Vixen setup

[russ]

Well this is my current setup and will hopefully remain so for quite a while. It's as close as I can afford to my perfect setup of HEQ5 Skyscan and ED100.

Bought on Ebay two weeks ago for a very good price.....i'm still in disbelief that i got it.

It's all Vixen. A GP equatorial mount, with a 102M achromat refractor and Orion Optics heavy duty field tripod. The GP is so smooth compared to the EQ5 and it's MT1 drives are whisper quiet and ultra responsive. The Orion Optics tripod is a beast and even dwarfs the EQ6 tripod. And finally the 102M is a quality bit of kit despite being an achromat. If it was marketed by any company other than Vixen, they would class it a 'semi-apo'. Very little CA, superb contrast and very sharp. Not far off the ED100.

Thanks to Steve (FLO) for sending through the Skywatcher electric focus and the Baader Hyperion 21mm. Just need a decent diagonal now.

Russ

[GordonCopestake]

A nice bit of kit there Russ, I know how nice those GP mounts are, and that achro looks like a great piece of kit. What is it f/8?

[Rob]

[russ]

Gordon, it's f10 and heavily baffled. They put it in an oversized (114mm) tube to get the baffles in. There's a slight hint of violet on Saturn but it's very slight.

Can't fault the GP. Although I wouldn't mind the manual clutches.

Russ

[GordonCopestake]

4" f/10. Classic refractor, i'm not suprised it's well corrected! Orion Optics used to sell the manual clutches, but i cant find them on the web site anymore. I have just noticed that they have dropped the price on the GPe to £299, which is still expensive but it's a damn site better than £369

[Brass n glass]

Very nice set-up Russ. I bought one of those scopes on a GP mount from David Hinds in 1997. It was painted black and branded Celestron in those days and was a very effective performer that never complained about any eyepiece I threw at it. I sold the OTA in 2003 but have kept the GP mount and wooden tripod, which have never let me down. I don't think the 102M is sold here any more, but you can still get them in Italy where the amateur market hasn't yet been swamped by Synta products.

[SteelRat]

S'a nice lookin setup that is Rus 8)

[russ]

Very nice set-up Russ. I bought one of those scopes on a GP mount from David Hinds in 1997. It was painted black and branded Celestron in those days and was a very effective performer that never complained about any eyepiece I threw at it. I sold the OTA in 2003 but have kept the GP mount and wooden tripod, which have never let me down. I don't think the 102M is sold here any more, but you can still get them in Italy where the amateur market hasn't yet been swamped by Synta products.

Apparently Vixen still make it but it's sold under the Antares brand name in Canada. And yes Antares label it a 'semi-apo'. It's an easy class above the Synta f10 achro. But the ED100 is undoubtedly better.

Russ

[FLO]

Looking good Russ 8)

[Brass n glass]

I think the Antares one has a tube made in Canada with an objective "sourced from the company that supplies Vixen." I believe yours is what Vixen now calls an SXW100 - sold these days with a flip mirror and red dot finder.

[MartinB]

Lovely set up Rus. Optics are about more than just colour correction and I bet that scope will outperform a few apos. Not only will the GP feel smooth it should track like a dream with a very regular periodic error curve. It's quite straight forward to fine tune the backlash as well with a bit of practice.

[lunator]

russ

very nice setup.

[tom.yates]

Nice bit of kit Russ