iOptron 6" Ritchey-Chrétien Now in Stock

[FLO]

We have iOptron Photon RC6 6" Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes now in stock, ready to ship 🙂 

Only £399!

Grant is currently playing testing one of these on a CEM40 mount with an ASI183MM-Pro. It should be a nice match in good seeing conditions and gives a nice FOV for some of the smaller objects - M27 and M51 in particular.

We will be listing other iOptron telescopes over the next few weeks.

 

 

[DaveS]

That does look rather tasty, 6" RC for £400, and with a proper focuser too.

[jjosefsen]

Nice! I was looking at one of those last year, but could not find a european dealer..

Does the focuser have a builtin rotator?

Can you recommend anthing for knocking down FL that and speeding it up a bit, if one was so inclined?

Edited June 25, 2019 by jjosefsen

[FLO]

40 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Does the focuser have a builtin rotator? 

Yes. It works well too. 

40 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Can you recommend anthing for knocking down FL that and speeding it up a bit, if one was so inclined?

Not sure. FLO hasn’t sold RCs before. We/Grant will need some time to become familiar with it. 

First impressions when we took one out of its box were very positive. It really does look and feel as nice as our photos suggest. A lot of scope for the money. 

Steve 

[jjosefsen]

How is Grant comming along with this scope?

It looks like it is made by GSO, so I assume it has the same crayford focuser as the other GSO 6" RC's out there?

[vlaiv]

On 25/06/2019 at 20:53, jjosefsen said:

Can you recommend anthing for knocking down FL that and speeding it up a bit, if one was so inclined?

From what I gathered, there are two recommendations out there, I have one of them and I was not pleased in the first go, but since then I upgraded focuser on my RC so now have a threaded connection and it might make a difference.

Options are CCDT67 by AstroPhysics (I have CCD47 by TS - which looks like same item rebranded, or maybe knockoff of AP item)

and

Riccardi x0.75 FF/FR - which is supposed to work real good - both reducing FL but also flattening the field.

[6footgeek]

@vlaiv - following on from our discussion a while back about a galaxy hunter for a HEQ5 with a 1600mm - is this in contention for that? or is it too slow? thanks in advance as always

[vlaiv]

3 hours ago, 6footgeek said:

@vlaiv - following on from our discussion a while back about a galaxy hunter for a HEQ5 with a 1600mm - is this in contention for that? or is it too slow? thanks in advance as always

I quite like the idea of RC scopes being used for imaging - I have 8" one and I think it is great.

These scopes have a bunch of strengths when it comes to imaging - being all mirror systems, they don't suffer any sort of CA, can work in IR part of spectrum (and UV for that matter, so no UV/IR cut filter needed unless you want it for some reason). They have pretty decent corrected field.

Drawbacks could be considered: diffraction spikes for those that don't like it in images (I actually do like them - it reminds me of "professional" images that scientists do - at least those that were available in books and magazines of youth ), a bit harder collimation and longer focal length / slower scope.

However, I don't like the idea of division of scopes into fast and slow camp, at least not as far as imaging is concerned. I like to thing in terms of aperture at resolution as being defining term for "speed" of acquisition. These RC scopes provide quite a bit of aperture for imaging, starting at 6" and going up. Imaging resolution can be controlled by either focal length or by use of pixel size. These scopes are very suited for cameras with larger pixels, or modern cameras with small pixels that you can bin to obtain wanted resolution. Software binning is now very much feasible with low read noise CMOS sensors. All of this means that "slowness" of these scopes is in fact not an issue if you approach it the right way. They are capable of quite decent sized fields with suitable corrector / reducer-flattener, and in general I see them very good choice for galaxies, galaxy clusters and smaller nebulae.

 

[hennyvenom]

This looks like an interesting piece of kit, a possible replacement for my 127 SW mak😃

[JG777]

@FLO do you think you might be stocking the iOptron Maksutov telescope MC 150/1800 OTA at some point in the future?

[FLO]

On 19/07/2019 at 02:28, jjosefsen said:

How is Grant comming along with this scope?

It looks like it is made by GSO, so I assume it has the same crayford focuser as the other GSO 6" RC's out there?

Grant is on holiday this week but I will ask him when he returns. 

Not sure about your focuser question because, currently, the iOptron telescope shown here is the only RC scope we stock. 

1 hour ago, JG777 said:

@FLO do you think you might be stocking the iOptron Maksutov telescope MC 150/1800 OTA at some point in the future?

We can source anything iOptron. Is their Maksutov highly regarded? 

Steve 

[JG777]

58 minutes ago, FLO said:

We can source anything iOptron. Is their Maksutov highly regarded? 

Steve 

They seem to be getting very favourable reviews over on CN, plus a few other ones I have read as well. Optically and mechanically people appear to be saying they are a cut above the SW Maks, but that must be reflected in the increased cost. 

[FLO]

7 minutes ago, JG777 said:

They seem to be getting very favourable reviews over on CN, plus a few other ones I have read as well. Optically and mechanically people appear to be saying they are a cut above the SW Maks, but that must be reflected in the increased cost. 

Interesting. Are the reviews posted by owners? 

Steve 

[JG777]

Have a look at these threads, not conclusive of course but owners have reported on them. I saw some owner reviews on Amazon as well and again very favourable. 

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/601903-ioptron-maks/

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/447055-skywatcher-vs-ioptron-150-f12-mct/

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/343998-anyone-have-the-150mm-ioptron-mak/

There was also this from 2012 right here, so the scope had some clones

 

[FLO]

Thank-you 🙂

The design does have a distinctly Bosma look... 

I will make enquiries with a view to FLO stocking it. 

Steve 

[JG777]

Fantastic, I might be your first customer. Looking for a planetary and Luna scope in the future to complete the set!

[JG777]

There is some more detail in this review side by side with an SW. Some good images as well showing the focusser. I like the built in dew shield as well.

You will need the google translater and some bits are lost in the translation, but its fairly easy to decipher the reviewers meaning. From 2015 so fairly recent.

http://posec.astro.cz/index.php/clanky/technics/15-scopes/69-ioptron-maksutov-cassegrain-150-1800-uzivatelska-recenze-a-srovnani-s-sw-mak-150

It would fit my Evo mount, and look great on my AYOII side by side with the 6 inch F5 OO Newt!

[Buzzard75]

On 25/06/2019 at 15:32, FLO said:

Yes. It works well too. 

Not sure. FLO hasn’t sold RCs before. We/Grant will need some time to become familiar with it. 

First impressions when we took one out of its box were very positive. It really does look and feel as nice as our photos suggest. A lot of scope for the money. 

Steve 

Hey, Steve! How'd the testing go with the iOptron 6" RC on the CEM40? I have the CEM40EC and the ASI183MM Pro myself and was looking at getting a 6" or 8" RC. I'm extremely interested in the results. Thanks!