My frac on a new mount

[John]

This is my Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 refractor on it's newly acquired EQ5 mount. The OTA weighs only 3.2kg so despite the alluminum tripod legs, the mount is very stable. I've not seen many (any in fact) of these scopes in the UK although there are a few owners in the US as it was marketed there under the Orion (US) badge from 1999 to 2001. This particuler example has been previously owned by 2 SGL members. It's all made in Japan and has very well corrected 102mm doublet lens with an ED (Extra-Low Dispersion glass) rear element. Colour correction and overall optical performance is on par with the ED80 / ED100 / Megrez 90 scopes that I have owned in the past. I was particularly pleased to pick up a Vixen Red Dot Finder recently which is a superbly made device. The relatively short focal length of the scope (663mm) makes it pretty versatile and would probably suit it to imaging should I get into that at some stage. At the moment I find that it's a great general purpose, lightweight scope either on the EQ5 or my AZ-3 mount :D

John

(click to enlarge)

[philsail1]

Very nice looking scope John. On a good mount too. At f6.5 it should be (as you say) an excellent all rounder. Looks nice and portable too - easily balanced with one counterweight I see.

You'll no doubt have many satisfying evenings with your scope - when we get some consistently decent nights!

Regards,

philsail1

[jgs001]

Very nice looking set of gear there John.

[barkis]

The thing about this sort of simple quality setup, is it's easy on the eye, and to my mind can be left in the sitting room or lounge on display, causing no offence at all. Only of course, if there are no children or animals running around.

It is a very agreeable unit John, and you no doubt get a great deal of satisfaction from it.

Ron.

[John]

The thing about this sort of simple quality setup, is it's easy on the eye, and to my mind can be left in the sitting room or lounge on display, causing no offence at all. Only of course, if there are no children or animals running around. .....

That's my opinion as well Ron - in fact I'd much prefer to replace all the dining room furniture with nice Apo refractors but for some strange reason my wife thinks that a dining table, a piano and some bookcases are more in keeping

Luckily my children are now teenagers and don't run around any more. In fact they hardly seem to want to get out of bed at all :scratch:

John

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Very nice looking 'scope John. I know what you mean about the teenagers hibernating.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[philsail1]

Hmm, I like the idea of gazing at my scope sitting in the lounge!, but the old TAL (scope not wife) is a bit big to leave on display!

Yes Kaptain K, I'm glad our kids have flown the nest (well we had to persuade them!), and now they're always telling us to "switch off lights" when we visit.

philsail1