Antares Sentinal 80

[russ]

Had a brochure through the post this morning from Scopes'n'skies with their Christmas offers. Basically they are offering 10% of everything, including the new scope range. Which means that the new Antares Sentinal 80 (William Optics Zenithstar 80) is now only £197 inc VAT and delivery. Also includes a foam padded case. Now thats a bargain. Half the price of the Zenithstar and Orion, plus easily undercuts the Telescope House Revelation 80. Would make a nice grab'n'go scope or wide field imager.

btw it's a not an Apo but instead a well corrected, baffled and fully multicoated 2 element Achro. Performance is apparently just short of the 80ED but way better than the Startravel refractors. So there still will be some CA but it's much less of a hindrance. Some of the images i've seen taken with them look good.

Just something to bear in mind for the Christmas stocking.

Russ

[GazOC]

..still just a 80mm Achro refractor though...(Gaz playing Devils Advocate )

[Ant]

Just bought the 80mm F/11 of I would have been tempted with that!

Whats it's FL Russ?

Cheers

Ant

[daz]

Ant,

480mm f/6

[Ant]

Cheers Daz,

Not much longer than the ST80 then - But I suppose it is twice the price nearly. more money to correct the optics.

Ant

[russ]

Ant, I think your 80mm f11 will be better suited to guiding.

Gaz is right though, this Antares is still just an achro. But maybe worth it to reduce the CA, I found it impossible to use the Startravel anymore. The imaging makes the CA on a Startravel 1000x worse. But the Startravel is great as a grab'n'go widefield visual scope.

Russ

[FLO]

...the new Antares Sentinal 80 (William Optics Zenithstar 80) is now only £197 inc VAT and delivery. Also includes a foam padded case. Now thats a bargain. Half the price of the Zenithstar and Orion, plus easily undercuts the Telescope House Revelation 80.

Leading question:

Clearly, these all come from the same Taiwanese source but are they all the same spec - glass, coatings, diagonal? 

Steve

[Rob]

Hi Guys... I had the flyer this morning!. I gota get me one of these!. Russ- can you easly detach the mounting ring / bracket shown in the piture. I could not see a bolt?, mind you £249 with (what looks to be an Astro 3 mount) is fantastic (my birthday is on the 31st of Jan!)

Cool.

Rob

[russ]

Leading question:

Clearly, these all come from the same Taiwanese source but are they all the same spec - glass, coatings, diagonal?

Steve

Steve, All made/specified by William Optics. They decided they could make more money by building it for other suppliers. It seems just about everyone has taken up the option. But as usual Antares seem to offer it lower than anyone else. Antares brand obviously doesn't carry much weight. There's some rumours that some are better than others but i don't know.

What would be nice is if someone would stick the 80ED optics in this tube.

Rob, the tripod bracket detaches easily, so you can use standard tube rings. The mount is the Astro 3 that you borrowed for a while. Get it before end of December and it's only £225. But surely you just want the OTA only?

Russ

[Rob]

Indeed Russ, the OTA is all I'm after. Looks a nice little scope for that money!!

[FLO]

Clearly, these all come from the same Taiwanese source but are they all the same spec - glass, coatings, diagonal? 

There's some rumours that some are better than others but i don't know.

Hhhmmmm ... perhaps its in the quality/type of lens coating ...

[GazOC]

A lot of the time with this type of thing the products are identical but the 'big' buyers get the first pick or the stock has to go through another round of QC/QA before it reaches them.

[FLO]

That and more...

[FLO]

It doesn't appear to be listed on their site :scratch:; can someone please post a link?

Thanks,

Steve

[GazOC]

That and more...

I know 'certain' Televue eyepieces are just the same model as those sold at half the price by others...

[daz]

It doesn't appear to be listed on their site :scratch:; can someone please post a link?

Thanks,

Steve

Here you go http://tinyurl.com/bwmaq

If you look in the bargain watch thread, I posted the discount code

[FLO]

I know 'certain' Televue eyepieces are just the same model as those sold at half the price by others...

Don't tempt me !!

[GazOC]

I know 'certain' Televue eyepieces are just the same model as those sold at half the price by others...

Don't tempt me !!

You'll be interrogated further next weekend!!

The Televue 8-24 zoom is a culprit?

[FLO]

The Televue 8-24 zoom is a culprit?

.... What dooo you mean

[GazOC]

I mean you can get from Orion or Seben for 50 quid!!!

[FLO]

Here you go http://tinyurl.com/bwmaq

Thanks Daz; sure is a good looker. 

Bet it'd be great on a monopod with a 2" diagonal and Moonfish

Steve

[FLO]

I mean you can get from Orion or Seben for 50 quid!!!

Aaaahh but the Televue has click-stops

[russ]

Orion USA is one of those companies that usually gets first pick of the good stuff. That always showed with their XT dob range and the majority of their eyepieces too. I always feel confident buying their stuff. But this Antares scope does look nice, especially when you consider the Orion and William Optics versions are £399 vs £197. You couldn't knock Antares for any slight drop in quality when saving that much. 8)

Russ

[FLO]

Here it is as a Williams Optics:

http://tinyurl.com/c8ex3

Steve

[russ]

Looks the part but only really the gold paint tells it apart from the Antares. I'm pretty sure that it is a bit better scope though but is it worth 2x the price of the Antares. Plus at £399 it's a £100 more than the Skywatcher 80ED Pro and that definitely has better optics, bettter than the WO.

Russ