GSO focuser visual back

Is the visual back/eyepiece holder on the GSO/Antares focusers threaded on to the draw tube or are they one piece?

Thanks,
Brad

Hi: As far as I can tell, the drawtubes on the Newtonian focusers are one piece, there is no removable visual back.

Jon

I have one on my 4" refractor and will check for you when I get home tonight.

I have a C102 f/5 with a GSO on it.....appears to be one piece. Cant say I am all that impressed with the quality of the GSO either......this scope already had one on it when I bought it..... I suppose it is better than the non-rotatable stock synta focusers but IMO its not $170 better

If you have not bought one yet I would suggest you save a few more dollars and buy a GOOD focuser.

On a good note, I just bought this C102 not for myself but rather a guy that works for me who had expressed an intrest in joining us in this hobby as a thank you for being a great employee......The kicker is I evaluated it the night it arrived and found it to be an exceptionally well corrected little scope.....at f/5 and $210 new it should be quite colorful on bright objects....I would say the optics in this little scope are 1/6 wave or better....If you get the focus just right on the moon there is only the smallest hint of color you have to try hard to see using a 8mm Hyperion. Saturn was crisp and sharp with no detectable color using a 7mm Pentax XW stacked on a 2x powermate.

Much better than I would expect out of an 4" f/5 achro OTA that can be bought new for $210......while I am sure it was luck of the draw coming off the assembly line it is so good I almost want to keep it and find something else to give him lol......Sorry, didnt mean to ramble.....I just get excited when I run up on something so exceptional unexpectedly

I bought it from Ken Dauzat of Rings and Things used and he told me I was going to be impressed by the lack of color and its performance on planets etc and he also said it was 1/6 wave or better. I took it with a grain of salt but he wasnt kidding.....

If you do go with the GSO then see this link....you may need the info:


http://www.agenaastro.com/Articles.asp?ID=179

Greg

Brad Bassett said:

Is the visual back/eyepiece holder on the GSO/Antares focusers threaded on to the draw tube or are they one piece?

Thanks,
Brad

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll take apart the stock R&P focuser (C80ED) and see if there are any mods I can make to improve it. Really the only issue is that there is some image shift. I've adjusted it to the nth degree but can't get it all out. It seems to me that it would have been so easy to design it better without increasing the expense.

I'm also considering having my Virtual View machined to fit on the drawtube in place of the stock visual back, I like it so much. I'd have to deal with lack of in focus then however. If all I had to do was shorten the tube that would be fine, but the focuser is threaded onto the tube on this scope. I don't want to go to the trouble of re-threading the tube. When I think about it I still come to the conclusion that the scope is not worth that much trouble. I should have spent just a little more and bought an Orion version of this scope instead.

Brad