NEW William Optics Zenithstar-61 APO

[Chris]

Haha Looks even more similar with the gold circles! Lets go for the full set

[oobydooby]

On 2017-7-27 at 16:32, FLO said:

Or.... Buy the gold one and name it Sphero BB8 

 

...Or buy the red one and call it a red one!

I was looking at 70mm to 80mm doublets as due to my physical disabilities I need a lightweight portable 'scope and tripod set-up for both photographic and visual observing.  How would this telescope fare in the visual observing?  I am hoping to observe major planets, solar (with filter), lunar and some of the brighter DSO's such as Orions Neb and Andromeda etc. 

An answer could well clinch a deal for this and a rather nice lightweight wifi tripod and head seen elswhere in this forum.

Tony

[Davey-T]

13 minutes ago, oobydooby said:

...Or buy the red one and call it a red one!

I was looking at 70mm to 80mm doublets as due to my physical disabilities I need a lightweight portable 'scope and tripod set-up for both photographic and visual observing.  How would this telescope fare in the visual observing?  I am hoping to observe major planets, solar (with filter), lunar and some of the brighter DSO's such as Orions Neb and Andromeda etc. 

An answer could well clinch a deal for this and a rather nice lightweight wifi tripod and head seen elswhere in this forum.

Tony

That sounds like a selection of targets needing 3 different scopes

The WO 61 would be good for widefield stuff like M31 and Orion neb' OK ish on the Moon and not much cop for planets

Dave

[Alan White]

This looks such a nice little grab and go, I can see why Chris (Lockie) is so keen.
If only he would buy one and report back things would be easier 

[Chris]

12 minutes ago, Alan White said:

This looks such a nice little grab and go, I can see why Chris (Lockie) is so keen.
If only he would buy one and report back things would be easier 

lol Well Alan, if you would like to help towards the WO61 fund by buying anything in my sig (apart from the 6" Dob, and EQ3) we could make this happen  

Seriously though, I kind of have enough money for one now, but the more money you save the more options become available, I'll sleep on it for a couple more days........or a week  

EDIT: Ooh 7000 posts!

[Alien 13]

It has been a bumper week for new products, my shopping/wish list now includes this scope along with the SW wifi mount and the 90 mm Mak I already have.

Alan

[Chris]

3 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

It has been a bumper week for new products, my shopping/wish list now includes this scope along with the SW wifi mount and the 90 mm Mak I already have.

Alan

+1 for that, Alan  On paper I'm very impressed with the SW AZ-GTI Wifi mount, so much so I've put my AZ4 up for sale despite only just getting it.....how was I supposed to know Skywatcher were going to bring out a great looking AZ mount  

[Alan White]

I think a number of AZ4 will be marketed soon Chris for either the AZ5 or Wifi Unit.
That WO would look so nice on the AZ-GTI Wifi mount,  very tempted myself to be honest.
But I don't like to be first in on new products.

As to buying your kit, sorry, having a sell off of my own to realign my own kit presently.

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

This looks such a nice little grab and go, I can see why Chris (Lockie) is so keen.
If only he would buy one and report back things would be easier 

Well chris ( @Lockie) there is an astronomy show at Suffolk Uni on Ipswich waterfront today (just been down there) and they have the WO ZS61 and a Skywatcher AZ5 mount on show. I'd recommend a visit but that might be dangerous! 

[Chris]

Hi Robert, that's a coincidence, we're just about to try and wangle the kids in the car to go to that  

I hoped the widescreen centre might be bringing the WO61 to look at, thanks.

No buying for me today....I hope  

[Davey-T]

23 minutes ago, Lockie said:

Hi Robert, that's a coincidence, we're just about to try and wangle the kids in the car to go to that  

I hoped the widescreen centre might be bringing the WO61 to look at, thanks.

No buying for me today....I hope  

Well you've got more willpower than me Chris 

Dave

[Chris]

4 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Well you've got more willpower than me Chris 

Dave

I managed to resist, Dave, but a bit of drooling took place  Simon from the Widescreen Centre saw me coveting the WO61, and kindly agreed to let me take some pics of it setup on the Sky Adventurer mount!  

It looks even nicer in person, beautifully engineered. The 20th anniversary addition of the Zenithstar 71 was also there with the new V-power focuser, my word that was a piece of art, lovely CNC machined embellishments on that scope. If that had fpl53 glass as apposed to FPL51 I'd be tempted to save for that one even though it's nearly twice the price.

I can't say I got the chance to look through the WO61 (I thought that might be pushing my luck to ask, as it was clear I wasn't buying today), but if the views are as good as the build quality and aesthetics, then buyers are in for a real gem of a scope!

p.s. the new AZ5 is in the background with a 127mm Skymax aboard.

p.s.s And I got to say hello to Alan Chapman! He's the man!  

[Stu]

It does look very good Chris, very compact but with decent focus travel and the Dewshield looks to extend by a enough to be effective.

[Chris]

7 minutes ago, Stu said:

It does look very good Chris, very compact but with decent focus travel and the Dewshield looks to extend by a enough to be effective.

Hi Stu, yes I took the opportunity to test all moving parts and was impressed by the travel, smoothness, and lack of slack with both the dew shield and focuser, there was non I could detect. Nice bit of kit externally, and I suspect optically too looking at the specs    

 

[Chris]

Ooops! Just remembered that FLO started this thread, and I've gone and linked pics from another retailers stand! I hope this hasn't offended? 

[Stu]

Definitely one for me for the future I reckon  

[Alan White]

Good, the need / want monster has been fed, now it's only a matter of time.....

That really looks a nice telescope indeed.
Now if I had known an astro show was running I might have headed up the A12 myself.

That AZ5 looks ok in your picture, but the tripod still looks very lightweight, need to fondle one I think.

[Chris]

6 minutes ago, Alan White said:

That AZ5 looks ok in your picture, but the tripod still looks very lightweight, need to fondle one I think.

I think @Helen has her hands on one of these tripods, FLO sent her the Pronto version to test in return for some pics of it being used in anger during the eclipse  

She did an unboxing thread, so maybe check out the mount section, Alan

p.s. The want/need monster still has room for pudding....well maybe a crumb or two   

[Alien 13]

The scope does look the part on the Star Adventurer but I want the AZ wi fi mount too 

Alan

[RobertI]

Sorry, slightly off topic again, but I got to have a play with the AZ5 at the show and I thought the mount was very nice, but there was far too much flex around the hinges at the top of the tripod legs, could have been that they were not tight enough, but I felt that there was a weak point there. On that basis I would be inclined to buy the mount only, if that is an option.

Back on topic, the ZS61 looked superb and I can confirm that the dew shield extended a good long way, on a par with my ZS66 which is fine (just seen that Chris has posted a pic of the dewshield extended).

[Chris]

11 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Sorry, slightly off topic again, but I got to have a play with the AZ5 at the show and I thought the mount was very nice, but there was far too much flex around the hinges at the top of the tripod legs, could have been that they were not tight enough, but I felt that there was a weak point there. On that basis I would be inclined to buy the mount only, if that is an option.

Back on topic, the ZS61 looked superb and I can confirm that the dew shield extended a good long way, on a par with my ZS66 which is fine (just seen that Chris has posted a pic of the dewshield extended).

I think Helen concluded the same regarding the tripod head twisting around the hinges, so its not a one off by the looks of things. i've seen light weight mounts that don't do this so it is curious that this wasn't addressed during the design phase.

 

 

 

[oobydooby]

9 hours ago, Lockie said:

I think Helen concluded the same regarding the tripod head twisting around the hinges, so its not a one off by the looks of things. i've seen light weight mounts that don't do this so it is curious that this wasn't addressed during the design phase.

 

 

 

That's a pity. I was anticipating getting one of these.  Oh well! Back to the drawing board.

[FLO]

On 26/07/2017 at 18:43, FLO said:

William Optics say a 1:1 Flattener-61 is in the pipeline... 

We have William Optics Flattener-61 incoming, they should arrive in one week. 

We will confirm when we have a landed price but we ought to be able to achieve £149 price, possibly less. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[gtis]

Hi would this be better that this

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/altair-starwave-70-ed-f6-travel-refractor-telescope-with-dual-speed-crayford.html

[FLO]

30 minutes ago, gtis said:

Hi would this be better that this

I don't know, we don't stock Altair products   

Its product description doesn't say which ED glass it uses so I am guessing it is not FPL53.  Best to email Nic' or Ian at Altair Astro or start a thread in the Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups board here at SGL. 

HTH, 

Steve