Manchester area - Ed120 Frac owners - cheeky request !

[Telescope40]

Hi. I'm currently a very satisfied owner of a C100ED R and am very curious over a possible upgrade to a 120 Frac - eg Skywatcher ED120. Will it be a wow factor step up from my 100 and worth the flexing of the plastic. Currently a 120 is on the ABS w//site ( Schott glass = apo ?? ) and its calling me.

I have posted a couple of threads along these lines previously and got some excellent feedback.

Heres the cheeky bit. Wondered if there are any 120 owners in the Manc area who would be willing to accept a visit from me to take a " looky" thru their OTA. I would bring my "100" along with me for a comparison.

Theres nowt like cheek is wot we say in my neck of the woods !!

Thx in advance John

[A McEwan]

has | Equinox 120ED

Hope this helps,

Ant

[Peter Drew]

If it was for "starters" I would go for the 120 but there won't be a significant difference between the two as an upgrade. Good idea to try a side by side test as it's your opinion that counts. .

[A McEwan]

Interesting comment, Peter but I have to disagree, as I pointed out in the content of my article linked to in my previous post. I actually did notice an improvement in both resolvable detail and magnification limits. I suppose it must vary from person to person and indeed from telescope to telescope.

Ant

[Peter Drew]

No controversy there Ant , I presumed the OP was hoping for a significant improvement. As you rightly say there are variables, I would expect a 100 in a rural location to look better than a 120 in an urban light polluted situation for instance.

[dweller25]

I have a 102mm and 128mm refractor of equal quality. The larger scope does show more planetary detail but it's not a wow factor.

For the wow factor over a C100ED - which is a very good scope - you would need a 6" refractor.

[Telescope40]

Hi. The viewpoints are most appreciated.

Ant - the link you posted was very informative. A Very Nice scope.

I seem to get the feeling for the amount of outlay for a 2nd hand 120, 3x the return if I sold my ED100?, I would not see that much of a marked improvement.

I am leaning toward enjoying the 100 and using said dosh on a couple of good quality EP's. Seems like a "safer" route ?

Still hoping an offer of a hands on look thru a 120 pops up.

Thanks for now. John

[A McEwan]

Good point, Peter. Location, location, location! My observations were made from a pristine dark sky site...

Ant

[F15Rules]

Interesting range of opinions..

While I can't claim personal comparisons of the ED100 and the 120 apos, I do have an ED100 (my second), and I was able to compare my first one with an excellent Tal 125R achromat. Leaving aside the superior CA control of the ED100 (and it WAS noticeable), the 125R with it's extra inch of aperture did show a lot more faint stars than the ED100.

I'd agree that fine planetary detail (from my fairly urbanised site) was not massively different, but certainly on DSO's and clusters, the view through the larger scope waa more impressive as the field with the extra stars popping into view seemed more "complete" if that makes sense.

I'd agree though that for x3 the price I'd really question the investment. Have you thought of investing £285 in a Moonlite Crayford focuser upgrade for the ED100? That's what I am considering for mine right now, and I really think that the lens is worth the additional outlay (actually more than I paid for the scope second hand!). I think with the focuser upgrade and really good quality EPs you will really be able to extract the very best from your ED100.

Good luck whatever you decide.

cheers

Dave

[nightfisher]

i think dave`s post above makes a lot of sense, get the max out of the 100ed, i recently downgraded from a 120 evostar to the tal 100rs, i figured the tal would have a slight edge due to being a bit smaller, and lighter plus excellent optics and crayford focuser, its worked out right