SV102ED - mini review

For those interested in reasonably priced ED refractors, I've had several clear nights for evaluation of my new Stellarvue SV102ED. The scope arrived in its (optional) airline-portable hard case in perfect condition and collimation. It is nicely built, displaying excellent fit and finish and obvious attention to detail and quality control. The retracting dew shield moves with precision, and the standard dual-speed focuser ( though not quite as nice as the optional FeatherTouch) is very smooth and accurate : no image shift whatsoever. Optically, the scope star tests very well: no spherical aberration or astigmatism. Fresnel rings are sharp and cleanly defined with a bit of out-of-focus color. Chromatic aberration is well controlled: much better than I expected. Testing the SV against a superb Tak TSA102 triplet, I found the SV its equal on deep-sky objects: pinpoint stars against a very dark background. Views of the first quarter moon with the SV showed wonderful contrast and sharp detail at 101x with no hint of false color. At 203x, the image remained very sharp with the slightest hint of deep red in crater shadows. Jupiter showed a solid black dot in a Ganymede shadow transit and excellent high-contrast detail in the belt and zone structure. The Tak displayed just a bit better contrast and color purity. On double stars, the SV easily resolves to Dawes' limit, but a splash of red appears in the first diffraction ring of brighter stars (Epsilon Bootis A, Antares, etc.) at higher powers when the seeing deteriorates. Epsilon Lyrae is beautifully resolved into 4 sharp pinpoints at 203x, though the stars take on a slight yellowish cast because of the residual color error. Overall, I'm VERY impressed. The SV yields a better image than the 2 Borg 101ED's that I owned and also outperforms the Vixen ED102 f/6.5. Given the limitations of the SV102ED's glass types, short f/ratio, and low price, I believe it to be an excellent deal. I'll be writing a full review for ASTROMART in the near future.

Clear and steady skies,
Larry Carlino

Thank you Lawrence, for that carefully worded, concise review! You answered several of my lingering questions about this scope, particularly regarding the level of color correction and comparisons to the borg 101 and old vixen f/6.5. I'm looking forward to your extended review!

I'm glad I found your post, it had gotten buried under the current monster thread on this forum...

George

Thanks for that report Larry. There's a lot of good information in that paragraph. I'll be looking forward to your full review.

David E

Larry:

Thank you for the review! I have been so busy aligning 90T lenses that I have not been able to tune in here lately. We are all very pleased that you are enjoying your 102ED.

btw: Right now we are finishing up the tube prep and will be powdercoating 60 more 102ED tubes in about one week. So in about 3 - 4 weeks, we should have all of the wait list orders filled and stock on the shelf. At least for a short while.


Clear skies

Vic Maris

Larry - thanks for posting that execellent quick review. Even though its only a paragraph its one of the more thorough reviews of the 102Ed that I've seen so far.

Phil