skywatcher ed100 scopes

[kingcarp]

hi everyone, i have just bought a second hand sw 100ed2 gold editoin scope to replace my sw 130 reflecter. my questoin is are the optics in the sw 100ed2 gold versoin the same as the newer sw 100ed black diamond series.

[John]

Hi,

Hope you don't mind but I've just edited the title of your thread to include ed100 as you will hopefully get some more responses that way.

On the question you ask, it's one I've been interested in myself too. I've owned a number of Skywatcher ED refractors (currently a gold tube ED120) but never a black diamond one. I know that they all have one lens element made from FPL-53 glass but it's the other element that may vary, possibly ? The black diamond ones carry the "Schott" logo which is the source of the mating lens element although that is a glass maker, not a glass type.

My personal theory (unproven !) is that all the Skywatcher ED scopes carry the same optics and that the Schott logo appeared after Synta (Skywatcher's parent company) struck a partnership deal with that company, their glass having been used as the mating elements for some time before that.

Ether way I've not been disappointed with any of the Skywatcher ED refactors I've used

[kingcarp]

thanks john, so you say you have the gold ed100. just out of curiosity, hows the viewing and what objects have you seen, thanks

[John]

thanks john, so you say you have the gold ed100. just out of curiosity, hows the viewing and what objects have you seen, thanks

Mine is an ED120. I've had the scope a few months now, having wanted one for ages. I've not been disappointed with it either

As I have a 10" newtonian for deep sky objects most of my viewing with the ED120 has been on planets (Jupiter & Mars in the main), the Moon and binary stars. I've been very pleased with the scopes performance on these objects. Jupiter has shown lots of detail when seeing allowed, 180x or 225x being the most effective magnifications I've found. I can apply a bit more power to Mars and 225x or even 257x has shown nice detail on the small planetary disk including the northern polar cap and several dark features.

The ED120 can do well on deep sky objects as well, within the constraints of the aperture. The views of the Veil Nebula in the summer (with an O-III) filter were superb and a few nights ago I managed to see 7 galaxies in Leo reasonably easily.

I love the views refractors give so the ED120 has been my most used scope since I got it