John

Interesting - I wonder how it would compare with a Vixen VC200L ?

Same happened here Derek - I thought of you and the 2 scopes when the clouds came over last night Hopefully another clear night will present itself very soon.

It's probably just me but colour matching is not too high up my list of criteria for astro equipment Mostly I use the equipment in the dark and when it's not in use it's in a box or cupboard.

Jupiter seems nice and steady here ATM. Hope it is similar for you Derek

If your seeing is up to it, Jovian features such as festoons are quite a good test. If you are prepared to wait for Saturn, I've yet to see Enceladus with 100mm wheras the 120 has done it plus the Crepe ring can be tough at these apertures. Splitting Antares (if you have the horizon and seeing for it ?) will really test the scopes as well. Zeta Hercules is well placed. I guess what you want to compare is the acuity of the scopes, quality of the star image, CA control and any SA present, that sort of thing. The additonal 20mm should make fainter stars and DSO's easier so thats not such an issue perhaps ?

Point very well taken Derek

Yes - I've just realised my boo boo there ! The focal ratio is different but the focal length is the same, doh !

The stock focuser on my Vixen ED102SS wore out as well. It was very good when I first got the scope but after around 6 years (the scope was around 15 years old by then) I was having to adjust the tension quite often so I changed to a Moonlite. If I still have the Tak FC100DL in, say, 10 years time I'll budget for a replacement focuser

It will be interesting Derek. I've made the same comparison (FC100DL in my case so the FL is the same too) quite a few times but I'll wait to hear about your results with interest rather than chipping in any of my findings prematurely

I'm quite happy with the stock focuser on my DL but others seem to feel that they need to be replaced so I'm in the minority I guess. I feel my DIY finder mount solution looks at least as tidy as the Tak FQR1 too but I guess thats a matter of opinion. But, hey, thats £350 of accessories that I don't need to get for the Tak I could get a nice 3-6 Nagler zoom for that ! Interesting that the Primaluce focuser is a re-branded GSO/Revelation.

Oh it's a wonderful little finder and beautifully made but I find the lowly Skywatcher 6x30 RACI does the job just as well and is much more comfortable in use, for me. My poor little Tak 6x30 and it's cast mount are back in their box I'm afraid

Do you use the stock straight through Tak finder Jeremy ? I have one and it's wonderful quality but I just find RACI more convenient to use.

I might go for one of those for my FC100DL. I've currently fitted a Skywatcher quick release bracket on small spacers, which does the job but the FQR1 seems a neat solution to making the stock finder easy to pop on and off.

Very nice Derek - looks a really neat upgrade

Welcome to the forum What great taste in scopes you have - Takahashi and APM/TMB/LZOS - same here !

I think I'd go for a 127mm mak-cassegrain rather than the AR102 in all honesty. If it was a nice ED doublet refractor (eg: Skywatcher ED100) I might swing the other way.

I've owned a few mak-cassegrains but never for very long - the cool down times don't suite my observing too well. I owned a good Russian 6" F/5.9 maksutov-newtonian for nearly a year alonside an ED120 (4.7") refractor and compared them regularly during that period. The mak-newt's additional aperture gave it a definite edge when viewing deep sky objects but on the planets, the moon and double stars I found very little difference between the two scopes. After a while I decided to let the Mak-Newt go to a new home because the two scopes were very evenly matched and I could not keep both. I would expect a decent 6" mak-cassegrain to be in a similar league, maybe ?

I've just found it

Very nice indeed Derek I shall really look forward to your reports on using that scope

Nope, it's a standard Ercole (apart from the base plate addition). It's my 2nd time around with the design so "Ecole II" for me

Glad this one has gone to a good home

Ercole II: This time I'm going to learn to love it !

Not sure why I felt I needed to add "not my sale" to my last post ?. If I'd owned a 12" Lomo mak-newt it would have been plastered all over this forum for months now ?

I can lock the central column down Jeremy. I had it up when the photo was taken because I was observing the moon while standing. The Slik Master Classic is a pretty robust tripod all round I have to say but I agree that having the central column up increases the vibrations experienced.

This is my Tele Vue Ranger ED 70mm on the Universal Astronomics Dwarfstar Mount fitted to the Slik Master Classic tripod. Bit of a mouthful of titles for a compact setup but there you go ! Total weight as you see it is 4.25kg / 9 lbs 5 oz. I tried a carbon tripod with the scope and mount recently but the stability dropped markedly for a weight saving of around 400g so I went back to the Slik Master, which is pretty stable up to 150x. Probably about as portable a setup as I'm going to be able to put together.