New Refractor Advice.

[astro mick]

Hi.

I am now looking for my next imaging refractor.My budget is £1500,and one or two Apo Triplets are within reach.

1.Skywatcher Esprit 100 F5.5

2.Altair Astro 102 Starwave. F7

3.Edmond Scientific Carbon 102.F7

Negatives.

1.Skywatcher is a great scope,but at F5.5 would not be great for Galaxies.(FPL-53)

Also none are expected to be in stock for 40-60 days.

2.The Altair 102 seems to be a nice all rounder,but i know nothing about this scope as a candidate.(FPL-53)

3.Edmond Scientific.Seems to get good reviews but uses FCD-100 glass? also has a Hex Focuser,which i believe is crayford based.

If anyone has or has used these scopes,i really would like to hear your thoughts.

Or indeed any recommendations other than the above.

Cheers.

Mick.

[johninderby]

The hexafoc focuser is a rack and pinion and a very good one it is too.

Have one on my dob.

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by johninderby

[billhinge]

I have the Wave 80mm APO version of  the Altair which I purchased when it first appeared about 8 years ago.  It originally came with a very good  3" crawford but I believe the new  version has a new  R&P (maybe 2.5"?)

Optically it is very good, at the time rumour had it that is was a factory variation of the APM / Teleskop Express refractor with  some Altair sauce on it, I assume the larger ones are similar

I assume you  mean the Altair Wave APO  series , Starwave is the  cheaper doublet series

Comes in a nice hard carry case

There is quite a lot of info if you search "Altair Wave" on here

[Adam J]

2 hours ago, astro mick said:

Hi.

I am now looking for my next imaging refractor.My budget is £1500,and one or two Apo Triplets are within reach.

1.Skywatcher Esprit 100 F5.5

2.Altair Astro 102 Starwave. F7

3.Edmond Scientific Carbon 102.F7

Negatives.

1.Skywatcher is a great scope,but at F5.5 would not be great for Galaxies.(FPL-53)

Also none are expected to be in stock for 40-60 days.

2.The Altair 102 seems to be a nice all rounder,but i know nothing about this scope as a candidate.(FPL-53)

3.Edmond Scientific.Seems to get good reviews but uses FCD-100 glass? also has a Hex Focuser,which i believe is crayford based.

If anyone has or has used these scopes,i really would like to hear your thoughts.

Or indeed any recommendations other than the above.

Cheers.

Mick.

In respect to the Esprit 100 on galaxies it depends on your definition of not great....

[Icesheet]

11 minutes ago, Adam J said:

In respect to the Esprit 100 on galaxies it depends on your definition of not great....

What camera did you use for that Adam?

[astro mick]

20 minutes ago, billhinge said:

I have the Wave 80mm APO version of  the Altair which I purchased when it first appeared about 8 years ago.  It originally came with a very good  3" crawford but I believe the new  version has a new  R&P (maybe 2.5"?)

Optically it is very good, at the time rumour had it that is was a factory variation of the APM / Teleskop Express refractor with  some Altair sauce on it, I assume the larger ones are similar

I assume you  mean the Altair Wave APO  series , Starwave is the  cheaper doublet series

Comes in a nice hard carry case

There is quite a lot of info if you search "Altair Wave" on here

Yes sorry,i did mean the Altair Wave.  I,m seeing refractors comming out the top of my head.🤣🤣

[astro mick]

5 minutes ago, Icesheet said:

What camera did you use for that Adam?

That is an exerllent image Adam.I just assumed at F5.5 it may not have a long enough F/L.

Mick.

[Adam J]

1 hour ago, Icesheet said:

What camera did you use for that Adam?

ASI1600mm pro.

[Adam J]

1 hour ago, astro mick said:

That is an exerllent image Adam.I just assumed at F5.5 it may not have a long enough F/L.

Mick.

I have seen people get less detail at much longer focal lengths than 550mm, the image scale is 1.4 arc seconds per pixel. In the UK seeing is generally so bad that you might be imaging at a tighter image scale than me but 80% of the time you will not be acheiving any more detail.

Adam