Highburymark

Looks as though it might even lift off. That would be spectacular.

It’s been developing for a while, so not ‘hot off the press’ news, but this magnificent prom is well worth a look right now.

Yep - the build quality of Lunts is remarkable. Very solid pieces of kit. A joy to own and use. The only thing letting the old LS60 down was that so-so focuser.

They already do - my night vision tube is made by a European company called Photonis. They are freely available - not just to military buyers. But they tend to be pricier than their US counterparts, and use slightly different technology. But very good quality.

I agree Mike! I’m more frustrated by poor seeing than cloud, which I just accept as inevitable, but I still enjoy every moment I spend observing.

It’s still the same as far as I know John.

Well let’s face it, night vision has been a huge flop in this country. It needs to be said. If ever there was a solution to light pollution (apart from an energy crisis forcing bills up by thousands of pounds - that would certainly encourage people to turn off pointless lighting 🤬) night vision was it. Yes, it’s expensive, but no more than many people spend on a top notch dob or refractor, or even a relatively small solar Ha scope. Yet, rather than become mainstream, it remains the pastime of a few oddballs, misfits and weirdos. Like me 🧐. I’m surprised how few people have embraced it, but I completely respect and understand why. I think, on the whole, the amateur astronomy market is a pretty conservative one (with a small c that is). And that’s why the answer to the OP’s question is probably, there won’t be much change over the next decade or two, beyond what we’ve seen in the past decade. More imaging/faster scopes/harmonic mounts etc.

Thanks - I wasn’t aware they even did a 2.5” range. What a great option for your Vixen. Though FT focusers are not easy to get hold of these days, new or used. Starlight seems to have a long waiting list.

Which Feathertouch model is that Steve? Looks like one of the 3” range - and looks wonderful. Didn’t realise Moonraker provided bespoke adapters.

I have an XO5 too - haven’t thought about using it for solar as I mostly binoview, but I shall give it a go next time the clouds part - so around July 2030 then……

They look very nice indeed. I see Lunt has just replaced it’s (wrong!! - why does spellcheck keep changing its to it’s for the possessive? A real bugbear of mine) old solar eyepiece range with the flat fields. They must be a contender for the most badged-engineered eyepieces on the market. Good value though.

How do those figures compare with the shorter focal lengths in the Ethos range Don?

How about an SVBony ultra-planetary? APM have just launched a TMB barlow, so could there be anything else in the pipeline? Takahashi are supposedly working on new eyepieces. But what’s happened to Vixen since the HR? Just down to SLVs and Plossls in the UK, it seems, and FLO doesn’t seem to be stocking the telescopes any more 😕

The Nagler zooms have an advantage that not even the best Abbés can match - dialling in the perfect power must sometimes be more important than extreme performance. There’s another dimension to this - just because one eyepiece shows slightly more detail than another, doesn’t diminish the view in the other! There’s still more than enough to see! For me it’s been about curiosity to see what is possible.

Delite, XW or Delos, I’d say John. Take your pick - they’re impossible to split as planetary eyepieces. Maybe Ethos too, but I haven’t used a high power Ethos. I find the 10mm eye relief of the TOEs very comfortable, though obviously they’re not going to appeal to those who wear glasses. I’ve spent the past few weeks trying out my new Pentax XO 5.1, with an absurd eye relief of less than 4mm, so the TOEs are positively luxurious in comparison. It’s an incredible eyepiece. But the TOEs are in the same ballpark in my view, in that they show clearly superior detail and scatter control on the Moon and planets to the excellent Delos/Delite/XW group. Maybe not quite at XO levels, but very close. I’ve written about them at length elsewhere, and have tried not to turn this HR thread into a TOE-fest, (though a TOE-fest sounds strangely appealing), but if anyone wants confirmation of how good they are, just read the many reports on CN and elsewhere. To end this post on-topic, I think we can thank Vixen’s designers for both the HRs and inspiring Tak to produce the TOEs. If only they’d priced the HRs more realistically, they might still be with us!

Does make you wonder how long the TOEs will be around if costs are escalating so much - and whether there will be another specialist planetary eyepiece produced once they are gone. Although they must have picked up a lot of sales since HRs were killed off. Maybe that’s helped keep the line profitable for Takahashi. Vixen’s response suggests the HRs were indeed too cheaply priced.

The new focuser looks like a big improvement from earlier models. That old GSO Crayford was ok if not too stressed, but not great under heavy loads. Also - as the base scope has moved from using a singlet objective lens to an ED doublet, I wonder if you can push the magnification higher than the old LS60 when seeing allows? I seem to remember about 60-70x was the normal before - worth trying the new scope at 90-100x on a bright prominence when you get the chance.

Fantastic Paul! So you have two Starsense Explorer mounts in total - and it’s just a case of swapping scopes on the DX mount - as long as they don’t exceed the payload? Or Are there further changes required to use other scopes on this mount?

Excellent. Sounds like you have a keeper. And you can use a binoviewer with that nice B1200 blocking filter to bring out even more detail.

HR 3.4 and 2.4 for sale on Astromart in the States, if anyone’s interested.

Lovely scope! Congratulations.

Very interesting Dave - thanks for posting. £3,500 in 1999 would be £7,315 today accounting for inflation. Or £5,500 would be £11,495. Puts today’s prices into perspective. TSA-120 triplet is just over £4k for the OTA.

If that’s the case, it sounds like they underpriced the product in the first place. Clearly they are difficult and intricate eyepieces to make. But at £220, or whatever the UK retail price was, they were very cheap compared with other class leading planetaries.

I’d be in for a 3.4, and probably a 2mm too. Though I suspect, as Mike said, the price would be higher.

No worries Mike. That second diagram was indeed an LV as Louis suggested - at shorter lengths the LVs did apparently use a pseudo-Masuyama design with an added field group. There are no TOE diagrams as far as I’m aware. Back onto the main theme of the thread, I wonder if it would be feasible for Vixen to make further HR batches in future, or whether the tooling/materials are no longer attainable? I’m sure they could sell a lot of 3.4s if they were made available tomorrow.