I posted a long review of this scope which has disappeared into cyberspace. Here is the short version.
--It's superb. The focuser has a very similar feel to TV Pronto, and even the knobs are the same size and have the same texture on the rubber grip rings. The draw tube has a lot of travel so I can't imagine any eyepiece not coming to focus on this scope.
--This scope does indeed appear to give apochromatic performance. Mars was totally color free as was Vega. I have not had a chance to view the moon yet.
--The scope has slightly less pin-cushon distortion than Pronto. And, it does not have the yellow ring often seen in apo's when viewing through the eyepiece at a slight angle. That really surprised me.
--Optically, it's better than Pronto and very close to TV85. I know that won't set well with some but that is my experience with both. It's much closer to TV85 than Pronto, and I suspect it would compare well with TV76 or any TAK in it's aperture. It's amazing, and I "DO NOT" say that lightly.
--There are three light baffels in the optical tube and they are probably partially responsible for the nice dark sky and good contrast. The tube is nicely blackened inside and it produces that nice velvet black sky that I have come to appreciate from more expensive refractors. The contrast is really nice in this scope, as it is in the Pronto also.
--The objective cell is machined out of one piece of aluminum, and looks like it's built like a tank. See the picture posted with this thread. Also, the lens cell threads onto the optical tube-no more screws. You can remove it any number of times, for travel or storage, and still have perfect collimation.
--Speaking of collimation, my example is perfect. It gives nice round diffraction rings on both sides of focus and snaps to a sharp focus. I really pushed it last night on Mars. At 375X, the view was quite reasonable and had absolutely no color. That was just to test the optics for color correction and see how it held up under unreasonable power. It was excellent at 275X. I haven't looked at the moon yet but I suspect it will be nearly or totally color free. Orion/Synta really did it. This scope will change everything, and some of the guys with much more expensive scopes will feel the need to "defend" themselves from it's success. If the multi-thousand dollar apo guys want to flame me, or this scope, here's fair warning... you'll be doing it by yourself. I have better things to do than get involved with such nonsense and I have no intention to argue about it. This scope is a winner! That's my personal opinion, based on the observations I made with this scope. Your opinion may not be the same but I'm very impressed. --More pictures to follow. -Kurt Horsley
--It's superb. The focuser has a very similar feel to TV Pronto, and even the knobs are the same size and have the same texture on the rubber grip rings. The draw tube has a lot of travel so I can't imagine any eyepiece not coming to focus on this scope.
--This scope does indeed appear to give apochromatic performance. Mars was totally color free as was Vega. I have not had a chance to view the moon yet.
--The scope has slightly less pin-cushon distortion than Pronto. And, it does not have the yellow ring often seen in apo's when viewing through the eyepiece at a slight angle. That really surprised me.
--Optically, it's better than Pronto and very close to TV85. I know that won't set well with some but that is my experience with both. It's much closer to TV85 than Pronto, and I suspect it would compare well with TV76 or any TAK in it's aperture. It's amazing, and I "DO NOT" say that lightly.
--There are three light baffels in the optical tube and they are probably partially responsible for the nice dark sky and good contrast. The tube is nicely blackened inside and it produces that nice velvet black sky that I have come to appreciate from more expensive refractors. The contrast is really nice in this scope, as it is in the Pronto also.
--The objective cell is machined out of one piece of aluminum, and looks like it's built like a tank. See the picture posted with this thread. Also, the lens cell threads onto the optical tube-no more screws. You can remove it any number of times, for travel or storage, and still have perfect collimation.
--Speaking of collimation, my example is perfect. It gives nice round diffraction rings on both sides of focus and snaps to a sharp focus. I really pushed it last night on Mars. At 375X, the view was quite reasonable and had absolutely no color. That was just to test the optics for color correction and see how it held up under unreasonable power. It was excellent at 275X. I haven't looked at the moon yet but I suspect it will be nearly or totally color free. Orion/Synta really did it. This scope will change everything, and some of the guys with much more expensive scopes will feel the need to "defend" themselves from it's success. If the multi-thousand dollar apo guys want to flame me, or this scope, here's fair warning... you'll be doing it by yourself. I have better things to do than get involved with such nonsense and I have no intention to argue about it. This scope is a winner! That's my personal opinion, based on the observations I made with this scope. Your opinion may not be the same but I'm very impressed. --More pictures to follow. -Kurt Horsley
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