Celestron Wideview 102 - mini review

[russ]

This is just a small mini review of the Celestron Wideview 102 that FLO have in their clearance section. I bought one Wednesday morning and by Thursday morning it was at my doorstep......the sort of flawless service you expect from FLO.

The scope was nicely boxed up and i had moment of dejavu. I bought the same scope back in 2002 and it seemed wierd to be opening exactly the same box, absolutely nothing about it has changed in those 8 years.

You get quite a lot for the money, especially now for only £89. Really is quite a steal when you consider the cost of Skywatcher Startravel 102, the exact same scope.

I've had 7 of the short tube Synta refractors down the years. Had the 80mm (x3), 102mm (x2), 120mm (x1) and 150mm (x1). The only one of the Synta short tubes i've not owned is the 90mm, which they make for Orion USA only and costs more than the Skywatcher/Celestron 102. Almost got one secondhand last year for £50 on Ebay but was beaten in the dying seconds.

Made one mistake when buying the 102, thought i could get away without tube rings....i was wrong! So will need some 4" rings asap (anyone got some? please drop me a PM if you do).

Of the included accessories, only one is useful. The finder is awful, maybe okay for daytime use but almost impossible for astro purposes. The two eyepieces, 10mm and 25mm, are the usual cannon fodder and will be thrown in the spares bin with the others. Which just leaves the erect image diagonal. This does the job and will be perfect for any daytime spotting. But a good 90deg mirror diagonal will be needed for astro use. I just happen to have a Tal diagonal handy.

I mounted the 102 on the Orion VersaGo AltAz mount. This provided a very stable and vibration free setup. Also incredibly easy to use, which was one of the main aims as this will be my eldest sons setup.

First light was Saturn. Just had to see if the colour correction was as bad as i remember from my last short tube. Pleased to say it was better, much better. Perhaps the second best sample of a short tube i've owned, only bettered by the ST120 i had in 2003. But lets not get carried away here. Thats only better in comparison to other short tube achros. When compared to my Celestron Astromaster 90, a 90mm f11.11 achro refractor with superbly corrected optics, the little 102 is put in its place. The AM90 provides an image that rivals my old Vixen 102M and is so good that some nights i don't feel a need to bring out the dob. There simply is no CA when viewing Saturn with the 90 and it remains pin sharp all the way up to 200x. While the 102 is a awash with colour and the planetary disk itself has a yellow hue. And image sharpness suffers above 100x.

Moving away from the planets and dropping the magnification down to a lowly 31x, suddendly the 102 is back in its comfort zone. Using a 16mm UWAN the scope provides a mighty 2.6deg true FOV. It's such an expansive field and makes trawling the starfields such a pleasure. The nearly full moon really hindered the views but even so, M13 and M3 both looked glorious in a widefield setting. As did M81/M82.

I also gave the OIII filter a try, see how 4" of aperture would cope. The answer, no problems at all. Both M27 and M57 benefitted greatly from using the OIII with the 102. I will be really looking forward to taking the 102 too our dark site and see if it can spot the Veil.

Finished off with the Moon (my god it was bright). Used an ND4 filter to remove the some of the glare and still using the UWAN 16mm for a nice low power. It was a surprisingly beautiful view of the moon, one that i do not bother with very often. Still some purple fringing on the limb but that did not detract from the view.

All in all a very positive first light for a great little scope. I will be sharing this little wonder with my eldest son. I think he will very happy with it.

[Demonperformer]

Thanks Russ, very informative.

Still considering whether to get one to replace my 102SLT and SW80, giving me the larger aperture with the shorter focal ratio (good for piccies). By the time I decide, they will probably all be gone anyway!

[russ]

We maybe able to help each other. I don't do piccies, so 102 f6.6 is fine for me. And a 102 f5 is better for yourself. Just something to think about.

[johninderby]

It's a great buy at that price. It also makes a great solar observing scope with the addition of some Baader Solar Film and it is cheap enough to keep it as a dedicated solar scope.

You can easily fit a Skywatcher medium dovetail to the tube which will save the cost of tube rings. Just hacksaw about 1/2 inch from one end of the dovetail as its a bit too long. Then countersink two of the holes in the dovetail to allow the bolts (the ones that are used to fit the standard mounting block) to fit down into the dovetail. You only have to drill one new hole in the OTA as one of the existing holes is in the right place. It's about a 10 minute job and looks neat and tidy when it's done.

Here's a simple afocal moon image taken with a Wideview 102

John

[russ]

What a great idea, thanks John. I have the dovetail already, will sort that out this evening. Hmm, the focuser looks very nice too.

[John]

Nice write up Russ

I've been tempted by these a few times when they have come up on e.bay (not through FLO) at around £110 so £89 is a steal !. I have an AZ-3 mount gathering dust ATM and the Wideview 102 would sit so sweetly on that as a grab and go / holiday scope. 2" focusser as well I think so the Nagler 31 could come into play - mmmm 5.12 degrees of true field ......

When you get a dark night you should have no problems spotting the Veil nebula with the OIII filter - it's a lovely sight despite the modest aperture.

[russ]

That was my thinking too John. Nice little travel scope with the AltAz. With a 2" diagonal and the 32mm Superwide, that would be 4.5deg true FOV. Obviously not that well corrected like the Nagler or as wide but should be good none the less for sweeping the milkyway from dark rural parts of Cornwall.

Better be quick John, i think the stock was limited.

[samtheeagle]

I'll add my praise for this little scope too... I use mine for imaging, yes it's an achro and therefore suffers from CA, but boy does it suck in the photons! I was quite taken aback when I first used it, the amount of data I got even with short subs was fantastic. And it's got a good wide FOV with my DSLR. The fact that it's now selling new and complete for less than I paid for just the OTA secondhand is madness!

Value for money has never been more applicable

[FLO]

Good to see you are pleased Russ

Unfortunately they were only available in limited quantities at this clearance price (we bought as many as we could but currently have only one remaining). They have officially been discontinued, though they are still available as a Skywatcher Startravel 102T with red-dot-finder.

[Darren B]

£89!!!!!!!!! absolute bargin. I use to have one of these (skywatcher version) a few years back. I found it miles better than the ST80 at DSO's, especially around x70-80 magnification.

With a Baader Neodium filter, it gave reasonable good views of the planets. Jupiter and Mars (2003 opposition) were memorable. This was on an EQ1 driven mount.

The only Modification I did was to re-grease the focuser, that was well worth doing.

[johninderby]

Buy the scope for £89.00, add a Skywatcher crayford, sell the standard focuser and for about £195.00 you've got a nice wide field scope with a very nice dual speed crayford.

John

[Helen]

Just a note to say that if you decide to change the foot then watch as the screws are held by nuts inside the tube - guess how I found out The focuser comes out to give access to the tube, so do that before unscrewing... the baffle does make tightening the one nut back up a little tricky, but do-able.

So with the dovetail swapped I now have a great grab-and-go to use with the SE mount (which always lives in the conservatory with the PST attached) on those nights when the weather is so risky, or time so short that its not worth rolling the roof of the obs. And also for when nephews, nieces, and friends want a play too! Great value - thanks FLO

Helen

[johninderby]

Best to unscrew the lens cell and dewshield from the tube and put it safely out of the way before removing the focuser and fitting the proper dovetail.

John