticed in you link Skywatcher India advertises the 120Ed as D1200 F900:- thats one fat, short, fast tube scope.
What is that, about a 46" f0.0075. Hard to handle but short exposure time.
