TV-76/TV-85 vs. 6" Reflector w/Royce Mirror

I am in the market again for a grab and go scope and was almost set on a TV-76 or TV-85 when I found a UTI 6" F/5 with a Royce primary for a similar price.

I have never owned a reflector, but have owned several APO's and an SCT. I am curious, all things aside, if the 6" with the premium optics will outperform the TV-85 for example.

Caveat: My viewing consists of observing mostly planets and luna from a 3rd floor apartment balcony. I do make infrequent trips to dark skies when my travel/work/school schedule permits, so there is some DSO work.

The 6" will absolutely outperform either of those refractors. It's a huge aperture advantage.

No matter how you look at it, the 6" you named is the way to go...

Hi Joe,

I live at the beach and enjoy "grab and go" lunar and planetary viewing from my deck. Over the last few years I have gone through several scopes trying to get the right combination of performance and ease of use. My most recent refractor was a Televue 85 on a Gibralter mount which gave wonderful views. But, much as I liked it, my old 6" Dynascope outperformed it and was just as easy to carry out and set up. So I sold the TV85. The UTI-6 looks like a fabulous scope and is far more compact than the Dynascope. Under good conditions a 6" scope easily puts away any 3" scope, even highly touted APOs ( I have owned Pentax, Takahashi, Showa and TV APOs in the 3" to 4" range) but the reflector will require collimation now and then and is more sensitive to cool-down and seeing.

As an aside, a few months ago we had a spell of really good seeing and I squeezed my Takahashi FS-152 along side the 6" reflector and TV 85 to view Jupiter. Both of the 6" scopes beat the TV 85 in terms of detail and image brightness. The 152 was clearly better but the old reflector put up a really good image. Better contrast and lack of diffraction (and superb Takahashi optics) gave the large refractor the win. But the Dynascope was a one-trip set up and cost 1/25th what the Tak did.

Joe Krzizike said:

I am in the market again for a grab and go scope and was almost set on a TV-76 or TV-85 when I found a UTI 6" F/5 with a Royce primary for a similar price.

I have never owned a reflector, but have owned several APO's and an SCT. I am curious, all things aside, if the 6" with the premium optics will outperform the TV-85 for example.

Caveat: My viewing consists of observing mostly planets and luna from a 3rd floor apartment balcony. I do make infrequent trips to dark skies when my travel/work/school schedule permits, so there is some DSO work.

The 6" will win everytime! Nothing can beat a well made Newt for the price. I have a 8" F/8 with Royce optics, no smaller refrator can come close on the planets or deepsky!

Chas

Hi Joe
From the replies you have recieved there is no doubt the reflector will beat the smaller refractors. However, you made 2 statements that may bugger up the works, "grab and go" and "3rd floor apartment balcony". While the Ute may not be too bad concerning grab and go, set up and cool down will be a bit longer, your decision here. The other statement brings to mind guard rails on apartment balconies. Because of the position of the Uti, will the guard rails or other limitations cause problems while viewing? Only you will know. Obviously from your experience you know a refractor setting higher on top of a tripod works and is OK from the balcony.
Just a thought
Buck

8)
Joe
There is another issue here. Without knowing the specifics of your observing location, thermal effects from your building could definatly create local "seeing" effects and place a limitation on usable magnification. Such a limitation could negate the optical advantage of a 6" premium newtonian.
That having been said, I sometimes chuckle to myself at the extremes of the apo mystique. No matter how you slice the MTF, a well colimated/baffled 6" Royce Newtonian (with a small secondary) cruising at 200x is going to out perform a 76/85 apo "redlining" at the same magnification.
Clear and steady skies.
Joe
102mm apo, 6" RV-6, 12" Swayze, 16" Royce Conical on order!

It seems like the 6" is a winner. Good stuff, I've never owned one before. If the views are indeed as good or better than my old FS102, then the few extra minutes allotted for cool down time/collimation are worth it in my opinion.

Equipment decisions....always tough.

Thanks for all of the replies thus far! I've unsuccessfully searched high and low for the extensive information posted by you folks in the last few hours!