F15Rules

That's a stonking mount Chris!! I only realised it's real size when I saw it next to your Vixen!

Peter Drew is a regular visitor to SGL, so I hope he will see this thread and chip on with anything he knows about your mount 👍.

Thanks for sharing,

Dave

1 hour ago, neil phillips said:

Too true about QC. stopping down seems to be a trend on a lot of optics. scopes included. Oregons were 76mm not as bad as some. 

I agree Neil..and Opticron are a good brand overall, I've owned several pairs of their bins (not the bigger ones though), and they all delivered good performance.

Dave

Safely received as ever Steve, many thanks 😊

Dave

The trouble with many of these low priced larger binoculars is that they all come from China and have minimal quality control...in fact the customer is actually the "quality controller" - meaning that if you're not satisfied with them you send them back for a replacement or refund, as it's cheaper for the manufacturer to accept say a 10% return rate than to employ several proper, human quality controllers in their factories!

Also, many of the cheaper budget brands may have 70 or 80mm aperture on the box, but they are often stopped down to a lower aperture to try to reduce chromatic aberration, so a 70mm claimed aperture may only offer a true 60mm aperture, for example.

Having been caught myself in this way, I actually decided to buy a good used pair, and I went for the Orion Mini Giant 9x63 model. I find these really excellent and I can handhold them for short periods for quick scanning sessions: however they perform to their best on a lightweight tripod.

The Orion Mini Giants are, pleasingly, made in Japan, not China, and the quality is very good, both optically and in build quality. They have also been around for c 20 years, so are a well proven design. 

The 9x63mm are available new on Amazon UK for £179. Orion also offer an option in 15x63mm if you want more magnification, at around £200 new. 

I've attached a link which shows a picture too, but if you Google Cloudy Nights/Orion Mini Giant binoculars you will readily find a lot of reviews.

I bought mine a couple of years ago, almost 20 years old, but in very nice condition, for £100 and am delighted every time I use them.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orion-09463-Giant-Astronomy-Binoculars/dp/B0000XMRKI&ved=2ahUKEwir6uy8zI30AhVGDOwKHbfIC54QFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0a23ZveUmFbi8_3DT-2TQ-

Hope that helps🙂

Dave 

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

there's a 60mm Unitron and a couple of Zeiss Telementors on eBay right now.

Unitron 60mm...hmm🤔. They vary a lot, some good some not so good. But the little altaz mount they come with sometimes (same as your Topic was shown mounted on) are excellent, well engineered and very smooth.

The Telementors are superb, consistently so. A full Telementor scope and original mount with two original eyepieces in good condition is likely to cost between £400-£700..but search here on SGL for Telementor and you'll see why people like them so much.

Dave

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

I have a Vixen adapter doing a similar job on my Hilkin 60mm f13, so you're saying the thread sizes on the Towa are the same and I just unscrew the existing adapter and replace?  If so that would be amazing

Yes Mark, it should work fine, these old Japanese scopes seem to all have the same thread.. it'll only take a minute to unscrew the Topic one and try the Hilkin one👍..

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

As for knocking out baffles with a screwdriver this will be a new threshold of brutality in scope modification for me who has so far been limited to some light flocking...definitely sounds worth the risk however!  

It sounds more brutal than it is..but the baffles are thin, light material so it would be very difficult to cause any damage to the main extension tube..just use a fairly wide bladed flat headed screwdriver (obviously, narrower than the internal width of the extension tube. Just tap it persistently with gently increasing force and it will pop out (if I recall correctly there could well be 2 baffles to remove, so check each tube that lies behind the focuser, as you need to remove all the extension tube baffles to get the full benefit of the wider field.

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

On mounting, I've been running an old Clarkson brass 3inch f15 successfully on my AZGTi (uprated with the ADM clamp) and Berlebach 312 Report - its quite solid and tracks without vibration provided its not too windy!

Sounds ideal, just make sure to get the balance set perfectly, it's worth the extra effort and the scope can take high magnification on doubles (200-300x on a steady night!), so you want the most stable setup you can achieve.

Enjoy!

Dave

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

Interesting that the Axiom is heavier than the ES-82 version.  1483g vs 1369g and 1082g vs 973g.  The Axiom cloak is only 5g heavier, while the main eyepiece body is 109g heavier.  I wonder what accounts for the ~10% difference in weight?

I don't know, Louis..

I'm not familiar with the ES eyepiece construction..I've read that they are very similar to the Celestron in terms of performance, does that mean they have the same optical configuration?

I suppose if the Celestron had a different number of elements or different sized ones, that could explain it?

But I'm happy to have shed about 1/3 of the weight of my eyepiece..

Dave

Congratulations on your new purchase, a classic long achromatic refractor👍.

There is plenty of info here on SGL if you just search in this forum for "Topic 80mm F15" or "Towa" or "Kenko" 80mm F15..

Here's an excerpt from a recent thread in which a member asked about the focuser and drawtube on these scopes, it should help you understand how best to convert the scope for 1.25" eyepieces..there are also some links to other threads which walk you through the process.

(A Vixen adapter is readily available online, it's this one and just replaces the original one which was designed for 0.965" eyepieces)..

I just weighed the Axiom LX 31mm on my wife's electronic scales.

With all the parts including outer shell and both endcaps, it weighs in at 1483 grams (that's 1.483 kg or 3lbs 4 oz!).

Without the shell and endcaps it weighs 1082gms. So the decloaking has saved 401gms or 32.5% of the original weight.

That is a very worthwhile saving: although the 31mm still weighs over a kilo, it makes a worthwhile difference to the balance of the scope😊👍.

Dave

15 hours ago, jock1958 said:

Maybe they could etch Celestron Axiom on the barrels like the Halloween Plossls 🤔

Regarding etching, the original outer casings do indeed have the detail you mentioned etched on them, and it looks very nice too.

Dave

4 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Yeh I thought as much Dave same as my 5mm Vixen SLV, it’s a bit of clunky affair but does the job. Must admit I like eye cups as they help with my eye placement, I added them to those Halloween Plossls I bought off you and it does make a difference, cuts out the glare and kidney beaning. 

I'll see how this winter goes with no eye cups..the problem is, these Axioms have wide and flat tops, and so would need much wider eyecups than are readily available.

I did consider (Don, don't listen to this part!) cutting down the wide original eyecups from the cloaked units..the original 23mm cap fits fairly well on the 31mm uncloaked unit..perhaps I could cut the centre out leaving the edge rim as an eyecup 😱😁..

But clearly that would be fairly drastic, so I might try looking for something like a Pringles tube plastic cap to to work with..

Dave

3 hours ago, jock1958 said:

Hey Dave they look more sleek and expensive now, one thing what’s the purpose of those bits if they only add weight & bulk? 
 

Maybe they could etch Celestron Axiom on the barrels like the Halloween Plossls 🤔

Hi Iain,

Truthfully, I'm not sure.. functionally, the main purpose of the outer shell seems to be to provide a rotating eyecup effect to allow for more comfortable eye positioning: in a way it's a bit of an illusion, as the outer shell moves up and down as you turn it, making the inner black barrel itself  (which you see now as the outer barrel when uncloaked) appear to rise and fall with the rotation. It does provide a platform to rest your cheek/face on. 

I was actually concerned about how I would be able to hold my viewing eye steady once this "platform" was removed, but in practice it hasn't so far (in admittedly only one short session) been an issue, even with the 31mm "megabeast" and its' quite long eye relief.

Cosmetically, the original, cloaked eyepiece is certainly eye catching, and, I think, quite attractive. But it does make an already large eyepiece look very bulky, and adds around a third in weight to the uncloaked central eyepiece unit.

Hope that makes sense?

The great thing is that the process can be reversed in literally a couple of minutes, and with almost zero cosmetic damage and zero build damage. Also, the decloaking makes for easier balancing of the scope as compared with my Nagler T2 and Morpheus eyepieces..adding a 2" to 1.25" adapter to these adds a bit more weight to them and again narrows the gap versus the Axioms.

Dave

1 hour ago, Don Pensack said:

Looks like you still have the translucent plastic on the "C" Logo cap on the 31mm.  You should peel that off so it looks better.

After all--now the eyepieces are sleek and shiny.  The logo on the cap should be too.

There you go Don..all done👍😊

Dave

14 hours ago, GordonD said:

I noticed the Morpheus prices at FLO are up to £223 today. ☹️

...and that, inevitably, will push up used prices too..

Dave

Yep, they are now Tim, but I've seen old ones MIJ and they weren't great..

Dave

I agree with Tim, Marv. 

Most of Vixens' products are of excellent quality. They have, it's true (and unwisely IMHO) outsourced a few products to the Chinese, but I've not seen many made in Japan Vixen products that aren't excellent (their flip mirror diagonal springs to mind).

I've owned a lot of Vixen scopes, including 2  superb ED103s apos..in each case I bought the scopes used, not new. For some reason they don't hold their initial value too well, but that is great news if you are in the market for one!

If you want a real bargain high end Vixen scope, look for a used ED103s or ED115s. They will give an equivalent Tak a real run for their money, at a fraction of their new price (I know, I have a Tak FS128).

Expect to pay around £609-£900 for a used ED103s or £1000-£1200 for the bigger (and much rarer) ED115s. Expect also to be thrilled!😊👍

Photos below show: Vixen SP102m 4" F10 achromat on Vixen GP mount, Vixen ED103s 4.1" apo F7.7 on Vixen Porta II altaz mount, and Vixen ED SWT 103s on CG4 mount.

Dave

5 minutes ago, johninderby said:

 

 

That looks (I imagine!) just like a champagne bottle being uncorked as viewed from above!!👍😂

Dave

On 31/10/2021 at 19:56, johninderby said:

I suspect you're just champagne at the bit to see a supernova John...

😆

Dave

Hi Andy,

I know this will sound like a dumb question, but your photo doesn't show a counterweight on the c/w bar.. so, a) are you using one and b) is it heavy enough to properly balance your scope? 

If the answer to either of these questions is no, then that could be part or all of your problem.

Lovely mount.. I have one and really like it. A 10kg load for visual IF perfectly balanced would probably work. I'm not an imager though, so can't comment on that aspect.

Hope you get it sorted.

Dave

22 hours ago, Kon said:

grabbed a slice of pizza and a glass of wine and waited for it to cool down.

.. couldn't you just put the wine in the fridge??🤭

Nice report though! 👍🙂

Dave

42 minutes ago, Saganite said:

was actually quite serious about the swap, after all my scope is twice as big as his.  Maybe Dave is considering it.......I won't hold my breath......

...is it actually physically possible for a human to hold it's breath for 30 years Steve??🙃😎

Dave

9 hours ago, RobertI said:

You and I actually met once Dave - I bought a manual CG5 on a 2” tripod from you. I still have it, now with motors, rarely used these days except for occasional high power planetary sessions with the C8 or 102ED. 👍

I remember that old CG-5 well, Robert..I actually mounted my then 5" D&G F15 refractor "Andromeda" on that mount..😱😱😁 (Steve now has her pier mounted  on an AZ100).

A good workhorse mount, still going strong by the sound of it!👍

Dave

2 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Steve is a very nice bloke sent me some 7x50 binoculars which I have had some great views through. 

Hopefully one day I will get to meet you both for a chinwag. 

Yes, Paul, Steve is a top man in every way.

It would be nice to meet you in person at some point too!👍

Dave

Had a really pleasant day today.. I met up with Steve (@Saganite) and we put the world to rights as well as chatting about scopes, of course, over lots of coffee and a couple of rather nice savoury snacks..

I had the pleasure of seeing Steve's gorgeous restoration project, "Arcturus", his lovely AE 114mm F14 achromat. Steve in turn, wanted to handle "Trinity", my Tak FS128.

So we did a swap, and here is the pictorial evidence, me with my new achromat and Steve with his new Tak...😁😁

Dave