Phenix 150 reflector - any good?

[John]

I agree go for a well known make but if you have 100% positive feedback you cant be selling that much rubbish or people would complain. Id buy Skywatcher as i cant find any information about the scope, i can Phenix they do optics but that doesnt mean they can build good scopes, a review of the 150./750 one in sky at night magazine doesn't get a good write up only gets 73%.

As I said earlier, e.bay feedback is given almost straight after the sale so the buyer has no real chance to do anything other than unpack the scope. He / she almost certainly will not have any baseline to test it against anyway. There are a number of e.bay sellers selling poor quality scopes and most have 100% feedback for the same reasons.

The 150mm newtonians sold on that site don't mention a key specification and that is a parabolic mirror. A while back another SGL member put the question to Skies the Limit and they said these scopes have spherical rather than parabolic mirrors.

There are a number of other features they have that are not optimal for reasonable performance so I can't recommend them.

[John]

Seller has replied with this link, it's the 750 http://www.flybird.c...wtonian_422.htm

That scope is made by Synta and was later re-badged Skywatcher. It's a decent scope.

[wookie1965]

As I said earlier, e.bay feedback is given almost straight after the sale so the buyer has no real chance to do anything other than unpack the scope. He / she almost certainly will not have any baseline to test it against anyway. There are a number of e.bay sellers selling poor quality scopes and most have 100% feedback for the same reasons.

The 150mm newtonians sold on that site don't mention a key specification and that is a parabolic mirror. A while back another SGL member put the question to Skies the Limit and they said these scopes have spherical rather than parabolic mirrors.

There are a number of other features they have that are not optimal for reasonable performance so I can't recommend them.

If you talk to Alan he lets you use the equipment and knows that with our weather could be some weeks before you can to see if you like the equipment then if you have problems either swap or refund thats what i was trying to point out like i said i wouldnt buy said scope because i cant find enough information about it and i would go for a known make.

[DonRemus]

Well I went for it, picking it up this afternoon. I have now jinxed the skies for an extended period ;-)

Thanks again