mikeDnight

If you looked only at the Skywatcher brand, you are unlikely to come away disappointed. Skywatcher offer very good quality and are arguably The Bang For Buck go-to brand. Some of their scopes compete very well with some of the very best high end optics, and will keep anyone of us entertained for a lifetime.

Visually, F10 is the boundary between long and short for me. Anything longer falls into the LONG focal length catagory, while anything shorter falls into the rich, wide field catagory. It's largely academic from my visual point of view, as many modern short scopes are perfectly capable of delivering views at high power that equal their longer siblings. Conversely, I've used long focal length telescopes to observe exquisitely defined deep sky objects. We can if were not careful, get bogged down believing this does this and that does that, when in reality they all do everything very well despite having their own specialities.

Swift were very good back in the day, and for £40 I'd grab it and run, providing the lens is in good condition. I'm not sure its an ideal imaging scope though, but visually it should be very pleasing. Swift used Japanese optics, and if I'm right, they are somehow linked to Takahashi.

Don't worry Jeremy, I soon got the big reflectory thing out of my system after ten minutes using it. I rapidly retreated back into my cosy obsey and to my much more civilised and gentlemanly refractor. Rhubarb may have been telling me something when he tried attacking the Dob.

I had a funny turn this evening and set the 10" F6 Dob up in the garden. My 8 month old English Bull Terrier (Rhubarb) wasn't at all pleased and took issue with its presence, very vocally. He must have good taste and prefer refractors.

Under general use you might not notice an immediate difference, but Tak's are worth the difference in price and performance to many. Old Vixen FL102's are just as good as any 4" apo I've ever used, so you could possibly find a second hand FL for a fraction of a new Tak. Takahashi have a well deserved reputation and are still at the top of the hill IMHO, but the real world difference when compared to other brands may not be great as it used to be. Skywatcher ED's are very good all round performers!

Hi Gary, My DC didn't come to focus with my binoviewer unless I used a barlow, gpc, or an extender-Q. I used a Takahashi prism diagonal, which has a short light path, but to reach focus without using a barlow, I had to remove the short tube between the telescope and focuser. That though meant I had to use extension tubes to make up the distance for when I did use a barlow with my binoviewer. My DZ, and presumably the DF too, does come to focus with the Tak prism but not with the Baader BBHS prism, when I use my 35mm Eudiascopic/Ultima pair. It's just the curse of owning a Tak scope I suppose! I think the Mak 127 is a really great scope, but I don't believe you'll regret replacing it with a FC100DC. It's rare that I have to wait more than a few minutes for the FC to cool but I think that's one of the benefits of refractors in general. Anyhow, I'm pretty certain you'll be elated once you have an FC100DC in your hands. ☺

Excellent observation. You've caught the bridging arm between the two galaxies and a hint of the brighter spiral arm. I think its a spot on sketch ! ☺

That's an inspiring write-up Luke, and will hopefully lead to others who've not yet used a binoviewer to move in that direction. For me its the only way to observe the Moon and planets. 👍

I find that with a 4" refractor, many deep sky targets lose some of their brightness and contrast when viewed through a binoviewer. Using a single eyepiece is much more beneficial for teasing out subtle detail in deep sky objects, plus when in a dark environment there's no issue observing with both eyes open, even though i'm using a single eyepiece. The Moon and planets have plenty of light to spare, so any loss of light due to the bv is not even noticeable.

Perhaps during the next lunation it may be more successfully sought. The Valley last night was well illuminated, so may be the rille was a bit washed out. It helps once you've seen it because then you know what to look for. Even at its best its the finest spider thread against an already bright background, and nothing like the images we often see. Different lunations give different lighting and more opportunities, so success will come eventually I'm certain.☺

I admit to being in love with the Moon, and if it never set I'd be very happy. I'm no imager though, and your image is a beautiful thing to me. It was a steady night for me, so I thought I'd try to grab a quick pic using my cheapy Nokia mobile camera, hand held at one eyepiece of my binoviewer. The scope is a Tak FC100DZ using a prism diagonal. Much sharper and more detailed through the eyepiece though, but it still amazes me with what can be achieved with a common or garden mobile phone camera in a single shot.

My Tak FC100DZ and binoviewer ready for a night's observing of the high spring Moon.

It still counts John.☺ In my 100mm this evening and using only 128X, the rille was visible with patience, but certainly not obvious. I have seen it looking much more obvious in the 100mm, but I suppose lighting plays a major part in just how obvious it can be.

I'm currently observing the moon through my 100mm refractor, and thought I'd take a moment out in the hope of encouraging some of you to check out the ultra fine, white central rille running along the Alpine Valley. It's a challenge but its visible with critical focus. The rille appears to be closer to the southern wall than the northern, and may appear broken. See how you go, but persevere! ☺

Exclusively implies they are used for everything, so in that case no, not in my case. However, for the vast majority of my lunar and planetary observing I do prefer using a binoviewer, as I see intricate detail much more easily using a bv than I do using a single eyepiece. My set-up right now.

I sold my Equinox 120 ED after several side by side sessions observing Jupiter back in 2015. The DC lost nothing to the 120, and the colours in Jupiter's belts appeared much more vibrant, which gave an almost 3D effect to them. Jupiter of course was much higher in the sky back then, so detail was easy to see in both scopes, but festoons, garlands, white ovals and barges were so well defined in the DC that I simply wouldn't use the 120ED much after that. Plus the DC was such an effortless telescope to use that I observed with it at every opportunity. It was an absolout joy to use and always gave me more than I ever expected of it.

Beautiful pic's Paul. I thought I'd play at snapping a few pic's myself, but I was using a pretty poor hand held mobile phone camera, so the results not really Olympus standards. And as always, the visual appearance was far more detailed. For example, the Trisnecker cleft system waslittered with fine clefts and the southern edge of Mare Frigoris showed amazing detail, including rilles running along the shore line. None visible in the image but breathtakingly sharp through the eyepiece.

Looks absolutely fantastic David! ☺

It's all to do with the repeated annealing, hammering and folding of the fluorite Andrew, until finally the lens is so unbelievably sharp that it can slice effortlessly through thick bamboo.

I think that Nick retired around this time last year. I may even have been his last customer when i bought my DZ from him? It's a real shame as he was a true gent, and as expert on Tak's as anyone could be.

I'm all packed and ready to move to Japan to take up my new position as chief tester. I made certain my auto spell check got that last word right!

Congratulations on becoming a daddy to a brand new DC. I imagine you're pacing up and down the room with a cigar in your mouth - unlit of course as its healthier, in eager anticipation of the arrival of your new baby. Honestly, the DC is a jewel, just keep your 2" visual back as short as possible as the DC focuser is a bit tight on inward travel. Having said that, I rarely had any problems reaching focus with mine, but I used only 1.25" eyepieces with the Tak prism, which has a very short light path. My DC proved to be my most used scope out of four decades of observing. The Moon will never cease to leave you in disbelief, while the planet's, when we'll situated, are stunning. DSO's I found to be unusually bright for a 4" telescope, but good dark adaption is still essential if you want to get the best out of it. It's upper magnification limit with perfect seeing will be around 120X per inch, so 500X on a good night, which can at times give some quite remarkable views of double stars. It will go higher without breaking down, but nothing's gained by doing so. I'm sure you'll enjoy experimenting to find what power suits each object. The fun you'll have will be hard to put into words I'm sure. Just relax and enjoy it! 😊

Glimpsed being the operative word John. It was on the absolute limit of discernibility, and was to date the most difficult target I've ever seen through a 100mm scope. Like you I'd spent quite some time allowing myself to become truly dark adapted, while being careful to keep Anlitak out of the field of view. It took a while before the nebulosity of IC434 began to reveal itself, after which, the black nebula seemed to become more obvious than the bright. What I presumed to be the Horse Head was very tiny and could only be seen with averted vision, hence my uncertainty about its exact positioning. It gave me quite a thrill though!

That was a brilliant read John, as I felt I was with you all the way. Seriously great stuff! 👍