John

Thats a great set Dom

This is my favourite mak of the ones I've owned. It's an Intes (despite the Orion sticker !) MN61 an F/5.9 maksutov-newtonian. Lovely scope, great optics and very well put together by the Russians

Great looking scope David Here is the 6" F/12 Istar that I used to have - quite a handfull to mount and a challenge even for an EQ6 on the massive Meade Giant Field Tripod !

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Hi Dave, The conclusion I've come to over Unitron / Polarex refractors is that their quality, like many mass produced scope types, varies. You have had a couple good ones, others were not so lucky. I've had similar expriences with other refractors where I've had a good one followed by a mediocre one a while later. I reckon the Celestron and Meade SCT's are the same as are many scopes.

Hi and welcome to SGL The ED80 doublets are very nice scopes but I can't agree with you about a 12" dob. I've owned loads of lovely refractors including a number of the ED's and currently a Vixen ED102 and Skywatcher ED120 but my 12" dob out performs them in every way apart perhaps from the aesthetics of double stars. I can't compete with your 61 years of scope owning though - my own experience is just 35 years It's great to celebrate the scope designs in these threads but lets not loose sight of the high standards of performance and versatility that the wide range of scope designs available offer us - they all have their strengths and weaknesses

Interesting looking dob theritz What aperture and focal ratio is it ? My 12" F/5.3 dob has an Orion Optics primary of around that strehl - they are good

It looks a lovely scope Mel but it's a shame that the performance does not quite live up to the looks. I have read other similar experiences with these scopes so perhaps they are better to look at rather than through !.

Perhaps we need a definition of some of the terms we use when referring to astro equipment ?: Example: "I'm done" = "I won't be buying any more.....until I do"

With the exception of the 10mm I've resisted the temptation to buy and try more Deloi. I'll do the same with the Delites I expect. In a sense I think I know what they are going to be like so I'd rather invest in something which might have the capacity to surprise, in a pleasant way of course

Very nice Derek I've had both the 8mm and 6mm Ethos for some time. They are practically identical to my eyes although I find the eye relief on the 6mm just a little tighter. It's specified by Tele Vue as being the same though. Having tried a Delos in the middle of my Ethos pack (I had the 10mm for a while) I found I just didn't use it. I was skipping straight from the 13mm to the 8mm Ethos without feeling the need for anything in the middle. The Delos was an excellent eyepiece though in every respect, just not needed by myself. In fact I often jump straight from my 21mm Ethos to the 8mm and skip the 13mm but I won't be getting rid of that one. Unless the Delites are proven to be a step up in terms of transmission, sharpness and light scatter (which would be tough) ie: they get into Zeiss ZAO / Pentax XO territory, I don't think I'll be going for them as I'm not going to invest in them for the sake of it.

The 2" 2x Powermate is a superb piece of kit. I've tried a lot of barlows over the years but a Powermate is in a different league. What amazes me is that with something like Saturn, the full 100 degree FoV of the Ethos is preserved and also it's sharpness right across the field. I could see all the subtle features of Saturn including the ring divisions, shadows on the globe etc all the way across the field and they were still sharply defined as the planet slid behind the field stop, no focus adjustment needed, no slight CA creeping in at the field edges, not dimming at any point. Great optics Hope you enjoy the 6 and 10 Ethoi. They are just as good as the others in the range PS: Steve / Swamp Thing rates the Powermate as the best thing in his eyepiece case

Same here with mine

I've been using the Powermated 8mm and 6mm Ethos's with my ED120 on Saturn this evening. Wow !! How the heck do Tele Vue manage to get 13-14 bits of glass to become so invisible even with "just" 4.7" of aperture feeding light through them ???

Absolutely agree Dave

Great looking stuff despite the dust and cobwebs A lot of really large refractor owners (the scopes not (necessarily) the owners being large) would give their eye teeth for that mount. It would have been fantastic with my Istar 6" F/12 refractor

I found a similar effect when I had the Myriad 5mm and 3.5mm 110 degree eyepieces on loan from FLO Stu. They were very nice eyepieces but even I found 110 degrees just a little too much combined with the eye relief. The Powermate 2x has just been delivered (my 3rd one of these - when will I learn not to get rid of good things ? ) so I have access to 4mm and 3mm virtual Ethos's when I want them to compliment my short focal length Pentax XW's and Radians.

Have you posted a pic elsewhere in the thread or should there have been one attached to your post above ? Sounds a great collection. I did wonder about the 10mm Ethos myself but find that I skip straight from the 13mm to the 8mm so I've not pursued the 10mm. I'm thinking about the 4.7mm SX though. How often do you find you use the 3.7mm ?

Fair and interesting points Dave. I guess most people review stuff they have personally researched and purchased so remaining very detatched can be challenging. I've been very lucky having equipment loaned to me for review so I don't have any emotional attachment to it. It's easier to take a really critical eye to it then. There is variation in quality between individual examples of scopes, we know that but a reviewer can only report on what is in front of him / her. I've had a few "dogs" over the years I have to confess .

I'll be interested to see what differences you see between the ES's and the BST's and whether you feel any additional investment is worthwhile

Lovely cases Derek I recently decided to stick to wide / uber wide eyepieces so I've let all but my 20mm TV plossls go. They are great eyepieces though. The 20mm is my "Horsehead" eyepiece for use with my Lumicon H-Beta filter in the Autumn / Winter. I'm fighting the urge to get a 4.7mm Ethos SX at the moment I've bought Terry's Powermate 2x to use with the 8mm and 6mm Ethos so maybe that will quench the desire. We will see .....

Thats a lovely photo Phil JohnH really knows how to capture the atmosphere

Was this the review you were thinking of Dave ?: http://scopeviews.co.uk/Unitron114.htm This person is UK based. Interesting web site if you have not seen it.

Breathtaking selection of scopes Matthew

You have had some nice refractors there Spaceboy I've lost track of my old ones that I've posted here so apologies if there are any repeats. Here are my old ED100 (original blue tube), a bunch of Chinese 6" F/8's (Helios 150, Meade AR6, Konus 150 and Skywatcher 150), Bresser 127L, Meade AR5 LXD75, William Optics Megrez 90, Konus ST80 and the Vixen ED102SS which is sharing a mount with some of the others. All gone now except for the little Vixen