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Vixen 4" F/15 Refractor

Marky1973

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Marky1973

Marky1973

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Just seen one of these come up for sale on ABS for £525 and was wondering if that was a good price for a good scope? I've been toying with getting something for visual as I miss looking at the planets and the moon and have been looking at C8/C9.25 OTAs when they come up second hand. However, a long focal length refractor is also an attractive prospect so wondered if this one might fit the bill...might like to do a bit of planetary and lunar AP as well.....just very naive about refractors so wondered if it was a good deal - just down the road from me as well, so I could go and have a look at it.

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=121242

Google suggests it should be a decent scope, but it is old, so I have no idea on value/cost.

I'm not 100% sold on it either was as I am not sure where I would put it yet, so just trying to find out a little more - so if anyone sees it as a great bargain to be snapped up, I'll take a finders fee of a metaphorical slap on the back! :-)

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Chris

Chris

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I'm sure it's the same scope I've seen up for sale a number of times on ABS and Ebay over the last couple of years and no one has bought it? If you buy it at that price make sure you keep it as you might have a real job moving it on. I admire the sellers determination in trying to get 525 for it, it's been 525 for about 2 years, I would have caved well before now and dropped the price but then again I'm inpatient lol

Do an ebay history search to see pics :)

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Marky1973

Marky1973

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Thanks Chaps, perhaps I will leave that one then. It looks like a nice scope, but I just wasn't sure of the price. Found a few bits on Google, but not much about what it might be worth! I'm in no rush, so will keep an eye out for others - I guess, seeing as you can also get a 152/1200 Bresser for £470, it might not be that much of a bargain secondhand....

Cheers

Mark

 

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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The price is too high for a scope that isn't of full vixen construction in my view. Also, there are much better refractors available for around the same price. The 120 ED has already been mentioned and you'd have to spend significantly more money to get even a slight gain over that, especially for visual. Even the 100ED Pro is a better buy at that price, as it will deliver the same if not better high power views but also rich field views of star fields and dso's.  The ED's are essentially free of CA and their short tubes make them more comfortable to use and simple to mount than an F15. 

Mike

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John

John

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It would be a good F/15 4" achromat because Vixen know how to make a good objective lens. Tubes of this length are challenging to mount though and I think the advent of reasonably priced ED doublet alternatives means that they are for the die hard long refractor fans only these days.

I also agree that the price is on the high side for a part DIY project scope.

 

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Cjg

Cjg

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I'd also be wary of anyone selling a product without any photographs. If the said scope is in good condition etc, why no photos? Most phones these days have decent enough cameras in built. Suspect people travelling to view the scope would be disappointed. 

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Chris

Chris

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2 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

To be fair I find the restrictive image sizes a pain on abs.

Me too, I usually state that I have hi res pics ready to send if I'm struggling to shrink pics down to just 75kb.

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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I'd second all the above cautionary comments.

As far as I know, "proper" Vixen F15 achromats are not common in the UK. "Proper", as in Vixen built and designed traditional white tubes and fittings. How would you know that the lens in the UKABS scope is a true Vixen? I'm always wary of "home built" or hybrid type scopes at high prices. If you live nearby you could look at it/through it, but to me it's too much of a hotch potch of parts and too risky at that price. I remember seeing one for sale a few years ago, on a Vixen EQ mount and Pillar, for less than this OTA.

A genuine Vixen F15 lens would probably be visually excellent, but as John says, would present mounting challenges: to be able to exploit it to the full you would need an EQ6 mount, with long dovetail and high quality rings, AND a dual speed focuser - a genuine F15 Vixen could probably take x300 plus on some targets like the Moon, Doubles on a good night - but only if it was solidly mounted and with fine focus capability.

If you are a newbie to fracs, I'd really recommend a used Skywatcher DS Pro 100mm F9 or Celestron ED100 (same optics, superb), and easy to mount on a CG4/EQ3 or ideally an EQ5/CG5/Vixen SP/GP.

Dave

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Marky1973

Marky1973

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Exactly the reason I asked, Dave, my experience is limited to an ED70 and my ED80. Luckily I have an EQ6 to mount it on, but clearly the "vixen" is not quite what it appears to be! :-) Keep veering between a frac and SCT and will probably change my mind over and over again before I have even finished writing this post....I have not been looking at shorter fracs as much as SCT though as I may be getting seduced by aperture and FL....

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Marky1973

Marky1973

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12 minutes ago, moriniboy said:

If its a different colour then she will spot it without hesitation.

:-)

Different colour and completely new item in the house....might be difficult to use the "what, this old thing?" when I have been using the same ED80 for over a year! :-)

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

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1 hour ago, Marky1973 said:

:-)

Different colour and completely new item in the house....might be difficult to use the "what, this old thing?" when I have been using the same ED80 for over a year! :-)

I heard of one chap - Not Me! - who walked into Stockport Binocular & Telescope Centre, with a letter congratulating him as the winner of a brand new Tal refractor that had been on show in the shop window. Apparently he'd entered a competition for the scope he'd been longing for, which strangely no one else had entered or even knew about, not even the shop. His wife was happy her husband had won the scope he'd been longing for after the ticket arrived in her letterbox.

Some folk have all the luck!

Mike 

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