Bresser Messier AR-102XS/460 owners?

[jjohnson3803]

Any Bresser short tube 102 owners who'd care to share their opinion of it?  I have F5 120mm and 80mm refractors, so I really need to fill the gap, right? 

I've seen some posts here, but they're a few years old.

Thanks!

 

[Dean Hale]

I have one. My first refractor and a very capable scope and superb value for money.

Upgrades I would recommend are tube rings (the supplied dovetail is held with two small screws) a 1:10 focuser and maybe a semi apo filter too. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Dean Hale

[KP82]

I had one about 2 years ago. Used it a lot during Christmas 2018 and sold it 4 months later.

The build quality was very good. The scope was light and compact, worked nicely on a SW AZ Pronto for widefield sweeping. I didn't bother getting any tube rings and used the built-in dovetail bar. But I did make a couple of other upgrades: the 1:10 micro focus knob and a standard synta compatible findershoe (the baader universal one).

According to someone from Bresser, the optics contain an unknown ED glass to tame the CA. In actual use the CA is probably on the same level as the other short tube refractors. So if you're already used to your ST80 and ST120, you will be familiar with the kind of views this one produces. I used it primarily for open clusters. With a bit of filtering, it also did fine on the Moon. The max mag I could crank out of it was about 92x (w/ a BST 5mm). Anything more the CA would become overwhelming and start to destroy details (basically I could not acquire a sharp focus anymore). So this is not the scope to get for planets or doubles.

[jjohnson3803]

20 hours ago, KP82 said:

I used it primarily for open clusters. [...] The max mag I could crank out of it was about 92x (w/ a BST 5mm). [...] So this is not the scope to get for planets or doubles.

My primary targets are open clusters, so that would work and my shortest EP is a Vixen 6mm SLV.

[Dean Hale]

@jjohnson3803  If you don't mind 2nd hand keep an eye out on the SGL ads section as i'll be selling my bresser 102/460 soon if my new scope arrives next month.

[CanesVenatici]

Optics test here.

http://interferometrie.blogspot.com/2017/06/3-short-achromats-bresser-ar102xs.html