William Optics 2" Dielectric Diagonal

[sbooder]

Hi All,

           I need a good quality 2" diagonal to go with my new 6" frac and wondered if anyone here has the Williams 2" Dielectric Diagonal and if so is it worth the money please?

Also if you have this with a frac, are you using the Baader Semi-Apo filter fitted to the barrel and is this too worth getting please?

Thanks all!

[knobby]

Hi Si,

Let me pre-empt this by saying ...I am no expert !

I have had a William optics 1.25" diagonal and now a televue everbrite 2" diagonal.

I can honestly say that I couldn't see any improvement over the original Skywatcher one.

What I will say though is that the build quality was far superior and I feel better about putting my eyepieces in it.

Maybe quality control is better as well, I may have been lucky with my skywatcher diagonals .

But they do look seriously slik !

[sbooder]

Hi Si,

Let me pre-empt this by saying ...I am no expert !

I have had a William optics 1.25" diagonal and now a televue everbrite 2" diagonal.

I can honestly say that I couldn't see any improvement over the original Skywatcher one.

What I will say though is that the build quality was far superior and I feel better about putting my eyepieces in it.

Maybe quality control is better as well, I may have been lucky with my skywatcher diagonals .

But they do look seriously slik !

I always worry about the quality of the mirror in them so I am trying to find one I know will be quality.

[knobby]

Then I'd go for it ...

[stevepeverall]

I bought a WO 2" Dielectric Diagonal last year to go with the purchase of a 2" inch EP upgrading from the 1.25" version.

I was tempted to go with a competitor's model for approx £40 less but ended up getting the WO version because of the SCT adaptor that came with it, the 2 to 1.25 reduction ring and the superb fit and finish.

After extensively Googling the subject on different forums I noted that most people couldn't detect any difference between the WO diagonal and cheaper versions on offer. I would recommend going for the WO at the extra expense if fit and finish are important to you; if not, save some money.

I went for the Baader UHC filter to give good nebula views with my refractor and would recommend that. I got an unforgettable view of The Veil with it.

[red dwalf]

I had a 1.25" William optics diagonal and did a visual comparison with them and the Williams was a slightly brighter and slightly sharper view, I was so impressed I bought a 2" version.

I also have.a semi apo filter but haven't really tried it out as of yet

[sbooder]

Thanks all.  Now I have to go away and decide.  Aesthetics are not that important to me just quality of function so if there is no difference between the cheaper alternatives and the WO one I might go with the SW.

I have of course made my life harder by now realising that I can afford either the diagonal and filter or upgrade the focuser on my AR-152L to a dual Crayford with adapter from ScopStuff to fit my tube and get rid of the R&P focuser which is a little clunky.

Decisions decisions!

[John]

I've owned a few WO dielectric diagonals in the 2" and 1.25" sizes plus a Tele Vue Everbright an Revelation / GSO 2" Quatrtz dielectric and most lately an Istar 2" dielectric. The build quality varies from very competent (Revelation / GSO) to superb (Tele Vue) but optically I really have not been able to tell any difference between them at all.

Pick the one that you like the look of and suits your budget best 

[Pete Presland]

i have the WO 2" diagonal its been on my C9.25 untill recently. it is the only one i have tried, but i can say its well very made and the views are fine.

[alan potts]

I have use a WO diagonal and as John states I can't tell them from my TV offerings optically but the build is better on the Televue.

Alan

[hunterknox]

I had both a WO one and a Revelation at one point. Optically they were on a par but I sold the WO one in the end because the smooth finish on the nose piece meant I couldn't get as good a grip in my focuser as I could with the Revelation.

[Tel]

I recently purchased the Altair Astro 2" Quartz Dialectric to replace the standard 1.25 on my Celestron, at £79 from Wex it was a great buy and allowed me to get the Baader 2" click lock as well. Compared to the standard diagonal it is a very good improvement. I just could not justify the cost of the WO.

The build quality of the Altair is excellent.

[BillP]

IMO, most all the 1/10th wave diagonals out there perform quite similarly.  Their 1/10th wave accuracy is always based on the polish BEFORE the dielectric coatings are applied, so does not mean 1/10th wave after.  Some vendors guarantee 1/10th wave or better after (Baader, Astrophysics, Vernonscope), but then we get into much more expensive territory. Build robustness distinguishes the standard diagonals more than anything else...and always nice the feel of a well constructed item - and frankly, having compared some of the expensive premiums against standard 2" 1/10th wave diagonals, hard pressed to find much of a performance difference that is noticeable except for a little less scatter in some of the best ones, brightness on all is on-par.  So build robustness and features are the most distinguishing things.  With that in mind, and keeping the price down, I would say take a look at the ISTAR Dielectric.  Here's a review - http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=2462.  And price is about £99 (http://www.istartelescopes.co.uk/page_2414079.html).  For general viewing and DSO, IMO most any quality 2" Dielectric is just fine.  Now if planetary is the concern, then a quality prism will do a better job, but that is a whole other story---and a long one.

[maxheadroom]

I have this diagonal, it's beautiful and excellently made. One of my favourite things in my kit. Got to love the carbon finish and it makes the whole thing lighter too.

Max

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I got a WO 2" quartz dielectric diagonal when it was on offer in the Netherlands, and actually cheaper than alternatives. It is excellent, but if you can get similar optical quality for less money, the WO might not make sense. I did not have the version with the SCT adapter, because I already had a 2" visual back installed. I have since replaced it with a Denkmeier, which appears to be built by WO, has similar quality, but has a built-in filter slide mechanism for rapid exchange of filters. That is a brilliant set-up, but not cheap.

[sbooder]

I got a WO 2" quartz dielectric diagonal when it was on offer in the Netherlands, and actually cheaper than alternatives. It is excellent, but if you can get similar optical quality for less money, the WO might not make sense. I did not have the version with the SCT adapter, because I already had a 2" visual back installed. I have since replaced it with a Denkmeier, which appears to be built by WO, has similar quality, but has a built-in filter slide mechanism for rapid exchange of filters. That is a brilliant set-up, but not cheap.

Well I went with the SW one mainly because it is cheaper than the WO one and as the consensus is that there is little to no difference between most of them it should be fine.

[maxheadroom]

If anyone is interested there is a WO 2" on http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php

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