centroid Posted December 29, 2008 Posted December 29, 2008 I've only had a brief chance to 'play' with the ZS66, as the bathroom fe-fit, Christmas, and clouds have got in the way. However, my initial impressions are favourable.Its certainly a 'diddy' little scope, especially with the dew shield retracted, and weighing just 1.6kg, its quite a lightweight.The build quality/finish of the scope, is in the same league as the Megrez 88 that I was able to try, and as such quite impressive.It comes with a very nice soft carry-case, with provision for eyepieces and a diagonal etc.As far as I can see, to all intents and purposes, apart from the colour, its the same scope as the Equinox 66, and the Revelation 66. The Revelation 66 is blue, comes with an aluminium flight case, and is priced at £244. The Equinox 66 is black, also comes with an aluminium flight case, and is priced at £239, while the WO ZS66 is white, comes with a soft case, and is priced at £234.Why did I choose the WO ZS66 over the other two?, simply because the Meade 80mm triplet that its was going to 'sit' next to is white . The fact that it was the cheapest, albeit not by much, was a bonus.Optically, a visual star test, albeit a brief one, showed clean crisp stars, with good contrast. The focuser was beautifully smooth and positive, while being plenty firm enough to hold a camera, without the drawtube creeping out.My only criticism is that the amount amount of back-focus available is very small indeed, certainly the smallest amount of back focus that I've experienced on any scope to date.In order to bring the SX Lodestar camera (my guide cam) to focus, I had to add a significant amount of extension tube to the ZS66 drawtube.Most all refractors are designed to be used with a diagonal in-line, and as such with the diagonal removed, its normal practice to add an extension to the drawtube, in order to reach focus. However, I consider that the amount of extension needed for the ZS66, to be somewhat excessive.The one exception to this lack of back focus travel issue, is the Meade Series 5000 80mm Triplet. This has a very generous amount of available back focus, and as such I don't need to add extension tubes.So, WO ZS66, my initial impressions are very favourable (back focus excluded), and although its 'early days', I think this little scope will give a good account of itself.As yet, I've only used it to guide the 80mm APO, but I do intend to do some wide-field imaging with it, and report on this in due course.Dave
barkis Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I await your results from your WO ZSDD Dave. I have one too, but I am sure yours will see starlight before Mine, as I still have a bit of work to do before I can launch my imaging attempts. There have been some great images posted on site from the 66, so I'm sure you will soon be adding some great results of your own compliments of this little unit. Good luck Dave. Ron.
Stardust Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I'm sitting in my obsy having a bash with my dslr on my ZS66, initial results are looking ok to me at least. lovely little scopeDave
beamish Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 Good report Dave, I agree re the back focus and so have resorted to using the diagonal when guiding with the Q5. In focus, ummm, with a DSLR and filter is ok if using a 2" SCT adapter- usinf the WO 0.8x FF/R seems to raise the issue of lack of in-focus (though strictly it justs achieves focus).For this reason ,like others, I bought the Borg parts 7502 & 7424. Together they allow the sandwhiching of a filter in front of the FF/R whilst offering plenty of excess in focus .Karlo
moondog Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 Interesting report Dave. I agree with your comments - particularly about the back focus. I've only been able to use the scope for imaging a couple of times while I've been in NZ, but each time I've been impressed. Visually also the scope shows hardly any CA - even on bright subjects. The ZS66 certainly seems to punch above its weight. 8) MD
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