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Orion Optics SPX200 OTA Review


brympton

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I am pleased to say that the Orion Optics SPX200 OTA has been received and briefly tested on a night of excellent seeing conditions. Communication with OO has been exemplarily and ALL issues have been fully resolved (in and some cases to a higher standard than requested). It is difficult not to make reference to previous posts on this item; however, the intention here is to put forward the facts and my own opinion based on what has been delivered.

Packaging.

The first good sign was with the somewhat larger but single strong box:

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Opening this up revealed a box within a box within a box!

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Followed by enough poly chips to start my own packaging company – someone’s having some fun here:

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Next up is the OC1 focuser. A much-improved design with the 3 point brass clamping rings, nicely finished, smooth in operation and complete with OO logo:

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The mirror cell is an absolute work of art and has exceeded my expectations. It now has the locking screws, 3D milled track finish and once again the OO logo:

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The dovetail plate is a special edition as requested incorporating two 8mm clearance holes that enable the OTA to be mounted on either side of an AYO/Easy Touch mount:

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The OTA was also in a clean condition and well collimated so this covers all the major issues I had.

The finder scope is a straight through affair (as standard) of good quality and incorporating a variable brightness illuminated double crosshair target. It is shown below with the OC1 extension tube:

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So far, so good…Now onto performance, which I need to qualify before I start:

This was a very brief test from home on a night of exceptional seeing conditions. The OTA was given about an hour to cool down (without fan assistance) before selecting a couple of targets.

First up with a WO 32mm SWAN eyepiece was the double cluster (NGC869 & NGC884), which was absolutely breathtaking, tack sharp and exquisitely detailed in fact the best I have ever seen it from my own home. Definitely a moment to be shared with the family, so after encouraging everyone out into the cold several very satisfying WOW’s were forthcoming – good stuff.

A slight movement down and over to the right brought in Almach an easy separation following a change of eyepiece. Once again, beautiful, with the blue and yellow really standing out against the night sky.

Finally to end this quick test I reverted to the 32mm eyepiece and took a look at M31. At first I was not quite as elated as I had been with the double cluster and stars but the longer I looked the more I could see – end result fabulous.

This is all I had time for unfortunately as I could have stayed out all night with views like these. There are a couple of points worth noting:


  • [li]Don’t even think of ordering the OC1 without the 10:1 reduction I would say this was absolutely critical on this OTA.
    [/li]
    [li]My high quality wooden tripod does not provide sufficient “steady” support when using high powered eyepieces [/li]

I do not think that this OTA with its 1/10th wave optics blows away the competition, but working from memory and after only a brief test I would say that it is a significant improvement to what I have seen before. I guess this is something you just have to judge for yourself if you have the opportunity. I am now a satisfied customer. The SPX200 meets my criteria for a good quality lightweight easily managed Newtonian that needs no further additions to provide the performance I require. Would I buy another OO scope? Yes, but I would talk to them first not just place an order over the Internet.

Orion Optics have clearly stepped up to the plate here and this is a shining example of what they can achieve. But in some ways my mini review is irrelevant. I hope to see another positive review in the future from someone else to show some consistency.

Finally one last image for the educated :) (the Zygo Chart):

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glad you got the scope you wanted,..certainly looks nice, huh

andrew, you seem gob smacked by 0.989 strehl for a high quality newt.

mirrors are easier to have a high strehl...only two surfaces to polish well, versus 6 for a triplet refrac.

Around 0.99 is typical for a 1/10 wave newt

brympton did u get a free 1/10 upgrade? i thought you ordered 1/8?

Great sucess

hope you enjoy the scope

paul

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andrew, you seem gob smacked by 0.989 strehl for a high quality newt.

mirrors are easier to have a high strehl...only two surfaces to polish well, versus 6 for a triplet refrac.

Around 0.99 is typical for a 1/10 wave newt

paul

I'm amazed as well, how can a Newt with a CO have a figure anywhere near that high? :)

A decent refractor will always "beat" a Newt on Strehl no matter how many surfaces there are to polish. The secondary can be polished to perfection but its still going to drag the Strehl right down purely by being there.

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  • 2 months later...

I read this thread some time a go and was a bit puzzled. Now I have been referred to, and read, the original, very long, thread, and I understand this one in context.

I feel is important to post a link here to the original thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,31794.0.html

so that people reading this, particularly potential purchasers treating this as a review of OO equipment, understand the context.

They need to understand that this is not a standard OO product being reviewed here, it is a special edition produced in response to a complaint and after very bad publicity on this Forum.

As the starter of the thread says, his review is slightly irrelevant. What will be relevant will be subsequent reports of new OO scopes from buyers who have not kicked up a big fuss and sent theirs back for remedial action.

David

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