Deadlake

Interesting to watch how this scopes perform. My understanding is a lot of far east scopes have far lower performance handling aberrations. I.E your will not notice when imaging however will pick up visually. However to say game changing at this price point is an under statement even if FK-61 glass is used, it’s around 10x cheaper then FPL53. I suspect that someone on CN will DPAC this scope soon. Weight of 17 kg for the 185 mm is pretty good as well.

I suspect you set up time is limited for larger scopes due to the HEQ5. I swapped out my Vixen SXP2 due to set up time for visual for an AZ100. I can carry out the AZ100 and tripod in one go and alignment is around a couple of minutes for two stars. This makes the size of scope being mounted not really an issue, however I usually use a APO? over a C11 due to cool down times. This was the biggest time saver for set up at night.

You regret trading the 105/f6.25 LZOS? It is a peach of a scope if used for wide field or planet's. The only downside is it is tail heavy due to the FT3545, however that is fixable with a mount with Y-axis balancing or a harmonic mount. If I went of one scope it would still be the 130 mm APO, to make it more grab n' go I'd use a lightweight mount to help with that. I also have a C11 with the same weight as the 130 mm however it's larger and harder to put on the mount and take's an age to cool down. APO's are just so more flexible and not so dependent on seeing for usage.

I find the LZOS 130 mm the best balanced of all my scopes, (C11 and 105 mm LZOS). I think this is down the FT that adds 1 kg more on the end, otherwise it would require Y axis balancing all the time. The 105 mm LZOS I have is a pain to balance and swapping out the FT would make it easier to balance. Makes you think about the TOS’s that come with built in counterweights. But yes it’s another step in set up.

This is all I see at https://rowanastronomy.com/AZ100Update/

@JeremyS Have you got the TOA 130 catalogue translated as well?

Markus is listing this scope on CN APM - Teleskop APO FPL 53 Refraktor 130/910 mit 3.7"ZTA APM-130-910-T-3.7ZTA $ 4890 I suspect it’s a Japanese sourced lens to replace the LZOS. No more news as yet.

The pushing supermount tripod territory on price, aka one of these https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGSMCYG42

This as well http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/VixenAPZ.htm The Vixen carbon mount gets a positive review when used with the APZ. I’m sure Roger Vine is more interested in performance then price and to fit it directly to the AZ75 is a £20 adapter.

I'm looking at getting an AZ75, however which tripod to use? Main reason is to have a lighter mount. At present I use an AZ100 with a TPod-110 that is solid even with two scopes with a total weight of 25 kg in use. I have asked around and the TPod-90 does not provide enough support when used with a TSA-120, the recommendation is to stay with the TPod-110. Looking at carbon fibre tripods I've yet to see any recommendations with the exception of the SuperMount tripods. Has anyone used an AZ75 with a carbon tripod that provides adequate support with either a 8 or 12 kg scope mounted?

I have a beta version of the AZ100 mount software, the front end (web app) is running under iPadOS on a iPad mini 6. I find the screen size on the phone too small. The gamepad controlller is a SteelSeries Nimbus however any MFI compatible controller will connect. The controller works well for short movement of the mount and is great to keep nudging the mount while observing the planets. Due to the Rowan software being in a web app if the application is back grounded or the screen locks then the web app loses control. The gamepad is still connected to the iPad. Ultimately the real workaround is the gamepad should connect directly to the mount, Xbox or PS gamepad will work best in this case, don’t rush out and buy a MFI device as might not be fully supported. How this works on Android no experience of. I would also like to see the option for faster slewing assigned to the digital pad on the controller, but time will tell. No ETA for next code drop.

SQM will also vary over the night, it get's complicated.

Well here is another price point https://www.skypoint.it/en/astro-physics-130-starfire-gtx-ota-apochromatic-refractor-with-rings-and-losmandy-dovetail-plate.html up 1/3 from last time I was looking at 130 mm scopes.

I have not seen Gavin post on SGL for some time however he does have a YouTube channel here https://youtube.com/@gavstar1?si=MbrnaeqPKIgTMEcl

Well the original price Matthew quoted would in todays money be considerably more. The 130mm/F6 I have is the same price and in 2021 money around £6500. A more compact scope with a mere Strehl of 0.98 on the green line. Talking to Rupert the cost new would be almost double. The lens cells are bought on a fixed 10 year contract and due to cost increases that was the end of LZOS as APM would have too buy a fixed amount per year. Not even going near the current situation. The only comparable European scopes I can find are Zeiss APQ here https://apq.de/en/products/uni_polychromats.htm Which are at *new* LZOS prices. A bit like houses everyone priced out…

Good write up Matthew, would be ingested to see how the F9.25 compare with the F6 model at some point. I always think the F6 model is long enough, but yes the 130 mm / f9.25 is one of a kind and maybe only the TOA 130mm and Zeiss APQ's are the only real match available at a huge price. How wobbly is it on the Gitzo tripod?

Sure, compare like with like. I would need a Lockheart mirror to compare with my APO’s and also a place to park a 20” dob. 😃

I agree, I get bored waiting for my C11 to acclimate. The C11 is a great scope for DSO's, however the stars will never be as sharp and pristine as an APO.

If going for an F6 scope I would want a triplet, I'd pick the slower scope for a doublet. At F6 it's hard enough with a Triplet design to get good colour correction. A little off topic I did see this 125 mm doublet which comes with a Strehl of 0.95 on the green line. https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGTEC125F78 However back on topic also this one, gets good reviews on SGL and CN (Astrometrics brand), https://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGTEC102F7

The SD 80 S II is available on the Bressner site. I believe there are the EU sellers now and Bressner owns part of Vixen. I hope Vixen produces a harmonic mount, I think the Starbook software while now old fashion was the best thought out mount provided software. The AZ100 software is going in the right direction, but really needs to be a native application for iOS and Android IMHO.

Indeed new items, for example : https://global.vixen.co.jp/en/product/26086_7/ Finally spacers are fixed !

This handles the C11 very well, the waiting list is long and the amount of users quite high. There is native suppprt for this mount in most astro software as well. The only gotcha is the power supply needs to maintain correct ampage…

PUAS

Gavstar sold the Baader Traveller some years back… @DirkSteele From a mount point of view I would look at the AZ75 or HAZ31. The HAZ31 is very light and would make excellent use up until your 130 mm, whereas the AZ75 would support the C11. Depends how manual you would want to go. If I was taking a trip to some dark skies, then maybe the AZ75 and a Nexus DSC would be the better option, as goto without creating a large amount of light.. Here is a 130 mm LZOS on an AZ100 And a 130 GTX on the HAZ31, not mine. The AZ100 is 6 kg larger then the AZ75. The HAZ31 is 3.1 kg’s, but no encoders. If you knock the mount on changing an EP it is start again. The AZ100 does have a YAB adapter to balance in the Y axis which is unique to the AZ100 and the Half Hitch

The only EP's I could think of adding is the Nagler 31 mm and maybe a TOE 4 mm when the seeing is not good enough to support the HR 3.4 mm. The 30 mm UFF I have and really is in a class of it' own. And yes I would add the Noblex 12.5 mm to my collection as well.