Marki

Update -  thanks for your input guys. After much deliberation, an order is winging its way to FLO for the SW Evostar 150 ED. Used the difference between that and the cost of the others to fund a reducer, scope coat, and some baader orthos. Apologies in advance for the clouds... .

Indeed - in fact, didn't I get this one from you?

Lovely thread. I have plenty of pics of my scopes, but none with any of them.

Edit - I did find this; not my first scope but first pic I can find with one (Istar 150mm Perseus f/10)

Nice! I'm considering one of these at the moment, so I'd be interested to see how you get on with it!

Thanks Peter, that's vey helpful!

Thanks John, you do indeed recall correctly. Your Istar was at f12 I think? Long as well as heavy! Mine was lovely optically (and fantastic in the right conditions), but was pushing the limits of my mount (AZ-EQ 6 GT). Whilst its thick aluminium tube was sturdy and helped with thermal control, the sheer mass of the thing was the problem for me. Hence thinking f7 or f8 might be better suited to my needs.

I am glad to read that the SW 150ED has had a much better reception after SW took measures to improve things. I had read your thread on the two examples you tested with some alarm! I am certainly inclining towards this scope though - the considerable difference in price would allow for nicer tube rings, a focusser upgrade etc. and still potentially leave cash spare. (well, I say spare - there a few gaps in my eyepiece collection that could always be filled....).

A quick question, did the 150ed seem heavier than that achro 150 evostar (blue tube?) you had/have?

Hi Gang - I have been hankering for a bit more aperture recently and would really appreciate the hive mind's advice! I love my 100mm f13 achro and my TAL125R achro, but find myself wanting more light grasp. I'm a confirmed 'frac fan, so I've been looking to go up a stage to a 140 or 150mm and maybe some "special" glass. In the past I've owned a nice Istar 150mm at F10, but I feel that somemthing at f/7 or f8 might be more manageable (that thing was really heavy). I've previously also had an Equinox 120 (regret selling that), and the glass in that gave some truly memorable views. I've managed to save a bit of cash over the course of two lockdowns, so been browsing again, but I'm tying myself in knots.... . I'm mulling over a couple of options:

This Altair Astro 150EDF looks lovely:

https://www.altairastro.com/altair-150edf-refractor-1501200-6119-p.asp

The APM 152 ED even lovelier:

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/APO15225APM.html

I've also been looking at the 140mm APM, as this may be that bit more "handy".

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p9109_APM-Doublet-SD-APO-140-f-7-FPL53-OTA.html

But then I remembered the astonishingly priced Skywatcher 150ED:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/sky-watcher-evostar-150ed-ds-pro-ota.html

And I got to thinking.... is there really £1000 or more's worth of difference in what I'm likely to see from a northern English  suburban back garden? Is the extra cost in the quality of glass, mechanical improvement, nicer tube? I guess I'm asking if I'm payng for cosmetic finish over optical ability? I've never owned anything of the sort of class/cost of the APMs... . On a sort of related note, is there that much difference between a 150mm and a 140mm? Both certainly will beat my current stable, I'm sure.

I'm primarily interested in the visual experience, but do the odd bit of imaging (well, snaps really). Any thoughts or observations is welcome as my experience with these sort of "higher quality" and exotic glass instruments/ is limited... .

Or maybe I should just get an 80mm and camera and let time and frames substitute for aperture ..... or a Cat 😕

My experience was very similar.  I haven't been out for ages, but for some reason decided tonight was the night to see Mars. I decided to use my 100mm f13 refractor (one of Richard Day's Skylights based on the carton lens). Seeing very milky it seemed to me. I could just make out some sufrace colour variation on Mars, but really poor contrast, and more magnification resulted in generally poorer views. A bit disappointing, but I'm really glad I made the effort after so long.

The moon was a fabulous exprience though. Hgher magnifications well rewarded on the terminator. Lots of detail in Clavius with ability to resolve down to 6 or 7 km. Might have got better as it gets colder, but the moon was rapidly disappearing over my neighbour's house. Very pleased even so. I ended my session with a 30mm Erffle, catching the lovely scatter of stars in the Pleides and the double cluster. Finished up with a spectacular view with the whole of the moon framed in the 30mm's  field of view - like looking through a space ship porthole!

Although not my best ever session, I just felt glad to get out again!

I might be able to - I enjoyed the time I went a few years back. Will check diary and my other half to see if possible!

Hi and welcome

The Equinox 80 I had was cracking. Lovely views and contrast, and I remember some lovely pinsharp views of the moon with it. Fantastic as a grab and go/holiday scope too. Regret selling it in many ways. Hope you get many hours of pleasure out of the ED80 Jules.

10 hours ago, John said:

I'd still like a 6" as well but it will have to avoid the mounting / handling issues that were presented by the Istar 6" F/12 that you might recall I had a little while back. I thought long and hard about an APM / Lunt 152mm F/8 ED doublet but I've seen enough doubts posted about their objective cells to put me off those a bit. The new APM 140 ED which uses an FPL-53 element looks interesting and is around the same weight / size to the LZOS 130 I believe. One of our members here has one of those.

 

 

 

The APM 152 has recently caught my attention too. What are the reported issues with the objective you read, John? The APM 140 also looks good too, and is also on my "possible" list. Both would sit happily on my AZEQ6 and should be physically managable for me (lighter than the IStar 150 f10 I had). It'd be interesting to see how the 140 stacked up against the 130 LZOS/APM in terms of views etc.

Oooh temptation indeed - and I could probably lift that one!

Any plans for upgrades to the APM? How does it feel mechanically (focusser etc.)?

2 hours ago, John said:

I'd still like to get another 6" but it would need to be lighter and shorter than the 6" F/12 Istar that I used to have to ease mounting.

 

Is that the Istar for sale on Astrobuysell John? Almost tempted to revisit the nearly unmanageable 150mm class again myself...I must be insane, esepcially given how little time out under the sky I've had this year!

This APM looks magnificent though! Top marks, and I look forward to reading much more about it!

The pentax looks a better option than this curiosity?!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-inch-H-N-Irving-F15-vixen-refractor-/111898814780?hash=item1a0db0693c:g:FrYAAOSwI-BWK5jp

On 26/01/2016 at 22:35, CHASLX200 said:

Added a new brother.  On the right is the new 130mm Astrotech.

Now thats a lovely looking collection! What is the 130 mounted on?

Spot on John. I'm clearly insane

New thread here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/258487-tal-125-apolar/?hl=%2Btal125+%2Bapolar

Another clue... .

I'll post a proper unboxing thread separately...good and bad!

What have I gone and done ...new addition to the stable arrived today. Here's a taster!

Can you guess what it is yet ?

Some instructions on image posting here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/154704-sgl-how-to-attach-images/#entry1561785

Not sure if you have to have a certain amount of posts though?

On Sunday I got my brand new Altair star wave 102 triplet pro and 60mm guide scope, being mounted on a heq5 pro, only problem is I've not even been able to have it out the box with the weather, work, and Christmas decorating for the kids.....

Really hope I can get it together some point at the weekend even if it is just to stare at it in my living room.

Darren

Pics or it didn't happen . Congratulations, I hope you get the chance to get it all set up and in action soon Love to hear how you get on with it!

Not mine I'm sad to say, but impressive nonetheless! Visited the Archenhold Observatory last week

21m FL, 68cm aperture - F30.88. You'd only need a 16mm EP to reach maximum sensible Mags per inch - 1300x by my reckoning! Apparently they still use the original 19th C EPs.

20150712_152541.jpg

Maybe I should put the rest of my pics in the lounge forum or something.

Thats a railway gun with glass!

Awesome

Without too much effort I imagine I could write thousands of words about the APM 180, and one day I probably will in a review.  In an attempt to be a little more succinct I would offer up the following.  Imagine the most wonderful views you have had through a first class four inch apo, the classic pin point jewels on black velvet, with a purity of image not rivaled by other telescopes designs, and wonderful contrast that allows the finest details to be seen, and then scale that up several times over.  It really is just like using a big 4" Apo, that just goes deeper and reveals even more of the heavens.  The planetary views on nights of great seeing are extraordinary.  And I believe the extremely good contrast allows details to be seen that slightly larger scopes fail to show on DSOs, though the image is not as bright due to the smaller aperture, if that makes sense.

I can't wait to read your full review, Matthew. That sounds absolutely wonderous!

That 6" f15 scope is a thing of beauty, Odd Thomas. Richard can certainly make a beautiful instrument.  I'd dearly love to own one, but I fear it woudln't get used all that much. The Istar 150mm F10 I had for a few months was a bit too much for me to manage on a regular basis, and I kind of didn't get out nearly as much as I shoud have. That fullerscope mount is magnicent too!