Ikharos 70 ED - opinions?

[johankj]

I'm looking at Ikharos 70mm ED refractor from Ian King.

Refractors from Ian King Imaging

I'd like to use it to have a ligther scope to carry, some wider fields, and perhaps some DSLR-photography.

It looks very sturdy, and a Crayford focuser and rotating back.Looks like everything I ever wanted?

No reason I shouldn't give it a try?

[blinky]

I dont see anything wrong with it at all. I was looking at these the other day and they do look good. I dont know the name though, I would speak to Ian King and ask him what his thoughts are. I'm sure you will get an honest opinion from Ian.

[johankj]

I know it's actually from Telescope-service, but that's all.

There is an unboxing video on YouTube.

[johankj]

Here is the video:

[cs1cjc]

I have one as a travel scope and think it is excellent - real value for money! I was surprised at how many things you can see, given its aperture of less than 3 inches, but you are capturing about 100x the light of an eye alone. It does show a bit of colour on very bright stars but I do not find it distracting. There is nowhere to mount a finder but I just squint along the tube to line it up. This is good enough even when using only 1.25" eyepieces, because of the wide field. I have carried it as hand luggage on a plane in a converted picnic bag, in a small rucksack.

It is a Kunming United Optics Corporation scope, also sold under the Stellavue and Telescope Service labels. I understand that Ian King will do a quick star test before he sends it out, if you ask for it.

[Ludd]

I have one of these as well - I bought it the day before flying out to NZ and Australia and it was a real joy to use under those dark skies. Really nice solid construction, the focusser's great and it's even produced some half-decent high-mag views of Jupiter and some clusters. I bought mine from Modernastronomy, as Bernard had one ready to sell to me only about 8 miles from where I live.

It survived the flights OK - the security guys at Dubai airport were a bit worried by it but were all smiles when I had unpacked it and demonstrated it.

[r3i]

Another thumbs up from me. I love mine - great wide field imager/guide scope/grab and go scope. Light enough to work well on a decent spec camera tripod when in grab and go mode. Nice and compact, and has a good quality feel to it.

Some folks on here have been in the position to compare them against a WO Megrez 72 and concluded that the Megrez was better but then again it does cost 50% more so no surprises there.

If you're planning to use it with a DSLR you may also want to consider getting a field flattener.

[johankj]

Thanks for the info guys.

I've mailed Ian asking for the availability.

Do I need an adapter for my DSLR? I have a T2.

Do I also need an adapter to mount this on my SW AltAz goto?

[r3i]

Do I need an adapter for my DSLR? I have a T2.

Do I also need an adapter to mount this on my SW AltAz goto?

The scope comes with a 2" focuser and a 2"-1.25" adapter, so you'll need a 2" to T-thread adapter. Note that the SkyWatcher Field Flattener that I mentioned has a 2" barrel at one end and T-thread at the other.

I'm not familiar with the SQ AltAz goto mount but the scope comes with a Vixen dovetail which also has 2 threaded holes that enables the scope to be attached to a standard camera tripod:

[pluton]

Anyone have used this for wide angle visual of nebulas like Veil, NA and others...with a narrowband filter UHC or OIII?

Best