Lyra optics 4" F11 Achromat refractor

[F15Rules]

I recently bought Dave's Lyra F11, the object of the original thread . I know Dave knows his scopes so if he says it's good, it's, er, good!

We did the furtive motorway services exchange thing and ever since, the weather has been almost continously cloudy here in Leicestershire.

I did get one 20minute session to try her out on Vega, Epsilon Lyrae (double double) and Delta Cygni. Oh, and the Mizar system. The first thing I noticed is how bright the images are for a 4"..having owned half a dozen Tal100's I'd agree that the CA is slightly less with the Lyra, maybe around 10% less in keeping with the 10% longer Focal length. But the images of stellar points do seem brighter, I especially noted that the faint star in the Mizar system between Mizar prime and Alcor, seemed very bright indeed.

This is in no way a real first light report, but all the signs are that this is a really fine scope. I really do prefer long focus achros to short focus Apo's: I recently sold my ED120 Equinox which was a lovely scope in it's way, but simply not worth 4 times the cost of this Lyra. So I'm going to go for a second scope at 6" aperture, probably a Mak or maybe a longer FL reflector.

The build of the Lyra is excellent, much better than the Tal's which are "industrial"( and I say that with great affection ). And the plastic dewshield on the newer Tal's is just nasty!

Now, i wonder if Kunming would make a 5" F12 OTA??

Dave

[nightfisher]

I have a sneaky feeling that Kunming might make the Antares 105 f13-f15 "spirit of unitron" but this is a guess on my part

[Marki]

hehe - just seen Jules' "antares wanted ad" in the classifieds...wondered how long that would take .

Dave, so how woud you say the Lyra comapred to the Exquinox 120? Apart from cost, surely the drop in aperture and non-ed glass woud mean the lyra is less capable than the 120ED? Or do yo uthink the increase in focal length makes up for this? I can see the Lyra having the edge on the 100RS in terms of build quality, and maybe from the increase in focal length (but is an increase from f10 to f11 that noticeable?). Curious, as I've considered buying both scopes in the past... .

[nightfisher]

hehe - just seen Jules' "antares wanted ad" in the classifieds...wondered how long that would take .

Dave, so how woud you say the Lyra comapred to the Exquinox 120? Apart from cost, surely the drop in aperture and non-ed glass woud mean the lyra is less capable than the 120ED? Or do yo uthink the increase in focal length makes up for this? I can see the Lyra having the edge on the 100RS in terms of build quality, and maybe from the increase in focal length (but is an increase from f10 to f11 that noticeable?). Curious, as I've considered buying both scopes in the past... .

The add is a bit of a long shot! i get times when i would like to just sell all the scopes and just have one scope, and for me that would be a long focal length refractor

[John]

The add is a bit of a long shot! i get times when i would like to just sell all the scopes and just have one scope, and for me that would be a long focal length refractor

There was one for sale just a few weeks back on UK AB&S. Surprisingly it didn't sell and ended up on E.Bay. I think it went for around £450 in the end ?????

I'm sure I read somewhere that some of these are stopped down internally so the actually aperture is around 94mm - might be worth checking out on Cloudynights so you know if this is an issue with any of them.

[nightfisher]

John thank you for pointing that out and i think i have read that in the past, i contacted the chap on ebay and it sold on ukabs, starting to question the idea of getting one of these

[DaveGibbons]

Now, i wonder if Kunming would make a 5" F12 OTA??

Dave

If Only Dave, they would sell at least 2!

Glad you like the scope! Just wait till you get a really dark night with good seeing and plenty of time !

Cheers

Dave