Show us your Vixen Scope or mount

[Franklin]

This may not be new but it's the first time I've seen it.

Thumbs up for the SD103S.

Vixen SD103S Review (scopeviews.co.uk)

[Nakedgun]

~

Nice scopes.

Availability in the U.S. seems more problematic than other brands, currently.

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John]

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

This may not be new but it's the first time I've seen it.

Thumbs up for the SD103S.

Vixen SD103S Review (scopeviews.co.uk)

Thanks for posting that 🙂

It was interesting that Vixen moved from the two model ED102S / ED102SS at F/9 and F/6.5 respectively line up to a single model SD102S at F/7.7. I understood this change was due to problems with the lead content of the non-ED element used in the ED102's forcing a re-design of the doublet objective resulting in a slight clear aperture increase and the mid-range focal ratio of F/7.7.

Vixen didn't state the ED glass type used in the ED102's although I was fairly sure it had to be FPl-53 from the CA control they achieved in even the faster F/6.5 version, the SS model.

My own ED102SS dates from around 2000 and I've owned it for 16 years. It's a great "all rounder" 🙂

I'm going to have a look at the Moon and Venus with it right now in fact !

 

[F15Rules]

On 20/06/2023 at 22:02, John said:

Variations on the "scope X on a Vixen" theme.

The mount under the Tak is the Celestron branded version of the Vixen GP.

The mount under the TMB/LZOS 130 is the Vixen GP-DX.

 

The Lzos 130 looks great on the GPDX John..👍. How does the mount handle it? I've had my FS128 on one in the past, and it worked quite well: but the  8.1 Tak is only about 8.5kg including finder, diagonal etc, whereas I'd imagine the Lzos F9(Triplet?) is a fair bit heavier? The sturdy wooden tripod will help stability of course..is that one a Tal tripod?  Certainly looks like one😊.

I remember holding an Lzos of c106mm/F6 spec I think it was, when I visited someone to view a different scope some years ago, and I was amazed at how solid and heavy the Russian scope was.

Thanks for sharing.

Dave

[F15Rules]

Here are a few shots of my 1980s Vixen made, SBS branded 80mm F15 achromat.

I believe this was originally sold in France (the ID plate is in French), and I think "SBS" was the trading name of the reseller.

The scope has clearly led an "active life", and has had a 2" dual speed Crayford focuser added to it. I've added a Skywatcher Raci 6x30 finder and found a nice replica vintage Vixen logo transfer online, which I think is period correct for that time.

A previous owner flocked the dewshield and lower tube forward of the focuser.

The scope is a fine double star splitter, although I haven't yet tried it on the Moon, I expect it to do well in the current waxing lunar cycle..😉

Shown here on vintage Vixen SP mount and SW steel tripod..

Dave

 

[John]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

The Lzos 130 looks great on the GPDX John..👍. How does the mount handle it? I've had my FS128 on one in the past, and it worked quite well: but the  8.1 Tak is only about 8.5kg including finder, diagonal etc, whereas I'd imagine the Lzos F9(Triplet?) is a fair bit heavier? The sturdy wooden tripod will help stability of course..is that one a Tal tripod?  Certainly looks like one😊.

I remember holding an Lzos of c106mm/F6 spec I think it was, when I visited someone to view a different scope some years ago, and I was amazed at how solid and heavy the Russian scope was.

Thanks for sharing.

Dave

Hi Dave and thanks for the comments.

The tripod is my Berlebach Uni 28. It's an older one and the wood tone has "matured" from the pale original colour. 

The GPDX was OK with the F/9.2 130mm triplet on board but, similar to the HEQ5 and Celestron AVX that I tried the scope on for a while, it didn't quite hold it steady enough to enable the high powers that the optics are capable of to be used to their best advantage. The optical tube assembly, including tube rings, losmandy plate, finder and diagonal weighs 9.4kg. Not too bad for a triplet but, yes, longer and heaver than the FS128. Mine has a Kruppax 50 tube which I think helps keep the weight down. Some of the earlier TMB/LZOS tripets used a distinctive white / polished alloy finish which looks excellent but they are heavy scopes for their aperture.

My breakthrough in mounting my TMB/LZOS 130 came when a T-Rex alt-azimuth, rather unusually, came up for sale. The T-Rex is an amazingly capable mount and handles the 130 F/9.2 really effortlessly even at 400x plus, which the scope is easily capable of supporting, under decent seeing.

The alternative to the T-Rex would have been a Rowan AZ100 I think.

 

 

 

[The60mmKid]

A question for the Vixen lovers: I'd like a quality 30mm finder that will fit the bracket that came with my Vixen 120S. I'm not sure if these brackets are all one size or if they vary. Alas, the Takahashi 6x30 is too large for the Vixen bracket that I have. Do the old 30mm Vixen finders have quality optics? I don't care much for the optical/build quality of the ubiquitous 30mm finders that currently come with mass-produced scopes, so I'd be grateful for recommendations.

[Froeng]

The old Vixen 30mm finders are very nice. Unfortunately though, most of them do not come with standard brackets! I don't know how old the 120S is, but if it is from the late nineties, you may be able to find a 6x30 Vixen finder that was actually made for one of these OTAs

Edited July 1, 2023 by Froeng

[Froeng]

This is what the 1980s finders look like:

[Franklin]

The quite rare 120S was offered by Vixen for a short while in the late 90's and had a finder bracket cast into the left hand side of the focuser, much like the present day offerings. It is a standard Vixen finder shoe and most modern finders will fit in it. If looking for a vintage Vixen 6x30 with standard finder foot/bracket, rather than the earlier swivel type shown above, they do turn up from time to time at the auctions over in Japan. A modern alternative, either straight through or right-angled is sold by MoreBlue of Japan but to be honest they look very similar to the standard synta/SW types so are probably made in China.

Back to your amazing scope, it is quite rare and was the forerunner of the more modern NA-140SSf. Vixen made a similar scope for ORION, the 120S and 140S, both achromatic doublets with a doublet flattener at the focuser end. Yours is the original and has a triplet flattener in the rear, so a quintuplet no less! Great find👍.

[Franklin]

On 25/06/2023 at 19:06, John said:

It was interesting that Vixen moved from the two model ED102S / ED102SS at F/9 and F/6.5 respectively line up to a single model SD102S at F/7.7.

Photo/visual compromise, bring back F/9 scopes please, as there are still a few dinosaurs left who like to look through their scopes!

[Franklin]

50 minutes ago, Froeng said:

This is what the 1980s finders look like:

They were a great idea from Vixen, very innovative, a fixed tube with an adjustable reticle for alignment and a swivel to change finder position after a meridian flip.

[The60mmKid]

Many thanks, @Froeng and @Franklin. That's helpful info, and I think I may know of a person or two who can get ahold of the original Vixen 6x30.

[F15Rules]

50 minutes ago, Froeng said:

This is what the 1980s finders look like:

I love Vixen gear..so much so that I started this thread over 5 years ago..😊.

However, while their 30mm finders were optically fairly good, I've always disliked the straight through design as I find it very uncomfortable to use for any length of time.

So on my mid 1980s Vixen 80mm F15 ota I've installed a nice Skywatcher right angled 6x30mm unit which fits the standard Vixen finder foot..much more practical IMHO👍😊.

Dave

[The60mmKid]

18 minutes ago, Franklin said:

The quite rare 120S was offered by Vixen for a short while in the late 90's and had a finder bracket cast into the left hand side of the focuser, much like the present day offerings. It is a standard Vixen finder shoe and most modern finders will fit in it. If looking for a vintage Vixen 6x30 with standard finder foot/bracket, rather than the earlier swivel type shown above, they do turn up from time to time at the auctions over in Japan. A modern alternative, either straight through or right-angled is sold by MoreBlue of Japan but to be honest they look very similar to the standard synta/SW types so are probably made in China.

Back to your amazing scope, it is quite rare and was the forerunner of the more modern NA-140SSf. Vixen made a similar scope for ORION, the 120S and 140S, both achromatic doublets with a doublet flattener at the focuser end. Yours is the original and has a triplet flattener in the rear, so a quintuplet no less! Great find👍.

Thank you! I'm pleased that the 120S is not only rare but also a splendid performer.  In anticipation of receiving it, I tracked down all of the information I could online:

• http://www.sidus.org/proveStrumenti/telescopi/na120.html 
• https://www.dark-star.it/astronomia-articoli-e-test/test-strumentali/vixen-120-s/ 
• http://www.telescopedoctor.com/main.asp?cod=test/rifrattori/vixen-na120s 
• https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/685016-vixen-120s-5-elements/ 
• https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/733759-for-fans-of-classic-vixen-telescopes/page-6#entry11735819 
• https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/818811-4-vs-47-rft-is-there-really-that-much-difference/page-2#entry11824122 
• https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/825855-vixen-telescopes/page-4#entry11944178 
• https://astromart.com/classifieds/astromart-classifieds/telescope-refractor/show/rare-vixen-120s-telescope-in-really-excellent-conditions-like-new 
• http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/entry/vixen-vx-120-(orion)-12-175.html 

The information is relevant to varying degrees since much of it seems to apply more to the 4-element versions. I wanted to confirm that the one that I received is indeed a 5-element, so I was pleased that it passed the test:

I'm half tempted to write up my own evaluation of this refractor, but I'm not sure whether it makes sense to assess a scope that's so uncommon and relatively long in the tooth 🤔 It feels like reviewing a 30-year-old arthouse film.

[The60mmKid]

2 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

I love Vixen gear..so much so that I started this thread over 5 years ago..😊.

However, while their 30mm finders were optically fairly good, I've always disliked the straight through design as I find it very uncomfortable to use for any length of time.

So on my mid 1980s Vixen 80mm F15 ota I've installed a nice Skywatcher right angled 6x30mm unit which fits the standard Vixen finder foot..much more practical IMHO👍😊.

Dave

Straight-through for me. If I'm not suffering, it isn't fun.

[F15Rules]

1 minute ago, The60mmKid said:

I'm half tempted to write up my own evaluation of this refractor, but I'm not sure whether it makes sense to assess a scope that's so uncommon and relatively long in the tooth 🤔 It feels like reviewing a 30-year-old arthouse film.

No....

Please DO post a review! The rarity and age of your scope only add to the interest, and I for one would love to read such a write up.

Dave

[Franklin]

4 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

I've installed a nice Skywatcher right angled 6x30mm unit which fits the standard Vixen finder foot..much more practical IMHO👍😊.

I think a lot of us do that, a right angled or RACI finder is a no brainer regards viewing comfort. The synta finders do the job but it would be nice if a high quality small right-angled finder were offered on the market. I don't know how many times this must have been mentioned on the forums over the years. Come on Takahashi people, just chop the tube down and fit a prism in there.

[Franklin]

10 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

I wanted to confirm that the one that I received is indeed a 5-element, so I was pleased that it passed the test:

I think it is. The whole idea at the time and Vixen are well known for doing things a little differently, was to produce a large aperture refractor using traditional ie. crown & flint glass, that would give better correction. The triplet design of the rear element gave a flat field and also reduced focal length, meaning the objective was designed to have a longer focal length and therefore better colour correction. Amazing what optical wizards can do with multi-element designs but from a practical perspective, collimation can get tricky. I think this is why scopes like this are now rare, because using more efficient glass types such as ED and Fluorite in simpler doublet designs was more successful in the market as these scopes were less susceptible to collimation issues.

Have you had a laser or cheshire in it yet? What's it like?

[Franklin]

This is just bonkers!

A pair of FL102s scopes set up as a binoscope!

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Franklin

[The60mmKid]

42 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

No....

Please DO post a review! The rarity and age of your scope only add to the interest, and I for one would love to read such a write up.

Dave

Ok, then. One review coming up 🫡 Thanks for the encouragement! I'll wait until a better mount arrives (I've got one coming in the mail) and the scope has seen a good amount of starlight.

Now all this experiment needs is a control group... Who's up for sending me their TSA-120?

[The60mmKid]

24 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Have you had a laser or cheshire in it yet? What's it like?

No, but I've pushed it to 300x on Arcturus, Altair, etc. Perfectly concentric diffraction rings. Satisfying!

[Franklin]

1 minute ago, The60mmKid said:

I've pushed it to 300x on Arcturus, Altair, etc. Perfectly concentric diffraction rings.

That sounds good.

[Pixies]

21 hours ago, Froeng said:

This is what the 1980s finders look like:

That's the finder for the EQ "Polaris" variant of the old Vixen refractors. It's a completely different type of design. There is no actual finder tube within the holder, it's all one piece. The alt/az "Custom" had the more standard finder. I have a couple in various states of repair. I'll try and dig them out for pictures, later.

[John]

14 minutes ago, Pixies said:

That's the finder for the EQ "Polaris" variant of the old Vixen refractors. It's a completely different type of design. There is no actual finder tube within the holder, it's all one piece. The alt/az "Custom" had the more standard finder. I have a couple in various states of repair. I'll try and dig them out for pictures, later.

Many of the Vixen refractors sold in the UK had separate finder mounts added to the tube and the integral focuser based finder mounting system (such as the one pictured by @Froeng) were removed / blanked off. The ones sold by Astro Systems back in the 1980's for example have a finder mounting foot a little way up the main tube and this approach was used for the "Custom" models as well as the SP achromats and fluorites. 

Maybe having the finder mount integral with the focuser was favoured by Japanese / European customers ?