Vixen 102M achromatic refractor.

[Gonariu]

I have seen that the old Vixen 102M achromatic refractor (102/1000 refractor) is sold used at a good price (350 euros, only the optics and not even the finder); if any of you have had it, what do you think, considering what is being produced today? I was reading that the optics are corrected to 1/8 lambda, which is not always found in commercial instruments.

[Franklin]

Fantastic scope if you can get a good one. Some of them are around 30 years old and may have spent a lot of that time stuck in the corner of a damp garden shed! They are still in production now, called the Vixen A105M II, retail about £800. Considering what you can get in the ED doublet department for that money I would say nay. But a decent secondhand one usually sells over here for around the £150-£200 mark.

[Gonariu]

Thanks Franklin, finding the one well kept is always a bargain. Of course, in the UK used you pay much less (I have seen the exchange rate between euro and pound), I think that, finding it on this forum and having it sent to me from the UK, it always suits me even if I will have to pay the shipping costs. I saw on the internet the Vixen A 105 M II, too much for a 105/1000 achromatic refractor even if it is certainly higher than the Chinese achromatic 100/1000 and much cheaper, the ED apochromats made in China have slightly higher prices and at that point one definitely chooses the latter.