Show us your Tak

[MalcolmM]

15 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

My new Mewlon 180C double mounted with an FC100DZ on an AZ-EQ5. I’m still not sure if I like this mount. I’ve started using it in tracking only mode rather than GoTo which is better. The very quick session with the Mewlon was fantastic though - barely first light as the clouds rolled in but M42 and the Pleiades looked fantastic, and the double cluster with the 41mm Panoptic was the best view I’ve ever had of this target. I’m looking forward to getting to know this beautiful scope a lot better!

Fabulous!

Malcolm 

[Stu]

Perhaps this should be in a different thread, but has anyone used both 180 and 210 Mewlons? Any views on the relative merits? I’m tempted at some point (when I’ve sold a few scopes and have some money 🤪) to buy another having had a 210 before. Cooling was always a challenge on the 210, not sure I ever got it right, and there is something that might make me prefer the lighter, faster cooling 180. 6 smaller diffraction spikes may be nicer too?

[dweller25]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Perhaps this should be in a different thread, but has anyone used both 180 and 210 Mewlons? Any views on the relative merits? I’m tempted at some point (when I’ve sold a few scopes and have some money 🤪) to buy another having had a 210 before. Cooling was always a challenge on the 210, not sure I ever got it right, and there is something that might make me prefer the lighter, faster cooling 180. 6 smaller diffraction spikes may be nicer too?

I have had both, the extra mass of the 210 made it harder to cool down and keep up to dropping evening temperatures in the evening. 
Even with active cooling the M180 can take 90 minutes to fully cool down but when it does it matches the planetary performance of the FS128.
A fully cooled M210 will probably be close to a 140 APO on the planets and deep sky will be better than the M180.
I prefer the 6 spikes as they are much less noticeable.

Overall I did not like the M210 as much as the M180 as it was frustrating to use.

Edited March 13 by dweller25

[dweller25]

@Stu

The Mewlon secret weapon…

If Tak made it, it would cost £150 🤣

 

Edited March 13 by dweller25

[JeremyS]

9 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

@Stu

The Mewlon secret weapon…

If Tak made it, it would cost £150 🤣

…just for the battery

[DirkSteele]

Forecast was not promising last night for the monthly Baker Street Irregular Astronomers star party in Regent’s Park so I decided to just take the baby. And then loaded him up with an eyepiece that weighs almost as much as he does….

[Nicola Fletcher]

1 hour ago, DirkSteele said:

Forecast was not promising last night for the monthly Baker Street Irregular Astronomers star party in Regent’s Park so I decided to just take the baby. And then loaded him up with an eyepiece that weighs almost as much as he does….

That’s absolutely brilliant 😂 talk about confusing members of the public - ‘Where do I look?’ Is a valid question! 

 

11 hours ago, dweller25 said:

Overall I did not like the M210 as much as the M180 as it was frustrating to use.

I’m glad you think that @dweller25. I had a hard time choosing between the two. I read everything online that I could and went for the 180. Cool-down time and mounting requirements were my biggest concerns. I got a clear plastic box for the scope and I just put it outside a few hours before use. I really like the fan on the front of it too and will get one for it. In the end, it would be ideal to try these scopes before you buy one but unfortunately I don’t have any neighbours that have both a 180’ and 210! 🙄

[DirkSteele]

Had a good session last night with the Tak FC-100. Plenty of Open Clusters, a few globs and a Galaxy or two.

 

[John]

On 14/03/2024 at 08:34, Nicola Fletcher said:

That’s absolutely brilliant 😂 talk about confusing members of the public - ‘Where do I look?’ Is a valid question! 

 

I’m glad you think that @dweller25. I had a hard time choosing between the two. I read everything online that I could and went for the 180. Cool-down time and mounting requirements were my biggest concerns. I got a clear plastic box for the scope and I just put it outside a few hours before use. I really like the fan on the front of it too and will get one for it. In the end, it would be ideal to try these scopes before you buy one but unfortunately I don’t have any neighbours that have both a 180’ and 210! 🙄

Thats a good solution to cool down.

And I already have the clear plastic box ......... 🤔

 

[dweller25]

On 15/04/2024 at 09:52, John said:

Thats a good solution to cool down.

And I already have the clear plastic box ......... 🤔

 

I have a plastic box too now 🙂

[Mr Spock]

Terrific lunar session last night. I was at it for hours. Stopped half way to take in a few doubles.

Views through the 3.5mm LVW were magical - x211.

[Space Hopper]

@Mr Spockgood to hear the LVW 3.5 is performing well ; i had mine out last night as well 🙂

[plyscope]

There was a recent up-tick in the exchange rate so I took advantage and purchased another FC76.  I had let the last one go as part of an exchange of scopes a few years ago.

The rings and dovetail are from K-Astec. As shown in the photo with rings, dovetail, 6x30 finder and prism diagonal, the combined weight is 2.40kg.

 

[JeremyS]

Checking balance with some Tak heavy backends on Dizzy.

Tak 2-inch diagonal and Ethos 21. Probably my heaviest back end

 

[JeremyS]

Tak 4-way diagonal and 4 x 1.25-inch LEs. 

Not quite so heavy…

The beauty of the Tak clamshell compared to other rings I’ve tried is that it’s quick and easy to slide the OTA to adjust balance 

Edited May 6 by JeremyS

[MalcolmM]

Those are very impressive rear ends

Malcolm 

[Stephenstargazer]

22 hours ago, JeremyS said:

The beauty of the Tak clamshell compared to other rings I’ve tried is that it’s quite to slide the OTA to adjust balance

I concur and the large area means the tube is well gripped without over tightening. Second advantage is to put the clamp forward on the dovetail or mount clamp to help balance your 'heavy back end'. For those nervous of the single screw I recommend a safety split pin. Specially for JS I have added a handle.

Look carefully and the Tak dovetail has stops added at each end too. The scope can slip but not fall out, though some dovetail clamps are a bitt suspect - hence the handle until all is balanced and checked. 

Edited May 6 by Stephenstargazer

[DirkSteele]

It might look like an APM LZOS triplet at last night’s Baker Street star party, but I promise a Takahashi is very much on show.

[DirkSteele]

See, I told you!! 😉

[JeremyS]

7 hours ago, DirkSteele said:

See, I told you!! 😉

Those are lovely finders. I have 3, though one masquerades as a handle on my Mewlon 210.

And well done for bucking the trend for RACI finders. 😊

[John]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

...And well done for bucking the trend for RACI finders. 😊

Have you seen Matthew lately ? 😄

 

[DirkSteele]

23 minutes ago, John said:

Have you seen Matthew lately ? 😄

 

Ha, still young enough (sort of) to get away with it!

[PatientObserver]

Not sure how I missed this thread until now. Sorry for all the reactions to old posts. It was hard to not like every photo.

Here is my small collection:

 

[Dr Strange]

I have no other hobbies and I tell She Who Must Be Obeyed that astronomy keeps me out of the pub's so I have churned though a metric tonne of gear. I am very sensitive to CA and find it annoying and distracting. I wanted the best color correction and quality I could find. After much trial and error as well as buying and selling I found Takahashi to be the best quality I could find.

At one point I had a FSQ-85, a TSA-120, a TOA-130, a TOA-150. a Mewlon 210, and a Mewlon 250. Kind of like a very expensive version of Pokemon Cards, collect them all! I am a person who believes that if I am looking at a telescope instead of looking through a telescope I need to sell said telescope to someone who will look through it instead of at it. So I sold quite a bit of the original kit.

I am an ex rugby player (loose head Lock. I was only 198 cm tall and 130 kg so I was the smaller Lock) who played at Uni and after until I badly broke my leg in a ruck and had to quit playing so I am  a) not very bright b) when you look like I do (like someone took a albino ape, shaved it down, and taught it to make grunting sounds that vaguely sound like English) you play rugby (If I looked half as handsome as Stu people might actually like me!) and c) lifting heavy things wasn't a problem. That is until age and injuries set in. I am now down to a FS-60Q, A FC-100DF, a TSA-120, and a Mewlon 210. It is what we call in Engineering a graceful failure plan. This is opposed to what SpaceX likes to call a unscheduled rapid disassembly (something went BOOM!). The plan being that as I age I will downsize until I am ultimately left with using the FS-60Q which is a banging little scope by the way! I am buying stuff now while the income is high instead of in retirement when the income is not so high.  

First photo is what I call Murderer's Row back in the heyday. The second two are of my FC-100DF on my AZ-GTi and my Mewlon 210 on my AZ-EQ5 that has a StarSense for Skywatcher on it (not shown) because I use it for outreach and finding stuff can be quite the pain in heavy light pollution. SS fixes this problem and the pikers like the idea of a Robotic telescope. 

 

Edited May 16 by Dr Strange
Bypassing the swear filter