Thoughts on the Vixen LV Zoom 8 - 24mm

[Rob]

Got a chance to pick one up cheap... anyone have any experience of this one?...

Thanks

Rob

[fmeireso]

Good eyepiece, sharp , great eyerelief. But a bit small FOV at 24 mm and starts to be fuzzy at 8 mm. Good for starpartys because of the eyerelief and adjustabel mag.

I call it usefull

[GazOC]

never used one but they seem to get decent write ups Rob. I think (IIRC!!!) they are clones of the Televue zoom which can't be a bad thing.

[johninderby]

They're a good quality zoom. While they're made in the same factory and have the same optics as the Televue zoom, Televue does their own additional quality control checks. Also the Televue has a clickstop arangement.

They're also the same as the original Celestron 8-24 zoom. Unfortuately a few years ago Celestron replaced the Vixen made one with another and much inferior one.

Overall not as good as the Hyperion zoom, but if you can get it at a good price (£50.00 - £60.00 or less) I'd still recommend it.

John

[Rob]

Thanks guys.. it was going to work out at £70 all in. Thought it could be a nice match for the ED80, and for travel.

[johninderby]

£70.00 delivered is a reasonable price for one in very good condition.

Maybe I was being a bit mean with my 50 to 60 estimate and on second thought 60 to 70 would have been a better estimate.

John

[Rob]

Thats new John from a shop

[Rob]

Is it good for planet work?. sharp contrasty etc?

[johninderby]

New !

Are you sure it's a Vixen LV zoom and not the newer Celestron one? The suggested retail is about £179.00 although it can usually be picked up cheaper.

Celestron zooms used to be made by Vixen years ago but not any more. Now they're a much cheaper one that's the same as those sold on eBay for about £50.00.

Do you have a link to the new one at that price?

John

[Rob]

Celestron 8 - 24mm Zoom EPTelescope Accessories | Rother Valley Optics

I asked if it was the LV type...reply was yes!.. you can see that from the image. Only a few left. the LV came with many badges!!

Rob

[Rob]

from what I can pick up, these are the last.. to be replaced by the cheap ones!!

[johninderby]

I called them and they told me that the the zooms aren't exactly as in the photo as they aren't marked LV, only Celestron, so I hope they're some of the old stock.

You might want to look at the thread in this forum http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=35354

John

[Rob]

Right...

The reason I headed up the Celestron one was because it was uk based. The initial find is here

TELESCOPE EYEPIECE VIXEN ZOOM LANTHANUM 8mm-24mm 1.25" on eBay (end time 26-Aug-09 05:05:26 BST)

and because I buy a fair bit from the guy, he has offered it to me discounted

Cheers

Rob

[Rob]

Sorry also meant to mention I found the RVO Celestron 8 to 24 zoom on ebay also.. this is where I asked directly if it was a LV edition. They said Yes!!.. maybe thats the last one??.

Regards

Rob