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Another New Megrez 88


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Received the Megrez 88 this morning. Had chance to test it on terrestrial stuff and also solar and so far very impressed. Now if it only stays somewhat clear tonight so that I can test it out properly, or is that too much to ask. Here's a couple of photos set up on my Manfrotto 475 tripod and modified Manfrotto 405 geared head. First photo is with Hershel solar wedge with A&E solar finder (which has been modified to fit into WO type bracket). The second is with Stellarvue diagonal and RDF finder. The foot on the OTA has been reversed to balance better with this setup. John

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Lovely scope John - congratulations :D

nice, anyone know what the views are like through these beauts?

I used to have a Megrez 90 and the views through that were excellent - very crisp and well colour corrected.

John

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Hi

Very limited observing time so far over the last two nights, with the clouds moving in just as I was getting ready to observe, but just enough to give some initial impressions.

Collimation was perfect and the diffraction rings in the Airy disk, both inside and outside of focus, were just like a textbook illustration of perfect optics. Colour correction is very good, about the same as the Megrez 90 if not better. On Vega for example CA wasn't noticeable. On Vega the infocused airy disk had no false colour but the outfocused airy disk had some blueishness on the inner rings so there is some CA there but it's very minor. A doublet lens isn't ever going to be completely colour free but I think it will be a case of some traces of CA will be there to be found if you really try hard to find it but most observers will probably say what CA.

Overall very impressed so far. This is sort of the "Tardis" of telescopes. With the dewshield rectracted it is an amazingly compact little telescope, but when opened up it's a full sized telescope with great optics and enough aperture to do some serious observing (and built like a tank). WO has got a real winner here and I've got the feeling you're going to see a lot of them around.

John

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi John,

Those 88's look the business. How's it working out with that Manfrotto head? I like the look of those, but I thought an 80mm+ scope might be a bit too much for it. What's your experience with it been?

Mark

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Hi Mark

I think I've now found the perfect combination, just rock solid. The Manfrotto 405 geared head and Manfrotto 475 geared tripod are absolutely perfectly matched with the Megrez 88. The 405 head will take 7.5 kg and the 475 tripod takes 12 kg and so the load of the 88 is nothing. Vibrations damp down in under a second.

The lighter 410 head will handle most 80mm scopes and is about half the price of the 405 head so you see a lot more of the 410s around.

I have used a Celestron C8 SCT OTA on this mount and it was OK. A Zenithstar 110 triplet was usable but vibrations took 4 or 5 seconds to damp out, the length of the OTA was the main factor.

The 405 head and 475 tripod aren't cheap though, about £400.00 in total new. I've had them for a couple of years now.

Regards

John

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The lighter 410 head will handle most 80mm scopes and is about half the price of the 405 head so you see a lot more of the 410s around.

Cheers John, actually I think I got my wires crossed, it was the 410 I was thinking of not the 405. But if it can handle an 80mm WO clone then I'll probably take the plunge and go for it. I must say that your current 88mm setup is pretty much my ideal; small, portable and quick to setup.

Mark

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