Chris

Do you even need to ask!?

I think you've just invented burlesque for telescopes, garry

I ordered a Celestron Handheld digital microscope midday last Thursday, arrived the following Tuesday within the stated 2-4 working days. It's a nifty little thing, I'm already having fun using it with the kids. Thanks FLO https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-microscopes/celestron-handheld-digital-microscope.html

I bet it's very Tak-tile

Is it a Tak, Garry? Lots of Tak's purchased lately.

Like you I've been underwhelmed by one SCT and elated by others, especially the Edge HD. The compact aperture and comfort are both such attractive features that it's worth the lottery to find a good one. I'm glad you have a really good one for everyone there to enjoy. A very enjoyable review

Which of your cameras was this with, Neil? I do like how flat the field is if you didn't use a coma corrector? I'm just wondering if the blob on the full frame might be amp glow?

Smart looking setup, I didn't realise you could use the Q module with the 76 objective, but I don't see why not thinking about it. I find all the Tak stuff/configurations a bit confusing if I'm honest

Looks nice in Red too!

Sorry for the thread bump, but I'm starting to think you can see them visually! I chanced upon this thread whilst researching why I seem to be seeing some sort of diff spikes on Jupiter with my Vixen 80mm achromat. They are a bit fainter than with my Newtonian during a side by side test, but they seem to be there, among other things.

Well I didn't want to sell it, Robin. The ED100 IS a cracking scope! Luckily it's gone to someone I know and like from the forum which made it more bearable I had the perfect storm of several big expenses hit me at once you see, so ended up selling the ED100 and Heq5 plus other bit's and bobs, then replaced them with cheaper alternatives to free up cash. I'm not enjoying the cheaper alternatives if I'm honest, it seems that either you get a good lens and lousy build quality or good build quality and not so great lens (subject to further testing).

Congrats! I sold the ED100 to free up funds, so now I can be jealous of both your Moonlite and your ED100 I just have a little Vixen 80mm achro currently, it's well built but not that impressed with the lens so far....needs another outing to be sure.

I think the gap between China and Japan made optics is definately closing Dave. China are clearly getting good judging by some of the Strehl ratings on their ED's I've seen recently, we are talking well above 0.9 Strehl consistantly for the SW ED120's, Equinox, and Esprit's! I wish I had bookmarked the info, someone was testing the poly Strehl for LOTS of different scopes, high end and low end. My new Vixen A80Mf is China made as you know, The build quality looks and feels very good, I guess being critical the focuser could be a bit better but I've seen worse.

Hi John, agreed, I think the 80SF is a SW ED80 clone (prefer the Vixen white but much harder to come by). Plus when I was talking to Opticron (Vixen UK) regarding their clearance scopes on ebay, they said they were made in one of the Synta factory's but Vixen spec higher grade optics and oversee production and QC with regard to their scopes. I'd say there was/is a relationship between Synta and Vixen. My order of quality goes SW-3rd, Celestron-2nd, Vixen-1st, when it comes to Synta products. This is what I've observed.....someone may take the bate on this?

Ah I see, I never went in for all that, when I was imaging I just used a polar align App which told me where to place Polaris in the reticle, once done I'd mount my OTA etc. I've had a couple of AVX's, never a problem with them but I guess I didn't hammer them with use. Did they not use bearing in Dec because Dec shouldn't really move much if at all when PA is done? I guess the Bresser EXOS2 is better for bearings but not sure about the handset. Anyway, no time for AP now days unfortunately, so it's a simple clock drive EQ mount for visual and casual snaps for me

Ok, now I get it. it's been a while since I've seen Robocop

Nice post Darren, I've also had fun stripping and rebuilding an EQ6 in order to re-grease and belt drive mod it. Mine was a lemon bought second hand, the guy was really chatty until he got my money, then he broke contact for a couple of weeks so I started to think I'd been taken for a ride. I had in a way because a while later the eq6 pro did arrive but in a right state, it had massive backlash, clicking slipping sounds when it slewed, and there was a big gap in the casing where the seems met. Nothing like the previous NEQ6 I had which worked flawlessly out the box. Finding the time to sort it out was really hard, I had two new born twins at the time and a 2 year old. I Only ever managed to improve it so ended up selling it dirt cheap with full discosure. Lesson learnt, I would only buy a second hand goto mount if I could see it first now, but I'm more inclined to buy them new or in the sales. thankfully I've never had a problem buying a new Synta mount Just to mention, I'm not sure you're supposed to adjust the alt bolts with the OTA onboard? The MN190 is a big heavy scope too so I think the bolts would always bend in that case? 100$ is a lot for bolts. They are £25 here which works out to 44 Canadian dollars. http://www.axio35.dsl.pipex.com/astrodevelopments/Synta cables.htm I don't know how much this would work out as by the time they landed in Canada though?

Close your ears my little Vixen A80, close your ears!

imagine such a thing! Do wish they would do an SW ED140 though

I'm sorry that some of us have made you think twice about future reviews, Jules. I hope you do continue I liked the review, I just sensed (based on everything leading upto you buying the ED120) that you feel obliged to keep it? On paper it does tick all the boxes for your requirements, but not everything is about ticking boxes and you didn't sound that happy with it reading between the lines, which is why I chose to contribute. I must admit to enjoying the debate at the beginning, but in hindsight feel we've got stuck focused in on a particular point, then on a loop. Maybe some of this should have been by PM, I don't know? Obviously I'm now continuing with the loop so will shut up now p.s wasn't suggesting a Dob, you need tracking

Is that the f/10? if so I considered that one too, it should be nice. You'll have to let us know how you find it

@DRT Hahah! I completely missed that! It's almost worth re-taking the picture to try and make it even more convincing, e.g. slightly move the camera position and take the EP cap off! Good spot

Hi Jules, I've really enjoyed your review and the thread that has followed. I've got the impression recently that you prefer your little 102mak to the ED120, and there isn't anything wrong with that if this is true?. I know you said you are going to stick it out with the ED120 and try to learn to love it, basically, but maybe ask your self the question: if I sold the ED120 would I miss it? If the answer is no, then maybe you should move it on? (Is there anything wrong with switching scopes often, I see that as a hobby in it's own right ), if the answer is yes then indeed keep it and see where it takes you I'm sure I detected a slight negative tone to the review, Jules, not regarding the ED120 itself but how you feel about it, and I know you dislike the sky conditions at your home, so maybe you're just evaluating how much £ you want to invest into this hobby? like you say in your review, "this is the most I've spent" (not sure if that's an exact quote but near enough). I kno you have other hobbies which take up money so maybe this is a consideration...It's a shame you don't like the Newts as they are cheap as chips, I don't like the diff spikes but my 6" f/8 sure does pack a punch on the planets and the Moon, so maybe we should try and learn to love them?

Good post by Dave above. it seems to me that many visual observers put most of the money into the scope rather than the mount, and vise-versa with the imagers, and why not? When looking through your scope you can tell how good the optics are, but could you tell how good the mount is when looking through the scope? i.e. the difference between the Vixen and the Skywatcher when tracking siderealy? A ten year average lifespan for the Skywather EQ5 would suit me fiine, I'm sure there would be something else I would want to replace it with after ten years anyway.....well in my case it's more like after one year max I understand the need for expensive mounts more with the imagers, they need the sub pixel tracking accuracy so their sub exposures don't get ruined etc. I am however looking at this as a guy with limited funds. If I had unlimited funds I would probably be less practical about it and follow my heart.

Hi, if the Vixen mount was only twice the cost of an EQ5 I would also consider one for the extra build quality etc, but isn't it many many times the cost of an EQ5? not just twice the cost? A new EQ5 costs £250, and with enhanced dual axis drives comes to £385, plus the alt bolts can be upgraded for very little so call it £400 max. How much does the Vixen cost by the time you've added a steel tripod and drives? If it was say £700- £800 I wouldn't rule one out entirely myself for the future, but I think it's probably double this?