Televue 102.

I read a review in one of the magazines a while back about the 102 televue. Ive heard a lot of good things about the scope, but have never seen one. I was wondering what the inside of the tube is like. I believe I read theres no baffels? is it just painted flat black or something? Seems a little odd.
Also, how are the focusers on these?
Tony.

Hello there Tony,

You heard lots of good things right about the Tele Vue-102!

Actually there are thousands of baffles, according to Steve
White. Inside tube material is not paint, but some rough
material I don't know what. When looking through the tube
at night at the moon, it's quite black. Tele Vue has been
using this design successfully for a very long time. BTW,
the "perfect" mark given by S&T review of the NP-101 also
uses the same design. For this reason, the Tele Vue OTA
is smaller in diameter and lighter than comparable OTA with
knife edged baffles.

The focuser is butterly smooth and IMO comparable to the
Takahashi which also has a butterly smooth feel to it
(though I prefer the Tele Vue larger knob with rubber
ring).

To find out more about the TV-102 in addition to the
reviews scattered through out the web, please join us at
the Tele Vue eGroup.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeleVue/
And if you're really interested in finding out what a TV-102
can do, I invite you to visit this site (recently upgraded
to include planets and the Moon.)
http://members.cox.net/ronby/Palatable_4-inch.htm

Ron the Happy TV-102 Owner B[ee]

My TV-102 has given me more pleasure than anything else I have been able to get by buying it, and at age 56 I have bought a lot of stuff. It has shown me some of the most beautiful images I have seen.

Does exactly what it is supposed to do, a joy to use, and still new-looking after 2 years of intensive use.

Focuser is superb. Contrast is superb. Color correction is superb, but maybe not perfect, perfect, perfect.

There are some things a TV-102 does not do as well as other scopes, like dim deep sky, or the kind of maxed-out planetary performance you could get from a bigger APO, and that could be a real problem. If you own a TV-102 and would like to expand your horizons, you are not going to want to sell the TV-102 to do it. That's the bind I'm in now.

But I'm not selling the TV-102. Ever.

Steve