Love old refractors.

[emadmoussa]

Modern glass and coatings do bring improvements. You don't always want to own these things because they are "the best" in pure optical terms though, for me there is some emotion involved as well

Mind you - try and find a 150mm ED doublet, let alone a triplet at the price thats being asked for the Vixen 150mm F/9.

Was about to say...£1900 for this scope is reasonable. I would go for if I had the cash

[emadmoussa]

In case you didn't see this...straight from Vixen telescope factory..

[HD-AP]

No doubt Vixen telescopes are a symbol of build and optical quality. I am just having a hard time believing that they would beat their modern equivalents..like the SW Esprit ot ES triplets for example, isn't there this nostalgic element of "old is better"?...I stand corrected.

I think my old telescopes would stand up against modern counterparts .i have a vixen 150 ed refractor and an astrophysics 180 edt refractor.As previously stated only 6 vixen 150 ed's  made it into the uk i have not found one or heard of one in the states .I beleive fewer were made than the astrophysics 180 edt which is quite rare but sells for seriously silly money these days . Modern scopes may give equivalent performance to the astrophysics ,but they don't better it .

The vixen is a semi apochromat but visually performs very well ,rob pearce of bcf  tested mine on a double pass autocollimator at 675x 112x per inch of apeture and the star test was still textbook ,so performs very well under our dark transparent british skies of which today is a typical example

I think as these were in effect pre production units to test the market as it were they were probably  hand picked so are still a very good refractor today ,and as john says try finding one of this quality today at this apeture ,and it's at a good price ,although i seem to remember one selling in the recent past for £1300 ish .

If i had the money i'd buy it and turn it into a binocular telescope

But seriously still represents a bit of a bargain. 

[John]

One thing to bear in mind with the Vixen 150ED is that it's a heavy scope - around 35-40lbs with tube rings, diagonal, finder etc. A tube of that weight / length take some mounting believe me !

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Top scopes of years back are still top scopes. Coatings have improved, optical glass has too, but a well-figured piece of old glass will beat poorly figured ED glass any day. What has changed is that fracs have become much faster. When I started (late 70s) it was quite rare to find fracs faster than F/10-F/15, especially the big ones. Nowadays, fracs faster than F/8 are quite common, and very decent to excellent in quality as well.

[canuck]

In case you didn't see this...straight from Vixen telescope factory..

I've never seen that...what a great link!

[F15Rules]

I think if Vixen could produce an F9 ED like that for say under £2500 today they'd fly off the shelves..quite a few of us (me included) would sell all our other scopes to have just one like it.

I can imagine it's a real beast to mount though...my F8 6" Celestron refractor is heavy enough, and I've seen pictures of Tom's Vixen which show how thick the tube is, over width etc etc and built like a tank!

I'd buy it in a heartbeat - if I had the cash, like everyone else - and it isn;t just the scope, it would be at least an EQ6 to sit it on!

So, back on Earth, I get my vintage frac fix from a nice little Asahi Pentax 60mm F13 and my trusty old Astro Optics (Prinz 660 Circle K) 3" F16.5 - not much CA on that beauty, I promise you LOL..

right now I'd settle for a clear hour with my binoculars!

cheers

Dave

PS, Great link to the Vixen plant Emad!

[paul mc c]

I have a 100 year 3'' frac,no luxurys with it but it is still nice to look through now and again and still gives really sharp contrasty views of the moon,sort of reminds me what it it must have been like to look through a scope all them years ago.

[nightfisher]

Modern glass and coatings do bring improvements. You don't always want to own these things because they are "the best" in pure optical terms though, for me there is some emotion involved as well

This is very true, and part of the reason i bought the Russian TAL 125r, if im totally honest i dont expect it to be any better than my 100RS but its a thing of beauty and still very capable 5" Achro 

[estwing]

Never been a fan of them myself......

[Pig]

Never been a fan of them myself......

They make good finders  

Right im off on holiday

[Qualia]

Ay, but - paraphrasing Russell - the beauty of each telescope type is that in their own manner of ways, each help enrich our intellectual and creative imagination and by their meer existence ought to diminish any dogmatic assurance which would ever suggest that one type is universally better than any other; but above all, through the universe which our telescopes contemplate, the mind is rendered great and becomes capable of a profound and delicious union with the cosmos which constitutes a very good thing indeed .

¡ Viva el Galilean ! ¡ Viva el Newtonian ! ¡ Viva !

[Rustysplit]

I love newtonians, especially my 14" dob, but for some reason felt the need for a classic refractor. I got lucky and scored myself a prinz 550 complete with original eq mount for a tenner on ebay. I really like it. I need to get a decent diagonal for it but the lunar views are superb. The eq mount flips over to form a really nice alt az mount and is beautifully made.

It just has that "something". Not quite the something that Estwing's Telementor has, now that is a fine piece of classic scopery!!

[emadmoussa]

They make good finders  

Right im off on holiday

Where are you Heading?!

[gkec]

I think more use should be made of these.

http://www.the-observatory.org/telescopes

[Pig]

Where are you Heading?!

China

[chiltonstar]

China

You could buy a decent 'frac while you're there, then?

Chris

[emadmoussa]

China

Cool stuff! And yes, a frac from there.

[Pig]

They don't sell any astronomy kit where I am going