Bresser Messier 127mm Achromat

[earth titan]

Looking around for a long, large diameter refractor for a while now. When this one popped up on the members 'for sale' section, I snapped it up.

I'd seen one in the flesh a number of months ago and was impressed with the build quality. Underneath all the Bresser badges it's a Meade, so the optics will be made in the same factory. In fact this scope is identical (less the mount):

Meade LXD75 Telescopes

The spec

Aperture 5" (127mm)

Focal Length 1200mm (f/9)

Accessories

8x50 illuminated viewfinder

Star diagonal

Bresser 25mm eyepiece

First impressions

The first thing that hits you is the size (I know it shouldn't be a surprise) but here it is next to my 12" lightbridge:

[earth titan]

Working from the front

The dew shield is kind of clunky. It doesn't retract, which would have been a nice touch, but it is certainly robust.

The mirror cell is adjustable. They have even put decent screw heads on it to make it simple.

[earth titan]

Tube rings are nice. Real engineering !!

They have a slotted handle which makes it easy to carry and felt lined. Nice touches.

The underside of the dovetail also has a stainless plate on it to prevent marking and damage.

[earth titan]

The focuser is probably the weakest part, but still no real problem. A rack and pinion, with 2" eyepiece, there is no slop and the action feels good and smooth.

One nice touch - The 2" eyepiece adaptor has a T mount thread on, thus making it simple to mount on a camera.

[earth titan]

In action

Well the day I got it, when I got home, the boys popped round and we went to a beer festival (hard life I know). On returning home, the sky was clear and I got the new scope out (probably not the best time to test it but hey - with the current weather!)

Mounted the scope on my EQ4/5 mount, which seems to be fine.

Jupiter was up and about, so here we go:

The finder is wonderful !! The illuminated reticule works nicely and the clarity is good. I checked out a couple of DSOs and they appeared in the viewfinder. Was sufficient to find and identify the hercules cluster.

Back to Jupiter

Running down the eyepieces, I finally got to the 6mm planetary. At this magnification, it takes a while to settle down as the length really means 'wobble' is pronounced but when driven, it was nice and smooth.

The view of Jupiter was all I had hoped. Normally I only get to see the main equatorial band clearly, with only one more faint but tonight - three clear bands. Not bad considering Jupiter was very low and the heat from next doors house roof (bungalow) must have been affecting the seeing. Looking forward to pushing the views later in the year when the skies should be more settled and Jupiter higher in the sky.

Overall verdict?

Good. Would benefit from a better focuser and lack of beer during test, but this will definitely fill a niche in my scopes - which is what it was bought for.:)

[John]

Excellent report - thanks for posting

I had one of those a while back - I see they have given them a smart new paint job and a longer dew shield now.

I really liked my scope - I added an 18" pillar extension to my mount to get the eyepiece to a good height when viewing the zenith area.

Very good scopes for double stars and I found that it showed me the E & F components in the Trapezium too.

I'm glad Bresser / Meade feel there is still a market for this scope

[JamesM]

Congratulations on getting the scope! A little like Meade's AR6 I always feel that the dew shield looks a little short on them, not that it makes a great deal of difference but you know what I mean. Do you know how heavy the scope is? Did you feel your mount was adequate in managing the scope?

Thanks for writing up your experience and await your next report when Jupiter is a little higher and perhaps when Orion appears to test it on the trapezium!

Many thanks

James

[damnut]

Hi There,

Glad you like the scope and it was worth the diversion , excellent write up.

Best Regards

Damian

[earth titan]

Well having tested it again last night, I can make a further report. I did a side by side comparison with my big dob, which is a bit like comparing the Archbishop of Canterbury and Jeremy Clarkson, but I wanted to know how they performed in use on Jupiter.

The scope was purchased primarily as a planetary scope, as using a bog dob on a 5mm eyepiece is a nightmare. I also wanted to test it on the mount using the EQ drive, to see how smooth it was as I shall be hooking a webcam up to it when it arrives from Morgans.

With Jupiter still low in the sky, I set both up and dropped in the TS 6mm planetary eyepiece, once I had Jupiter in the right location. In comparison, I would say they both gave roughly the same image by comparison, which is pretty amazing considering the Dob is sooo much bigger. I would say the dob just edged it, but then we got to the main problem. Once you have Jupiter in the eyepiece of the dob, it has gone and you have to keep nudgeing it around to find it again.

Over then to the refractor.

As mentioned above, about the same image quality, but because I can mount the OTA on a driven mount, I can spend so much longer at the eyepiece as it tracks accross the sky. As this is one of the drawbacks of the dob, the scope does what I need it to do.

The mount was nice and stable and no wobble or vibration introduced by the motors so should be fine for the webcam. Jupiter stayed in the eyepiece for a good hour without any real problems, so I can see SWMBO coming out and finding me frozen to the scope come winter months.

[John]

.... which is a bit like comparing the Archbishop of Canterbury and Jeremy Clarkson.....

Nice turn of phrase there

Good further update as well - its interesting comparing the views of the same objects with different scope designs. The results are not always what you might expect !.

[RikM]

Lovely write up indeed. I am looking forward to comparing my 10" dob and 127mm f/9 refractor as a side-by-side. I am waiting until I get my new equatorial mount in October though because the refractor is a bit too much scope for my EQ3-2.

[A McEwan]

Just wondering, does a "bog dob" have extra large feet to spread the weight so that it doesn't sink into the mire and can be used safely on marshy ground?

Thanks - interesting comparison.

Ant

[Guest]

Hello earth-titan.I am exploring the possibility of getting an achromat.Could I ask how you mount your 127mm.I have a Skywatcher HEQ5 Pinterested in you

[lw24]

Nice report. Looks like a great scope.

Up the achromats!

Clear Skies

Luke

[Guest]

I've been looking to get bact to a refractor recently.I like your honest views.You have also prompted me into considering The Bresser 127.

I would guess that at F9 the colour is well under control as well.Also the focal length is not too high as to give reasonable wide views aswell, say the pleiades

I think that I will butter up the war department this weekend.If she

gives the go-ahead then :p

Here's to crisp,clear winter nights.

Thanks, Martin