premium diagonal, worth the money with Asian refra

Ok, here’s another one. Would it be worth the expense of say, a Tele Vue Everbrite – around $190 US, to enhance my viewing pleasure with an Orion 120mm - f/8.4 achromat? The factory piece is cheap feeling and plastic. If the TVE is overkill, any recommendations for something more adequate. BTW - the EPs (coated Sirius Plossls) seem pretty good though I do plan on getting better, wider angle units in the future…big surprise eh…

The factory units can do a pretty decent job. However, over the years I have owned 6 or 7 of em and have checked the collimation, only was on the money, most are quite far out. They are easy to disassemble and remounting the mirror has generally resolved the collimation (alignment.)

A better quality diagonal can make a difference IME, though not a huge difference unless there is something really wrong with the OEM diagonal.

I have several diagonals including a TV Everbright 2 inch and a Burgess OPtical 2 inch. I have compared them and in truth don't see a lot of difference.

But, if you are going to buy a new diagonal, I recommend getting a 2 inch Diagonal, that will allow you to use 2 inch eyepieces and get some nice wide field views. Williams Optics makes some diagonals that have a good reputation and are less expensive than the TV and Astrophysics models.

A good 2 inch Dielectric diagonal can cost more than the OTA so one has to be a bit careful here.

jon

One "in-between" option is the Williams Optics diagonals. I got a 2" version a couple of years ago when I was using a C102 refractor. This was a nice upgrade from the diagonal that came with the scope, plus it allowed use of a 2" eyepiece. These are more affordable than the dialectric models, but should still be a significant upgrade.

Gary