Altair Astro 66ED-R ‘frac quick review

[Knighty2112]

I acquired in excellent condition an Altair Astro 66ED-R refractor which was pretty much brand new last week. So as the moon was out last night I thought I’d test it against my other smaller refractor, the Opticstar AR90S. No surprised really that the AA 66 blew the Opticstar away really, with razor sharp images of the moon with with my LV7mm EP. Contrast was much better too than the Opticstar, even after fitting a Semi Apo filter to the Opticstar which did improve the image in the AR90S it was still slightly mushy when compared to the unfiltered AA 66 views. The rack and pinion dual speed focuser works extremely well. All in all extremely pleased with the new scope. Just waiting for a finderscope shoe to fit the scope better. Only downside I’ve seen so far (and this really is a very minor quibble really) is the push end cap does have a tendency to slowly slip off the dewshield if the scope is held with the main lens cell pointing down. A little extra padding in the end cap should stop this though, and not any issue for observationally work at all, only for care of optics.

The image taken below with my ZWO ASI 120 mc camera from last night gives a hint at how sharp and good the views where last night of the moon with the new AA 66ED-R ‘frac, along with the two scopes side by side too.  

Edited July 24, 2018 by Knighty2112

[stevenson166]

Hi, I have just bought the Altair 66mm ED-R , cant wait to get it all set up and viewing.I also have a ZWOASI120MS-C and a altair 0.6x reducer...what is the best way to set up the focal train as Back focus is new to me ...also did you manage to get a finderscope shoe ?

Edited November 22, 2020 by stevenson166