Space Hopper

My experiences differ somewhat. I find 5.5" of refractor aperture more than enough for my Bortle 7 sky's, and ticks all the boxes. I've had a 10 and 12" Newts before and they are obviously at their best in darker sky's. Showpiece objects like M11, M13 etc all looked great of course, but my 140mm refractor has a decent enough aperture to hold its own ; it's certainly no slouch on DSOs. And i can use the binoviewer on the refractor ! : its not so easy with a Dob / Newt. All my experiences show my current 140mm scope will outperform and often bury any comparable reflector on the Planets. I remember a shadow transit on Jupiter of its largest moon Ganymede a few years ago when i was using a 10" F6.3 OO Dob. It was cooled and collimated, but it still gave a rather 'mushy' view with only mediocre contrast. Having an easy to store refractor that works great on a simple alt-az mount, that i can easily image with, can do Solar and terrestrial viewing, and requires zero collimation / little cooldown, performs in average seeing, weighs less than 10kg and HAS A HANDLE 😉 are key features that i'd hate not to have now.

I only have the one scope presently. Years ago, i think the most i had were 5 or 6. And if i were to get another, well, i'd just be looking after it, it would be 'a society scope' 😉

Crikey : € 295 . 00 for a filter 😮 It would need to be excellent.

You got it Leo 🌧️

The aurora app had readings off the charts........

The Aurora app was showing a little over 900nT a few hours ago, just for a brief spell, buts thats the highest reading i've ever seen. Wind and rain here this evening sadly.

Early one Gary....? No. 027. It looks in great condition. Nice find 🙂 A new review had appeared on Roger Vine's 'Scope Views site, which may be of interest.

(Good to hear the Docter is performing well. I still have its old partner) I had a full set of Vixen LVW about 15 years ago. I only sold them to help fund other stuff, but wish i'd held on to them. They are hard to find now ; particularly the 3.5mm and 22mm.

I've tried a 10" Newtonian on my manual alt-az, but it was a no go......too much mass, too high a centre of gravity, and it would have been a tip-over hazard in any sort of wind, even with a Planet tripod. The mass of the OTA also put too much strain on the saddle plates dovetail clamps. This was an experiment though, and i'm sure an 8" equivalent tube would have worked safely, and without too much issue. But i have no counterweight option, and am really better off with medium sized refractors / SCTs up to 11" max ; what my mount was designed for. Something like an AZ100 though, with its counterweights and a sturdy tripod would no doubt work very well, and i think thats your best option if you want to stay with alt-az and observe with an 8 or 10" tube.

One small issue i see here, is if you want to add / change a GPC. The supplied quickchanger coupler makes this much easier. But pleased to hear you are enjoying the Max 2. The eyepiece holders and diopter adjusters are are treat to use aren't they ?

I was hoping for a slightly bigger AM5.........

Will you be going to NEAF as well ? I don't think its too far from you....? Only a couple of weeks away.......

I think you nailed it 4 years ago Stu, when you said 'there are definitely easier, less fussy scopes out there' Very true, and i'm at an age now, where given our weather and general conditions, I don't need fussiness, long cool downs or collimation headaches. That doesn't stop me desiring a Questar though !! (probably to look at rather than look through ! 😀)

5" Fluorite...? There's not many of them about......😉

A scope thats always intrigued me, (Mak-Cass) but something every time has stopped me purchasing one. Both the OO 140 / 200 as well as Questars and all the old Russian stuff. I think it's their aesthetics : they are things of beauty, to me anyway. I'm sure those of us who follow the second hand market have seen the 'as new' OMC 200 on ABS which is on sale at roughly half price. Also the IM 715 on here. I'm puzzled as to why neither have sold, and perhaps it really is down to those 3 factors of Cooldown, Collimation and Seeing, as well as their cost in todays world.

Maybe three.......

I think he was right.......

Just the one session with the scope, and a couple of binocular sessions at short notice as well, so far this year for me. The other (handful) of semi / clear nights we've had i've either been at work, or in bed before an early (could be as early as 02:30) alarm call the next morning. A miserable start to 2023 for me.

Thankyou for posting this comparison. The Starfield 102 is certainly a very compelling choice in the 4" class. I bet FLO have shifted loads of them.

I've had an OO 12"F4, also a couple of 10" F4.8 over the years, as well as a 10" F6.3 for a time. The 12" is quite a big step up in size over the 10", no doubt. The OO Dob mounts, while a bit crude, actually work pretty well. The mount is an easy lift, and i found it quite easy to grab the 12" tube by the altitude rings and shuffle along a short distance with it. OO have a new range of Dobs, i'm assuming to update the VX range : have you seen them ? I also wanted to stick to a 1200mm focal length, rather than 1500 / 1600mm etc because i like those rich field, low power views that Dobs excel at. I never had much joy with planetary obsevation, just because i was always hampered by poor seeing and local conditions, and have had much more success there with my refractors. I've since sold my Dob, and manage quite happily with a 5.5" refractor. Obviously its not quite as good at DSO, but its certainly no slouch there either. All depends on your viewing preferences. But you have good sky's there in Norfolk, so it makes sense to exploit them with some aperture.

Well it is the BBC !! They're experts at that.

I was scratching my head there for a minute @Elp 'Ideal range'........? But they are on the website, and yes, it looks like the 'VX' range is having a refresh. I'm assuming the VX's will be discontinued and replaced by the new model. The AG range is still there.

Was it a prototype before they introduced the 'AG' line of fast corrected imaging Newtonians ??

6 foot long tube, wow, but i'm surprised the quoted weight is not more than 21 lb. Some of the earlier designs were oil spaced, some were air spaced, so difficult to pinpoint which one this is. £1500 -/+ is perhaps a very good investment if the scope can be fully restored and serviced. Some of them go for 3 times that price and more over in the US. I'd be very interested to read about this scopes history over the years...

I bet they are loving it out in Australia. And they might actually get to see the night sky ! Rather than clouds / rain here like we've had for the last few weeks.