New Altair Wave Series 125 EDF FPL53 doublet

[F15Rules]

This soon to be available new FPL53 5" doublet sounds very interesting: https://www.altairastro.com/Altair-Wave-Series-125-EDF-F7.8-APO.html

It's said to be inspired by the legendary Takahashi FS128 (one of which I'm lucky enough to own), which is praise indeed. Many people have said (and still do) that they would love to see Takahashi bring out a 125mm version of their FC100 scope, I'm sure there is a market, as many people including me see a high quality 5" apo doublet as their ideal "all round scope"...

The specification sounds very good, and it's a doublet, not a triplet, which for me is much more appealing (I'm visual only), with likely less need for longer cool down, and less likelihood of lens misalignment etc. 

No details on price as yet, but I'm guessing it will be at least £2500-£3000 if it's going to seriously do all that is claimed of it?

Has anyone here heard any more about when it will be available or any reviews?

Dave

[ronin]

Think it will have to be a fair bit less then £2500 as the ES 127 Essential is priced at £1267, and although it uses the equalent of FPL-51 it is a triplet, and the ES 127 with the FPL-53 equivalent is £1862 and the reviews on the latter is always on how good it is.

[John]

I've been following the pre-launch banter about this scope. Looks interesting from the visual observers point of view. The APM 140mm F/7 ED doublet seems to have a similar spec and is sold for just under £2,800 so I reckon they would need to aim for a fair bit less. The lower priced triplets can't be ingnored either I feel or the Skywatcher Equinox 120 which is "just" £1,300.

The example spot and aberration diagrams on the Altair website look good but not great to my eye.

£2.5K might be a little on the high side, perhaps ?

£1,999 would be more tempting

 

 

 

[Owmuchonomy]

It will have to be pretty special to beat value for money from say the SW ED120.  Having suffered at length with an AA scope (triplet) in the past I remain to be convinced but hopefully for those interested enough it will be a winner.

[F15Rules]

Some good points guys ..

I must say, I haven't ever dealt with Altair or used their scopes so I'm really not qualified to pass a judgement one way or the other on their products. I can quite understand how someone who invested a lot of cash in one of their triplets and had problems with it would feel upset about that.

Having looked at their Wave 130mm ED triplet, which seems to be priced at £2655 in UK dealers, I think you are right, my initial estimate was too high. In my defence, I was basing that on the scope being close to the Tak FS128 in performance ( a big ask, I know!), and knowing that the Tak, when last available new some 10 -12 years ago was selling new for around £4k with finder etc. So if it was available now, it would be around £5k or so (I know the TSA 120 retails at £c4200 at Trutek Technology and its a triplet, and the TOA 130 is over £5k).

If they could retail it for £1999 and it could be shown to be reliably optically excellent at that price, I think it could sell well. Let's hope it delivers, if so it might even kick start Takahashi into putting out a 125mm version of their own Fluorite doublets!

We shall see...

Dave

 

[Stu]

Interesting scope Dave, I reckon they've been reading out comments about wanting an FC125!

I too have heard mixed reviews about their scopes so have always stayed clear. The specs seem good but there is always that doubt. Dealing with AA directly is an 'interesting' experience.....

[F15Rules]

44 minutes ago, Stu said:

Interesting scope Dave, I reckon they've been reading out comments about wanting an FC125!

I too have heard mixed reviews about their scopes so have always stayed clear. The specs seem good but there is always that doubt. Dealing with AA directly is an 'interesting' experience.....

"Dealing with AA directly is an 'interesting' experience....."

Hi Stu,

Why do I get the distinct impression that in this context your use of the word "interesting" wasn't wholly complimentary??

[garryblueboy]

I've had nothing but good service from nick and Ian at AA owned a couple of there scopes including a 130 triplet which was optically very good .

[Fozzie]

The price is published on the EDF125, noticed this over the weekend.. a cool £2000 of your hard earned pocket money, or as my wife likes to call it "2 weeks in Corfu with spends".

I have to say I am interested in this scope, for a future.. My forever scope purchase, but the fact that the 120mm from Synta are comparatively speaking so much more affordable, I'm left a bit ponderous as to the other £700 over the equinox?

That saying I am a fan of the AA astro scopes, I've got two of them and the finish and fittings are fantastic, and I really enjoy the 100mm F11 so build wise I can see it over a standard evostar ED but not the equinox.. 

still wouldn't say no though if the opportunity came up.. Looks all I'd want in a frac (if I were to change the 100mm and 72mm Ed)

Anybody had hands on or know of any reviews, other than the preliminary ones.. think I saw one by Harrison Telescopes, came out very favourable..

Ta

Fozzie

[John]

Harrison Telescopes have it priced at £1,999 - they must have read my post earlier in this thread !

I didn't pay much more than that for my TMB / LZOS 130 F/9.2 triplet but mine was a few years old of course 

Another way of looking at it is that I could have 3.5 ED120's like the one I have for the same budget - is 5mm plus the undoubted fine finish and build quality worth the cost ? - time will tell I guess.

I'll look forward to reading some independant reviews on the scope. Not many 5" ED doublets aimed at the visual observer around.

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, John said:

Harrison Telescopes have it priced at £1,999 - they must have read my post earlier in this thread !

I didn't pay much more than that for my TMB / LZOS 130 F/9.2 triplet but mine was a few years old of course 

To be fair John, that was an unusually low price I think you got the 130mm for was it not? I've not seen any other around at that level.

I shall certainly keep an eye on the Altair because the spec, features and build quality look nice. One for the future perhaps?

[John]

38 minutes ago, Stu said:

To be fair John, that was an unusually low price I think you got the 130mm for was it not? I've not seen any other around at that level.

I shall certainly keep an eye on the Altair because the spec, features and build quality look nice. One for the future perhaps?

Yes, it was a bit of a bargain Stu

5" is a nice size for a larger refractor and if the weight and length can be kept reasonable (which the Altair 125 appears to do) then mounting the scope is not too onerous either. Looking at the pics of the Altair scope it does look like a slightly scaled down version of the APM 140mm F/7 FPL53 doublet. I wonder if they are related ? 

The APM 140 is £2800 so £2K for the 125 seems reasonable.

 

[John]

I've just come across this scope from Stellarvue:

http://www.stellarvue.com/stellarvue-sv125-access-f-7-8-super-ed-apo-refractor-telescope/

Seems to be either very, very similar or the same ?

As far as I know, there are no Stellarvue dealers in the UK though

[ronin]

28 minutes ago, John said:

I've just come across this scope from Stellarvue:

http://www.stellarvue.com/stellarvue-sv125-access-f-7-8-super-ed-apo-refractor-telescope/

Seems to be either very, very similar or the same ?

As far as I know, there are no Stellarvue dealers in the UK though

Offically there was a dealer at one time. I wanted a Stellarvue Raptor and was unable to purchase from the US as they had a UK dealer. The minor problem was that the UK dealer did not physically stock a single Stellarvue scope.

So Stellarvue would not sell me one and the imaginary UK dealer didn't stock any Stellarvue's either. I seem to have a collection of WO refractors now.

On 20 July 2017 at 18:10, F15Rules said:

"Dealing with AA directly is an 'interesting' experience....."

Hi Stu,

Why do I get the distinct impression that in this context your use of the word "interesting" wasn't wholly complimentary??

My one and only visit to AA resulted in me standing outside their door as they had it locked. Someone was inside but seemed to have decided they had other things to do and that unlocking the door and letting someone in just wasn't their idea of fun that day. The big green mug of tea/coffee seemed most important. I only wanted a £600-£700 mount which they had standing in the window. I never got in the door, I never got the mount. Did buy some sausages from the shop opposite them.

"Interesting" is an apt description of my dealing with AA also. They do seem to have a bit of a history of being "interesting".

 

[F15Rules]

Just now, John said:

I've just come across this scope from Stellarvue:

http://www.stellarvue.com/stellarvue-sv125-access-f-7-8-super-ed-apo-refractor-telescope/

Seems to be either very, very similar or the same ?

As far as I know, there are no Stellarvue dealers in the UK though

That's interesting John, it does look the same, doesn't it?

It seems that Stellarvue  scopes are well regarded in the US, so if they are stocking effectively the same scope as AA, that should bode well for the quality of the AA as well?

Dave

[John]

8 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

That's interesting John, it does look the same, doesn't it?

It seems that Stellarvue  scopes are well regarded in the US, so if they are sticking effectively the same scope as AA, that should bode well for the quality of the AA as well?

Dave

It does look very much the same and, as SV don't seem to want to market in the UK / EU, there is a nice niche for Altair Astro.

Had Lyra Optics still been going I reckon Glen would have been interested in the 125mm F/7.8 ED doublet

[F15Rules]

Just now, John said:

It does look very much the same and, as SV don't seem to want to market in the UK / EU, there is a nice niche for Altair Astro.

Had Lyra Optics still been going I reckon Glen would have been interested in the 125mm F/7.8 ED doublet

Yes, Glen is a top guy and it's sad that he had to retire..he used to stock some nice stuff and gave excellent service ?.

Dave

[GlenM]

Not quite fell off the face of the Earth yet. I am enjoying my retirement for sure. Lost my mojo since retiring last year. I've had to buy another small frac and -dare I say- a small Dob to regain my mojo.

Yes,I would have given serious thought to this scope, it looks very promising.

Thank you for the kind words.

Glen.

 

 

 

 

[Fozzie]

After the initial pricing of £1999 for the 125EDF, it's now currently listed on AA website as £1699.. and it's now revealed as Binoviewer ready, with the removal of a 50mm extension piece between the rotating focuser and the main scope body..  This scope is looking to be a seriously nice bit of kit..

Not seen a review yet though, anyone??

ta

Fozzie

[vlaiv]

Looks suspiciously like:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p10133_TS-Optics-PhotoLine-125mm-f-7-8-FPL53-Lanthanum-Apo---2-5--Focuser.html

I think both TS and AA shared scope source with rebranding before, so it might be the same optics. Although TS version says lanthanum glass, but looking at longitudinal abberation curve - they look identical.

I know @denis0007dl has (or had) TS 125 version but much more looking like AA one - with 3" R&P focuser and shortened tube for binoviewing (instead one listed on TS website).

Maybe he can shed some light on performance of the scope?

[Dave1]

Has anyone seen any reviews of these yet? Or are the owners so happy, they never post online!

[Peter Drew]

I'd wait and see how the SW ED150  pans out.  ?

[Dave1]

Good suggestion, but I'm not sure I want 150mm F8. Bit on the big side and not very portable. I don't own a car, I have a motorbike and sidecar. I want something that is portable and with bigger aperture than my current instruments, but shorter OTA, that is ED doublet design. So a telescope around 125-130mm coming in at F7.5-F8. Is ideal. Especially if it has a retracting dew shield like the Altair Astro 125 EDF.