Small aperture APO for visual

[Nicola Fletcher]

I know you’ve had some great advice already and I completely agree with it. I thought I’d chip in as I was in exactly the same position as you a few years ago with a Mak 127 that I had been happy with as a solo scope for many years. I first bought a 102mm Altair Starwave (the 102 ED-R which I believe is the same scope as FLO’s Starfield and other vendors’ equivalents) and was amazed at the quality of it. It did replace the Mak which I sold. I then caught refractor fever and saved up for a Takahashi FC76-DCU which has revolutionised my enjoyment of astronomy. I still cannot believe the quality of that scope for its aperture, and being able to put it in a backpack (it splits in two) and take it all over the world with me is the icing on the cake. I was recently given a gift of a Takahashi FC100DZ (how lucky am I!) and I refuse to sell my Starwave as I love all of my refractors. So beware, you are opening a can of worms by getting a refractor and I doubt you will stop at one! 

I know you’ve had lots of great advice but I do think that 3 vs 4” refractors are quite different in terms of weight and portability, obviously depending on what you go for. I think, because you want to be able to travel with it, perhaps something in the 70mm range would be a good idea. My Altair refractor is so good, I think I’d be very tempted by @Stu‘s suggestion of the https://www.altairastro.com/altair-72-edf-refractor-dual-speed-rp-focuser-optical-test-report-451-p.asp. It looks nice and portable and the build quality of these scopes is excellent. The William Optics scopes are beautiful too. Good luck!

 

[Cjg]

8 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

I do enjoy hearing about Takahashis and other marvels, but for that kind of scope I would need to renounce other plans I have in life (or get a mortgage), so it's definitely not in the cards as my second telescope. It's up there among the best, and my wallet isn't big enough... nice to dream though

It's amazing to see the love that people have for small refractors. This is going to be a tough choice for sure. All in all, the quality and pleasure of use of small apos make it feel like the way to go.

And please keep discussimg, I just got the popcorn out

I have just the two scopes now...an Astro-Physics Stowaway - 92mm is a beautiful size for a 'frac, and the views exquisite..and then a 125 Altair EDF Doublet, the #BFS (Big Flipping Scope) If it's outreach or I know that the clear skies will last, it's the 125. But the Stowaway is something else...am surprised no one has mentioned the @FLO StellaMira 90mm ED Triplet...yet😉

[badhex]

2 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Williams Optics instruments look veeeeeery sleek and beautiful

Clearly I'm not going to argue with this 🙃

The fit and finish is very good on the ZS73 and as mentioned the optics are great, but WO stuff is a bit more on the expensive side when compared with some more recent offerings from other vendors which are pretty identical in features, optics etc if not in specific components. You get a case and a few bits like the handle etc, which is worth a few bob. My biggest complaint is that the temperature gauge thing on the focuser is totally pointless 😂

[SwiMatt]

Stop giving me apo envy 🤣 what have I started...

31 minutes ago, badhex said:

My biggest complaint is that the temperature gauge thing on the focuser is totally pointless 😂

Oh THAT's what it is! 

[dweller25]

2 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

My biggest complaint is that the temperature gauge thing on the focuser is totally pointless 😂

Oh THAT's what it is! 

Well you learn something everyday 🤣

Edited January 17 by dweller25

[Earl]

Small APO or get good quality APO Binos and have a bit more versatility...

[Mr Spock]

A thermometer! How bijou  I'm not sure how you are supposed to read that in the dark!

The WO scopes do look kinda nice though. 

[SwiMatt]

6 hours ago, Cjg said:

am surprised no one has mentioned the @FLO StellaMira 90mm ED Triplet...yet😉

I'm seeing that StellaMira also has a 66mm which looks intriguing at an interesting price. Mid way between 60 and 70 might be an interesting compromise? Although 72 is plenty portable already.

[Ags]

It's the same as the Zenithstar 66 that I have. Very nice optics and not too heavy.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

This thread is making me feel funny on the inside.

[Stu]

7 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

This thread is making me feel funny on the inside.

You didn’t eat one of the little blighters did you? I know they are small and delicious but…… 😜

[GrumpiusMaximus]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

You didn’t eat one of the little blighters did you? I know they are small and delicious but…… 😜

Would explain why I'm over the weight limit for one of those Berlebach astronomy chairs...

[badhex]

2 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

This thread is making me feel funny on the inside.

I've heard that's what happens when you lick all the coatings off the objective

 

👀 @JeremyS

[badhex]

7 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Oh THAT's what it is! 

 

4 hours ago, dweller25 said:

Well you learn something everyday

 

4 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

A thermometer! How bijou  I'm not sure how you are supposed to read that in the dark!

I honestly don't understand what it's for. I dearly love the scope but why is it there? 

Also I'm pretty sure it's not even accurate. 

[SwiMatt]

6 hours ago, badhex said:

I've heard that's what happens when you lick all the coatings off the objective

 

👀 @JeremyS

We need explanations of what seems to be an inner joke. EXPLAIN (with Dalek voice)

[Stu]

1 hour ago, SwiMatt said:

We need explanations of what seems to be an inner joke. EXPLAIN (with Dalek voice)

Tee hee. Let’s just say Jeremy has some unnatural urges when he sees a lovely apo objective, particularly fluorite 😜.

If you search for ‘Lick’ with @JeremyS as the author you will find the evidence. Here is one from 2020, might have been his first public confession, not sure 🤣.

I believe he has been attending counselling but the urge is still strong in this one!

[SamAndrew]

I would happily get another Zenithstar 61, I do miss that scope. Evolux 62 looks tempting for the price though.

[SwiMatt]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I believe he has been attending counselling but the urge is still strong in this one!

@JeremyS let me know if you found a good counselor, I'm in need of a good one (especially after creating this thread)

[badhex]

3 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

@JeremyS let me know if you found a good counselor, I'm in need of a good one (especially after creating this thread)

I have the solution to your woes - save money on counselling and buy a small APO 😂

Sadly no amount of counselling can save  @JeremyS though 😜

[badhex]

2 hours ago, SamAndrew said:

I would happily get another Zenithstar 61, I do miss that scope. Evolux 62 looks tempting for the price though.

The EvoLux 62 does look interesting, I was watching keenly when it first came out for new owners' first impressions - I may have even encouraged some brave souls to get one for the good of SGL 😂 I would be interested to know opinions from owners who've now had them for a while. 

The only thing I wasn't sure about with the EvoLux 62 was the size; though it is still small, from pictures it looks almost like the tube is big enough to accommodate a 70mm objective (the bezel on that OL is huge!), so I wonder if you're saving that much space and weight vs what you're losing in aperture?

 

[SwiMatt]

And it seems to be heavier than both the StellaMira 66mm and Evostar 72ED... For me, I wonder if 62mm is too small. Which is really hard to know since I never looked into anything that wasn't a Mak. Time to get "real" astronomy friends...

[Elp]

Don't know if this helps, images taken with my Z61, the Owl cluster gives you an idea of FOV, the planets show what details it can capture (but visually they are indeed tiny, I think Saturn was realistically around 2-3mm in size, Jupiter fares better and you can visually see surface detail but it's still small compared to a longer FL scope):

[Elp]

You can also view M45 Pleiades in full with this focal length, this particular target doesn't frame so well in longer focal length scopes.

 

[SwiMatt]

After this whole thread and all the envy you caused me, it was especially painful to observe the Moon and Jupiter within 2° and not being able to put them in the same field of view 

[Ags]

Did that with my ZS66 tonight!