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Name the scopes you've owned...

GazOC

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John

John

Posted
Posted

In chronological order:

1. 60mm Tasco Alt-Az Refractor - 1960's vintage - Dodgy mount but great optics with decent eyepieces. Cost £45 (used) in 1985.

2. 150mm Astro Sytems (Luton) F5 Newtonian - On homemade dobsonian mount to start with, later Fullerscopes MK2 equatorial. Good newtonian, well engineered, David Hinds optics. Only basic collimation adjustments (to secondary) possible. Cost around £200 (new) for the OTA in 1987.

3. Bresser Uranus 102mm Refractor - The same as a Vixen SP102m but all black colour scheme. Great "classic" 4 inch refractor. Had the orginal Vixen Skysensor control system - an early "GOTO" system - too fiddly to be much use. Wish I still had the scope and basic mount though .... most expensive scope I ever brought - £600 in 1990 (used)

4. TAL 100RT - An early TAL 4 inch refractor on a basic but functional eq mounting. Fantastic optics for the £'s. Mount adequate but tripod too short - gymnastics when observing near the zenith a real pain. Purchased in 1999 for £240 (new).

5. Celestron Nexstar 5 - 5 inch SCT on a GOTO mount. Owned for about 6 months so far and I'm really impressed - the optics show me much more than I have any right to expect from a 5 inch and the GOTO actually works !. Cost £300 (used) in 2005.

And that's it ..... so far !!.

John,

North Somerset.

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GordonCopestake

GordonCopestake

Posted
Posted

ST80 (great little scope, did we all start with Tasco gear?)

Celestron Powerseeker 114 (Pile of pap, but alleviated my aperture fever for about 30 seconds)

Celestron C8 (Excellent scope, great views, but low contrast, wish I hadn't sold it)

Skywatcher 100ED (Fantastic APO for the price)

Skywatcher 80ED (Great wide field APO)

Orion Optics 8" f/8 newt (SPX200, nearest thing to an 8" APO I've seen!)

12" Dob (Great cheap aperture for those winter DSO's)

ST120 (I liked this scope, and it was the exact same size as the ED80)

ST102 (great compromise between weight and aperture)

I only got into astronomy in November 2005, at this rate I'm averaging about 1 scope per month :| No wonder my missus is scowling at me!

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moondog

moondog

Posted
Posted

First scope was a secondhand Dixons Prinz 60mm refractor on a wobbly alt-az

Looking at the moon you could think that it was Saturn - what with all the coloured rings around it!

This put me off scopes for years and I stuck to my trusted Swift binos until I bought a TAL 100R 4 ins refractor in 1999

Impressed with optics but not rest. Updated to TAL100RS and HEQ5 in 2005. Happy with current setup.

Gordon, according to your post you're not due to start astronomy as a hobby until this November!

MD

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russ

russ

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Posted
Dixons Prinz 60mm refractor

I remember those, a friend bought one. It was awful as you say.

Good little scope, did we all start with Tasco gear?

I have fond memories of my Tasco (circa 1983) and it surprised a few people when I first joined a club (1986). As far as i could make out, Tasco made two lines of scopes:

1/ the all metal jobs with nicer optics, better mounts.

2/ and the pap they made for the high street stores. All plastic contruction with awful optics.

Russ

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GordonCopestake

GordonCopestake

Posted
Posted

Gordon, according to your post you're not due to start astronomy as a hobby until this November!

MD

Ah, yes. It's far too early in the morning and i've not had my required 17 cups of coffee to wake up yet. Duely edited.

My little Tasco starguide is a synta tube, identical to the Nexstar80GT. The optics are great and the mount is ideal. I have no problems recommending it to beginers or people wanting cheap grab and go(to). The whole thing was only £200 and you can buy them even cheaper now.

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tom.yates

tom.yates

Posted
Posted

OK, 114 Tasco reflector, 8"celestron SCT, 12"Orion reflector, 10" Orion reflector,10 Meade SCT,

12"Meade SCT,16"Reflector, 7"ASTRO PHYSICS REFRACTOR, 5"Apm Refractor, Vixen 102 Refractor, Vixen 102 Flourite Refractor , Celestron 8" Reflector, 80mm Stellavue Refractor, Skywatcher 150 Refractor, Skywatcher 120 Refractor, Skywatcher 80 Refractor, 8" Orion F6 Reflector,Tal 4" Refractor, 90mm 125mm , ETX, Skywatcher F8 Refractor.

The worst scopes in my view where the Skywatcher 120 ,150, And to my suprise the best scopes where THE 7" A/P THE 5" APM, And wait for it ,,,,,,,,, the scope i am about to tell you about gave me some of the best views of the Planets i have ever seen and on a star test it was bang on inside and outside of focus the scope in question i owned 2 one was F5 ONE Was F8 I am talking about the F8 version, THE SKYWATCHER 150 F 8.

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The Warthog

The Warthog

Posted
Posted

Well, Jane, Bert, Harry... OH. :lol:

30 x 25 spyglass

2.5" toy reflector

7x50 binos

7-15 x 50 binos

6x30 binos (ex German Afrika Korps)

7x35 binos

8x21 binos

8x21 monocular

4.5" Meade f/8 Newt

4.5" Tasco f/8 Newt

The yellow ones I still have. The others have gone the way of all flesh.

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GordonCopestake

GordonCopestake

Posted
Posted

Well, Jane, Bert, Harry... OH. :lol:

30 x 25 spyglass

2.5" toy reflector

7x50 binos

7-15 x 50 binos

6x30 binos (ex German Afrika Korps)

7x35 binos

8x21 binos

8x21 monocular

4.5" Meade f/8 Newt

4.5" Tasco f/8 Newt

The yellow ones I still have. The others have gone the way of all flesh.

Fat and wrinkly? ewwwwww

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lunator

lunator

Posted
Posted

Celestron 114M F8 Powerseeker Reflector (I never found the power it was seeking) - Now part of a Dob project for my Son.

ETX70 - Travel/holiday scope.

8" F6 Orion Optics reflector- Great scope I think it's fantastic it on an EQ5 which is OK.

OMC 140 Orion Optics Mak - great scope for Double stars.

Cheers

Ian

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DaveGibbons

DaveGibbons

Posted
Posted

Hi here's my list!

Prinz ASTral 400 refractor

Celestron c8 classic sct

Tal 150pm f5 reflector

TAL 100R Refractor(very good)

Orion Optics gx200 f6 newt(superb optics)

Orion Optics omc140 deluxe(Rubbish)

Orion USA XT10 Intelliscope(excellent)

Meade AR5 Refractor(optics excellent)

Skywatcher Pro 150 mak(great on double stars lots of image shift poor contrast)

Revelation 12" reflector (good for the money optics good)

If I could choose one it would be my AR5 Refractor- that's why I still have it and the rest are gone!

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Kaptain Klevtsov

Kaptain Klevtsov

Posted
Posted

Hi here's my list!

Prinz ASTral 400 refractor

Celestron c8 classic sct

Tal 150pm f5 reflector

TAL 100R Refractor(very good)

Orion Optics gx200 f6 newt(superb optics)

Orion Optics omc140 deluxe(Rubbish)

Orion USA XT10 Intelliscope(excellent)

Meade AR5 Refractor(optics excellent)

Skywatcher Pro 150 mak(great on double stars lots of image shift poor contrast)

Revelation 12" reflector (good for the money optics good)

If I could choose one it would be my AR5 Refractor- that's why I still have it and the rest are gone!

What is it about the OMC140 that you didn't like? I have no problems with mine, other than operator error.

Captain Chaos

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MartinB

MartinB

Posted
Posted

Prinz 60mm refractor - I loved this scope - donated to next doors grand children.

Tal 1 - Fantastic starter scope - donated to friend

Celestron Nextar 8" GPS - wont worry if I never have a better scope

ED80 - chuffed with this

Very happy with my scopes.

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orion f6.3

orion f6.3

Posted
Posted

Greenkat scope 10x25 (1974)

Greens Bins 10X50 (1976)

60mm Tasco Refractor (1990)

60mm Tasco Refractor (1993)

4 1/2" Tasco Reflector (1995)

Strathspey 25x100 Bins(2003)

Tal 2-M Reflector (2003)

Strathspey 10x50s & 15x70s Bins (2004)

Skywatcher 127mm Mak EQ-3 (2004)

Helios 114mm Reflector EQ-2 (2004)

Carl Zeiss 7x50s (cir 1970) (2004)

Strathspey 10x50s Marine (2005)

Skywatcher 200mm Dob (2005)

Meade 10x50S Bins (2006)

Greenkat Scope 10x25 (2006)

William Optics 80mm refractor (2006)

Orion Optics 250mm 1/8PV Wave Hi-Lux Dob (2006)

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mark RD

mark RD

Posted
Posted

If I can include binos to make my list longer :lol:

10x50 unknown

20x50 unknown

60mm refractor unknown

60mm tesco

6 inch dobs beconhill

5 inch Phenix

60mm refractor meade

80mm Rich field refractor sky watcher

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orion f6.3

orion f6.3

Posted
Posted

The tal was very heavy, I mean way to heavy. When left set up in doors my wife couldn't shift it, she can my 10" DOB! The motor was noisy but worked well enough. As for the optics first class. Some of my best views and pics were with this scope.

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FLO

FLO

Posted
Posted

The tal was very heavy, I mean way to heavy. When left set up in doors my wife couldn't shift it, she can my 10" DOB! The motor was noisy but worked well enough. As for the optics first class. Some of my best views and pics were with this scope.

Thanks Orion - what were the setting circles like and was it easy enough to point?

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