D&G refractors

Anybody have any experience with D&G refractors? I was thinking of getting a 6" f/12 for mainly visual use. Thanks,

Debbie

Debbie,

I have heard that these are great. I'm ordering a 5" f15. Two reviews are on Cloudy Nights. Both have great things to say about the scopes that we're considering. I'm hoping that this will be a great scope for doubles.

I've done a good deal of questioning on these forums about D&G, and I've not heard anything negative about them.

Gary

I have good friend who owns a D&G 5 inch f/12. It's a wonderful scope, with wondeful views. I have an MN 56, and on a particularly good night of viewing, for New England we put them head to head on Saturn. Seeing started to limit magnification at about 220x for both scopes. True color was definitely better in the D&G, largely because the image was brighter (as one would expect). There was less false color with the Mak Newtoian, as one would expect (as it's an APO). I have never found the color to be ojectionable on the D&G.

The MN 56 is more practicle for me. It's 30 inches long, mounts nicely on a Super Polaris, and is better for widefield because it is f/6. Much as I like the D&G it's huge, and his new mount is "huger." Neither of us would trade scopes. But, if you are set up for a permanent or semi-permanent installation, D&G are the long focus way to go, and you would not be dissappointed.

I picked-up a second hand D&G 6" F15 a couple months
ago and am thrilled with it.

Planetary and double star images are superb. Double
stars make beautiful pairs of Airy disks. Star
clusters are good, too. However, on faint
galaxies you are suddenly reminded its only a 6" scope.

I use it with a Chromacor lens that fits inside
the focusser and removes essentially all the false
color. It modifies the focussing of different
colors so that they all focus near the same point.
Vega shows a very faint violet halo, but thats the
only object so far where I see any false color.
The color correction reminds me alot of the TV102
APO telescopes.

Side-by-side comparisons with a superb 6" Mak-Newt
show similar images, but in general the images look
steadier in the D&G and the light is more concentrated
in the Airy disk with less light in the first
Airy ring. The D&G cools very fast and is almost
free of thermal air currents, etc.

I do not have it permanantly mounted, but instead
haul it out every night. It is alot of scope
move in and out of the house, but still it takes
only about 10 - 15 minutes to setup. It is remarkably
light-weight for its size.

Wind IS a problem. Unless you have it on a very
substantial mount, the least wind will cause images
to wander around in the eyepiece. The long tube
makes for a significant moment-arm for the wind to
catch. I think this is where a dome would help alot.