Heads up new Vixen SD103S apo 40% off!!

[John]

I used to drool over the Vixen 4 inch refractors at Telescope House in the Farringdon Road, London back in the late 1980's. This was Broadhurst Clarkson and Fuller's base back then, complete with brass tube pulling workshop in the basement I believe.

I occasionally chatted to Dud Fuller - he used to hang around at the back of the showroom dispensing advice.

The Vixen SP102M's looked lovely and might just have been affordable to me but fluorite ones were definitely out of my financial reach back then. Bear in mind that the achromatic SP102M's were priced at nearly £1,000 including the mount and tripod. 

I have actually owned two Vixen scopes, a pre-owned SP102M which was my 2nd "proper" telescope bought way back in 1989, and my current Vixen ED102SS which I've owned for over 16 years now but it dates from a few years prior to that. The SD103S is the descendant of the ED102SS I think. The design looks very similar (same objective cell, focuser etc) but the focal length has gone from F/6.5 to F/7.7 and the mating glass element has changed to something more environmentally friendly I believe. 

One of the standout things about the Vixen's I've owned and used has been the star test results which have always been excellent. Despite the simple design and lack of collimation adjustments the collimation of my two was spot on, showing text book airy disks and diffraction rings around the brighter stars.  The machining of the focuser, cell and tube installation must be to a high standard. 

 

 

 

 

[Mr Spock]

Given our weather I think most of us spend more time drooling than observing.

[Mr Spock]

Oh, and touching. I love playing with my Feathertouch 

[Sunshine]

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Oh, and touching. I love playing with my Feathertouch 

Me too, I love touching feathers!

[John]

10 hours ago, John said:

I used to drool over the Vixen 4 inch refractors at Telescope House.....

 

I ought to re-phrase this for the sake of historical cleanliness - I used to drool near the Vixen 4 inch refractors, not actually over them, of course 🙄

(just in case anyone who later bought one is reading this !)

[Sunshine]

5 minutes ago, John said:

I ought to re-phrase this for the sake of historical cleanliness - I used to drool near the Vixen 4 inch refractors, not actually over them, of course 🙄

(just in case anyone who later bought one is reading this !)

You don’t need to hide it, we have tripod sniffers, eyepiece suckers, feather touch fondlers, and handle lovers, a telescope drooler is most welcome.

Edited February 9 by Sunshine

[F15Rules]

38 minutes ago, John said:

I ought to re-phrase this for the sake of historical cleanliness - I used to drool near the Vixen 4 inch refractors, not actually over them, of course 🙄

(just in case anyone who later bought one is reading this !)

Thats just brought to mind a somewhat disturbing picture of Jeremy licking a pristine multi coated Tak/Vixen Hybrid refractor objective, lens while while John drools over the elegant smooth and flawless Ota paintwork!

I need a darkened room!🤦‍♂️😂..

Dave

[osbourne one-nil]

https://www.bresseruk.com/Astronomy/Telescopes/Vixen-SD103S-apochromatic-Refractor.html

 

Back to full price - exactly the same as the newer model. I can't imagine there's a production cost difference but if they're looking to shift old stock, it seems a very odd approach. 

[F15Rules]

I suspect they may have now sold out of the "old" stock?

I'd be surprised if they'd keep more than half a dozen or a dozen models at a time, in the UK premises..and the actual difference on the newer and older models seems to be solely the changing from foil spacers to a single ring spacer, and possibly a slight adjustment to the internal baffling to assist imaging?

From a profitability and marketing standpoint, I don't think a 40% price drop would be offered for a day longer than it took to clear out a very limited number of remaining old units..

I do hope someone SGL got one and will share that with us soon! 😊

Dave