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Vixen Super Polaris 102m

MjrTom

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Rob

Rob

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I've owned one.. and quite honestly should never had sold it!.. Its an awsume scope, never seen Saturn look so good through a frac. you would not think that its a anchromat.. its so well corrected.

Snap it up!

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skybadger

skybadger

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I agree. I had one for a long time and would not turn one down if offered at a good price. I run a 140mm Vixen NA140SF right now and the correction on the 102 was fantastic for an achromat and possibly better than the replacement semi apo.

If only as a guide scope!

Mike

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John

John

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Funny that. Around 20 years ago I owned a Vixen SP102M. I sold it when my time was taken up with young children and a few years later bought one of the first TAL100's to come to the UK. What delighted me about the TAL was that it was optically as good as the Vixen despite the fact that the TAL cost less than half what I'd sold the Vixen for (scopes were relatively more expensive back then). Both were excellent F/10 achro refractors. One thing to look out for with the Vixen's is that they were originally supplied with .965" accessories (even the 4" scopes) and getting 1.25" and 2" adapters, if they don't come with the scope, can be a pain.

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John

John

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Thats interesting. Mine had a 1.25 r&p. Mind you its was the best r&p I've ever come across.

The R&P on mine had some odd thread - 36.2mm or something like that :rolleyes:. Back then lot of dealers stocked Vixen accessories so getting a 1.25" visual back was not too difficult.

My current Vixen ED102SS has a 63mm focusser drawtube and therefore will take 2" accessories but needs a dedicated visual back for that size and 1.25" - fortunately the scope came with those ;)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Thanks John,

A quick update from me. Still not got the chance to go see it yet however he is looking for £200 which seems ok to me :D

Big question. Which do I take to PSP2011 star party the 80mm ED or the 100mm f/10 Achro?

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Thanks John,

A quick update from me. Still not got the chance to go see it yet however he is looking for £200 which seems ok to me ;)

Big question. Which do I take to PSP2011 star party the 80mm ED or the 100mm f/10 Achro?

Silly question..........take them both, im planning on taking all 3 of my OTA`S :D

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Well a bit of an update from me. :D

This afternoon I went to see the SP 102m telescope which was in very good Knick. The optics were pristine. After a quick clean with a micro fibre cloth it was gleaming. Cosmetically the tube had a couple of scuff marks and a bit of chipped paint on the dew shield.

As for the focuser it is a 1.25 inch rack and pinion. What was a surprise was that the focuser is really smooth with no backlash at all.

In addition to the OTA there was the original vixen wooden alt/az mount with slow mo controls. The metal work needs a little work as some of the bolts/screws are showing their age a little with rust spots but nothing major.

Also thrown into the deal was a reasonable quality 1.25 prism and an excellent Vixen Ortho 9mm. I shall have to pick up a diagonal very soon.

I managed to get half an hour in the garden this evening in between the cloud cover.

First target was the most challenging for this scope, Jupiter.

Whilst using the Nagler zoom at 6mm the disc was sharp with a noticeable purple fringing and also some yellow fringing as well.

Not overly distracting but definately noticeable.

With that done I swung the scope round to some DSO targets starting with epsilon lyrae and was very surprised just how much resolution there was and the double double was easily split with the 13mm EP. I decided I would push my luck a bit and dropped the Nagler zoom in and progressively increased the mag from 167x to 333x with a lovely diffraction pattern.

On from there was the Ring Nebula with the 13mm again which was visible with direct vision which is nice the ED80 struggles a little on this target.

I dropped in the vixen Ortho and was lovely and sharp and contrasty at 111x

Lastly I tried a couple of open clusters to see how much field of view I can muster.

Using the 24mm Panoptic I could fit the double cluster in view and just about fit pleiades in the FOV as well. At a guess it would be about 1.5 degrees FOV.

With this in mind I am less concerned about the lack of a 2 inch focuser.

So not much of a session but happy with the purchase and got the lot for 200 quid ;)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Thanks Rob,

I was pleasantly surprised just how good this Achro is :)

I need to do a lot more testing and also get a proper diagonal instead of the prism. I suspect that the prism might introduce some CA so hopefully with the diagonal the view should improve again.

I have mounted an ADM Vixen Style dovetail bar to the tube rings and it now is ready for mounting onto my Giro III.

Its in such good condition that even the tube ring and dew shield felt is still as new.

The guy I bought it off had only used it for a short while before he lost interest and it just sat there for nearly a decade.

There was a few little issues like the small objective lens cap was missing but fortunately its exactly 2 inches so was able to use a 2 inch cap off an eyepiece as the objective lens cap.

The 6x30 finder has broken cross hairs which is easy to repair with some fuse wire and a soldering iron. But to be honest I have added a finder bracket to the tube rings so I can use a 9x50 finder or an RDF.

other than a bit of chipped paint paint but nothing that really needs dealing with.

I was surprised that the OTA and drawtube are fully baffled.

Just need to pick up a soft case for it from Teleskop Express at some point. It living in a cardboard box at the moment which does this scope none of the justice it deserves :)

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John

John

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Back in the late 1980's the Vixen SP102M was "the" 4" refractor that I really wanted. I knew the flourite version was out of my grasp as that listed at £2,770 on the Super Polaris mount whereas the SP102M was "only" £1,150 (really !).

Vixen were (are are today) excellently designed and engineered scopes and I reckon Synta (the makers of Helios, Skywatcher etc) copied both the Vixen scopes and the mounts although their engineering is not as accurate as Vixen's - just compare a Vixen rack and pinion focuser to a Synta one and the differences in tolerances are obvious.

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Thanks John :)

I am really impressed with the focuser. I wish it was 2" but you cant have everything.

Especially happy that it cost me considerably less than £1200 that they were selling when new.

Need a decent 1.25" diagonal for it as the prism is not much cop.

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  • 3 months later...
inspectapart

inspectapart

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Hello people :icon_salut:

Just wondering what your thoughts are on this telescope, cant seem to find much info on the web?

How would it compare to say a TAL 100RS for instance?

I have a Vixen 102m. I bought it about 4yrs ago. It has been my main scope since the day I bought it. I`ve never been dissapointed in the performance of this scope. It certainly far exceeds it`s supposed capabilities of 50 times per inch magnification even during average seeing conditions. The scope came with the complete set of the original 1" eps, etc in the original green tupperware type container, and I could see that it had been well looked after by it`s previous owner.

When the scope first arrived I was devastated to find it had two small dints in the tube curtesy of the carrier. But at first light my fears disapeared and I was rewarded with the best views of jupiter that I had ever had. I never regretted buying this scope and have used and enjoyed it since first light. I replaced the old 1" eps and bought an adapter from Telescope service, if I recall, and this allowed me to use standard eps.

I am now the proud owner of a Vixen 102s fluorite which I now use on the SP mount. This famous fluorite version of the 102m is known as one of the best 4" refractors ever produced. It took me a long time to aquire one and I can honestly say that although there is a difference between the two, it isn`t that obvious unless you have them side by side.

Bob

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Thanks Trull and Bob :icon_salut:

I did see that SP102M on a GEM mount advertised on eBay and keeping a close eye on it.

Mine came on a Barely stable enough Alt/az of similar spec to the skywatcher AZ3 mount. Wish I had held out for one on the super Polaris GEM.

Oh well, suspect a HEQ5 class mount will be on the cards at some point during this hobby.

Thanks Bob for your input :)

I was quite surprised just how well performing this Vixen telescope is.

I would say it's not that far behind my ED80's colour correction and I would say the sperical aberration and field flatness are better figured.

With a long focus refractor like this it snaps into focus with more ease as well.

What I would give for a better colour corrected version... I do keep an eye on the second hand Market to see what comes up from time to time.

IF I could get a 120mm refractor from the likes of Vixen would be in preference to the current breed of Chinese doublets...

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Trull

Trull

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Indeed, my prized Vixen ED103swt is a fantastic performer, and well worth the price of admission. And if one of these beauties comes up - snap it up!

I also have the GP-DX mount and matching SS2K-PC controller, which can teach Mr Meade/Syn/Celestron a few things about convenience and accuracy.

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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I bet it's gorgeous :icon_salut:

I really like the performance of a good 4 inch refractor especially under dark skies.

I wouldn't mind another 4-5 inch refractor which was faster, say something f/7-f/9 with an ED doublet and a retractable dew shield.

This would be more physically compact than the SP102M making it a bit easier for transportation on holidays and such.

At which point the SP102M will become the donor scope for a PST mod hydrogen alpha solar telescope. :)

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