Might have gone a bit OTT with the Vixen collection.

[Franklin]

I fell head over heels in love with Vixen telescopes way back in the 1980's after buying a secondhand 4" achro when I was a spotty teenager. The scope was a 102m and it knocked the socks of my 60mm Prinz starter scope. Since then I have had many Vixen refractors and kept hold of quite a few of them, until now. Having acquired the more modern ED versions of these scopes I have, albeit reluctantly, sold on all my achromats, the vintage models, the old school SP/GP mounts and bucket loads of eyepieces.

Hopefully I am now done, having a lovely 4"ED on an EQ as a main scope, a 3"ED on an AZ for G&G and an exquisite little 2"Fluorite for travel and possible future forays into the dark arts?

(Although if a nice SD115s surfaced at a respectable price, I would probably bite the sellers hand off🙂.)

 

 

[Ratlet]

That's a fantastic looking collection.  I've always fancied the vixen binocular scope myself.  Think it would look right at home with the Res of your collection.

I think Vixen make a nicer looking scope than Takahashi, but then again I eat kiwi skin so my judgement on taste is questionable.

Regardless, that looks a fabulous collection.  Only thing it lacks is an optical sommelier to provide recommendations for eyepiece and scope pairing for a particular target.

[Mr Spock]

There's nothing wrong with Vixen kit. In fact, they are high quality and a lot of the time under the radar.

LVWs are my favourites and I'm stealing your 3.5mm to complete my collection 

[Telescope40]

Fantastic !!  Understated finish on these scopes. Enjoy 

John 

[glafnazur]

Lovely looking collection, I've not got any Vixen kit but maybe I'll have to start looking

[Paz]

That's a very nice collection!

[JeremyS]

No such thing as OTT when it comes to fine Japanese optics 👍🏻

[Sunshine]

What a great looking trio! I admit I do like the look of vixen scope even more than Tak's 

[Franklin]

33 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

No such thing as OTT when it comes to fine Japanese optics 👍🏻

No Jeremy, just more OTA.

[skybadger]

I currently run 4 vixens, 

The vc200l

Vc110l 

NA140 

ST80 

but have moved the mounts I had on to consolidate them too. 

The vc110 is meant to be a grab and go scope and lives in the car. 

The 140 and 200 are on the main mount together until I replace the 200 with the 315 RC . The ST80 guider isn't getting any use at present. 

[RobertI]

4 hours ago, Franklin said:

I fell head over heels in love with Vixen telescopes way back in the 1980's after buying a secondhand 4" achro when I was a spotty teenager. The scope was a 102m and it knocked the socks of my 60mm Prinz starter scope. Since then I have had many Vixen refractors and kept hold of quite a few of them, until now. Having acquired the more modern ED versions of these scopes I have, albeit reluctantly, sold on all my achromats, the vintage models, the old school SP/GP mounts and bucket loads of eyepieces.

Hopefully I am now done, having a lovely 4"ED on an EQ as a main scope, a 3"ED on an AZ for G&G and an exquisite little 2"Fluorite for travel and possible future forays into the dark arts?

(Although if a nice SD115s surfaced at a respectable price, I would probably bite the sellers hand off🙂.)

 

 

Fabulous collection, they look stunning together. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about a brand, especially when it means something to you personally. 👍

[MalcolmM]

What an amazing collection! They look fabulous!

And that comes begrudgingly from a Tak lover 🙂

Malcolm 

[Ratlet]

Bad time to mention that there is a (rather battered admittedly) 102 fluorite on fleabay?  

[Highburymark]

Stunning collection!

[Franklin]

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

Bad time to mention that there is a (rather battered admittedly) 102 fluorite on fleabay?  

Yes I've seen that and it's definitely in need of some TLC and a VERY good clean up. Still, a worthwhile project for someone if they can get it for peanuts.

[Franklin]

3 hours ago, skybadger said:

NA140 

Always wanted to try one of those but never had the chance. I bet it's superb for sweeping through star-fields. How does handle the CA?

[Franklin]

3 hours ago, skybadger said:

The ST80 guider isn't getting any use at present. 

Is that the A80SS with the sliding dew-shield? King of the short tube 80's!

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

Always wanted to try one of those but never had the chance. I bet it's superb for sweeping through star-fields. How does handle the CA?

They have considerably more CA than a SW 120ED. Having said that, Vixen make excellent optics and so despite the CA, the figure will be top notch and images in focus as good as can be produced by such a scope.

Edited March 4, 2023 by mikeDnight

[F15Rules]

9 hours ago, Ratlet said:

I think Vixen make a nicer looking scope than Takahashi

I can't hand on heart disagree. I've owned two fabulous ED103s apos and they were both fabulous to look at and look through.

Although I now own a wonderful 5" Tak, had a 5" Vixen been available I would have bought it without hesitation based on my experiences with the two 4 inchers.

I've always thought it odd that people often see Vixens as expensive, whereas Taks, which cost a good deal more, are seen as "aspirational".

It's also a fact that a 4" Tak new costs almost twice the price of a new Vixen SD103s, and yet (to my eyes at least) the views through them both are extremely similar.

In practice this does mean that the Vixen ED103 and the newer SD103 make superb used purchases..

I compared my last ED103s to my Tak FS128, and the only  significant difference I could see was the increased brightness and resolution capability that you would expect from a 5" collecting some 56% more light than a 4".

The mechanics of the Tak are, I feel slightly superior to those of the Vixen, but to look at side by side...? I'd genuinely give the Vixen 4" the nod..the oversized 114mm tube of the Vixen just looks more impressive to my eyes.

Just a pity that Vixen don't make a 5" apo frac these days, not since the days of the ED130SS.. and I am very happy with my FS128!

Great collection, Tim. Thanks for sharing 👍.

Edited March 4, 2023 by F15Rules

[callisto]

Love my achro 

[Franklin]

17 minutes ago, callisto said:

Love my achro 

The best 3" f/11 achro going, great for solar. The 80M is probably Vixens longest standing production line telescope, little has changed since their introduction in the 1970's. The most recent incarnation, the A81M, has an extra 1mm of aperture! Why? I think Vixen like to be different and they are, in fact it's that quirkiness that I like.

[callisto]

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

The best 3" f/11 achro going, great for solar. The 80M is probably Vixens longest standing production line telescope, little has changed since their introduction in the 1970's. The most recent incarnation, the A81M, has an extra 1mm of aperture! Why? I think Vixen like to be different and they are, in fact it's that quirkiness that I like.

Totally agree... yeah, solar work is fantastic with these 3" scopes, not to mention how light they are too 🙂

[LukeSkywatcher]

I don't own a Vixen scope, but I have plenty of their EPs. My absolute favourite.

[Alan White]

Nice to see your collection as it now stands @Franklin, you are clearly smitten.

As you know I like Vixen kit for much the same reasons of you and others, but not at the cost of rejecting other makes of kit,
my own kit is a Smorgasbord.

I think the ed80 with the tube and dew shield all in proportion looks better than the oversize tubes of the ed103. 
This is spoken as the owner of Lazarus the ed103. 

[Saganite]

18 hours ago, Sunshine said:

What a great looking trio! I admit I do like the look of vixen scope even more than Tak's 

And so do I !

I did have a Tak FC100DC and optically it was superb, as is the Vixen, but looking at it on its tripod never gave me the glow of satisfaction that I feel when I look at my Vixen ED103s, the scope I bought upon selling the Tak.  For me, in most things, it has to look right as well as be right, and this Vixen  fulfills that brief perfectly...👍

Edited March 5, 2023 by Saganite