One to watch for refractor afficionados .....

[John]

I've got one of these -dead nice

http://tinyurl.com/5ttjku

Might go for a song as they are relatively unknown in the UK ....

Nothing to do with me I should add .....

John

[GazOC]

Is it a Petzval John?

[John]

Is it a Petzval John?

No Gaz, it's an air-spaced doublet with an ED element. Vixen, like Tele Vue, don't reveal the glass type used but it works pretty well IMHO, very, very little false colour and only then on the brightest of objects.

John

[lunator]

John

Looks a very nice scope.

Vixen scope are usually pretty good :D

[Andrew*]

How is it size-wise, John?

I fancy having something larger and faster than my ED80. That's why the BO91 and WO98 have so much appeal...

Andrew

[Brass n glass]

Very nice telescope discontinued about three years ago, I think. In it's final few years they made 920mm and 660mm versions - Hugh

[Whippy]

Nice , I wonder what the reserve is.

Tony..

[John]

How is it size-wise, John?

I fancy having something larger and faster than my ED80. That's why the BO91 and WO98 have so much appeal...

Andrew

It's a bit bigger than an ED80 but not much. At 3.3 kg it's a pretty light OTA so you can get away with a lighter mount - mine sits on an AZ-3 quite happily wheras an ED100 was not so happy due to the longer tube.

The only slight issue that I've had with mine is that it needs more time to cool than other 4 inch refractors I've tried - I think the lens elements are thicker than some to achieve the shorter FL.

John

[philsail1]

Hello John,

I think "Vixen" scopes (manufactured in Japan) are imported and marketed by "Orion Optics" of Crewe in the UK. As you might know Orion Optics are noted for the quality of their own range of telescopes, so I would think that the Vixen range are of a good quality.

Regards,

philsail1

(My dream is to own one of their "OMC" 200mm (de-lux) Maksutov's!)

[John]

Hello John,

I think "Vixen" scopes (manufactured in Japan) are imported and marketed by "Orion Optics" of Crewe in the UK. As you might know Orion Optics are noted for the quality of their own range of telescopes, so I would think that the Vixen range are of a good quality.

Regards,

philsail1

(My dream is to own one of their "OMC" 200mm (de-lux) Maksutov's!)

Vixen certainly do make excellent scopes - I've owned 2 now, a 4 inch achromatic refractor about 20 years ago and my current ED102SS refractor (the same as the scope which is being sold on e.bay).

Skywatcher (Synta) cloned many of the Vixen designs but when you compare the Vixen products to the Skywatcher equivilents the quality and accuracy of the Vixen engineering is in a different league.

Interestingly, some of the more recent Vixen products (not the ED102SS) use Synta optics in them, notably the ED80 and ED100 optics so things have come full circle in a sense.

John

[Brass n glass]

I think some of the recent Vixen scopes are the Synta ED80 and ED100 with white paint, a Vixen label and a flip mirror. I've been told that any Vixen refractor with f in the model number is in fact Chinese. So the Vixen 81mm ED refractor with r&p focusser is made in Japan while the 80mm with a Crayford is the Synta/Skywatcher ED80 Pro with a Vixen label - Hugh

[Whippy]

The Vixen 'SF' series are the Synta manufactured scopes.

Tony..

[NickH]

I have an FL102 and it's a doozey...

Great scopes

[ianporter13]

and my ED103S is a doozey too,

Ian