Vixen Polaris 4'' vs Lyra 4''.

[Marvaz]

Hello there.

I'm going to buy a good quality 4'' achromatic refractor. Wich one is better in your opinion?

Vixen Polaris 102mm or Lyra 102mm. I'm interesting to observe lunar ,solar system and double stars.

Thanx for answers

Marek

[John]

Hi and welcome to the forum !

The Vixen Polaris is a mount rather than a scope. Do you mean the Vixen 102mm F/9.8 refractor ?

[Marvaz]

Yes John. Thats the one.

[John]

I've owned the Vixen and a TAL 100 but not a Lyra 102mm F/11 I'm afraid. My guess would be that the Lyra would show slightly less chromatic aberration as it's a slower scope (F/11 v's F/9.8). The Vixen's had fine Japanese optics in them though so I don't think there would be much difference otherwise, optically.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

I think if I remember right the Vixen is a good bit more expensive than the Lyra, a little more than a 4 inch ED scope

[John]

The current Vixen 4" achromat is the F/9.5 A105M which costs around £800. As you say, more than, say, the Skywatcher ED100.

The older F/9.8 102's have been out of production for some time now but can be picked up on the used market for around £200-£250 as an optical tube.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

£250 I could cope with John, but 800 for an achro.... Not on your Nelly

[Mr Fiery Jack]

I do like a Vixen though, very, very nice scopes.

[John]

They are nice scopes but their prices, when new, are high. I have a decade old Vixen ED102SS which is a lovely little scope

[Mr Fiery Jack]

Uummmm nice little scope.

[andrew63]

I think this is the one under consideration on ebay, sold by a dealer so a bit more expensive.

Second Hand Vixen 4" (102mm) Refractor With Vixen EQ Mount | eBay

I don't no about the lyra, it has some good reports, but in general with a few a exceptions, i would always go for Japanese glass whether lens or eyepiece over Chinese equivalent .

andrew

[Mr Fiery Jack]

I think this is the one under consideration on ebay, sold by a dealer so a bit more expensive.

Second Hand Vixen 4" (102mm) Refractor With Vixen EQ Mount | eBay

I don't no about the lyra, it has some good reports, but in general with a few a exceptions, i would always go for Japanese glass whether lens or eyepiece over Chinese equivalent .

andrew

Well if that's the one and I was in the market I would be hitting the buy it now button I think seeing as it comes with the mount too. RVO are sound enough, safer than your average eBay dealer I would think. I'd rather own a Vixen than a TAL or Synta achro.

[cotterless45]

It's got the sweet silent motors. My one is the same, very neat,

Nick.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

It's got the sweet silent motors. My one is the same, very neat,

Nick.

What do you make of the price ? It seems safe enough to me.

[John]

The does look a tempting deal. The motors for the Super Polaris mounts can be quite hard to find now though and, despite the photo showing them, the ad states that no motors are supplied, which is confusing.

Some of these are 1.25" only as well so thats something else to look into.

[Ajohn]

Looks like it is the old vixen gp mount as well. It's a solid piece of kit that has nice touches like accurate metal worm drives. Pity there is no drive with it but I suspect some of the drive suppliers could fix that but I think it would be best to check before buying especially as it sounds like you will be using the higher magnification ranges. You can turn the knob but an RA drive makes scopes a lot more usable.

John

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[Ajohn]

It's got the sweet silent motors. My one is the same, very neat,

Nick.

You must be kidding. I have it with the vixen go to. Every click from the steppers can be clearly heard. Probably down to the all metal gearing.

John

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[Ludd]

Hmm, I was briefly tempted, but then I reminded myself that I've already got a GP with dual axis drives. The drives on mine are realy quiet - they're not the original vixen ones but a DK3 set based on the Vixen set, supplied by Bern at MA. The original MT1 motors I used to have were super-silent too (in fact I'm looking out for an old Vixen skysensor set at the moment...)

[John]

My old Vixen SP102M used to have the original Skysensor system (pre-2000). It was totally unintuitive to use though so I just used it to control the drive motors. I'm sure the system has come on a long way since then !.

[Ajohn]

Hmm, I was briefly tempted, but then I reminded myself that I've already got a GP with dual axis drives. The drives on mine are realy quiet - they're not the original vixen ones but a DK3 set based on the Vixen set, supplied by Bern at MA. The original MT1 motors I used to have were super-silent too (in fact I'm looking out for an old Vixen skysensor set at the moment...)

Afraid no one is likely to get their hands on my skysensor. It's on a gp-dx with a pier which for weight would be hard to beat. I have another golden oldy the Meade LXD650 with the 1697 goto drive. Rather heavy to move around so I am going to try everything on the gp-dx. I have my doubts about it coping with a Meade 10in sct that's on forks.

The gp-dx mount is well worth buying on it's own though and the vixen telescope comes with it. This used to be the only decent mount UK Orion sold and people have put rather large telescopes on them, usually on a pier but the wooden tripod is fine. I would go for it if I could find an RA drive. Odd thing in that area is that there seems to be plenty of drives for this and that but none I'm aware of where the drive ratios can be set to suit any mount. Maybe goto set up's but they are inclined to be rip off expensive.

John

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[Marvaz]

Thank you very much for all yours answers. Finally got Lyra. I'm going to collect tomorrow. So exited.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

Thank you very much for all yours answers. Finally got Lyra. I'm going to collect tomorrow. So exited.

Good for you. We will expect a first light report mind