Fast 4" ED refractors?

[enigma]

Are there any 4" f/6 or f/7 ED refractors reasonably priced available in the UK market?

[russ]

The IKHARUS 102mm F7 from Ian King for £575 is probably the best buy currently. Good spec scope with some interesting extras thrown in (3" Crayford & field flattener).

IKHARUS Telescope and Accessories from Ian King Imaging

[enigma]

I don't see too many choices available.

[ollypenrice]

What's a reasonable price? OK, not an FSQ106 but the FLT98 is well thought of if you get the Ian King focuser upgrade. There is also an Explore Scientific that was well reviewed by the French mag Astronoie recently.

Olly

[enigma]

The William Optics FLT98 costs £1700-£1800, which is not what I would call "reasonable". The Explore Scientific 102mm f/6.7 ED at £1200 is also a bit too expensive. The IKHARUS 102mm f/7 ED at £575 sounds a lot better, but is this the only choice at this price?

[shaunster]

Well olly has suggested triplets which are more expensive, but that explore scientific one looks interesting - looks just the a meade 5000 triplet actually

The ikharus is not in the same league but looks a nice package for the price

As for other scopes skywatcher do some 100mm versions but not sure on prices, FLO had some celestron omni 102ED's for a good price not sure if they have any left but i think they may have been longer than f/6

[russ]

yep, the Celestron is the same 100mm f9 as the Skywatcher ED100. There's the nice looking 90mm triplet from Telescope Service that a few people here have and rave about. It's 10mm down but supposed to be a cracking scope.

[catburglar]

There are a couple of versions of 100mm F6 either Avian (acecameras.co.uk) or revelation (telescope house.com) available for around the £700 mark.

[John]

SCS Astro have the Orion 102mm F/7's:

Orion Premium 102mm F/7 ED Refractor - SCS Astro

The ex-review one looks decently priced, if they still have it.

[roundycat]

Olly says not the FSQ but it is reasonably priced for what you get. If you buy one of the cheaper fast scopes you could just be investing in chromatic aberration.

Dennis

[Whippy]

TBH, I have never quite worked out why Synta did the ED80 & 120 at f7.5 and the ED100 at f9.... Fact is that if you want a decent fast (f7 or faster) ED/APO then you have to pay for it. The cheaper scopes at f6/f7 aren't as nice as the expensive or slower ones. The FLT98 for what it is isn't that expensive, certainly one of the better scopes I've owned.

FWIW, if you can find a secondhand zenithstar 110, I'd look into it. The tube isn't suited for imaging at all but it's optically idential to the FLT110 and they're very nice. I saw one recently advertised for (I think) £900.

Tony..

[geoff_k]

I had always thought that the ideal combination would be a short FL APO for DSOs coupled with a long FL one for the planets.

Even assuming you can get an appropriate combo you have to be prepared to spend eye-watering amounts of money even before a suitable mount and the rest of it.

I suppose the current economic climate means that you are unlikely to see a short FL APO around the 100mm mark.

[ollypenrice]

Olly says not the FSQ but it is reasonably priced for what you get. If you buy one of the cheaper fast scopes you could just be investing in chromatic aberration.

Dennis

Whoa, Olly has an FSQ and won't be selling it any time soon! All he says is that it is not reasonably priced. But nor is the performance reasonable, it is way more than that!!! I think we agree, Dennis, and if ever I din't agree with you I think I'd head back to the drawing board...

Olly