Refractoritis Strikes Again (ED100)

[A McEwan]

Yeah, I know. It's been at least several months since I last bought a refractor...   that last one being a SW DS-Pro ED80.

Well in the last couple of days I got the big brother: the Skywatcher DS-Pro ED100. Lightly used and in superb condition at a very fair price.

I last had an ED100 when they came with champagne gold tubes, and I enjoyed it for several years. Only sold it when I got the Equinox ED120 (which I also regret selling...)

Anyway, the DS-Pro ED100 in Black Diamond finish is a beautiful scope. I had forgotten how "svelte" these scopes are. Not heavy at all or cumbersome. Just really nicely put together and lightweight. It's a very decent amount of aperture in a small easy to manage tube assembly. The 4" APO is often said to be the perfect complement to a larger scope like an 8" Dob, and these are effectively 4" Visual APO's.

It has the dual speed Skywatcher Crayford focuser, which was set perfectly when it arrived. It does not slip, even with the 2" diagonal and 23mm Axiom LX 84-degree eyepiece in (or TeleVue N17T4). Naturally, with the focuser being set "just right" I took it apart anyway, just to see why it was just right, and found that it was actually quite tricky to get it set that good! Thankfully I reverse-tweaked it back to perfection.

Baffling is superb and the lens coatings are excellent. I flocked the inside of the dewshield and checked collimation (perfect) and now am just waiting for a chance to test it out on Mars.

I know there are a lot more fancy ED doublets and triplets out there these days, often 110mm or 98mm or 102mm, so that these by comparison seem almost "Old Skool", even though when they were first launched the idea of an affordable 100mm f9 ED scope with fpl-53 glass was really ground-breaking. I remember how good my old one was; now I'm just looking forward to rediscovering it all over again with this one.

Ant

[Nakedgun]

Ant,

I had the Vixen version (rack & pinion) and was constantly impressed with it in every way. She went to a good home and I do visit her on occasion.

Better keep this one!

[John]

Great scope Ant 

Sometime back had one of the original blue tube ED100's and it's definitely one I wish I still had.

I feel Synta really got it right with their ED doublets in all 3 apertures.

[Rainmaker]

Nice acquisition, wish you many clear nights with her ! 

[nightfisher]

Lovely scope Ant,funny enough i emailed a seller on ukabs yesterday about a gold tube 100ED but he has not got back to me, maybe for the best as i would have had to move the TAL on!

I look forward to your first light reports

[chiltonstar]

I have heard that refractoritis is particularly prevalent at times with wind and rain.... 

Chris

[Luke]

I really like my one, Ant, it's a bit long with the fixed dew shield, but surprisingly light for the size, so not too bad at all to carry out to the mount. I think I would probably keep it rather than swap it for the Equinox version, because of its relatively low weight. Though of course, the Equinox one is posher-looking and the tube a bit more bullet-proof!

Glad I held onto my Equinox 120, mine very nearly got sold, its focal reducer and upgraded focuser had already gone! Then it dawned on me that it might be nice for solar with a Herschel wedge. The 120 is my favourite solar white light scope these days and I can't imagine parting with it now, though the 100 is no slouch either.

For the money, these scopes seem hard to beat, they look a tremendous buy if you get a good one second hand. I have not had the chance to try the 80 versions.

Enjoy even more the second time around!

[mcinek82]

That's a great scope, Ant

I have some questions since You've had it for a few months: How does the focuser behave? Does it show any signs of losing the initial quality and what's Your general impression of its dual speed ability (in terms of getting into focus and staying like that)?

Regards,

Martin

[Caldwell14]

Yeah I am thinking about another too, really very nice scopes, optically perfect, no colour at all visually and very, very light. I saw your scope on the market too, nice price BTW.

[A McEwan]

That's a great scope, Ant

I have some questions since You've had it for a few months: How does the focuser behave? Does it show any signs of losing the initial quality and what's Your general impression of its dual speed ability (in terms of getting into focus and staying like that)?

Regards,

Martin

Hi,

Sorry I didn't see this post and am a bit late replying!

Well, yes I've had it for a few months, but have only had a handful of uses from it, due to not really getting dark enough up here through the summer. Now though, I have had a few night-time sessions, and several white-light solar sessions too.

Quality is excellent. Great snap to focus and pinpoint sharp stars across the field.

I have invested in a Baader prism diagonal for planetary and lunar use, but have not yet observed any planets or the Moon through the scope, so have been concentrating on clusters (open and globular) and planetary nebulae etc, along with some of the common double stars.

To that end I've mostly been using a 2" dielectric diagonal and a selection of eyepieces including 30mm 80-degree Moonfish, 17mm Nagler T4, 13mm Nagler T6, TeleVue Plossls and Baader Genuine Orthoscopics. Mounted on SkyTee 2.

The 30mm Moonfish is a great low power eyepiece for this scope, and shows groups of objects, like M31, M110 and M32, beautifully. Can't wait to see the Orion nebula through it! Globular clusters like M13, M92 and M15 are very nice and bright, with decent resolution of the outer stars - enough to make it obvious what you are looking at, but my old 120mm did them better for sure.

As for the focuser... well it was only a week or two before I ordered a Moonlite dual speed with all the bells and whistles. Suits the scope beautifully and makes for much easier acquisition (and maintenance) of focus. No tweaks necessary, and it looks gorgeous of course! Will post a pic later...

I've had several generic Skywatcher dual speed Crayfords now and most of them have been replaced with Moonlites. Except on my ED80's. For some reason, they have all been better, and my current one is in no danger of being replaced as it works very well too.

I still have plenty of tests to do, including some galaxy and nebulae observing, and of course some medium to high power lunar, but I'm still waiting for those sessions to materialise!

Ant

[Luke]

Ant, the 100 DS-Pro with a Daystar Quark hydrogen alpha eyepiece blows my mind for solar, they are a very good match visually and worth considering if you have this scope and like solar.

[A McEwan]

As promised...

Ant

And Luke, that sounds VERY interesting indeed...

[A McEwan]

_{Luke - do you have a post on here about your ED100 + Quark setup? Do you use additional IR/UV filter for example, or additional ERF?}

_Thanks,

_Ant

[HD-AP]

The only known cure for refractoritis  is an even larger Refractor !!

But that then turns into apeture fever .