The William Optics Megrez 88 - Review Conclusion

[centroid]

I am rapidly running out of available time, before heading off to Australia, and the clear sky opportunities are just not happening. I also need to allow time to remove all the gear from the obsy before I go.

Therefore I'm going to conclude my review on the Megrez 88, and in all honesty, I don't think that if I were to further test it, I would find anything different to that which I have already found.

So to summarise:

My first impressions of the Megrez 88, was that it is beautifully engineered telescope, with nice attention having been paid to fine detail, and this impression remains. From an aesthetic point of view, with its well finished white OTA, shiny black draw tube, gold coloured lens cap and matching fine focus control, this scope is a real 'eye catcher'.

The dual speed focuser is 'silky smooth', without any lateral movement. It is firm enough, to hold the weight of an SXVF-H9C camera, with the scope pointing at the zenith, without the draw tube 'creeping' out, and thus losing focus. A real plus point this, especially as the focuser still operated smoothly when adjusted.

The retractable dew shield was equally as smooth in its operation, while remaining firmly in position.

My first look at the night sky through this scope, did have the 'wow factor'. The stars were 'pin sharp', and the contrast very good indeed. Being very critical, there was some evidence of colour fringing (chromatic aberration), when the star was defocused, but when well focused, this was really hard to detect, and to all intents and purposes, not there.

So, for visual work, the Megrez 88 is a delight to use, and I really liked it.

Weighing in at just a little over 3kg, and with its dew shield retracted, this scope is very compact indeed, and ideally suited for 'grab and go', or even travelling with you on foreign trips.

When I moved on to image capture, the fact that it was a short focal length, fast (f/5.6) scope, employing doublet optics , showed the negligable amount of chromatic aberation (CA) seen visually, to be noticeably more significant, with very distinct colour fringing showing around stars. The degree and colour of the CA fringing was very dependant on critical focus position. Realistically, far too critical for practical purposes.

So, as colour CCD imager, this would not be the scope for me. However, for the narrowband imager, this scope would be a very good wide field, fast scope indeed.

All in all, this scope would appear to represent good value for money, and certainly would not disappoint the visual observer, or narrowband imager.

The colour and non narrow band imager, woud need look at either a slower and longer focal length doublet, where any CA would be much more supressed, or a scope using triplet optics.

Finally, I would like to thank Steve at First Light Optics for allowing me to 'test drive' the Megrez 88, and boldy requesting that I report my findings to the forum.

I've certainly enjoyed the experience, and hope that its been of some interest/use, to at least some of our members.

Regards

Dave

[moondog]

Hi Dave

Enjoyed your comprehensive reports on the Megrez 88. Seems like a good scope - but not perhaps for OSC imagng. Hope you get all your stuff packed away properly before you head 'down under'.

TheWO ZS66 I managed to get in my carry on luggage is excellent visually in NZ. I hope to try this for imaging when I get the borrowed driven mount. We'll then see how the WO 'little brother' performs.

Have a good trip - the weather in NZ is warm and sunny as I write this post.

8)

MD

[thing]

Great and detailed report Dave. Where in Oz are you off to?

[centroid]

John

The obsy is pretty secure, as well a being properly alarmed, but I just don't fancy leaving it unattended while I'm out of the country for while, more so really from any really nasty weather that might happen along. I still have vivid memories of the 1987 Hurricane.

The ZS66 really is an ideal travelling companion, and its nice that you took it with you this time.

I look forward to seeing the images, once you get organised.

Where in Oz are you off to?

Near Perth, in Western Australia.

Dave

[thing]

Have a good one, I might get myself one of those little Williams for next year.

[steppenwolf]

That's a very good and useful report, Dave - thanks for taking the time to compile it.