Two new refractors, first light(ish).

[GazOC]

I've had a couple of nights out with a new 100mm f5 and 150mm f5 for a couple of hours each on these light summer nights. The 100mm was on an EQ2 and the 150mm was on an EQ6 although I'll probably use it more with my CG5 in future as the EQ6 is overkill for the scope.

I got the 150mm from Steve, it has a couple of small chips in the objective (which Steve told me about before I bought the scope, I hasten to add). They don't seem to affect the view at all as far as I can tell. The summer star fields are beautifull, I can't wait for the Moon to disappear and try the Veil and North American Neb with a few filters later on in the month, the Ring and Dumbell were their usual stunning selves and extemely easy to find given the wide FOV . I purposely kept the scope away from Jupiter and the globs, but the Moon gave a good view allowing for the yellow tinge around the edges. It doesn't really need anything like the EQ6 to carry it, it'll make a nice match for my CG5 for when I fancy a look along the Milky Way this summer. I'd like to see how it performs on the really faint stuff, it should be pretty easy to find those galaxies in Ursa Major and Leo (next year!)...

I only had a quick play with the 100mm, it performed pretty well on Jupiter even at 125x. False colour was certainly there but nothing shockingly bad and within what I can put up with. It's slightly undermounted IMHO on the EQ2 with the tripod legs fully extended but still usable and not a major problem. It's a nice size of scope, not much bigger than a 80mm but the difference in views is pretty evident, the EQ2 is going in my locker at work and I can take the OTA in on nights in a small rucksack and also piggyback it on my other scopes.

[OXO]

Nice first Light Gaz, i remember a while back you had some choice words to say about the 150 f/5 is this scope better build quality than your first one/Optics? I know the ST102 is an excellent scope esp for Widefield views Pan that 150 across the Milky Way when the moon go's and ya will be laughing, did this the other week with the 102 it was just Awsome..

Whats the 100mm again Mate?

James

[GazOC]

Not that noticeably better mate, I'm just keeping it away from objects it's not designed for... No planets or splitting double stars and I think the scope will do just fine. "Horses for courses"

My first 150mm f5 was my only scope at the time, they arn't good scopes to have as an "only scope" IMHO, they have too many short commings. As long as you allow for them they are good at what they do, but the stuff they are bad on, they are really bad on.

[OXO]

A good second scope to say a F9 frac eh Gaz

James

[GazOC]

A good second scope to say a F9 frac eh Gaz

James

Yep, or a Mak.

I've got a 120mm f5 for sale if you're interested....

[OXO]

Hehe no funds for scopes for a while mate should sell quick though Gaz

[GazOC]

Hehe no funds for scopes for a while mate

Tell me about it.... :)

[MartinB]

Very interesting Gaz. All the reports I have read on apos compared to achromats talk about planetary viewing. Would be interested to see a comparison of 2 fast scopes on DSOs. Suspect the bangs per buck move in favour of the achros

[GazOC]

Having owned an ED80 and 100mm f5 I'd say the difference in planetary views is obvious and well worth the extra money. I used the ED80 on most of the Spring open clusters and didn't see much improvement all over the 100m f5, I doubt galaxies (or anything that doesn't require high mags) would either. The extra 20mm is quite a factor as well.

[russ]

Having owned an ED80 and 100mm f5 I'd say the difference in planetary views is obvious and well worth the extra money. I used the ED80 on most of the Spring open clusters and didn't see much improvement all over the 100m f5, I doubt galaxies (or anything that doesn't require high mags) would either. The extra 20mm is quite a factor as well.

I agree, visually on widefield and deepsky, the f5 achro's hold a clear advantage over the ED's. Bang for buck you can easily afford the 120mm for the price of a SH ED80 and that extra 40mm makes the 120 very handy on deepsky.

But it's the planets where the f5 achros get killed. With no other scopes around to compare with, their view is okay. But when compared to other scope types it really is poor. Even the well 'semi apo' corrected achros show a marked improvement over the Startravels.

Also, for imaging the ED's show a massive improvement over the achros, even compared to the f8 and f10 achros. No blue halos in the ED.

But the Startravels are great scopes and the 120 was my fav. Ample light grasp, better colour correction compared to the 150, small and compact.

Russ

[FLO]

Nice report Gaz,

Good to see you are enjoying the 150