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What’s up with vixen mounts?

sojourneyer

By sojourneyer
in Discussions - Mounts

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Franklin

Franklin

Posted
Posted

Porta II, AP, APZ, HF2, SXP2, AXJ, AXD2 all available at the UK Vixen distributor Bresser UK. I think the SX2 and SXD2 with Starbook One and Ten are being phased out right now as Vixen have brought out a wi-fi adaptor for using a tablet or smartphone with the Starbook app to control these. Explore Scientific are the Vixen distributors in the US now and Bresser GmbH in Europe.

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Shimrod

Shimrod

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35 minutes ago, sojourneyer said:

Does anyone have the latest update in regard to vixen producing their telescope mounts? It has been over two years since I have seen any of their mounts available on the marketplace.

There was a thread about vixen here. The summary was a chance in distribution made it difficult for UK retailers to offer the mounts at a competitive price.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/404515-dear-flo-what-happened-to-the-vixen-products/#comment-4335305

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Franklin

Franklin

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49 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

difficult for UK retailers to offer the mounts at a competitive price.

All Vixen export prices are sky high compared to their domestic retail and with all the excellent products coming out of China these days I can't see much of a future really.

Most of my kit is Vixen and nearly all bought secondhand.

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sojourneyer

sojourneyer

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1 hour ago, Franklin said:

Porta II, AP, APZ, HF2, SXP2, AXJ, AXD2 all available at the UK Vixen distributor Bresser UK. I think the SX2 and SXD2 with Starbook One and Ten are being phased out right now as Vixen have brought out a wi-fi adaptor for using a tablet or smartphone with the Starbook app to control these. Explore Scientific are the Vixen distributors in the US now and Bresser GmbH in Europe.

Explore Scientific USA does not sell the Vixen line.

https://explorescientificusa.com/collections/all-mounts-and-tripods

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

Posted
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Vixen mounts are being advertised by Rother Valley Optics here in the UK. 

I have no real experience of the latest Vixen mounts, but the older Polaris, Super Polaris, Great Polaris  (GP) and GPDX are superb. I love the older mounts because they are high quality and have manual controls which most modern mounts don't, and rely completely on electronics. 

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Franklin

Franklin

Posted
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Astronomical Telescopes Discontinued items | Vixen

Here's a link to end of production lines from Vixen Japan site. I think they're just phasing things out and having a reshuffle as their new refractors all have the spacer ring between the elements instead of the old foil spacers and some of the mounts are being offered with the wi-fi and free Starbook App instead of the Starbook One and Starbook Ten controllers. 

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Space Hopper

Space Hopper

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I'm keeping my eye on this new wifi module which will mean i can use an iPad wirelessly in place of the hand controller.

I believe its only available in Japan currently at present.

I was under the impression both RVO and Tring were still selling Vixen gear....? Am i wrong ??

And i hope Vixen do have a future. I love the quality of their gear. New products are still appearing.......but it does seem to take them some time.

They have a new imaging scope coming out soon : the VSD 90 astrograph. Deep prockets probably required though.....

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Franklin

Franklin

Posted
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17 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

I'm keeping my eye on this new wifi module which will mean i can use an iPad wirelessly in place of the hand controller.

There's an open box one on Buyee for £150 and the Starbook WL app is free to download from Google Play and Apple Store.

ixen ビクセン ワイヤレスユニット 未使用新品 [new] 送料無料 未使用 | Shop at Rakuma from Japan! | Buyee bot-online

Edited by Franklin
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osbourne one-nil

osbourne one-nil

Posted
Posted (edited)
15 hours ago, Franklin said:

All Vixen export prices are sky high compared to their domestic retail and with all the excellent products coming out of China these days I can't see much of a future really.

Maybe not in Europe but I think in Japan (which is a sizeable market in itself) they'll be pretty secure as I get the impression Vixen gear is the Ford Focus of astro stuff over there. 

I do think my SXD2 mount was the single best astro purchase I've ever made. I'd even call it value for money. 

I wonder if the newer stuff isn't being made available in Europe until the older stock has gone? I did enquire about an SD115S II a while back  and was told it was doubtful any would become available while the older model was still in stock. 

Edited by osbourne one-nil
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Franklin

Franklin

Posted
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2 hours ago, osbourne one-nil said:

Maybe not in Europe but I think in Japan (which is a sizeable market in itself) they'll be pretty secure as I get the impression Vixen gear is the Ford Focus of astro stuff over there. 

Totally agree, I've even bought new from Japan and with all the tax and charges it still worked out better value. The used market over there is saturated with hard to find items as well.

2 hours ago, osbourne one-nil said:

I wonder if the newer stuff isn't being made available in Europe until the older stock has gone? I did enquire about an SD115S II a while back  and was told it was doubtful any would become available while the older model was still in stock. 

I think this is correct, the SD115S on SXD2 package is showing as discontinued but as soon as old stock is gone then the SD115S II on SXD2 WL package will kick in. It's really the same setup just foil spacers replaced with a ring, SB10 replaced with wi-fi and the 7x50 illuminated finder now has a detachable eyepiece/reticle so you can use a 1.25" guide camera in it.

It seems all these little improvements are aimed at the imaging fraternity and don't really make any difference to the visual observer like me. My SD115S doesn't show any noticeable diffraction spikes visually, the SXD2 gets used with Starbook One for just dual axis control and the 7x50 finder has never been out of the box as I use a small RACI.

Edited by Franklin
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Franklin

Franklin

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1 hour ago, osbourne one-nil said:

The one thing I don't like about astro-photography is the Starbook aspect of the mount is effectively wasted!

All a bit beyond me I'm afraid, I'm so use to using the old SP/GP mounts with manual slo-mo's and RA drive with a clutch. Having said that the AP with it's free-stop is a revelation, though with lower capacity. 

I hope Vixen do continue with their mounts and innovative new ideas because all the Vixen kit I've had over the years has always worked flawlessly!

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Deadlake

Deadlake

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4 hours ago, osbourne one-nil said:

Maybe not in Europe but I think in Japan (which is a sizeable market in itself) they'll be pretty secure as I get the impression Vixen gear is the Ford Focus of astro stuff over there. 

I do think my SXD2 mount was the single best astro purchase I've ever made. I'd even call it value for money. 

I wonder if the newer stuff isn't being made available in Europe until the older stock has gone? I did enquire about an SD115S II a while back  and was told it was doubtful any would become available while the older model was still in stock. 

The SD 80 S II is available on the Bressner site.

I believe there are the EU sellers now and Bressner owns part of Vixen.

I hope Vixen produces a harmonic mount, I think the Starbook software while now old fashion was the best thought out mount provided software. 

The AZ100 software is going in the right direction, but really needs to be a native application for iOS and Android IMHO.

Edited by Deadlake
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Franklin

Franklin

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1 minute ago, osbourne one-nil said:

Yeah, I've got one - it's beautiful!

Yes, the SD81S II was the first in line for the ring treatment, in fact Vixen were recalling the older SD81S in Japan and offering an upgrade service at a discounted price over the last few years to get the 3 foils swapped out for the new ring spacer.

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