APM 95/85mm APO Spotting Scope

[Johny723]

Hi

I have had this scope for a few months. It is fairly durable, has survived a fall from 1,5m right to the floor without any damage apart from a scratch. I like how compact, portable and light it is. I use it with a Swarovski 25-50 zoom eyepiece for daytime and with an Omegon panorama II 5mm eyepiece for -+ 110 magnification for planetary and bright DSO observing. Unfortunately, not all eyepieces can reach focus with this scope, and using any shorter focal lengths does not really work with it either. I tried Vixen LVW 3,5mm for -+ 158x observing , but the image is somewhat blurry  and has visible CA ( 180X with Omegon planetary LE 3mm has even worse CA and less sharpness). I still like this scope,  but it can not compete with "true" APOs of the same diameter.

Does anyone here have this spotting scope and use it for astronomy? If you have  the 1.25" adapter for astro eyepieces, what EP do you use? I would like to hear your experience and opinions on this scope.

Thanks. Jan