Altair Astro 6 inch Ritchey Chretien (AT6RC)

[rofus]

Ordered my Altair Astro 6" RC and quickly arrived (I got it shipped as I was away for few days).

I know this same design is created by GSO and sold rebranded my others, but I decided to go for Altair Astro one because they're just nearby and it seemed the best value for quality, arriving with double dovetail (fundamental to keep the optical axes linear), better focuser, and all the needed extension rings.

The scope arrived perfectly packed. As I knew collimation could be a problem, I brought it to the shop to get it checked in case of big collimation problems and to get some advice.

First light was on Moon and was great even if visually with some powerful eyepieces I had impression it was probably needing some tweak to collimation. First pics were of the sun with Kendrick solar filter, and they were quite good even if again I felt was probably going to need some more collimation. I don't use any focal reducer or field flattener with it, and I have a Nikon D750 full frame, so I know I'm testing it a lot in particular on the edges. Anyway first night out and some test shots and star test, I got quickly frustrated being not able to correctly collimate, most of all because on the internet I found tons of different procedures.

I actually posted all process on SGL and you can check it all, including final victory arrived quickly following simple suggestions provided by AA:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/249532-altair-astro-6-rc-collimation-help-needed/?p=2720144

Now that is collimated, and after a full session and a few days using it, I can say that the scope is very solid and well assembled. Surely it looks and feels much more expensive than what it is. With my D750 and the provided focuser there's basically no flex, the baffling looks excellent and there's no stray light entering. I have to be honest I'm really surprised by the quality of the scope, for the cost I'm absolutely satisfied, compared to even more expensive refractor(s) I had in the past from William Optics and Skywatcher. No plastic or cheap or loose parts, all metal and solid, seems and feels to be built to last forever.

Like everyone I think that initially the collimation process can be daunting and discouraging for new comers (I never did it before), and it's indeed crucial to get perfectly sharp images. The scope is better built for non full frame DSLR or CCD, but even with my full frame I can use easily up to 70% of the central image, and that is a lot of resolution, details and light with my 24 megapixel full frame!

Despite what many said I did not find the f/9 particularly problematic, even visually is absolutely stunning on DSO as well as on Moon or Sun. I use high quality Baader eyepieces (24,17,5), all on the 2" focuser with a 2" diagonal, and the views are great. Surely a more open aperture would be better visually (doesn't matter imaging with a noiseless camera like the D750), but I noticed it did not really made such a huge difference with my F/5 Startravel150. If anything everything looked much sharper and detailed, no aberrations whatsoever, fantastic. I also did not notice any difference in contrast despite the central obstruction of the secondary, if compared to my ST150 big refractor.

All in all a fantastic instrument, it feels 'professional' and the process of collimating makes you feel it's more yours in the end. I have to say that once you go past the collimation, is by far the best quality you can buy for the money, without the aberrations you get on other configurations, and without problems of dew etc. (I have my dew strip on the guider but nothing on the RC, no need at all even after hours pointing directly up in a very humid night).

Looking forward to spend many nights with this great little monster of quality!