Baby Tak FS60CB & portable rivals 60 - 85mm

[GavStar]

2 hours ago, 25585 said:

The TS seems amazing value, & has FPL53, sliding dew hood. 

Only pre-owned TV small fracs I have seen are Prontos so far. Do TV 76 & 85 models have sliding dew hoods? My dear old Genesis has. 

Yes as does the tv60

[ollypenrice]

Visually the FS60 is remarkably sharp and contrasty but for DS imaging the blue bloat is a big disappointment given the price. I wouldn't buy one for DS imaging but I'd be delighted to have one on top of the big SCT for providing a bit of widefield context.

Olly

[GavStar]

2 hours ago, 25585 said:

WO61 is very tempting & FLO are knocking £10 off a flattener if bought with the OTA. 

Does it take T mounting or need other adaptors for photography?

The WO61 does look nice but I went for the ts because it was the same price and had a jump in aperture for only a small increase in length and weight. I took the tv60 abroad recently and it’s a great portable travel scope but I did find the lack of aperture limiting. However, the key role for the 72mm ts for me is as an ultra wide field NV scope.

As Stu mentioned, 100mm or so would be my ideal for taking abroad. And I hope to take something that size with me to tenerife for the mars opposition later this year.

[alanjgreen]

Borg's are airline friendly as they are modular. Just take the front optics, focuser, eyepieces, diagonal as hand luggage. Put the tube in your case. 

Once broken down into pieces they can be fitted into pretty much any shaped padded bag/rucksack.

They are lightweight too. 

[25585]

15 minutes ago, alanjgreen said:

Borg's are airline friendly as they are modular. Just take the front optics, focuser, eyepieces, diagonal as hand luggage. Put the tube in your case. 

Once broken down into pieces they can be fitted into pretty much any shaped padded bag/rucksack.

They are lightweight too. 

Looked at them on FLO. Helical focuser. Could a r&p or Crayford be fitted easily?

[alanjgreen]

37 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Looked at them on FLO. Helical focuser. Could a r&p or Crayford be fitted easily?

They generally offer two versions at each aperture size. One will be faster f ratio and helical focuser (aimed at photography). Other will be slightly slower and have Feathertouch (aimed at visual).

I see a Borg 55 , Borg 71 and Borg 90 at FLO with feathertouch included in the "set"s

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/borg-astrograph-telescopes/borg-55fl-f3-6-astrograph-with-feather-touch-focuser-set.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/borg-astrograph-telescopes/borg-71fl-f56-series-80-with-feather-touch-focuser-ota-set.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/borg-astrograph-telescopes/borg-90fl-f5-6-basic-ota-with-feather-touch-focuser-set.html

Alternatively, you just need to know the diameter of the tube for each scope (Borg 90 is 80mm diameter and I think others are same) then get the right adapter to accept the feathertouch. You can see the parts list on the "sets" pages so then it's just a case of asking FLO for the individual parts.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/specialist-focusers-borg-tele-vue-lunt-gso-rc/feathertouch-2-dual-speed-crayford-borg.html

FLO do stock the Borg feathertouch focuser  separately.

Here is the full Borg focuser parts list

http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/prices/focuser.htm