Skywatcher Black Diamond 100ED

[Sunshine]

Hello! i am being offered this 100ED at a price which is hard to resist by an acquaintance who inherited it and doesn't plan on "checking out galaxies" as he put it LOL, it looks like a well built scope and a good frac is a scope for life, anyone have/had this scope?

thx!

[Demonperformer]

I do not have this scope personally, but it seems to be highly-regarded by members who do. You will be "checking out" the scope under the night sky before purchasing (no matter how hard to resist the price may be), won't you?

[orley]

Love mine, had it a good number of years now. Great on planets and moon. Takes magnification up to 180-200x fine, although I tend to stay below 160x under my light polluted, unsteady skies. As your acquaintance infers, struggles somewhat on dso's, but then 4" is 4" - dark skies help. Doesn't weigh much so sits beautifully on EQ5/AZ4 mounts and upwards. Focuser is servicable but needs tweaking now and then.

Sharp, contrasty views? Yes. Great detail on dso's? No - they are there, but just. 

Over the years I've had a 150mm F5 newtonian, a 200mm F6 newtonian, a 150mm achromat and a 127mm mak. The 100ED is the only one I've kept. It is what it is, but what it does it does very, very well.

My purely subjective view, of course!

Tom

[Knighty2112]

Had the 80 ED scope, and it was a very good scope. The 100 ED should be fen better with the extra aperture. Should give pin sharp views of stars, and excellent views of planets and the  moon too.

[Stu]

A great lunar, planetary and doubles scope, and ok for DSOs at a dark site.

Not had one, but they have a great reputation, 4" f9, FPL53 glass well designed lens, what's not to like? Focuser perhaps but that can be sorted.

[Alfian]

Very happy with mine, it may not have the aperture for faint fuzzies in the way that an 8" dob has but that apart its a great all rounder.

[rwilkey]

Hi Sunshine, yes, I have the Celestron labelled version of this scope (both made by Synta) and I can highly recommend it, yes, it is a scope for life and good focal ratio, mine is f/9.  What I did find was that once I had got these superb optics that I wanted to upgrade my eyepieces to match the quality and now with better ep's I get clear and sharp views that are second to none.  I got my OTA for £495 from FLO with Moonlite already fitted (shop display, so not full price).  I also put it on a Vixen Porta II mount which works very well with it, better than the AZ4 in my opinion as the Porta has slomo controls. 

[Alan White]

I used to have the Skywatcher version and now the 80mm version.

Great scopes and present stars, planets and lunar So well. The duo ability is ok, but a bigger scope is really needed for faint fuzzies.

I only swapped my one in a turn of bad back grumbles, silliest thing I ever did.

[F15Rules]

On 21/02/2018 at 10:03, rwilkey said:

Hi Sunshine, yes, I have the Celestron labelled version of this scope (both made by Synta) and I can highly recommend it, yes, it is a scope for life and good focal ratio, mine is f/9.  What I did find was that once I had got these superb optics that I wanted to upgrade my eyepieces to match the quality and now with better ep's I get clear and sharp views that are second to none.  I got my OTA for £495 from FLO with Moonlite already fitted (shop display, so not full price).  I also put it on a Vixen Porta II mount which works very well with it, better than the AZ4 in my opinion as the Porta has slomo controls. 

+1 from me, I've owned 2 Celestron ED100s, identical optics. Poor focuser, so so finish, but excellent optics.

If it's a standard scope/focuser in good all round condition I'd expect to pay £250-£300 for it.

Good all rounder, but it's a 4" so DSOs are a bit underwhelming?..

Good luck☺.

Dave

[mikeDnight]

Grab it and run! I had one for a while about eight years ago. They are very nice scopes for lunar, solar, planetary, double stars and brighter DSO's.. Also nice for General sweeping through the Milkyway. The FPL53 lens has good colour correction and gives sharp, fluorite views!

[25585]

I have the Equinox 100 Pro ED, does yours gave a sliding dew shield. If its the same as that, its worth buying cheap, as re-selling you might make a profit.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/524570-eons-equinoxes-other-synta-ed-doublets-some-questions/

[Stub Mandrel]

From what I have heard.... BITE-HAND-OFF!