Ceravolo Mak-Newts

I'm a confirmed lover of fine refractors, but I bought a Ceravolo 145 f/6 just to see what it is like. Boy is it ever fine, what an impressive telescope, it goes to the mat with refractors of equal aperture.

So I ask, is this typical of the maker? Has anyone else experience with this make, which I do know is no longer in production? Is there any other maker producing 8 or 10 or 12 inch Maks of similar quality? I've owned or tried Maks by several of the Russian makers, Takahashi Mewlon, and of course the universally available SCTs but this is the most impressive non-refractor I have seen.

Robert Howe

I've sometimes wondered about the cool-down time on
the Ceravolo scopes. How is it in that regard?
Are there any fans, etc.?

Most of the Russian Mak-Newts I've seen were quite
excellent. There was a superb 12" Mak-Newt by
APM (Markus Ludes) at Winter Star Party couple years
back with Russian Optics. I think if you got one
with an interferogram showing 1/9 wave PTV wavefront
optics, you could not ask for much better.

I recently had a 10" f/4 Mak Newt with optics by Intes-Micro and sold by ITE. Although initially optomisitic about its performance I was very disappointed with the overall fit and finish of the scope (compared to my Tak and AP scopes). Also, it would never come to collimation. The collimation of the primary was very sloppy and dispite sending it back to ITE twice it could never be collimated. Even when ITE said it was collimated it was not even close. I had other astronomers (who were very adept at collimation) look at it and they could not get it collimated.

Despite these set backs I would still like to revisit a quality Mak Newt again. I would not get an ITE scope again, but would consider an APM/Wirth custom scope.

Tom