APM ED152 APO F8 and Takahashi FC100-DF

[DRT]

I have been planning to treat myself to something special for quite some time and in the past few weeks I finally caved. Rather than spending £4-5k on one large refractor I decided to spend about that for two, so I decided to buy an APM ED152 APO F8 in the current clearance sale they have on their website.

Lots of things have been or will be sold to fund this extravagance and it is the new partner to a smaller but perfectly formed Tak FC100-DF that I acquired second hand from another SGL member earlier this week.

So here is what arrived today from APM in Germany via a very efficient DPD delivery...

 

My initial impression is that I am very impressed with the build quality of the ED152. There are no compromises and everything feels solid. The focuser is very nice and buttery smooth with a nice 2" ClickLock clamp for the diagonal and a twist-lock 2" to 1.25" reducer.

It is a big and heavy beast, hence the counterweight strapped to the other side of the Tak 100 to keep the Ercole mount nicely balanced. The EvoGuide 50ED finder also provides some nice ballast at the back end to help compensate for the very heavy front cell on the APM ED150. I still have some playing around to do to get the ED152 a bit further forward but even at this first attempt it's not in a bad position.

I had a quick look at the Sun through the the Baader wedge but I think this thing is perhaps too big for that purpose as the casing of wedge quickly started to heat up, which is not something I have experienced before. This might cause me to keep my EVO150 for white light. (It is entirely possible I am just making that up as an excuse not to sell the Evo  )

The Tak 100 is lovely but I am not happy with the focuser so am looking at options to upgrade that.

In a few hours from now this set-up should be pointing at Jupiter and the Moon so I will report back  

[John]

Two very fine refractors Derek - congratulations !

Your spending spree was very similar to the one that I had in 2016 and that resulted in refractors with Takahashi and APM branding on as well

 

[DRT]

2 minutes ago, John said:

Two very fine refractors Derek - congratulations !

Your spending spree was very similar to the one that I had in 2016 and that resulted in refractors with Takahashi and APM branding on as well

 

I couldn't think of a better man to copy, John - but I'm sorry to say an LZOS was beyond my reach at the moment  

[Helen]

Lovely Derek ?  Get a FT for the Tak ? and have a huge amount of fun!!

Helen

[Chris]

Jaw dropping setup with both those very fine frac's on a fine mounting with all the trimmings. Just the feather touch for the Tak then to top things off? 

And I thought I had some nice kit now! 

[DRT]

1 minute ago, Helen said:

Lovely Derek ?  Get a FT for the Tak ? and have a huge amount of fun!!

Helen

That's the plan, Helen, but at the moment there is a 4 month waiting list  

[DRT]

@Davey-T - I'm sure you asked in another thread (that I can't find) whether or not the APM is of similar build to the Altair Starwave 152 Achro. The answer is, yes. The diameter of the tubes seem identical, as are the rings and handle, the dew shield construction and sliding mechanism and metal dust cap. The main difference from a mechanical point of view is the focuser. I prefer the APM 2.5" to the 3" that is on the Altair but there isn't much in it. I hope that answers your question  

[johnturley]

Hi Derek

Interested to here how you find the two telescopes compare regarding planetry performance, I am always very dubious about claims from TAK owners that their refractors will equal or even out perform other makes with 50% or more aperture, the TAK  I would however expect to be much better colour corrected especially as the 152mm APM is a doublet and I think utilises FLP51 or equivalent glass rather than the more expensive FPL53 glass, which incidentally I understand they use in the 140mm version.

I looked at a second hand APM 152mm Refractor which Rother Valley Optics had for sale, and I must admit that I was impressed by the smoothness of the focusing mount, certainly much better than on my ES 127mm with the Hex Focuser. I am really surprised that you were not impressed by the focuser on the TAK, as I thought that the quality of the engineering was one of their selling points. Didn't know that APM had a sale on at the moment, I assume you saved by importing directly from them rather than buying from one of the UK suppliers such as Harrison Telescopes which have  it at £2,975.

I am tempted sometimes to upgrade to either the APM 140mm, or the Skywatcher Espirit 150mm, the tube length of the APM 152 would be a bit too long to fit piggyback on my 14in fork mounted Newtonian, as I found when I used to have an Astro Physics 6in f8 Refractor.

Something that we also appear have in common appears to be a black labrador,  whereabouts in Derbyshire do you live, I live in Dronfield Woodhouse (near Chesterfield), you would be most welcome to come and have a look at my setup some time, and I would be curious to look at yours, also to meet your black lab.

John

 

 

 

[Alan White]

Derek

Now I know what the sell up was all about, wow, very nice kit indeed.
I hope it makes you as happy as my recent Vixen ED103S has made me.

Just one was rather tasty, but the two, well that is a feast.

 

[Paz]

Nice set up there, I am very envious!

[DRT]

20 minutes ago, johnturley said:

Hi Derek

Interested to here how you find the two telescopes compare regarding planetry performance, I am always very dubious about claims from TAK owners that their refractors will equal or even out perform other makes with 50% or more aperture, the TAK  I would however expect to be much better colour corrected especially as the 152mm APM is a doublet and I think utilises FLP51 or equivalent glass rather than the more expensive FPL53 glass, which incidentally I understand they use in the 140mm version.

I looked at a second hand APM 152mm Refractor which Rother Valley Optics had for sale, and I must admit that I was impressed by the smoothness of the focusing mount, certainly much better than on my ES 127mm with the Hex Focuser. I am really surprised that you were not impressed by the focuser on the TAK, as I thought that the quality of the engineering was one of their selling points. Didn't know that APM had a sale on at the moment, I assume you saved by importing directly from them rather than buying from one of the UK suppliers such as Harrison Telescopes which have  it at £2,975.

I am tempted sometimes to upgrade to either the APM 140mm, or the Skywatcher Espirit 150mm, the tube length of the APM 152 would be a bit too long to fit piggyback on my 14in fork mounted Newtonian, as I found when I used to have an Astro Physics 6in f8 Refractor.

Something that we also appear have in common appears to be a black labrador,  whereabouts in Derbyshire do you live, I live in Dronfield Woodhouse (near Chesterfield), you would be most welcome to come and have a look at my setup some time, and I would be curious to look at yours, also to meet your black lab.

John

Hi John, 

Yes, I saved a bit going straight to APM and managed to get this one for £2,600 including delivery  

I'm not far from you at all - I live near Barlborough and our youngest went to school in your home town

Monty is actually half Rotweiller, half Labrador. I think he was hoping the big box contained the shinbone of a T-Rex   You are more than welcome to come round an meet him and the scopes sometime ?

Derek

[Davey-T]

58 minutes ago, DRT said:

@Davey-T - I'm sure you asked in another thread (that I can't find) whether or not the APM is of similar build to the Altair Starwave 152 Achro. The answer is, yes. The diameter of the tubes seem identical, as are the rings and handle, the dew shield construction and sliding mechanism and metal dust cap. The main difference from a mechanical point of view is the focuser. I prefer the APM 2.5" to the 3" that is on the Altair but there isn't much in it. I hope that answers your question  

Thanks Derek, when I looked at them a while ago even the focuser looked identical so figured the extra £1800.00 was for the objective 

Oh and the case 

Dave

Hope the finish stands up a bit better.

[DRT]

I think that’s about right, Dave. The APO doublet objective and cell can be bought for €2000 fro APM. It’s obviously a longer tube too being F8 rather than F5.9. I considered fitting the lens and cell to my Evo 150 but the cost of doing that worked out about the same as what I paid for the new scope. 

[Stu]

What a great combination you have there Derek! I'm sure the APM will deliver in spades, and having seen them at various shows I know how nicely put together they are. Beautiful engineering.

The Tak is a brilliant choice too. Don't listen to the nay sayers; it doesn't defy the laws of physics, it is still a 4" scope, but it is wonderfully capable and sharp, and above all convenient so I bet you end up using it a huge amount. It cuts through poor seeing and will give results that will make you smile

Hope the sky stays clear tonight!

[DRT]

11 minutes ago, Stu said:

What a great combination you have there Derek! I'm sure the APM will deliver in spades, and having seen them at various shows I know how nicely put together they are. Beautiful engineering.

The Tak is a brilliant choice too. Don't listen to the nay sayers; it doesn't defy the laws of physics, it is still a 4" scope, but it is wonderfully capable and sharp, and above all convenient so I bet you end up using it a huge amount. It cuts through poor seeing and will give results that will make you smile

Hope the sky stays clear tonight!

Thanks, Stu.

I must say I am very pleased with the whole set-up and look forward to using them. I must say the APM is the best all round well engineered scope I've ever bought. Everything seems to be of a consistent quality, unlike most scopes I have ever owned. No cheap focuser, no cheap rings and dovetail that can't hold the thing steady. Great quality connectors for diagonal and eyepiece and not a piece of plastic in sight. A real quality job.  

[Fozzie]

Woah! Nice... very nice...

[DRT]

First light with both on Jupiter and there Moon just before the Sun fully sets has been very impressive, particularly the Tak which shows fantastic contrast on Jupiter. 

I used the 9mm APM HDC-XWA in the Tak (82x) and the 13mm sibling in the APM (92x) to even out there mag as much as I could and there Tak was definitely a little sharper.

One thing that is troubling, and needs to be verified after dark falls, is that both of these eyepieces showed no obvious colour/CA around either the Moon or Jupiter, but both have a rusty orange glow around the edge of the FOV. If this is still visible under a dark sky I might have to begin climbing the Tele Vue mountain once more

[DRT]

I managed to view both the Moon and Jupiter against a darker (but not dark) sky at around 1:30 but by then they were low in the sky and behind the branches of a tree ? 

The good news is the orange hallow around the edge of the field had gone completely so I can only assume this was just a problem when trying to view in near daylight. ? 

 

[John]

Sounds like the orange halo is a bit like the well known "ring of fire" that you see around the field stop of eyepieces such as Naglers when you look at a bright background with those. Not an issue at night though.

[DRT]

2 minutes ago, John said:

Sounds like the orange halo is a bit like the well known "ring of fire" that you see around the field stop of eyepieces such as Naglers when you look at a bright background with those. Not an issue at night though.

Yip, exactly that, John. It had me hovering over the "Add to basket" button on an Ethos 13mm on FLO's new Tele Vue pages yesterday but I managed to restrain myself

[Mark at Beaufort]

What fantastic scopes Derek. I was getting worried that you were selling all your kit and leaving the hobby. I can now fully understand your decision. Hopefully, will see them in the flesh at some stage.

With all these lovely 4" Takahachi scopes showing their quality on the observing reports I am becoming very envious.

[25585]

@DRTis the eyepiece pictured the one you are sold?

[Highburymark]

Wonderful set up Derek - impressive that the Ercole can handle the two scopes so well. 

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, 25585 said:

Stihl Kombi 131R motor

[DRT]

2 hours ago, 25585 said:

@DRTis the eyepiece pictured the one you are sold?

No, that was an 80 degree EP that I think is a Moonfish clone. I bought it for white light but the eye lens was huge and caused too many reflections. This one was twice the price but is much better.