102mm f/7 Air-Spaced Triplet ED Apo - Reviews

[Darth_Muppet]

Has anyone any experience on the following scope please?

Explore Scientific - 102mm f/7 Air-Spaced Triplet ED Apochromatic Refractor: TED10207-00

Was thinking of getting one for Imaging and visual but also was looking at

William Optics ZS80II ED APO

[johninderby]

The same 102mm triplet scope is available under the following brands so googling them should come up with a few reviews.

Meade 102 Triplet

Ascension 102 Triplet

Astronomica 102 Triplet

Omegon 102 Triplet

John

[SteveP]

You can add a few more names to your list, including Maxvision.

They're all made in China by Kunming Optics- a major, er, optics manufacturer located in, er, Kunming and sold under various local and distributor's names around the world.

[Darth_Muppet]

Does that mean though - if mass produced in China, that they are any good?

[SteveP]

There's no reason why they shouldn't be. All Skywatcher, many Celestron models are all mass produced in China.. as well as being Chinese owned

[Darth_Muppet]

Well, with a budget of about £900 I'm looking for a good scope to use for Imaging with an Artemis 285 on an EQ6 Pro

[Yoddha]

I was after that and made research with google. Even read Chinese forums (with translate.google.com). So the key sentence is "Very good quality for the money". Also they look to be a mixed bag. Some samples are OK, other not so much. I think that maybe Meade gets the best and the others are sold under other brands. I think that because Meade don't offer correction certificate, but all other sell theirs with one.

A guy from our local forum got one Meade and is quite pleased, but didn't used it for AP yet.