StellaMira 85mm

[alan potts]

Ordered a new StellaMira 85mm last week from FLO, and today it arrived, I will do a report in due course as I get a chance to use it for photography and i will give it a going over with eyepieces on some targets. The think that has made me write this short thread is the weather, the last 6/7 nights have been clear though the Moon was annoyingly bright for the first few. last night was beautiful and so too this morning. My wife rings from work to tell me the scope has arrived, after about an hour clouds arrive. Then looked at the forecast, cloudy tonight and tomorrow and the a strong possibility of snow for Wednesday. It's not cricket is it?

Alan

[steppenwolf]

Lovely looking instrument, Alan, I look forward to seeing your imaging results.

[Louis D]

From the FLO description:

Fitted with a Synta-style finder shoe

I've always heard that style fitting described as a Vixen-style finder shoe.  When did the nomenclature change?

[alan potts]

10 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Lovely looking instrument, Alan, I look forward to seeing your imaging results.

It has a lovely quality feel and look about it, everything seem well engineered. I have had some fairly pricey scopes here in my hands either owned or borrowed for a good while,  130mm Lzos 115mm Lzos, 107mm APM and a 100mm TS. Unless I see something I missed it is equally as good finish wise as the first 3 and much better than the latter. Can't wait to try it on Venus, always a very good test for aberrations. I am going to get the reducer later this year as it is basically so cheap it seems silly not to, though I am not a fan of reducers having had a lot of problems with the ones I have. I am going to use it with the Hutech flattener which I bought on your recommendation, I am very pleased with it. Let's see how we get on, I will be putting it on the CEM 60 later today, though snow is on the way, how kind of FLO.

Alan

[alan potts]

3 hours ago, Louis D said:

From the FLO description:

Fitted with a Synta-style finder shoe

I've always heard that style fitting described as a Vixen-style finder shoe.  When did the nomenclature change?

Odd I have never heard it called that, always Synta.

Alan

[johninderby]

Can’t wait to see what imaging results you get. Think it will surprise a few people. 👍🏻

I find the fit and finish of mine to be as good as WO etc. The one exception was the finder shoe which while not bad I know FLO is looking for an upgrade to match the rest of the scope or perhaps they have now sorted it on yours. Replaced mine with a Primaluce one which while a different shade of red still looks nice.

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Can’t wait to see what imaging results you get. Think it will surprise a few people. 👍🏻

I find the fit and finish of mine to be as good as WO etc. The one exception was the finder shoe which while not bad I know FLO is looking for an upgrade to match the rest of the scope or perhaps they have now sorted it on yours. Replaced mine with a Primaluce one which while a different shade of red still looks nice.

I hope you agree with my fairly quick observation with regards the build quality, the focus seems very good even when compared to Moonlite and Feather touch, both of which I have on other scopes. I have so much to do in the garden at the moment but the weather is not clear so it will have to wait. I have just cut 3 walnut trees down and I am battling to clear the massive mess before rain or snow tomorrow. I imagine your scope is superb at F10 with the collection of glass in the scopes, I want to see what F6.6 is like at high magnification on Venus, it's not ultra fast but Venus is a good test of any objective, I'm expecting a good result, I have a high quality triplet I can compare with and a mate not far away with another.

Alan.

[johninderby]

I have been impressed by the optics. Compared to the Skywatcher doublets it is noticeably better with sharper images and more contrast which given the difference in cost perhaps isn’t too surprising. Can take very high magnification as well. All round couldn’t be happier with it. 

Bit on the heavy side but then it does feel very solidly built. 👍🏻

Think once more of the StellaMira scopes get out there they are gping to build a good reputation.🙂

[alan potts]

21 hours ago, johninderby said:

I have been impressed by the optics. Compared to the Skywatcher doublets it is noticeably better with sharper images and more contrast which given the difference in cost perhaps isn’t too surprising. Can take very high magnification as well. All round couldn’t be happier with it. 

Bit on the heavy side but then it does feel very solidly built. 👍🏻

Think once more of the StellaMira scopes get out there they are gping to build a good reputation.🙂

John, I am hoping for weather to play it's part tonight, but the rain is falling at the moment. I would be interested in a bigger scope to match this one somewhere around the 120-130mm size, maybe interesting to see if one shows up in the next year or so.

alan

[johninderby]

Good luck with the weather. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Would be surprised if something bigger doesn’t come along in the next year or two. 🤔

[Guest]

I had a new BST EP that I couldn't use for over a week, because of the weather. I can only imagine the frustration of having to wait with a brand new, expensive telescope! 

[Alan White]

Alan, very nice arrival, hope it works well.
I looked at one at Astrofest, it was superb.

Lookslike the FLO sticker held up and delivered the Cloud to you, sorry.

[johninderby]

Alan

Any updates on the StellaMira 85? Just wondering if you’d had the chance to use it.

[newbie alert]

Says on the box " may contain clouds"  what it don't say that it may contain torrents, hurricanes,  tropical storms.. 

Nice looking scope..

Edited August 28, 2020 by newbie alert
Added info

[johninderby]

FLO do sometimes use other labels.

[alan potts]

On 28/08/2020 at 20:12, johninderby said:

Alan

Any updates on the StellaMira 85? Just wondering if you’d had the chance to use it.

Sadly I did use it but there was a sagging problem with the focuser, at least working for 3 weeks or so with Ian King on the problem, that was his findings. On the whole I liked the scope and it was sharp in the centre of field. There was a star elongation issue in one diagonal axis, lead Ian to conclude this. There was a possibility it was the Hutech flatener but I don't buy that that one myself and was only tabled as a suggestion. Unfortunately I had to return it, then there appeared to be no more at FLO and they were not sure when they were getting more. As I am at the moment tied to dealing with the UK only up until 31st Dec I have shelved the idea for the time being.

Alan.

 

[johninderby]

Ah too bad about that. 🙁

Pity they couldn’t have supplied a replacement. Not heard anything about other users of this scope. Know there are a few with the 104 and haven’t heard of any problems with it and it uses a different focuser.