Hi lux coatings

[bish]

Hi all,

I've not really looked into the cost, but wondered whether it was worth getting my 250px hi lux coated? Anybody else done it?

Cheers

[keithatrochdale]

I would say yes, it should make it safer if you need to clean the mirror.

[crashtestdummy]

Read my review in the supplier review section under Orion optics for my 2p on the subject

[philj]

Its worth it, I refettled an old OO 8" Newt awhile back and the clarity was superb afterwards

[bish]

Thanks for your replies. I will investigate costs etc  and take it from  there.

Just read your review crashtestdummy - will tread carefully.

[estwing]

The test between hi or not will be one that's going to be done at Dobfest ...report will follow

[John]

My last two scopes have had Hilux coatings but I've not had the opportunity to do a "back to back" comparison with a non-Hilux scope of the same aperture. My guess is there is a little difference but it's not earth shattering. Our eyes apparently struggle to detect much less than a 10% difference in brightness but I suppose every little helps.

Keithatrochdales reply seems to imply that Hilux is more robust than other coatings but I was not aware of that. They are supposed to be quite long lasting though.

[swamp thing]

The test between hi or not will be one that's going to be done at Dobfest ...report will follow

Indeed

The problem with comparing hi or not is trying to find scopes with the same optical quality and aperture.

So far we've seen two scopes of the same aperture one with and one without. The problem being the one without had Chinese optics whilst the other had OO mirrors. So not a really fair comparison.

This is our plan

To compare two scopes of similar optical quality. The trouble is they are different apertures.

To try and get around this we'll use identical exit pupils. This should (in theory) produce images of deep sky objects with identical surface brightness. The only problem is the difference in image scale.

Cals 18" and my 20""both have nichol optics in them, so they should be figured very close to one another. The apertures aren't vastly different so the image scale should be close at any given exit pupil. We'll see how the hilux pans out.

There may be some other factors to look at as well though such as secondary obstruction percentages and how clean both primary's are to start with.

The last problem may be getting from eyepiece to eyepiece quick enough to be able to tell them apart. They are both pretty big scopes so side by side is gonna be about 10' - 15' at best.

If it's as obvious a difference as Hilux would lead us to believe we should see it though I would think..........we shall see.

[moriniboy]

Only if your mirror needs re-coating, I personally would not bother if the current coating is ok.

Is there something wrong with your current views, if the mirror is not figured correctly a new coating will not fix it.

[bish]

Only if your mirror needs re-coating, I personally would not bother if the current coating is ok.

 

Is there something wrong with your current views, if the mirror is not figured correctly a new coating will not fix it.

There's nothing wrong with my current views. I wasn't sure how much of a boost they give.

Steve and Cal - I will look out for your report.

[swamp thing]

Ps

Should have said there could be one further deciding factor.......the weather

At Dobfest II there is going to be three (or maybe four) 14" Dobs, two 16" Dobs, an 18" Dob and a 20" Dob. This could = clouds, and plenty of them

[Mike73]

All things being equal you'll get around a 5% increase in reflectivity from a Hi Lux coating compared to a standard coating. Personally I really don't think that difference will be visible.

Occasionally in the 'is it worth cleaning my mirror' threads people comment on how they don't see a difference between a clean and dirty mirror but after 12 months a mirror loses around 12% of reflectivity through dust and dirt getting on its surface!

I'm probably going for a Hi Lux coating on my 16" next year but the main reason will be for the longevity of the mirrors coating, I'd rather send my mirror away every 10 years for for Hi Lux than every 5 or 6 years for a standard coating.

I guess I just believe that if we want to see more then theres no magic coatings, no magic eyepieces or anything else you can buy....We just need to go somewhere darker and go bigger in that order.

[estwing]

Darker than where we are goin?!!! Looks like Scotland's on the cards!!!...like you say Steve going from ep to ep may be more of a factor than we think...anyway back on topic if you can afford the coatings why not ?

[faulksy]

Scotland sounds great be up for that. Back on topic now myself and Dan have compared scopes he recons my 00 with hilux is quite a bit brighter than his <)

Sent from my D5503 using Tapatalk

[Laurie61]

I needed to send the fullerscopes mirrors off for re-aluminising and sent them to Vacuum Coatings, they came back looking very nice. Unfortunately I must have touched the edge of the secondary and within 3-4 months spidery tendrils were appearing around the edge  so I decided to try the OO hi lux coatings and took it over for them to sort. When it came back I did think the view was slightly brighter although not a proper side by side comparison.

I then purchased  the 300 mm from OO complete with hi lux coatings, I used the scope the following week and as it was very dewed up at the end of the session I left it on the dob base with the front cover off. The scope is stored in an out building and next day I went in to get something and left the door open, this was a mistake as a local Robin found his way in and left a 'comment' on the primary I had gone back in to put the cover on and lock up when I discovered it.

I removed the mirror immediately and cleaned it, I spoke to OO later that week and they said it would probably be OK. That was in Oct 2009,  the mirror coatings are in need of a clean again now but are otherwise fine  

So from my experience it looks as though the coatings are quite durable. 

[Daniel-K]

Indeed

The problem with comparing hi or not is trying to find scopes with the same optical quality and aperture.

So far we've seen two scopes of the same aperture one with and one without. The problem being the one without had Chinese optics whilst the other had OO mirrors. So not a really fair comparison.

This is our plan

To compare two scopes of similar optical quality. The trouble is they are different apertures.

To try and get around this we'll use identical exit pupils. This should (in theory) produce images of deep sky objects with identical surface brightness. The only problem is the difference in image scale.

Cals 18" and my 20""both have nichol optics in them, so they should be figured very close to one another. The apertures aren't vastly different so the image scale should be close at any given exit pupil. We'll see how the hilux pans out.

There may be some other factors to look at as well though such as secondary obstruction percentages and how clean both primary's are to start with.

The last problem may be getting from eyepiece to eyepiece quick enough to be able to tell them apart. They are both pretty big scopes so side by side is gonna be about 10' - 15' at best.

If it's as obvious a difference as Hilux would lead us to believe we should see it though I would think..........we shall see.

make sure the collimated be the guru aswell