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New Antares refractors

John

By John
in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups

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nightfisher

nightfisher

Posted
Posted

Under New Products on the Anares site, but no 93mm listed there.

Says "In the spirit of UNITRON".

Total of 3 different 105mm dia offerings at 1000mm, 1300mm and 1500mm.

The spirit of unitron are older models, i had the 105 f15 (awkward cumbersome silly great long thing :grin: ) these are new models, the 105 f9.5 looks an interesting model, but i think i will be keeping the tal

John, thanks for an interesting heads up :cool:

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philj

philj

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The spirit of unitron are older models, i had the 105 f15 (awkward cumbersome silly great long thing :grin: )

Yeah but it looked nice, like a telescope should :grin: Jules

Good link John. Nice to see Ian is stocking some decent achromats

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John

John

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Interestingly Vixen have a 105mm F/9.5 achromat in their current range too:

http://www.green-witch.com/acatalog/Vixen_A105M_f_9.5_Achromatic_Refractor.html

In the past Antares have had a refractor that was dubbed "Vixen specification". I wonder if there is some link between these brands from time to time ?

The Vixen is a lot more pricey than the Antares version. 

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AndyH

AndyH

Posted
Posted

Nice to see that Canadian lot still on the go.

Interesting and nice to see another range of achros available. The original Antares Elite scopes had Japanese glass, didn't they? What were they, 105mm and various focal lengths? F11, F13 & F15 ?

Doing a slight right turn..... I notice Rother Valley has got the respected 2" 1.6x Antares barlow back in. Looks like it's got a new compression system, instead of the old double thumbscrews. An item I've had my eye on for a long time. One day I'll have to get one.

I take it RVO are the UK's Antares distributor/dealer??

Cheers,

Andy.

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John

John

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I've owned one of the old set screw Antares 2" 1.6x barlows and one of the newer ones with a twist lock system and a filter thread cut into the bottom of the 2" barrel. Unfortunately, in installing the twist lock and the filter thread the body of the barlow has been shortened and the lens elements moved up the barrel slightly. This conspired to add a good 10mm plus to the amount of inwards focus movement that the barlow requires meaning that it would not come to focus with many of my eyepieces in any of my scopes :sad:

A real shame because the optics looked as good as ever.

Generally though the Antares brand has had some interesting and decent quality items in it's ranges and at very reasonable prices usually too. 

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AndyH

AndyH

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Ohh. How strange. I hadn't heard of a F9.5.

just did a quick internet search and noticed the following on a Canadian dealers price list, dated 2001.....


Research Grade, Japanese made, all surfaces coated, air spaced.

83mm, F11 or F14...............................$165.00

93mm, F11, F14 or F16.......................$215.00

105mm, F9.5, F12 or F14....................$395.00

120mm, F8...........................................$920.00

I also saw that Neil English reported the 'return' of these scopes on his website, a few hours ago.

Andy

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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I saw the dealer ad on UKABS and was, like John, intrigued and pleased to see more apparently high quality achromats being offered in the UK :smiley:.

I must say I've never looked through an antares scope, though I've owned several of their eps and I think they have an association with GSO in Taiwan...certainly that supplied diagonal looks like a GSO Revelation one I used to have (and a nice diagonal it was too!).

Without having seen one "in the flesh" I'd offer a couple of observations (sorry for the pun, tis silly season  :icon_santa:)..

  • The OTA looks reasonably good quality, but not, in my opinion up to the standard of the Lyra Optic F11 scope, which is truly superbly built and retails at £425. I've owned one of these beauties and can vouch for it being a lovely scope in every way.
  • The diagonal is included, but you can buy that new for around £80 so that would bring the price without the diagonal to around £419 - very similar to the Lyra.
  • Finder rings are included, as they are on the Lyra.
  • Tube rings are included too, but these look like bog standard Skywatcher type rings...ok, but not in the same league as the CNC rings provided with the Lyra.
  • A dovetail is included with the Antares, whereas this is not included with the Lyra.
  • The Crayford on the Lyra looks much more robust from the photos, but to be fair I haven't seen the Antares in the flesh as I said above. In use, I could not fault the Lyra Crayford.
  • I'd expect the CA on the Lyra to be noticeably less, unless there is something really special about the Antares glass. My Lyra was noticeably better on CA than the several Tal 100RS's I've owned, (they are F10), so I'd expect an F9.5 to be a bit more prone to CA - but very useable nonetheless, and some might prefer the shorter tube.

I've read somewhere that the original 105mm Elite F15 was stopped down quite a bit - was that from you, Jules? I would hope this one isn't. The Lyra is a full 102mm of lovely clear unobstructed glass :grin:  :evil: !

It will be great if we can get to see a review or someone's first light report on both these new scopes. Looking at the two of them, the 105mm and the 93mm and assuming no stopping down of the optics, I myself would go for the 93mm if I was in the market for one, to get that extra bit of length and depth of focus.

Perhaps someone could hurry up and buy one of each and then post their reports!  :p  :p

Merry Christmas to everyone, and top of my list for Santa is to move the Jetstream about 1000miles north of where it is now!

cheers

Dave

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John

John

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Thanks for those observations Dave  :smiley:

I was reminded of the Lyra Optics 102mm F/11 as soon as I looked at this Antares scope. I don't think I've ever read an adverse report on the Lyra Optics refractor and the other branded versions. 

Seasons greetings to you too !  :smiley:

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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I, too, saw these yesterday. But, if it were me and I was after a 4" long achromat, I'd personally be more tempted by the Lyra, which is cheaper if you already have the diagonal. The Antares does look nice, but I have a feeling the Lyra will be just a little better.

Who will volunteer for a side-by-side test? :)

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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Cheers John :laugh:

Just re-reading my post, I hope it didn't come over as anti-Antares, as that is totally not what I meant. I'm really pleased to see any company offering more decent achromats for sale, and I wish them well with them. 

I just think that having owned the Lyra (built by Kunming, who I believe made the old Astro Professional Planet Hunter 80mm F11 with TMB designed lens), they really do have the quality nailed down.

If I hadn't found my Vixen F13, I'd have been sorely tempted to go for another Lyra.

Let's hope RV can sell some of these scopes to keep the manufacturers interested in making them.

cheers

Dave

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AndyH

AndyH

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I don't know if the longer focal length versions are still available, but I would've thought it would of been a better idea, to differenciate them from the rest, if they had offered a longer FL in both sizes.

Just my opinion, of course.

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Dave, you make a very interesting point regarding stopping down of the optics, on my 105 f15 the objective cell design caused a restriction and looking at the shape of the new models, the cell looks very similar, i would agree regarding the lyra in favour

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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A 93mm F16, makes me kind of weak at the knees.

;)

I had an 80 f19 for while, the Antares was stopped down to 80mm due to the clam shell chip, but i used it at full aperture with no problem, but my TAL100 beat it hands down, though after all the fracs i have owned, i honestly feel i have a rather fine TAL, and as such it wont be pried from me....ever

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