Posts Made By: Jim Carpenter

Stellarvue has been doing this for at least a couple of years on certain of their refractors which are optimized for binoviewing. They now have a couple of models that have basically a shorter main tube, but provide an extension tube that fits into the focuser for mono viewing.

Jim

See msg #374378 in Equipment Talk

Jim

I had one of the small Nextstar mounts that I tried for a while with my Stellarvue Nighthawk but I didn't keep it. The biggest problem with these mounts is the cheesy little tripod. If you put it on a light surveyor tripod or one of the heavier Bogen tripods it would undoubtedly perform better, but by the time you assemble all that stuff plus the Baader dovetail, etc, you'd almost be at the cost of a used CG5-AT.

There is a Yahoo group dedicated to the small Nexstar mounts at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BabyNexstar/

Jim

Welcome to the club, Jeff.

Jim

Looks great to me!

Jim

Hi Gerald,
I saw your original post on the other forum and couldn't believe you were talking about the same Vic Maris that I know and have dealt with for the past several years. I'm glad you got the misunderstanding cleared up and have the scope back in better-than-new condition. The SV85L is an awesome instrument, and the many folks who get a chance to peek at Mars through it will truly have an appreciation for what an excellent 85mm refractor can do. I have an SV85S, the short tube sibling of your 85L. It's a shame these were discontinued in favor of the 80mm triplets, because they certainly push the limits for a doublet apo. Kudos to Vic and Stellarvue, and hats off to you for publicly setting things straight.

Jim

David,
Vic Maris gave a good description of the design for the 2" SV diagonal a few months ago on the Stellarvue Yahoo group. Check message #42679 there to see the message.

Jim

Hi Pete,

I had one of the early AT1002's from the first run back in the late spring of 2000. In common parlance at the time, it was known simply as the "Stellarvue 80mm/f6." The AT1002 eventually evolved into the AT1010 and thence to the current Nighthawk Classic. It had an cemented doublet objective and a 1.25" R&P focuser, although for a while I believe there was a "deluxe" version that had a 2" R&P focuser. The original batch of 1.25" focusers had a longer drawtube which reduced effective aperture a bit, but later runs used a shorter drawtube which solved that problem. Owners of scopes in the first run were offered a free exchange on the drawtube. I later changed my focuser to the 2" R&P that was used in the AT1010. The dewshield was fixed rather than sliding as on the Nighthawk. I believe the AT1002 was made from spring 2000 perhaps through mid-2001 (not sure of the latter date). The AT1002's did not have serial numbers, so the only way to trace the date of manufacture would be through an ownership trail. All in all, the AT1002 was a great little scope. I kept mine for four years and only traded it to get a Nighthawk because of the sliding dew shield so I would have a more compact travel package. Any difference in optical performance is imperceptible to my eye.

Summary of differences:
* Objective -- AT1002 80mm/f6 doublet achro, cemented, non-user adjustable cell; AT1010 80mm/f6doublet achro, air spaced, non-user adjustable cell; Nighthawk 80mm/f6 doublet achro, air spaced, user adjustable cell.
* Focuser -- AT1002 1.25" R&P; AT1010 2" R&P; Nighthawk 2" R&P (early models) or 2" Crayford (later models).
* Rings: AT1002 basic hinged rings (2); AT1010/Nighthawk single clamshell type ring, deluxe hinged rings optional.
* Dewshield: AT1002, AT1010 fixed; Nighhawk sliding.
* Standard Finder -- SV red dot unity type.

The big changes between AT1002 and AT1010 were the air-spaced lens and the 2" focuser. The big changes between the AT1010 and Nighthawk were the adjustable lens cell and the sliding dewshield.

Hope this helps...There is also an interesting history of the early Stellarvue telescopes in the Files section of the Yahoo Stellarvue group.

Jim

Mauricio,
This topic has been debated ad infinitum here and on other forums. As Hugh suggested, there are a lot of variables, but it's generally accepted that any expensive and/or fragile item should be double boxed and packed in solid foam, not foam peanuts which have a tendancy to shift. You can buy sheets of solid foam rigid insulation at home improvement stores and cut it to custom sizes with a box cutter or utility knife. If you're shipping a Newt it's best to remove the mirror and pack it separately. If the scope is really large or heavy, you might consider a rigid container made from plywood or OSB (oriented strand board). The sad reality is, no matter how well you pack and which carrier you use, if there's shipping damage you'll have a battle on your hands to recover your losses. Good luck,

Jim

Wayne,
I'm not sure if the Porta Mount uses the standard Vixen dovetail or not. You might check out the Stellarvue TP5 plate and see if that would work for you. On the Stellarvue website, click Accessories>Mounting Rings and Hardware, then scroll down the page a bit.

Jim