Are the older. Edmund astroscans better ?

[ddufresne50]

I wanted to genome of these. Edmund astroscans. For my son. But are the older American. Made and Japan. Ones better optically than these. New china made ones. They. Have now. Let me know. Dale

[ronin]

Edmund optics stuff isn't that common over here, not sure if many of our US members will see the post and have experience of the scopes either.

Have you tried the CN Classic Telescopes section ?

I would simply suspect you will get a bigger response from there.

In general it is often difficult to say if the older ones are better. We have improved the grinding equipment and have a larger range of glass available and the computing power and programs to do in a few minutes what was a lot of work and effort originally. Point being is that the Chinese manufactirers will have this equipment now. The Japanese did not back then.

Like cars: Is the Toyota MX5 better and more reliable then the MGB, answer is yes, by a long way.

[NGC 1502]

Don't know if the Chinese versions are as good as the originals.

However, are you aware of what the Astroscan is good for ? It's best used as a low power wide field scope. That's great for many observers, including me. I think they are a super portable grab n go, or travel scope, just the ticket to take camping etc.

But if it's for your son, he may want to look at planets, and there are better options for that.

One problem is the factory fixed collimation, with a fast optical system, collimation needs to be spot on for good views. But the secondary can be tweaked, here's a link -

http://garyseronik.com/?q=node/116

Not trying to put you off at all, great scope for the right purpose.

Regards, Ed.

[ddufresne50]

Thanks Ed. My son. Just wants to learn. The constellations. Clusters. And look at. The moon. He is beginner. Like I was. When I was 12. But when I was 12 I started. With the classic. Criterion. Rv-6 dynascope that got me hook especially on. The. Planets.