Show us your Vixen Scope or mount

[Naughty Neal]

Likely 80mm aperature as the 90mm measured is the end cap /dew shield diameter.

Also to the rear in your pics , there looks to be tube discolouration where a vixen livery label may have been adhered.

 

A very nice looking Acromat. 

[Franklin]

3 hours ago, woldsman said:

I’ll visit the diy store as keen to make the tripod more stable by fixing the tray in place.

You'll need bolts with wing nuts x6, about 3"- 4" long maybe M6 - M8 ?, they need to fit through the long slot in the side of the lower tripod leg extensions and some kind of u-shaped staple/bracket x6 to hold the pin on the hinged metal brackets. These attach to the inside of the upper tripod legs, you should see two small screw holes on each part where the originals once were.

[Franklin]

A-0605 [Vixen Vixen Astronomical Telescope CUSTOM-80M with Tripod Operation Unconfirmed Junk] / [Buyee] Buyee - Japanese Proxy Service | Buy from Japan! bot-online

Here's one that's up for auction in Japan right now.

[woldsman]

On 02/08/2023 at 12:49, Franklin said:

You'll need bolts with wing nuts x6, about 3"- 4" long maybe M6 - M8 ?, they need to fit through the long slot in the side of the lower tripod leg extensions and some kind of u-shaped staple/bracket x6 to hold the pin on the hinged metal brackets. These attach to the inside of the upper tripod legs, you should see two small screw holes on each part where the originals once were.

 M5 wingnuts & bolts seem to have done the job. Just need to add three small washers.

[Franklin]

Another review on the Vixen SD range I've not seen before.

VIXEN SD115 S - the largest APO refractor from a traditional Japanese manufacturer (astro.cz)

[John]

54 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Another review on the Vixen SD range I've not seen before.

VIXEN SD115 S - the largest APO refractor from a traditional Japanese manufacturer (astro.cz)

Interesting that 115mm is the largest aperture refractor that Vixen currently market.

In the past they have had 120mm, 130mm, 140mm and 150mm Petzval and ED refractors. They have clearly decided to concentrate on a smaller range these days.

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by John

[osbourne one-nil]

Did I post these before? 

I had a SD81S but I had a tax bill to pay so, being me, spent some of that money on a new telescope instead; the SD81SII. I was wanting to get rid of the diffraction spikes caused by the foil spacers, and sure enough, they're now gone. The original SD81S went shortly afterwards too. 

Because I had the dedicated flattener and reducer for the scope, and because that would also work on the SD103S as well, I keep toying with the idea of replacing my R200SS with the 103, and be done with collimation (at the expense of speed and aperture, of course). However, now the Stellalyra 127 doublet is out, I could save a ton of money.,,,

[mikeDnight]

New to me, a mint condition GPDX to carry my FS128. 😆

 

[LDW1]

26 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

New to me, a mint condition GPDX to carry my FS128. 😆

 

Nice Vixen mount, should be pretty solid !

Edited August 15, 2023 by LDW1

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

New to me, a mint condition GPDX to carry my FS128. 😆

 

Looks fab Mike 👍

Question though, that’s a lot of weight, mine seems to balance with only two weights?

[mikeDnight]

22 hours ago, Stu said:

Looks fab Mike 👍

Question though, that’s a lot of weight, mine seems to balance with only two weights?

Mine aren't that large Stu. 😢 How large are yours? 

Edited August 16, 2023 by mikeDnight

[paulastro]

22 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

New to me, a mint condition GPDX to carry my FS128. 😆

 

Nice one Mike.  I'm looking forward to coming to play some time soon 😊.

 

[woldsman]

Have added a Vixen Custom 90 to the Custom 80. This example has the livery and the green metallic finish. In both cases, the scopes were unwanted gifts - the users not having the time to star gaze. Mount has some backlash so needs tweaking I think. The new arrival takes 0.965 eye pieces. It came with a collection of these but they badly need cleaning and some of them may no longer be usable.

Could I try everyone’s patience and ask about 0.965 to 1.25 E.P. conversion? I’ve done some basic research and gather that quality hybrid diagonals are hard to source these days. I’m not sure which adapter is needed and would like to avoid ordering the wrong item. 

An update on the Custom 80: it’s been fabulous on Jupiter and Saturn. Also a practical option on dsos although the alt-az mount means that higher targets are naturally awkward. Last week I found M3, M13, M92, M15, M22, M28, M31, M81, M82 plus Jupiter & Saturn in 60 minutes or so before dew became an issue. Such a shame these scopes are discontinued as I gather the modern versions have worse finders and are more challenging for beginners. The Custom series were ideal - serious scopes but also an entry level option. 

[John]

55 minutes ago, woldsman said:

Have added a Vixen Custom 90 to the Custom 80. This example has the livery and the green metallic finish. In both cases, the scopes were unwanted gifts - the users not having the time to star gaze. Mount has some backlash so needs tweaking I think. The new arrival takes 0.965 eye pieces. It came with a collection of these but they badly need cleaning and some of them may no longer be usable.

Could I try everyone’s patience and ask about 0.965 to 1.25 E.P. conversion? I’ve done some basic research and gather that quality hybrid diagonals are hard to source these days. I’m not sure which adapter is needed and would like to avoid ordering the wrong item.....

 

 

I'm sure that you used to be able to get a 1.25 inch adapter that screws straight into the focuser drawtube ?

That would be the best solution I think.

I think this is the thing:

Vixen Eyepiece adapter 36,4mm connecting thread on 1,25" (astroshop.eu)

[Franklin]

6 hours ago, woldsman said:

Such a shame these scopes are discontinued as I gather the modern versions have worse finders and are more challenging for beginners.

The Vixen 80M has been in production since the early 1970's and it was only last year that Vixen pulled the plug on their 3"achromat, presumably influenced by the sales of their very popular A80MF, which is the Chinese made (Synta) version. The MF model is a good starter/beginners scope but the original Japanese made version is much superior. The 4" version, the A105MII, is still available though. The most recent A81M was supplied with the Vixen RDF and flip-mirror as standard.

[woldsman]

4 hours ago, Franklin said:

The Vixen 80M has been in production since the early 1970's and it was only last year that Vixen pulled the plug on their 3"achromat, presumably influenced by the sales of their very popular A80MF, which is the Chinese made (Synta) version. The MF model is a good starter/beginners scope but the original Japanese made version is much superior. The 4" version, the A105MII, is still available though. The most recent A81M was supplied with the Vixen RDF and flip-mirror as standard.

The A105MII certainly looks a great achro.

[Franklin]

6 minutes ago, woldsman said:

The A105MII certainly looks a great achro.

Just sold mine to an SGL member and yes it is a very good scope. It was the A105M and had the 3 foil spacers rather than the spacer ring which the current A105MII has.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Franklin

[Pixies]

2 hours ago, Franklin said:

Just sold mine to an SGL member and yes it is a very good scope. It was the A105M and had the 3 foil spacers rather than the spacer ring which the current A105MII has.

That was me! I have @Franklin's old A105M. It's an excellent scope and has received positive comments from people, more knowledgeable than me, regarding its sharpness.

[Franklin]

I've been after an F/9 ED102S for some time now and have just found one, the "wt" model. It's from the last production line in early 2000 before Vixen changed to the ED103S F/7.7

 

[Franklin]

And this ED70SS is quite scarce due to it being in production for only two years (2015-2017). Should make a nice grab and go set up.

 

[Franklin]

Two new members of my Vixen collection together.

 

[RobertI]

12 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Two new members of my Vixen collection together.

 

Very nice! What does WT stand for? The smaller scope is vey fast at F5.7 

[Franklin]

5 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Very nice! What does WT stand for?

WT is what Vixen added to the description of their products around early 2000 when they gave everything a new look. They changed the older hammered Green for white with blue trims, probably to coincide with the launch of their Sphinx mounts in 2003. WT simply stands for "white", for example the old GP motor, the MT-1 when released in white to match the then new GP2 was renamed MT-1wt. All the same old products just a different colour.

[Franklin]

12 minutes ago, RobertI said:

The smaller scope is vey fast at F5.7 

And F/4 with the dedicated 0.7x focal reducer that came with it but I don't think it will be of use to me as I'm visual only.

[F15Rules]

2 hours ago, Franklin said:

I've been after an F/9 ED102S for some time now and have just found one, the "wt" model. It's from the last production line in early 2000 before Vixen changed to the ED103S F/7.7

 

Beautiful  scope Tim👍..and interesting info about the meaning of the "wt" designation.

There was also actually an ED103Swt F7.7, as well as the newer ED103s, which of course was itself replaced by the current SD103s, of which  range you currently have the flagship SD115s model.

Here's a photo of the ED103Swt F7.7 that I owned, and which in 2020 was bought by Steve (@Saganite)..quite a rare scope I believe, and with a single speed but superbly smooth R&P focuser.

Dave