Just pulled the trigger....

[Stratis]

...on a 102mm APO.

I'm experiencing post-purchase nerves now waiting for the courier, not remorse but I seek now the reassuring advice (or soul-rending divine judgement) of my fellow astronomers.

I have managed to lay hands on this set; the Ostara 102ED Premium Package;

It comes with a ton of extras, this photo shows a 45deg diagonal when in fact my package includes a 90deg 2", but otherwise what you see is what I will get. The good news is I only paid £500 for the whole set, which is £900 on Amazon (down from £1500) and stupid prices elsewhere for the tube alone... when I saw the price I had to take it!

What I'd like to know is if I got a good deal or if it's just an up-priced mediocre scope?

A 102mm ED APO for that price seems fantastical, but there it is, and Ostara mark these as FPL-53 glass. Furthermore these scopes seem functionally and visually identical to the now-discontinued Orion et al f/7 Premium APO series that you can no longer buy for love nor money; link. It's known that these scopes are made by Kunming Optics and sold under a variety of names, I have yet to find a bad review of them and they DO seem distinct from the various f/5 'semi-APO' scopes that have bad reviews due to latent CA.

Good deal or dog biscuit?

[nightfisher]

dog biscuit . . . . . . . . i will take it of your hands for a tenner :grin:

I would say you have a great scope, that will give years of Stirling service, we await your report on it

[Stargazer_00]

Looks good to me, I think many would like to get a review from you on it as I'm not sure many have bought Ostara scopes.

[Stratis]

Ill be sure to do so... they do seem to be a rare scope.

There were a couple of reviews of it, one of them in a major publication (just cant remember which...) but it was so overwhelmingly positive it was hard to take seriously. I never trust any review that seems unconditional, I love all my scopes from the ST80 to the 9.25 but I can name faults in all of them.

What I anticipate from the Ostara is premium build but slightly sub-premium optics, not in the realm of a TV Fluorite but beating the fast AT and StarWave semi-APO enhanced achromats.

Hell, I plan on selling half the accessories anyway, should reduce the TCO down to around £300

[crashtestdummy]

One of these was for sale in a local camera shop for about 2 years.started at £1500 and went down to £699 in the end.don't know if it sold or just removed.looks a quality scope but didn't like the look of the focused for the money but bargain for £500!!!

[Stratis]

I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but I've found a link to a review in All About Space... looking somewhat hopeful now This review refers to £999 for the OTA only and doesn't seem to feel like it's an inappropriate price.

One of these was for sale in a local camera shop for about 2 years.started at £1500 and went down to £699 in the end.don't know if it sold or just removed.looks a quality scope but didn't like the look of the focused for the money but bargain for £500!!!

There certainly is a pattern to 'heavily discounted premium refractor' sitting forever in an optics shop.... I lived in Japan and saw the same thing. Seems like the sort of people liable to drop that much cash on some premium glass are not likely to wander into a physical store with cash on the hip