Stu

Any update to this after second light last night for around 30 mins. I have cracked the focusing I think, just some careful adjustment on a not too bright star in the centre of the field and I'm now happy with leaving it set where it is. I do think they benefit from a short period of cool down time too which I guess makes sense. The trapezium was clearer last night than previously, and Mintaka split nicely (not too tricky though that one!) I tried the filters out but suspect conditions and my dark adaptation were just not good enough to make the most of them. From past experience with my Canons it should work well from a dark site. Going back to my comment about splitting Mizar, I was wrong. The stars are sharp and clear in the centre of field, but beyond about 50% of the way out I could no longer split them and there is distortion in the star shapes from there to the edge of the field. Actually this is not too much of a problem. Generally with binoculars you move them rather than moving your eyes around the field so the overall effect is still nice. M45 for instance looked great, as did the Double Cluster. Not like viewing through the Tak obviously, but definitely nicely resolved into stars. The Auriga clusters were another example of the benefits of the added magnification and resolution, resolving into stars rather than just being faint fuzzies in smaller binos. NGC457, the Owl or ET cluster was another excellent example of this, very nice and relatively large in the fov. CA is actually surprisingly well controlled, though still present obviously. It was most extreme on Jupiter's disk, but the Gallilean moons themselves were very clear and all four were seen quite readily. I'm used to squinting at them in binos trying to work out home many I can see, not with the big Apollos though. Gripes? As I expected from past experiences, observing above a certain altitude is tricky and uncomfortable. I need to have a think about both mounting and seating to get the best out of them. At one point, observing at the zenith, I saw a few more stars than I wanted! I released the trigger grip without having them supported properly and smacked myself on the nose! Won't do that again!! ?? Setup and pack down is very quick though, faster than using the Tak and for times when I can't take a scope, they will be very good. Scanning the Milky Way with them, or grabbing M33 or M101 under a dark sky should be great. I shall report back in the future when that happens. Hopefully I can get some use out of them at SGL11 though so shouldn't be too long.

Thanks Chris. Yes, couldn't justify buying two of the same filter and have done this before with my Canon Binos to good effect ie a UHC on one channel and OIII on the other. Looking forward to giving them another try out soon, they seem very good from what I've seen so far.

No, I think these will do me fine. They are actually quite manageable, and probably not so far off the 25x100 lesser quality ones because they will likely be stopped down more. I think the Helioa are pretty much full aperture from what I've read, 84mm. If I did get something bigger in future then they would likely be ones with 45 degree angles eyepiece holders and replaceable 1.25" eyepieces.

Having recently acquired some nice Opticron 20x80 binoculars, I of course could not resist the temptation of a larger pair when the opportunity arose. I did buy some 25x100's from AstroBoot but they arrived out of collimation so were returned. Perhaps someone picked them up cheaply to re-align? Anyhow, the Helios Apollos seem to get excellent reviews, so I nabbed these 22x85s when they came up on ABS. They are big, but more manageable than the 25x100s and sit quite nicely on my Trigger grip ball head thingy. Once I had tightened the tension adjustment a little it holds firm even pointing towards the zenith. Not that it's easy to observe up there without significant contortionism! (The smaller binoculars in the image for comparison are B&S 8x56.) These binos have Bak 4 prisms, individual focusing and are described as waterproof; I hope I don't have to test that though. The field of view is three degrees which seems reasonable for this mag, I would rather have a smaller, sharper field than a wider view which suffers from nasty distortions. The exit pupil should be 3.86mm from straight calculation. I have not attempted to measure it, but viewing through the eyepieces shows a nice round disk of light, free of any intrusions which would indicate under-sized prisms. The objective coatings seem good, not that I am any sort of expert, but they appear a deep purple, blue or green colour depending upon the angle of view. Being used, they could do with a bit of a clean but any marks are just dew spots, not coating damage. The central tripod mounting point is solid and holds the binos very firmly, whilst also being adjustable front to back to get the optimum balance point depending upon the type of viewing you are doing. Adjustment of the interpupilliary distance was smooth and easy to set. The focus adjustment on each eyepiece was also smooth, easy to use and seemed to hold position once set. The final nice feature to point out are that the eyepieces are threaded to take 1.25" filters. I splashed out on an ES OIII and UHC filter to put in there for better performance on nebulae. They were a little fiddly to thread in but once engaged they were a good fit. Easier with smaller fingers than me though! So far I have only had a fairly brief first light and am happy with the views. I had no issues with merging the images, collimation seems spot on. I found the separate adjustment of each eyepiece a little fiddly. I am used to adjusting the diopter and then just using the centre focus. I normally tweak the centre focus quite regularly so the concept of setting and leaving is one I am unfamiliar with. When I viewed, I don't think the seeing was particularly good. I was seeing three stars clearly in the Trapezium, but perhaps not as sharply as I expected. I think this may in part be to do with getting used to the focusing though. I must get my eyes checked again soon though, it has been a while and it is possible that I may have developed some astigmatism. Performance on the nebula itself was lovely though. A gentle green glow and plenty of nice detail with averted vision. Under a dark sky I can see these will be amazing. I need to spend more time with these binos but my impression so far is that they seem pretty sharp across most of the field which is very nice. Mizar split with little problem in the centre and if I remember correctly also near the edge but I will confirm this. The field of view is plenty big enough to show M45 framed with enough sky to be taken in in all its glory. That's about all for now, I will update when I have a more extensive session with them, plus get to use the filters. Observing at higher altitudes will probably present a bit of a problem but potentially reclining in a chair with the tripod set widely over them would have a chance of success. If dark enough I may consider lying down too ??

You can specify what you prefer at the time of order with the AYO mounts I believe. You can just have flat plates either side with standard spaced threaded holes to allow you to fit which ever clamps you chose, quite handy. The standard Vixen clamp is actually pretty good, but you would definitely want something chunkier for your scope Matthew!

The baby doesn't seem to be strapped in!! ???

Good to see you back Matthew, nice review. I may consider one of these in future. I was a little confused about the options for dual scope setup, whether you could have the mount configurable to have either the counterweight bar, or a second clamp?

Good plan! No need for the TAL now then.

Having been pleased with my Opticron 20x80's, I've just picked up a pair of Helios Apollo 22x85's which may well end up replacing them. They are a much bigger prospect though, although still manageable on the tripod and trigger grip ball head thingy ?. Might need to tighten the adjustment for viewing at higher altitudes. Will post a picture soon.

Didn't you sell the 102 f11 Derek? I doubt the TAL would be better than that.... I've always fancied one of the f11s

Sssssshhhhhh! ?

Forgive me a little excitement over this. I've just tried out the FC-100D in my airline portable travel case, and it fits! I have to remove the focuser and dew shield but they will fit in the case too. This gives me the chance for a premium 4" Apo under dark southern skies, excellent!!

Hmmm, couldn't see them there, but APM have them listed.......perhaps when my numbers come up! Nice to have encoders and push to though.

Looks great! Where did you source the T-Rex?

Dan, Pat's truss design only uses 3 pairs, not 4 like yours, so he will have problems unless he uses some form of hoops to keep the material out of the light path.

Ahh, looking at your truss design I see why you think it would be a problem. I agree that I think a material shroud would cut into the light path on your scope because it only has three truss pairs, not four like the Sumerian. As Steve says, some form of rigid hoops would be needed...

Pat, the shroud which came with my Sumerian was from 'Shrouds by Heather' http://www.scopeshrouds.com Very nicely made, it shields stray light effectively and did not cut any light out in the light path. I'll try and find a picture looking down towards the mirror with it fitted. EDIT Pictures added

I'm part way through doing a somewhat unfair comparison between a TAL 100RS and a Tak FC-100D. I've actually got a couple of TALs currently and will also compare them to see if there are any variations, I think they have different coatings. I need some time and clear skies to complete this, but as Shane says, from what I can see so far, I'm not totally sure why the TAL has such an amazing cult status, given that a 100ED would not be a million miles away from the Tak it would make much more sense. Having said that, I picked up both the TALs for the price of one 100ED so they are currently pretty cheap.

Here is my little collection, I'm surprised how many pairs I have now! Orion 8x20's - just because! Fun to see what you can actually see with something so small! Coronado 10x25 - used to be solar binos but filters got damaged so converted to normal use. Currently missing in action, hence not in the photo! Swift 10x50 Ranger Mk 1 - rarely used, pretty old but very nice quality Canon 15x50IS - great for grab and go daytime or astro Barr & Stroud Savannah 8x56 - low power, easy to handhold, bright Opticron 20x80 - Latest member of the family, tripod mounted, pleased so far!

Yeah, but that's just marketing innit? ? Obviousky I've no idea Chris, just seemed like a bit too much of a coincidence.

I was wondering if the 125 on Astroboot was in fact the unit Marki sent back?

I must admit I'm quite chuffed with how this has come together. Just received the Pelicase 1510 which is airline portable though not for the likes of EasyJet or charters but ok for mainstream airlines. I would chose a different case for those occasions. Anyway, fitting snuggly in the case is everything I need apart from the tripod which can go in hold baggage. Burgess Optical 91mm EDT, fits nicely with the focuser removed Giro-WR mount Baader Zeiss T2 Prism Televue 3 to 6 Nagler Zoom Leica 8.9 to 17.8mm ASPH Zoom with Baader VIP Barlow Zeiss 25mm Ortho Docter 12.5mm 84 degree Televue 24mm Panoptic Televue x2.5 PowerMate x0.5 Focal Reducer Lumicon OIII and UHC filters DGM NPB Filter Televue Mars and Planetary filters Finally, a Gitzo GT5542LS Tripod with trigger grip for use with binoculars if I chose. Regardless of whether I'm going abroad or not, this is a very handy little kit that can go in the car at short notice and go anywhere with me. I've checked, and the Tak FC-100 will also just fit in with the dewshield and focuser removed. Not so practical as not much room for anything else in the case, but nice to have as an option.

Good stuff. Might try and persuade you to stick my Vixen on it if I'm struggling for a mount still!!

Of course, no problem. I did use it occasionally for solar. Basically it is as you say, but the accuracy is defined largely by how accurately you set the initial position is level and pointing north. It's certainly a lovely mount, and one I will own again in future.

Can't see a problem with that. Depending upon the relative weights of the two, you could extend the counterweight shaft on the C9.25 to even things up. I used mine quite successfully with an 8" EdgeHD on one side and an 18kg 6" f9 refractor on the other.