Image of the day

Captured by
Terry Wood

Jupiter (clearer) Nov 5th 2023 w/Mewlon 180c

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Televue 85 vs Intes MK66

Started by klipy, 08/17/2003 04:02AM
Posted 08/17/2003 04:02AM Opening Post
I am a lunar, planet, some DSO(Orion, M57)observer. Which one should I go with?
Posted 08/17/2003 04:47AM #1
What do you have right now, Robert? How hectic is your lifestyle? Do you want to casually look or take a more serious approach?

Ron B[ee]
Posted 08/17/2003 04:48AM #2
I have a TV-85 which I love. I've never seen or used a the Intes. But I can still give opinions and advice! A few comments: The TV excels at wide views (not only wide views!). Check the FOV on the Intes. I suspect at a higher f ratio it will have a narrower FOV. That's important to me. Is it important to you?

The TV comes with a 2" Everbright diagonal and clamshell mount, and a 20mm plossl eyepiece. The Intes unless 'packaged' by a seller doesn't. If you need to buy a diagonal or mounting items that will narrow the price difference between the two.

The TV will need a barlow or higher mag eyepieces to get you the same magnification as the Intes. The Intes should do higher magnification than the TV before petering out. Now, magnification is in my mind often given too much importance, because frequently the atmosphere limits usable magnification anyway. If you have an idea how the air is where you live you may figure out if you would get to use higher magnifications frequently or rarely.
Finally, if this is your first scope plan out ahead of time 3 levels of magnification, high, medium and low magnifications and get eyepieces and/or a barlow to meet those goals. Otherwise, you'll be like me with 10 eyepieces and still some 'gaps' in magnifaction 'zones!'*
Do you have a mount in mind?

Steven

*That problem arises when you have 4 telecopes of different types and f/ratios, and end up buying one eyepiece that's great on one telescope and almost irrelevant on the others...

The only thing wrong with censorship is [deleted].

Posted 08/17/2003 04:26PM #3
Robert, something you should consider when considering any of the fine Russian Maks is cool down time. Depending on what temp you keep the scope at relative to the outdoor temp, and depending on how fast your night temps drop, cool down time can be a real hassle with the Maks.

Mike Swaim