Posts Made By: Vladimir Fedosov

Ok here is the rundown on my current situation. I own a 10" LX-200 and love the scope. Unfortunately it is not the quickest thing to setup and does not work to well as a spotter/grab and go rig. With the current deals on the ETX's going on I decide on Friday that I could not go wrong and ordered a ETX 90EC(with UHTC) to use as a grab and go scope/spotter. Now I'm having second thoughts. Reason: I have a set of premium 2” eyepieces and I can’t use them in the ETX. The ETX has a narrow FOV. TV Pronto looks cuter. :-) You guys think that even if a used TV Pronto with a mount is a few hundred more is a better choice? The good thing is that astronomics will not ship out the ETX till Monday so if I call them in the morning on Monday I could probably still cancel the order. Thanks.

Hi I had the thread on whether I should get a etx-90 or pronto, and I decided that a small APO refractor is the best way to go. Thank You all for helping me with that choice. Just in case you did not read the first tread here is my current situation: I own a 10" LX-200 and I'm very happy with it but I need a very portable scope for use as a grab and go/quick look/spotter. I have narrowed down the scopes to 3: Tak fs-78, TV-76, TV-85. My priorities are as follows: portability then price then aperture. So the question is: is the extra few mm of the tv-85 worth the extra cost/size? Also from what I understand the Tak-fs78 is not quite as small as you would think. Does it perform better then the TV's? Thanks for your suggestions/comments.

Hi now that I bought a tv-85 to use as a grab and go scope(still waiting patiently for delivery) I have been thinking of getting a Meade - Starfinder Dobsonian Deluxe 16" f/4.5 to replace my Meade 10" LX-200 for deep sky viewing and for serious planetary work. Question is: is the extra light grasp of the 16" worth the extra size/weight? Also would premium 2" eyepieces cause a balancing problem with the scope(like the 31 & 20 Nags)? The goto on my LX-200 is great and accurate but I find that I miss the hunt for the elusive mag 13 galaxy and such. Or do you guys think that I would be better of with a 14" LX-200. Astrophotography is not an issue; I'm totally a visual observer of primarily DSO. Thanks.

Not to start to much controversy and I will say that I love Nagler's products but doesn’t it seem that the prices on the nagler eyepieces increase without any reason with every new "type". I own several Naglers and love them all but to me it just seems Al is trying to milk the armature astronomy community just because he can, mainly because he does not have much competition. Look at the prices of the new type 6 eyepieces. The glass in them is not that much larger or more special to make them over $100 more then the older style. How rich do you need to be?????? Just an observation. What do you think?

Hi I just got a TV-85 and the focuser does not want to come out after the first 1-2mm's. The tension screw on top is all the way lose. I don’t want to force it any. Keep in mind that I just got it vie UPS but it does not appear that there is any physical damage to the scope. Any ideas?

Hi folks, this is for those of you who are considering buying an APO and just can bring yourself to plunk down the big bucks, or for someone like me who just loves to read the astromart forums. So why did I want to go out and spend more money on a 85mm APO then I did on my primary scope a 10”LX-200? Well it’s quite simple really. I have wanted an APO for a long time and I needed a scope that was very fast to setup or in better terms no setup, as I can just grab it with mount and carry it out in one piece. I have also noticed that I use my 10” almost exclusively for DSO’s when I have most of the night because I find that it is just too much trouble to setup and break down the scope for exclusively planetary or moon viewing. I also wanted to start observing double stars and variables. So after a deal came up on astromart I got a TV-85 with Panoramic mount. Well I got the scope yesterday, and if you saw my initial post the scope did attain some pretty minor damage to the focusing mechanism. But forgetting about that, here is what I have observed about the scope and thru the scope. First of: pictures make this scope look small. When I first took it out I had to check if it really was a 85 and not the 102. Much larger then I expected. It is heavy in the sense that it is much more heavier then a c102 f/5 that I had. The focuser is indeed buttery smooth( in the part where there is no damage). The craftsmanship is amazing. It is built like a tank and could probably withstand a nuclear blast intacked with no damage the lenses. The lenses cap is something like 5mm thick of solid aluminum. Well I was a bit concerned that the collimation was out of wack since it was quite obvious that UPS take no notice of the endless “fragile handle with care” sings on the box. Even before it got dark I pointed the scope to the brightest star I could see. Here is where I was Wowed. I have never ever seen such perfect collimation patterns. In other words perfect on both sides of focus. That was a major relief. At this point it was still too bright to find most double stars and no chance for DSO so Jupiter was first on my list. Here is where my socks where blown off. Moons are perfect little round dots. I have NEVER seen the moons of Jupiter this beautify in any scope I had previously. Now of to the disk of Jupiter. Continued on next post.

Anyone observe Jupiter at about 9:20 Pacific time and see a rather large festoon right by the GRS? Or was it just my eyes playing tricks on me? I only had 120x to work with in the TV-85 and it sure looked like the seeing would support about 170x. Getting the 3.5 nag to cover that ground. Take a look at the sketch attached.

Hi folks, after buying a TV-85 APO I have been somewhat mesmerized by the APO performance, contrast and pure image sharpness which has led me to considering selling my 10” LX-200 and buying a 7” Meade APO to replace it as my “light bucket”. Currently the TV-85 delivers planetary images that rival that of the 10” so I can only imagine what a 7” APO can do. I’m thinking that deep sky objects will look much better in the 7” then the 10” SCT. What do you guys think?

First of I would like to say this: Oh my God what have I done?????????? On Friday I just sold my superb classic 10” LX-200 with Mars only a few weeks away form the grand approach. Ok that said my situation is not “that” bad because I still have my very fine T-85. I also have a Meade AR-6 on order and it is supposed to come sometime next week(at least the manager at Scopecity in San Francisco promised that it would). But now to the question that I would like to ask you all. What scope should I get for a “light bucket” type of use. My three top scopes right now are as fallows: ether a c14 or LX-200 14” or a Meade 7” APO. Ok and now you’re probably like WOW dude a 7” aint no light bucket. You’re absolutely right but I have wanted one ever since I got my TV-85. No mater what you may think but an APO performs a LOT better on everything then a SCT. By better I mean gives sharper views and stars are nice little orbs and not little comets or blobs. The SCT of course throws up brighter images but to tell you the truth I’m starting to lean more towards the sharpness factor more. So what do you think? And should I be considering a big DOB? I kind of don’t like them because you must use a ladder. I like to sit when I observe. Thanks for your advice.

Hi I ordered a Meade AR6 specifically for this Mars opposition form Scopecity in San Francisco. When I brought it home and tested it I found out that the collimation is way off and the rear lens seems to be loose in the cell. When you rotate the scope you can hearer something rattling in there. I called up the dealer from who I bought it form and he was more then happy to work with Meade to get me a new scope. But when it became apparent that there is basically no way Meaed can get me a scope in time for mars because they do not have any in stock, I asked the dealer for a refund so that I could order an AR6 form B&H in New Yoke(they have them in stock and ready to ship) he refused. Apparently the policy is that you can’t return anything no mater what!!!! He made no mention of this prior to the purchase. What do you guys think? Should I get a refund? After all this is a once in a lifetime thing we are talking about. Right now the only scope I have is a TV-85 and that’s simply not that good of a scope for planets(although I'm constantly amazed by what is can do). I’m just kind of bummed right now… Thanks.