FLO & top end fracs

[mikeDnight]

I'm sure most people have noticed that First Light Optics are very competitively priced across the board. This doesn't come across to me as an actual attempt to under cut other vendors, but rather to supply quality products to the astro community at  the best price. This got me thinking about how things were only a few years back, when a single company would import a specific brand and if you wanted to purchase that brand, you had to buy from them only. 

On January 3rd 2003, i got my first look through a 102mm Vixen fluorite and it blew my mind. Everything I thought I knew about good refractors, and telescopes in general, changed in that instant of time! In a very real sense my world fell apart at that point, because I knew that I had to have a Vixen FL102. The trouble was that i couldn't afford one, and so from that day forward I would have to work hard to obtain the funds. By mid April I had the £2,200.00 I needed to buy the scope, which naively I thought I could buy off the shelf. The then Vixen importer, told me it would be 12 weeks, or eight weeks if i paid an extra £80  before I could have the scope. I paid my money in full and waited patiently and rather excitedly. Six week on I received a phone call telling me the scope wouldnt be available for another 16 weeks, and even then there would be no guarantee. So i asked for my money back.

What to do? The only other options would be to buy second hand, which didn't appeal at the time, or turn to Takahashi. I phoned the then sole Tak UK dealer True Technology and spoke to Nick Hudson. Nick told me his next batch of 102mm Tak fluorites were due in in four weeks, but then added, "I do have a 5" in stock!" I looked at my wife, who knew the internal torment I was going through, and she agreed I could buy the 5". I love my wife! ?

Today, Takahashi are available from several suppliers in the UK, and i was wondering, or rather hoping that FLO would think about including them in their line up of available scopes. This may not be as easy as it first appears, as I have no understanding of how such arrangements are made. But given FLO's standing within the astro community, it would be nice it Takahashi were among their offerings.

Just thinking out loud!

Mike 

 

 

[nightfisher]

Mike, thats a very good suggestion, I am lucky that i have never viewed through a TAK, and i wont as my funds would never allow a purchase, thus saving me any torment 

I guess Steve will be along to comment on this idea

[mikeDnight]

12 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

Mike, thats a very good suggestion, I am lucky that i have never viewed through a TAK, and i wont as my funds would never allow a purchase, thus saving me any torment 

I guess Steve will be along to comment on this idea

You've already got a truly great refractor Jules, so don't lose any sleep over not having looked through a Tak. They are not worlds apart! Of course, back in 2003, the SW ED's were not available. If they had been, and on that night of January 3rd I'd looked through a SW ED instead of the Vixen fluorite, I'm sure it would have had exactly the same effect on me. 

On that January night, Saturn was low in the east at the start of the session at Peter Drew Astronomy Centre. Along side the Vixen were a 100mm Tal F10 and a 150mm Helios refractor F8. All three scopes showed essentially the same view. However, as Saturn became higher in the sky the fluorite revealed the most exquisitely detailed view of the Saturnian ring system I'd seen up until then. The other two refractors died a death alongside the Vixen. Over the months that followed, I'd go to the AC every Saturday night to use the Vixen, and had chance to try it alongside many much larger scopes. The Vixen always delivered the sharpest view, and nothing on the field could match its ability to show the rings of Saturn as a mass of ultra fine grooves. Over the years I've observed Saturn with several ED120's, and they too give the laser etched impression of the rings when Saturn is high in the sky. They are excellent scopes! 

Mike 

[Paz]

This post is not going to help anyone's bank account!

[FLO]

On 10/02/2017 at 20:22, mikeDnight said:

Today, Takahashi are available from several suppliers in the UK, and i was wondering, or rather hoping that FLO would think about including them in their line up of available scopes.

Thank-you for thinking of us, Mike, but we aren't planning to add Takahashi to our range.

When looking for premium Japanese refractors we chose Borg and are rather fond of their fast Fluorite optics, though Takahashi is undoubtedly better known and more mainstream.

Fortunately Takahashi are already well supported here in the UK, particularly by Ian King Imaging. If I were wanting a Takahashi, I would contact Ian. 

HTH, 

Steve