StellaMira 125mm ED Doublet

[Beardy30]

Has anyone got one of these - I would love to know the quality of difference over the star travel 102 for visual use and what mounts people have used 

Edited February 10 by Beardy30

[M40]

Since I got mine I've managed a whole one night out with the thing and I chose to do a touch of eea with it. I was well pleased with the results from what was a cloudy bright night.

I'm really hoping to get out whilst Jupiter is still in a good position but I think time and the weather is against it. 

What I can say is that it is very light for its size, works very well on an heq5 and I can't wait for a few clear nights.

[Elp]

How's the CA? (For imaging).

Edited February 11 by Elp

[fireballxl5]

 

@Beardy30 This thread may provide some answers...

 

 

[Beardy30]

Thanks - appreciate that 

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, Beardy30 said:

Has anyone got one of these - I would love to know the quality of difference over the star travel 102 for visual use and what mounts people have used 

I've no experience with this particular ED James, but I've plenty with other ED's and various Star Travel's. I'd be confident in saying the 125ED will be in an entirely different league to the Star Travel, with better figured optics, and could be used for everything, where as the ST is really only an RFT. The 125 should be essentially free of any major CA visually. I remember my first view through a SW 120ED DS Pro and if I hadn't already seen the scope, I'd have said it was virtually Takahashi quality in its visual performance, so I'd guess the 125ED to be very similar.

Mount wise I'd guess an AZ4, Sky Tee 'll, or eq5 would be ideal.

Edited February 10 by mikeDnight

[IB20]

Here are my thoughts on it…

Needless to say I’m delighted with it. I’m a visual observer but it is the equivalent quality of my fpl-53 4” Starwave ED-R albeit with increased brightness and resolution. I haven’t seen any CA and I’ve pointed it at Sirius and Jupiter. I use a AZ75 without counterweight and it’s rock solid.

Edited February 11 by IB20

[Beardy30]

10 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I've no experience with this particular ED James, but I've plenty with other ED's and various Star Travel's. I'd be confident in saying the 125ED will be in an entirely different league to the Star Travel, with better figured optics, and could be used for everything, where as the ST is really only an RFT. The 125 should be essentially free of any major CA visually. I remember my first view through a SW 120ED DS Pro and if I hadn't already seen the scope, I'd have said it was virtually Takahashi quality in its visual performance, so I'd guess the 125ED to be very similar.

Mount wise I'd guess an AZ4, Sky Tee 'll, or eq5 would be ideal.

What’s RFT please Mike? 

[fireballxl5]

2 minutes ago, Beardy30 said:

What’s RFT please

Rich Field Telescope,  a scope good for wide field views at low magnification. 

[Beardy30]

11 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

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Edited February 11 by Beardy30

[Beardy30]

It a beauty by the looks of it although maybe one for the distant future due to price - I’m also not 100% I’d want to buy a new mount yet and it’s too heavy for my AZI GTI but it’s a beautiful scope I’d certainly seriously consider in the future 

[Deadlake]

8 hours ago, fireballxl5 said:

Rich Field Telescope,  a scope good for wide field views at low magnification. 

Or a little more accuratly:
 

A telescope that combines the widest possible field of view with the maximum usable exit pupil.
Its magnification is just low enough for the exit pupil to be the same as the observer's maximum dark-adapted pupil size.
If the maximum pupil size is taken to be 7.5 mm, the magnification will be approximately 0.13 times the aperture in millimetres.
This is usually provided by a telescope of small focal ratio and wide-field eyepiece, and is particularly suited to observing the Milky Way, extended deep-sky objects, and comets.
A typical RFT has an aperture of 100–180 mm, a focal ratio of f/4, and a field of view of 2–5°.

Now a surprise to me is a ratio of F4, seeing as more fast refactors are in the F5-F6 range.
The rich/er part comes from the density of stars you can see/per angular resolution. 
 

[Mr Spock]

My 8" f4 is a good RFT. With a 30mm UFF I get an exit pupil of 7mm and a fov of 2.4°. You could make that 2.9° with a 31mm Nagler.

[M40]

@Beardy30 managed to get outside tonight for a few hours, so going back to your original question of what is it like for visual, this telescope has made me do something I've not done for at least four years and that is to go and get the 2.25x barlow and bolt it to the zoom. It gave an excellent view of Jupiter. I then jumped around a bit and swapped the eyepieces a few times to see how it performed; it split the doubles Castor and Mizar with ease, M45 excellent.

I finished by throwing in a zwo asi385mc and neodymium filter and took a simple screen grab of Jupiter.

Loved the thumb screw enabling the focuser to be rotated. One point to consider is that this is a lightweight but long telescope so you will need a solid mount to avoid vibration.