Franklin

I often see posts on here and other forums where people are asking if anyone can identify or date an old Vixen scope. Since buying a secondhand 102M back in the 80's I've been searching for this information myself and have accumulated quite a number of back catalogues and other snippets of material. Really early Vixen is mainly achromats and the more recent Vixen offerings have been much the same for many years but the really interesting stuff dates to the mid 80's through till the early 2000's and it's this 20 year period of Vixen innovation and the plethora of different designs which became of it that seems to create all the confusion. So as it's been cloudy here since forever I thought I'd try to gather up some info and put it down in a table for reference. All the info here has been sourced from old catalogues, so take it with a pinch of salt, as there is bound to be quite a bit of overlap between the release of new products and the selling off of old stock. Copy of Vixen refractor timeline. - Sheet1.pdf

Is it not possible to loosen the large locking bolt at the side, get the mount vertical, then tighten back up? This would send the mount beyond the latitude bolt, being too short but you could fit a wedge of some sort. Or get a longer bolt for the latitude adjustment.

If it's just for visual astronomy and considering the set up it most likely is, an alternative would be to set the mount in the opposite direction and point the polar axis towards the zenith which will them allow you to use your set up in alt-azimuth mode, with the scope and counterweight bar horizontal but then you may have problems with the scope hitting the tripod legs rather than the counterweight when in EQ mode. It would definitely be useable like this, just you may have to reposition the tripod to avoid contact between scope and tripod legs whilst observing but moving the tripod around whilst in alt-az mode is of no consequence. I think alt-az mode would work and be fine for a bit of casual stargazing.

Unscrewing the whole cell from the tube will not effect collimation, just be careful when re-threading it back on as the threads are fine and can be easily cross-threaded. Don't over tighten, just nudge it back into place.

I still do! In fact my other half thinks I'm a bit of a weirdo because I don't keep "mucky mags" under the bed, just Vixen Telescope catalogues!😁

That explains that then, the ED102SS is in the 2002 catalogue with green focuser and GP mount. The later SD models all have the screw-in focuser type.

Nice! The picture shows your ED102SS F6.5 with the 2" focuser in white and the three fixing bolts. This puts it at about the same time as my ED102S F9 (2003) which has a blue label on the dew shield only and no red Vixen decal as yours does. I thought the vintage Vixen decal design was from the earlier SP days? Do you think yours was added at a later date? Trying to make sense of Vixens production timeline can be quite confusing😁.

The ED102S, like the 102M, had a lens cap that push fitted over the lens cell inside the dew shield.

Here you go, pages from the 1997 and 2002 Vixen catalogues, I think this 5 year period is when your scope was out (mine was from 2003 and very short lived as the ED103 took over not long after). Also note that in 1997 the ED range consisted of the 102mm and 80mm only, yet by 2002 Vixen had added the faster ED102SS F6.5, ED114SS F5.3 and the very rare ED130SS F6.6. It's also interesting to note that in 1985 when the Fluorite scopes were released on the SP mounts they came in 55mm, 70mm, 80mm, 90mm and 102mm sizes but by 1992 the little 55mm fluorite had been dropped and by 1997 just the FL80S F8 and the legendary FL102S F9 remained. Vixen pulled the plug on them all by 2003 with the release of the ED103S which was the predecessor of the current SD103S.

I have a 1997 Vixen catalogue that lists the ED102S F9 and marks it as "New", it is shown next to the FL102S F9. Both scopes continued till 2002 and in 2003 they were superseded by the ED103S F7.7. There was never an F8.8 ED102S, that was the earlier (1985-1991) FL102S with SP mount. 1992 saw the introduction of the F9 FL102S along with the GP mount. There is a picture of your scope with the same stickers as yours in the Vixen 2002 catalogue. 2003 was the year Vixen changed their colour scheme to match the release of the Sphinx range of mounts(blue/white instead of the classic hammered green). I think with all these assumptions there is bound to be considerable overlap whilst new products are released and old stock is still being sold off.

Snap! mine is a white/blue one from around 2003, it's performance is not far behind the FL102S.

Yahoo auctions Japan on BUYEE is your best bet finding those things, they all come up from time to time.

Don't know but I do know how to make David Copperfield disappear...... switch the channel over!

Looks like it could possibly be a hair on the inside of the lens. The cell unscrews from the tube, then use a bulb blower to blow off the dust etc from the rear of the objective.

Handcontroller is the same but the motor fittings differ I think.

Eyepieces of the same make, design and focal length are parfocal and should be exactly the same, provided they are from the same batch. So will work well in your bino's. The BST Starguiders, across the whole focal length range, are not parfocal with each other but are quite close. This wouldn't really matter for binoviewing as pairs of the same focal length will be ok together.

Yes, the Italian site Dark Star has some really interesting articles, here's another on the history of Vixen DARK STAR astronomy, instrumental tests, telescopes, astronomical mounts, planetary photography, deep sky - VIXEN: story of a myth (dark-star.it) There's even a picture of someone's Atlux ED150 from closer to home!

Whatever happened to that one? They made an F15 102mm back in the day as well, a 1.5m long beast!

Wow! I notice out of all the fluorite ota's you've had over the years, the FS-128 is the one you've got again!

F/7 scopes are a good middle ground, a compromise and make great all rounders.

I thought it was 40mm? IMO reducers are for cameras/imaging purposes. If wanting lower powers and wider fields visually then get a faster scope and/or longer focal length eyepieces.

Exactly, if buying an outfit then a power supply should be part of that outfit.

The SW RA motor set comes with a clutch usually, it fits over the end of the worm shaft and it secured with a grub screw and the gear, which connects to the motor gear runs free when the screw-down clutch is loosened and engages when it's tightened up, so you can still use your slo-mo control. The 6vDC motors will run fine from a 5vDC USB powerbank, 10,000mAh works well and lasts all through the night. You'll have to get a USB to 5.5x2.1 DC plug lead though, they are on Ebay for a couple of quid.

You think that's a rip-off? Vixen charge £125 for theirs!!! A 12vDC mains transformer, £25 in Maplins.

Another big box delivered from Japan.