Posts Made By: James Idone

You might want to look close at the Intes MK66 which is very close to the spec's of the TEC6. The scope in the standard format sells for around $1150 US dollars and comes with a zero image shift focuser, will accept most SCT accesories, very nice 10X50 finder, dew shield included plus the bottom plate will adapt to most dovetail mounts and its about 13lbs. I purchased mine for ITE aproximate order time is 3 months but they may have some in stock plus it came with an optical certification fro an optical designer in jupiter Fla
with 1/6th wave or better PTV wavefront, 94% strehl ratio and image spot size of 17 microns. What I like about this scope is that ITE optically and mechaniclly test each of the russain scopes they sell threw this optical shop, backs it up with excellent service plus are the only USA dealer with parts and are autherized Intes Intes/micro repair, nobody else does the repair on these scopes, they would have to go back to russia or germany for repair. I mostly like panetary work and find this scope does very well plus you can place it on a Vixen GP or clone with very good results but a GM8 would be very nice as well. There's also a deluxe one that has slighly better specs for a few dollars more. One thing that I will tell you that even with excellent optics I find the built quality of this Intes scope and fit and finish is really very good, very close to TV,AP and Tak.

This is under light infested skies (about a 4) in the burbs of LI. Intes MK66 on the back yard deck.
Double Double in Lyra-like 4 diamonds at 225X
M57- perfect cloud ring between 60X to 120X
the boys M13 & M92-good detail to the core, nice exteneded detail at the outer edge
M15-very much like M13
M2- dito
M29- very nice detail
M11 - nice detail in the center
M10 & M12- very much like M13
M31- much deatil with more time at the ep you could make out the extentions but need darker skies.
Most powers on the objects were between 60x to 80X
I was also up early on the morning of the 5th, very windy but at 4am est Saturn was just so sweet at around 150X with 2 to seen easy, ring division and very bright even around 300X. Jupiter was still to low in the sky yet. M42 was just as I remember it like the flower in the fall sky perfect between 120x to 150X. Cannot wait till I get the new scope to a dark site, its been raining in NY for 2 weeks so even though the skies are not the most stable its good the there at least clear, enjoy, Jim.

Has anyone tried these ep's out yet, compared there performance. They seem to have a nice FOV with good ER plus they adapt to many of the new digital cameras out today. Thanks, Jim.

Over the past year I have tried a few of the Sirius filters. The first was a CE1 which didn't really seem to improve contrast on my MK66 or Antares 4.7" refractor. I sent it back and they sent me a NPC1 after a long dealay (3 months plus) I finally got my hand on this baby and it did deliver excellent results but do to an unfortunate miss handeling of this filter at a recent star party in which it was droped on the ground onto wet grass I now own a very poor NPC1. This filter is a 2" model which is not cheap and I have e mailed Sirius optics about this with no reply at all and have used the new contrast filter by Celestron which is only a 11/4" model yet its perfpormance is close to the NPC1 before its tragic fall. My advice to folks looking at some of these filter is make sure before you purchase these filters you understand how delicate they are, and before you buy fully understand you use this under this risk.
Good Luck, Jim.

Sky Watcher Telescopes have stated on there web site that they have 120Ed in stock, has anyone seen,owned or used these scope yet, thanks James.

Till the end of this month Discovery is having a great sale on a few good dobs(PDHQ)and the price on the 12.5" split tube is $1349 plus shipping($105). I was all set to buy a 12" GSO with re figured mirror and secondary plus some upgrades but the 12.5" discovery PDHQ is an awsome buy. I would like to get some other views on thses scope before I order. The modified GSO scopes with upgraded mirrors run between $1200 to $1500 and for a base GSO lets say the Antares 12" dob runs around $850 plus shipping($85). Thanks James. 8)

I just got a very nice gift from my wife about a week ago, a stellarvue binovue, I tried it out on my M603 MCT and worked great but on the ED80 it seem to need another 1/2" of in focus that the ED80 does not have. I also tried there 1.9X adapter lens and a 1.25" diagonal instead of my 2" diagonal.
I have looked on Orions site and they say to use there binovue with a shorty barlow to get there ED80 to focus. I called Stellarvue and frankly was told that there binovue was designed around there scopes, they dont support there products for use with other scopes, just there own. I was wondering if anyone out here has found an easy solution cause at this point I'm ready to send it back, Thanks James.

I had just picked up a real nice Intes Micro M6511, the scope is in real nice condition, no dents or scratches but the optics do seem that they need a cleaning. The corrector and secondary are real easy and I have already done them(secondary just needed to be blown off with a camera bulb) but the primary mirror seems to have more than just a few dust spots, more like dew marks, like it was taken outside then brought back in and not left open to adjust to the temps properly. I have never taken the back off one of these and wonder how its done, its the newer cream colored ota and has the vents by the corrector. The scope tests fine but I like all optical surfaces cleaned proper. Thanks Jim.

I have seen a bunch on other forums about the Explore Scientific 82 degree newer style ep's, the newer style have the rubber fold down eye cup which I prefer even thought I have two of the meade 5000 series UWA's I am wondering if anyone has tried these ep's out or even done some comparo's btween other 82 degrre WF. The new ones are nitrogen purged but I dont think that would add any optical performance advantages. Please dump in your coments, thanks Jim.

Looks like a CG5 on and improved steel tripod but once a review and comparo is done we will se...