John

I'd completely forgotten that I did own a second TAL 100 R back in 2015. That one looks like yours Stu:

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Probably true John, any idea how I would find out the year based on the serial number?

The internal baffling is not the best so I may see what can be done to improve that a little, probably just with a little flocking material. Hopefully it will focus with the Tak prism which has a short light path. I may try to source a TAL diagonal at some point.

The baffling can be improved - I think Astro Baby might have covered this at sometime ?

I don't know how the serial numbers work with TAL's. With my 1999 one a serial number was etched into the back plate of the diagonal and printed on the instruction manual but diagonals get changed over time of course.

My scope had a shorter (than yours) metal dew shield and the diagonal fitted into the draw tube with a flared collar cast into the diagonal barrel. No stickers on my scope either.

I think yours is a 2nd gen scope that came out a year or two after. The optics will be the same as 1st gen (purple coatings ?) and the short focusser / finder is the same.

Mine was the TAL 100 RT.

Ah, the TAL 100 R - brings back memories for me - I bought a new one back in 1999

The earliest ones had metal dew shields though. I think yours is a 2nd generation one perhaps Stu ?

20x50 binoculars show a somewhat narrow field of view. You would probably find it easier to find Messier 31 / The Andromeda Galaxy with 7x or 10x 50mm binoculars if you have access to some.

15 minutes ago, Louis D said:

My in-laws' living room is a museum of the '60s with slip covers on all the furniture and original green shag carpeting.  Everyone gathers in it once a year for the Christmas gift exchange and that's it.

Sounds like my late Grandparents house - they had a "front room" that was only used occasionally. We used to get into trouble if we played in there !

6 minutes ago, GlenM said:

I found the optics on the Fujiyama had a little less scatter, but certainly not as comfy to use.

 

Glen.

 

I found that when I compared the Baader Genuine orthos, Fujiyama orthos (which you kindly loaned me ) and Astro Hutech orthos with Circle-T's.

The performance differences were subtle but I suspected that the more recent designs had higher light transmission and they did show less light scatter around really bright targets.

I found myself wishing for the Baader GO / Fujiyama optics in a volcano top body design but, alas, that never happened.

The Circle-T's still represent great value when you can get them for well under £50 on the used market.

I only know one person in the UK who owns one of these and he does not post here but on the Cloudynights forum.

Not a good purchasing experience but fortunately with a good outcome thanks to you keeping a steady head and a practical attitude.

Was this sold as a new optical tube ?

Have you relayed the issues you had with the scope to the supplier ?

15 hours ago, MarkAR said:

Good video by the way.  The more you do the better they will get.

I've moved the thread to an imaging section but left a link where it was originally posted

3 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

 

I think with me it's more a desire to have the set (2.5 - 13mm) than any real need for that particular f/l, although I do use 11mm from time-to-time.

I had that desire because I had all the other T6 Naglers at one time. Then the Ethos desire caught hold .........

6 hours ago, Nakedgun said:

TV discontinued their 11 T6 some time ago, apparently because of this ep release. Because I did not buy one when they were current I substituted an ES 82° 11mm instead. Had I known...

The 11mm is the only T6 Nagler that I have not owned or used oddly.

2 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

The slo-mo controls really are nice, aren't they?...

I love these on my T-Rex - you need long ones with a long refractor on board

Refractors seem to get pretty big when they hit a full 5 inches in aperture.

There is an 8.5 inch F/12 frac for sale on UK Astro Buy & Sell - it looks a monster (though rather lovely as well)

https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=157011

When I owned a 10 inch dob a 4 inch refractor was my "other" scope. It got a lot of use. In my case a Vixen ED 102mm but the long achromats are very nice as well. I think @johninderby has exceeded your budget though, unless you already have a suitable mount for a long refractor !

I just don't use 11mm focal length eyepieces - I can only recall owning one in fact and that was the 11mm TV Plossl. I already have the 10mm Pentax XW and the 13mm and 8mm Ethos which will get me by so no Apollo 11 eyepiece for me.

I did get a couple of Apollo 11 T-Shirts at Kennedy Space Center last week though and the new Apollo 11 DVD for my birthday a couple of weeks back. Don't need any more Apollo 11 memorabilia just now

Might be nice to have this in the living room for a while though - Apollo 14 capsule at KSC

3 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I wish someone would give me one of these eyepieces, as I'd sell it and put the money towards something useful, such as driving up to NE Scotland and going on a Burger King crawl with Ships and Stars. Or perhapse even buy a Tak turret and some other nice goodies.

Sounds like you think the Apollo 11 is a bit of a waste of space Mike ?

5 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

daylight review:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/687544-televue-apollo-11-reviews-here/?p=9867782

Nighttime review:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/687544-televue-apollo-11-reviews-here/?p=10009894

There are other reviews in that same thread.

Thanks Don. Those reviews were posted since I last looked at that thread.

29 minutes ago, Timebandit said:

 

 

I think a lot of the time it depends who you are buying from. There are "rogues" in all sorts of matters, and I suppose the astro community have these also. Which is a shame.

But I have purchased numerous equipment used. Probably 95% of my gear is second hand. But I have had some great buys. There is equipment such as my OOuk 14" and my OOuk 8" that I would of never purchased new. But second hand I managed to acquire top of the range equipment for a fraction of the new price. Buying used has allowed me to be in a great hobby with some top of the range equipment.

 

 

 

Same situation here.

When I bought my 130mm triplet though it was from a seller that I knew and one whom I could visit, view the scope in person and transport it home myself.

As to whether sellers are aware of all the issues with their equipment, well I think that might vary depending on their experience and the nature of the deficiency. I have looked through scopes owned by others that have clearly been underperforming but they seemed quite happy with the views 

They were not trying to sell them though.

I also think there the definition of equipment condition is bound to vary slightly person to person. One persons "excellent condition" might be another persons "functional but well used". Most astronomers that I've met are pretty fastidious about their gear though so if anything are rather cautious about how they describe things.

I don't know if you have read this review of the TSA-102 but in it the reviewer (a very experienced observer) makes some comparisons with the FS-102:

http://scopeviews.co.uk/TakTSA102.htm

Here is the same reviewers summary of the current and recent 100mm / 102mm contenders:

http://scopeviews.co.uk/FourInchBG2019.htm#_Toc26869878

Sorry that I can't help myself but my scopes in this category are the TAK FC-100DL and the Vixen ED102SS.

Edit: I've just seen this thread on the CN forum but I guess you have as well !:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/697317-takahashi-tsa102-vs-fs102/

Saxon are made by Synta who also make Skywatcher. The Saxon 200 is the same scope as the older version of the Skywatcher Explorer 200P. The mount is the same as the Skywatcher EQ5.

Liverpool Astro Society have regular open meetings where folks who need help with a new scope are invited to take them along:

https://liverpoolas.org/weekly-meetings/

There are kellners, orthos, rank kellners and erfles in that VT design and a few other less common designs such as triplane.

Some are from the circle T manufacturer (Towa ?) and some circle V (Vixen) and probably another Japanese manufacturer or two as well. The design (shape) was popular about 20-30 years back and housed a few optical configurations.

The orthos went from 4mm to 25mm I think. A few 2 inch ones were made in longer focal lengths as well.

These designs were available under a number of different brandings over the years. Apparently if you ordered enough you could have your own branding engraved on them !

On the Apollo 11, I've seen reports of purchases on the Cloudynights forum but few reports on how they perform. Some have bought them as collectors items and won't be using them. Seems rather sad to me

10 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The OVL Nirvana 82 degree eyepieces (4, 7, 16mm) would work really well in a 200p and would work nearly as well as Naglers.

 

Having owned and compared Naglers and the Nirvanas I can confirm that they are pretty close in performance. The 28mm is a 2 inch eyepiece but the 4, 7 and 16 are 1.25 inch as John says.

Pity that there are not more in the range.

Originally a £200 budget was being considered but some of the options being suggested have practically doubled that. I'm not sure that really helps ?