There was a recent article in a British magazine called "BBC Sky at Night" October 2008 which compared some 120 mm ED refractors. The Skywatcher Equinox-120 was reviewed along with a Vixen ED115S, a Meaded 5000 ED APO 127mm and another similar triplet to the Meade. The Sky-watcher compared favourably to the others. The opinion of the reviewer was it had the best optics along with the Vixen - all were very good though.
I have had my Equinox ED120 version on a HEQ5 mount for about 6 months now. It It has given me very good images and service. I traded it on an Orion ED100 which was good in it self - however the ED120 is really like an ED100 on steroids. It gives me that extra headroom for magnification and brightness esp. on planatary viewing - Jupiter and Saturn displays a wealth of detail. 300x on steady nights is easily achievable witout deterioration of image. There is minimal CA - no more the the ED100 and it is an F/7.5 compared to F/9 of the ED100. The FPL- 53 doublet glass gives flat images that are sharp to edge and it displays no obvious zonal errors.
The consistency of the quality of the Synta doublet lens appears excellent worldwide. Quality of the Equinox is of a high standard. The 2x speed focuser is smooth. It is to be noted however some have had concerns which is related to roughness when focusing.
The ED120 has proved popular on othe overseas forums and generally gets excellent reviews and comments.
I think the 'almost' 5 in. ED120 'APO' - APO certainly for visual use - is an excellent choice for cost effectiveness and portabilty.
I have a colleage with a lovely Televue 127 APO and the ED120 gives about 80% - 85% of the performance of the TV and the TV costs over 3x times the price. My friend also comments on this also so it is just not my bias showing.
I have not done any A.P. so cannot comment but again results from others appear very favourable.
Get this and later a 12. in Dob. - and you will be smiling.
Chris
Last edited by chris lewis; 16-04-2009 at 06:14 AM.
I bought one of these Skywatcher Black Diamond ED120 myself early this year, more so for use for astrophotography. I have it mounted on my EQ6 Pro together with an ED80 which I use as a guidescope. To put it simply, I agree with Chris's comments - they are one heck of a scope. Of course they do not really compare to Takahashis etc, but bang for buck I think they must be right up there. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a couple of links to some images with my ED120.......
Harry some of us would like to get some observing in over the next two weeks, a clear saturday night would be much appreciated The correlation of new 'scope purchase and cloudy nights in Sydney is a well established phenomenon.
I would be interested to know how the optics of the Skywatcher Black Diamond ED120 compares to the Skywatcher Gold PROED120 ED OTA when used for AP. There's a big price difference (eg at Andrew's it's $2999 vs. $1799).
[QUOTE - 'make sure you get one with the hand figured Japanese glass and not the machine figured chinese glass'.
Interesting - how do you tell the difference between the Japanese and Chinese versions ?
I understand they all have the Hoya FDC-1 glass which is the equivalent of FPL-51.
The correlation of new 'scope purchase and cloudy nights in Sydney is a well established phenomenon.
