Another proud owner of Vixen Atlux 150 ED!

[Dude_with_the_tube]

just by share luck ,i managed to find the scope I have been looking for a long long time.The long wait is over and scope safely landed into my arms today.Initially idea was to custom build a 6" refractor based on Istar R35 lens,but then RL came in its way and project had to be abandoned and to be honest,i wasnt planning to get any scope for time being as i will have to travel quite extensively work wise so the idea was to sit it out and see how everything pans out.But after chatting to one of my mates about scopes,this scope was mentioned as possibly going up for sale. Lucky i knew the owner and he was happy to wait for a couple of weeks for me to get everything sorted and here she is.

anyway,about this particular scope.

I do not want to name any of previous owners out of respect to them,if there are any of them here on the forum,they will recognize they scope and are more than welcome to contact me and share they knowledge of this scope.

All i will say is that this is the only one 150ED with custom fitted 4" focuser unti what was done by Vixen themselves as per special order.Production date:1993.

Scope is in very good condition,obviously a small TLC will be required to polish it up and bring the live sparkle back into it,but nothing major.Will sort it out over the weekend.

I did had a look at this monstrous focusser and i quite like it.my idea is to use binoviewers on this scope later on down the road and i can see that i should not have any massive issues of getting binoviewers to come into focus with this OTA.however,lets not jump ahead the things.

it has been over an hour since i opened the box and i still cant get the smile off my face.This thing is just HUUUUUGE! I am totally blown away by the share size of the OTA,i was expecting something big,but wow,this is seriously big.

I dont have the mount at the moment,it is getting sorted out next week hopefully,i am going for Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT.i am purely visual observer as such,i like my scopes being Az mounted,however,i need and want the mount to track and due the share size of OTA,mount has to be able to carry the scope with ease.Skywatcher ticks all the boxes.Once the mount arrives,will do star test and first light.

So no first light as of yet folks,but i think i will be pleased if thats the way to descibe it lol.i will post more pics when mount arrives and obviously if there is any interest,i will do first light report.

Few pics of the OTA just to give you some idea what the scope looks like and also a selfie to give people understanding what is 6" refractor.

In Vixen case:

4" focusser unit with 2" diagonal:

front lens:

OTA:

and lastly an ugly dude holding OTA:

[southernman]

That is a thing of rare beauty! Well done.

Peter

[Mr Spock]

Cracking scope. I wouldn't mind one myself.

[Stu]

Nice one Dude, welcome to the club :-)

You certainly won't regret it.

I use an Ercole mount quite a lot at the moment for mine, just because it's so easy to setup. The scope is at the limit on that mount and more comfortable on the Atlux mount.

I'm sure the Skywatcher will be fabulous for it. Do you have rings yet or do you need to get those? I have a Losmandy plate and it feels really solid, to be recommended.

Mine has an AstroPhysics Traveller focuser which is very nice but I'm considering replacing it with a Moonlite for the dual speed as much as anything. Your does look very nice :-)

Look forward to hearing more about it and your first light :-)

Stu

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[A McEwan]

First impression is "that is HUGE"!

But then second impression is, well, modern mounts are capable of taking it, and if it's not too heavy then that's not a problem.

Then, wow - 150mm of Vixen ED!!

It looks in very good condition for a 21 year old 'scope.

I look forward to your First Light with baited breath!

Ant

[Dude_with_the_tube]

thanks everyone! 

umm,i didnt knew that i have to join a special club just by finding one of these beautiful scopes ha ha ha,but i appreciate that and will gladly take out the membership for many years ahead.This scope is going into the same position as few of my eye pieces what will not be sold.

Cheers Ant,i am actually planning to have this scope with me when i will manage to find a time to go up to your neck of the woods,so you are more than welcome to praise it up mate!

Stu, to be perfectly honest,i admired your scope pics many times over lol.I do have a spare moonlite focuser in CHROME just in case i dont go on well with the beastly 4" unit.If you want one,PM me and i will tell you where you can get one cheaper then in any astro shop,complete with custom made adapter to fit your scope.

As for my one,i do have exactly the same OTA rings as yours,but no dovetail,i went for Az-EQ mount because it takes also Losmandy and i will get the losmandy bar next week.Only one question,what length is yours ? i have been told that the one form 8" mak (length wise)should fit me perfectly fine,but i want to make sure,so would highly appreciate if you could let me know the length of yours mate.

I have finder,but didnt fit it on for pics,also i have a telrad unit if i need one so all i am missing is dovetail and mount at the moment.ohh and clear skies when everything comes together.

[Stu]

Absolutely Dude, although membership is obviously automatic upon acquiring one :-). As far as I know there are only around 6 in the UK and probably not many worldwide so pretty rare!

I have been making enquiries about the focuser and suspect we might be talking about the same thing! I'll drop you a pm.

I will measure the Losmandy plate and let you know.

I'm sure the AZ GT will be great, probably more stable than the Atlux but there is something about having the two together that I enjoy.

I apologise if any of my photos have contributed towards your wallet being substantially slimmer, but I know you will love the scope.

I have the original white Vixen finder but find my self built RACI much easier to use.

Cheers

Stu

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[Luke]

Congrats on the scope! The scope's bigger than I imagined 

[Dude_with_the_tube]

cheers Stu, and no need for apology,i have been looking for 5 or 6 ED for a while, initially i was hoping to find meade 127 ED,but then the idea of 6" came across so i drifted away from 127 to 150 or 152mm.unfortunately none where there until this popped up on my radar.been a refractor admirer for a long while,but somehow this never materialized until now lol. 

I havent worried about the finder as i mentioned earlier,got a few to play with.

i have heard mixed stories about how many of these scoeps are actually in UK. Deffo there is none or maybe only one in USA/Canada as recent searches showed that there is little to none knowledge of this scope in USA.As for UK,i have managed to count 4 owners of this scope so far with a possibility of the 5th if i am not mistaken,so if there where 6 of these here,then the remaining owner of the 6th scope is unknown to us.What confirms the truth that these scopes where made in very limited count.

Congrats on the scope! The scope's bigger than I imagined 

thats why i made the selfie as OTa pics on its own doesnt do the justice of the share size of the scope.and thanks Luke I am well chuffed with it.

[John]

Congrats on the Vixen ED150 Dude

Thats been my dream scope for the past 20 years and now two members of the forum have one !.

I believe there are only a handful in the country so my chances of finding one must be somewhat lower now. These two seem to be in good hands though.

Hope you get some great viewing with it

[Alkaid]

Just. Totally. Awesome.

[YKSE]

Congratulations, that's a big and nice scope!

[Stu]

Congrats on the Vixen ED150 Dude

Thats been my dream scope for the past 20 years and now two members of the forum have one !.

I believe there are only a handful in the country so my chances of finding one must be somewhat lower now. These two seem to be in good hands though.

Hope you get some great viewing with it

I think HD-AP has one too John, so that's three and I know at least one other name of an owner, noted down somewhere. Nearly all of them tracked down

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[Dude_with_the_tube]

lets count up.

forum owners:

Myself,Stu,Paul,Hd-Ap thats four.

i think i saw another name of a Uk owner over in Cloudy nights,if he is not the same as one of i have mentioned,then that should make it 5 UK owners.If there really was 6 scopes ever imported in UK,then we are missing 1.

[jetstream]

Congrats Dude! A very fine refractor you have there.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

cheers Gerry!

[F15Rules]

Hi Gaidis. WOW! Wow!! WOW!!! Where us the "envious smiley" when you want it??? Lol

I'm so pleased for you with this beautiful refractor and can't wait to see pics of it mounted and to reading a very long and detailed first light report..congratulations :-)

Dave

[DaveS]

That is one fabulous 'scope, very envious!

It'll be a while before I can justify a 'scope that size, and not while I'm suffering under the London Orange Glow.

[Moonshane]

well I was trying to keep this quiet but I have the other one.............joking LOL.

seriously, this is an amazing looking scope and bet it performs superbly.

whenever you see a pic of someone holding a big frac like this they always look like they really want to put it down

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Hi Gaidis. WOW! Wow!! WOW!!! Where us the "envious smiley" when you want it??? Lol

I'm so pleased for you with this beautiful refractor and can't wait to see pics of it mounted and to reading a very long and detailed first light report..congratulations :-)

Dave

cheers Dave! sorting out dovetail and mount at the moment,once everything sorted,i will do that long and detailed report.

well I was trying to keep this quiet but I have the other one.............joking LOL.

seriously, this is an amazing looking scope and bet it performs superbly.

whenever you see a pic of someone holding a big frac like this they always look like they really want to put it down

haha Shane,you are right on that one mate! took wifey 3 attempts to make this pic and at the end i was getting a bit peed off with holding this thing! nothing escapes your eye lol!

[John]

Whats the weight of the OTA Dude ?

My Istar 6" F/12 is around 16kg.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

OTA without tube rings,dovetail is 11kgs,when you add everything then 15kgs (OTA+finder+rings+ dovetail)

i think its the massive lump of 4" focuser what adds the extra 2kgs also 4" to 2" adapter is just one massive lump of aluminium.weight of that thing alone is close to 1kg!

did a pic for size comparison. 4" to 2" adapter next to 2" to 1.25".

[HD-AP]

Congrats on the Vixen ED150 Dude

Thats been my dream scope for the past 20 years and now two members of the forum have one !.

I believe there are only a handful in the country so my chances of finding one must be somewhat lower now. These two seem to be in good hands though.

Hope you get some great viewing with it

make that 3 forum members as i have one.

[Stu]

Yep, we hadn't forgotten you HD-AP, read back through the thread and you've already been mentioned :-)

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[HD-AP]

nice scope myself and stu also have one ,great visual scope ,which i'm sure you will enjoy using for many years.

Not sure about the vixen storage case they origionally came in a cardboard box ,i still have the origional shipping box from vixen.

However i also have an astrophysics 180 edt in an astrophysics made storage case ,yours looks identical ,so your case could be an astrophysics one ?

anyway great scope enjoy ,and it's that's responsible for the change in the weather