Tele Vue NP101

[John]

I'd be interested to hear from owners of these scopes as to how good they really are. The reviews seem to indicate that they are right up there with the best and with the short focal length adding versatility that sets them apart a little.

Is that hype or reality ?

Thanks !

[mikeDnight]

Hi John, 

I had an NP101 for a while. It was without a doubt the best RFT I have ever used. Fuzzies glided effortlessly into the field of view and despite it having such a short focal ratio, it gave some pleasing views of the moon and planets. However, its lunar and planetary performance was regularly bested by other less expensive and less complicated apo's. For example, the NP101 was never a match or the Vixen 102mm F6.5 ED on Saturn, the latter always revealing more intricate detail in the rings. Also, on the moon, the 101 was left standing by a SW 102 ED. The moon in side by side comparison with the SW was nicotine yellow in the 101, where as in the SW ED it was icey white. Possibly some of the problem was caused by the necessarily  short focal length eyepieces and powermate needed to reach high powers.

Don't get me wrong, the 101 is a superb visual scope but it didn't quite reach the Vixen or Takahashi fluorites level of performance. Even stellar performance wasn't quite on a par with a fluorite doublet. I remember there was a hint of red around bright stars and it was sensitive to cold weather as the star images appeared pinched until thermal equallibrium was reached.

Would I have one again? Certainly! But I wouldn't pay full price for one, unless Al dropped his prices by two thirds.

I've attached a few mars sketches I made using the NP101, showing it had the capability to deliver the views, but it made me work for it.

Mike 

[ollypenrice]

For visual, fabulous. You have more choices of magnification and FOV with this than with most scopes since you can get right down to 15x or so. The entire Veil is a bit of a thriller. Wide starfields are superb. But the scope also takes remarkable amounts of magnification. I'd love one for visual. I had a Mk 1 'Pearl River' Genesis for many years.

Olly

[John]

Ok, thanks for that feedback Olly and Mike

Interesting that my Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 might be a match for the NP101. Food for thought there.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2016 by John

[mikeDnight]

19 hours ago, John said:

Ok, thanks for that feedback Olly and Mike

Interesting that my Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 might be a match for the NP101. Food for thought there.

 

 

The Vixen is certainly the better scope for lunar and planetary, but as fuzzy finder the NP101 is a dream!  ?