80mm ED APO

[grey]

i'm looking at the Stellarvue SVR80ST2 80mm ED APO Triplet, does anyone have any thoughts / experiences with this scope or the SV80ST being that it is basically the same.

I'm just looking for feedback and/or views from experienced imagers... what setups work really well for AP that don't require selling an organ to buy a scope, under 2000 USD pref. I've looked at a few like the Explore Scientific triplet and the asto-tech 90mm, now am leaning toward the Stellarvue... any adivse much appreciated as i don;t want to regret plunking down hard-earned for a scope that will leave me wanting.

I recently posted on the dilemma but i think i was a little over-zealous and haven't gotten much feed back.

[BlueAstra]

I have the Meade 5000 ED80 triplet apo. Very pleased with it for visual and photography.

[ampleamp]

Blue Astra beat me to it. Another vote for the Meade 5000.

[ollypenrice]

I'd have a look at the Altair Astro triplet. I have one awaiting first imaging light (awful weather at the moment!) but the star test was very good indeed visually. The acid test is control of blue stars. I'm running it as a tandem scope with my Tak FSQ85 to speed things up. First light will, I promise, be ASAP.

Olly

[grey]

You know, I never even considered Meade.. i always think SCT when i think Meade, i will most definitely have a look at both the 5000 and the Altair , i've actually heard very good things about the Altair...

cheers

[Coco]

I'd have a look at the Altair Astro triplet. I have one awaiting first imaging light (awful weather at the moment!) but the star test was very good indeed visually. The acid test is control of blue stars. I'm running it as a tandem scope with my Tak FSQ85 to speed things up. First light will, I promise, be ASAP.

Olly

How did you get on with this Olly?

[ollypenrice]

Right, first light for our Altair Astro Triplet 80 was last night, in a parallel rig with our Tak FSQ85ED. I ran the OSC in the Altair 80 on the Rho Ophiuchus region as part of a guest's major mosaic project. I think it did extremely well and I can't see myself hesitating to combine data from this with that from the much more expensive Tak.

Rho is a fairly bright blue multiple star but it shows no bloat. Other stars are nice and tight to my eye. The lower left corner is not perfect but neither is my chip distance, which is out by a couple of mm. I need to gind a spacer down. Focus held all night.

In a nutshell a great start. This image is just stretched open for this thread and Guy's question, it isn't any more than a short colour grab of a very low, very faint region.

I'm very happy at this stage and expect to see a few of these in action, to be honest.

Olly

[johninderby]

Sounds promising. It will be interesting to see how you get on with it.

I beleive it's the same optics as used in the TS 80/480 FPL-53 Triplet which I was very, very impressed with. I remember stating that it was surprisingly close to the TMB in optical quality.

John

[Coco]

Thanks Olly, that looks great!

Is this the scope?

http://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16493&cat=270&page=1

£800 with flattener...... it better be good

[ollypenrice]

Yup, that's the one. You think it's expensive? I can't say I do. http://www.optique-unterlinden.com/catalogue/produit/m/0/p/TK023

Curious that the Tak European importer has three narrowband images on this FSQ page since what you pay for is colour correction. Almost any refractor can do NB, after all.

Olly

[Steve]

i'm looking at the Stellarvue SVR80ST2 80mm ED APO Triplet, does anyone have any thoughts / experiences with this scope or the SV80ST being that it is basically the same.

We don't see many Stellarvue telescopes this side of the pond but they have an active Stellarvue Yahoo group and Jon Talbot's website is also worth a visit. Jon Talbot appears to be an ambassador for Stellarvue in much the same way Olly is for Altair Astro.

[Stu]

I had a deposit on a Stellarvue once, ironically with Altair Astro.....got it back after two years on the waiting list with no sign of a firm delivery date still!

The Altair Astro scopes do seem to be pretty good, quite fancy a 115mm one day.

Stu