Intes Micro MN-56

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Brand and Model:Intes Micro MN-56
Price ($USD):$795.00
Type:Maksutov-Newtonian
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:127mm (5")
f Ratio:f/6
Focal Length:762mm
Finder:na
Electric Power:na
Mount:na
Tripod:na
Weight (lbs):15 lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):40" length
Description:ITE Telescope Overview

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MakScopes Page

Vote Highlights Vote
Intes Micro MN-56
After using the Intes Micro MN56, I will never go back to using meager Celestron or Meade products. The optical performance of the MN56 is in a whole different league.

With the MN56, one can easily see the swirls in the cloud belts of Jupiter. The Moons of Jupiters don't look like points, rather as disks. At 250X, the optics are not only sharp, they are extremely sharp!

Last night we had very steady skies. I was able to use a 5 mm EP with a 4X Powermate to reduce the effective f.l. down to 1.25 mm. This results in 600X, or 120X per inch of aperture.

My jaw dropped as I looked at the Moon at 600X for 20 minutes. There was no image break down!! There was very little blurring and minute details on the Moon could be seen. Can you believe this??? Amazing, to say the least.

Worth every penny. Please realize that you'll need a 3-5X barlow as the focal length of the scope is only 750 mm. Otherwise, you won't get much magnification out of it. Also, the optics come with a lot of dust on them from the Russian factory. I took my corrector plate off to clean the scope. It is all quite easy to do.

Please note that the newer MN56s have an improved focuser and finder scope due to poor reviews on these two items. Get one of these great scopes!! You'll love it!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 20 (Notable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=350491

Intes Micro MN-56
Taks and APs are just like cars. Take a Ferarri for example, and a Mazda Miata. The Ferarri is 10x the price and people buy it for the name and obvious performance. But you can drop a $10,000 upgraded engine in the mazda and it will beat the Ferarri. So why don't people buy suped up Miatas? Because its all about the title. Likewise, this Mak-Newt (Miata) out-performs any 4" APO.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=101494 

>Taks and APs are just like cars. Take a Ferarri for example, and a Mazda Miata. The Ferarri is 10x the price and people buy it for the name and obvious performance. But you can drop a $10,000 upgraded engine in the mazda and it will beat the Ferarri. So why don't people buy suped up Miatas? Because its all about the title. Likewise, this Mak-Newt (Miata) out-performs any 4" APO.
I understand your concept, but there is no way 10 thousand dollars will make a little miata a ferrari eater! HA!! Maybe a better example would be dumping a balanced and blueprinted big block into a camaro...
Intes Micro MN-56
This is the second MN56 I have owned. The first scope I had purchsed over a year ago from ITE and I was very please but went threw a palamony deal and sold it 3 months later. This one I picked up used and it to was purchased from ITE, I mention this because if you wanna buya good Russian scope and you want optical peace of mind these are the peolpe that can do it for you plus if you ever need service they are there 100%. The optics on this scope are outstanding, its like a refractor just takes a little more time to cool down which is its only soft point. The focuser is good which is a crayford style. The finder I didn't get but the fellow I purchased it from had a 60mm Gary Russel R/A finder on it whiched work very well. It comes with a semi hard case and the tube ring is very robust. Now for the gravy, Orion nebula was the best I have seen since I sold my 10" dob, not bad for a 5" scope, the six stars just poped out at you at 150X and you had to look for them real hard in the 4" Vixen 102ED that was set up next to the 56. Jupiter was the best I have seen, its not just how many bands you see but when the festons are cleary visable here agagin like the 10" dob. Transits on the planet were easy as cake. Saturn was another jewel in the sky with detail within the rings popping out when seeing permited plus even though the moon came up we looked at m36 and the fine little jewels just were like fine points of light just waiting for you to just look at em. All told it was a good night and the amount of scopes that we were kinda comparing were in this order a Starmaster/Zamboto 8" Planetary killer supreme, very close second were the MN56,MK67,VX102ED and the Tak 78. All scope performed well and the views on all were outstanding. This scope looks like Arnold Shwasenager and perrforms like him to. I kinda like the robust construction and it holds collimation even on long car rides. I have it mounted on a re built CG5 with drives which handles the scope very well. This scope I highly recomend, its in another leage above allot of the Chinnese optics that have flooded the marketplace, it start test almmost like a hi end apo without a trace of false color, planetary detail has to be seen and even on deep sky it gathers a good amount of light. This samples optical certification was 1/7th wave, 96.5% Strehl ratio, not bad numbers for a Mac newt. Its easy to find a good mount plus excellent for CCD imaging because the prvious owner showed me over 35 fantastic shots of deep space objects and you would swear that it was done on something larger but no the little ole 56 just cranks out the shots.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 9 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=64490

Intes Micro MN-56
I have been looking thru scopes for many years and this is an extraordinary scope. Five inches of aperature is enough to give viewers a little bit of everything. Experienced stargazers know that what I mean is that it also resolves a few of the globulars. What continues to surprise me is that it outperforms 80mm APOs on terrestrial contrasts. It will also take it to another level on solar system targets but needs more time to reach thermal stability.
I would probably perfer a 4" tak or astrophysics for all around but don't think it would be outperformed nontheless. Typical reflector style comfortable viewing allowing rotation of the focuser with tube rings combined with world class optics....definitely a ten.
I actually like the original focuser. It is a basic crayford with sliding 2" and 1.25" extensions for great compatabilty.
Larry

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=602152

Intes Micro MN-56
the MN56 is truly amazing for the aperture and particularly for its low cost; to equal its performance (on planets!!!) you would have to spend at least twice if not three times the price for a 5" APO or larger top notch reflector with the very best mirror. not an appealing scope cosmetically (but that meniscus is pretty sexy, actually) but what a warhorse of a scope; spend extra $ on vintage collectibles and use this Mak-Newt to really see something out there. I give it a solid 10.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40382

Intes Micro MN-56
The MN56 far exceeds all relative catagories for its class. My Mak is crisp and clear in all aspects of visual obsevations.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40381

Intes Micro MN-56
This is one of the most incredible telescopes I have ever looked through. Having owned a 10 inch Orion (UK) Newtonian as well, I find from light polluted London that this telescope out performs the 10 inch on 99% of the time. The finder supplied is very poor, but use a red dot which works very well with this scope. Images of Jupter and Saturn are incredible as are most of the Messier objects. Works well with Vixen GP mount and very stable. Very high contrast with inky blackness surround the stars and planets. Although it dose take about an hours to cool down

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40380

Intes Micro MN-56
Absolutely superb inky black between stars. A a recent visit to a dark site in Wales it easily outperformed SCT 8 inch on planetary views, and matched 4 inch Vixen ED 102 in images. Dislike the finder which has zero eye relief and goes out of focus as soon as you touch it. But has rectified this problem by usng a red dot finder.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40375

Intes Micro MN-56
I recently purchase a MN 56 scope about a month ago from ITE and I must say I was very pleased the way ITE handled the sale plus having the optical certification done by Mike Palermiti was an added bonus. First off I have
owned a few of the imported refractors fro a C102HD, Orion skywatcher 120, photon 127 and a Skywatcher 150 and the best of those was the 150, clearly the best scope out of the bunch but a big scope. I know have had the MN 56 on a heavilly modified CG5 and it makes a great combo, rock solid and by adding a
Anatres 8X50 right angle finder plus a Rigel Quickfinder it makes a great semi portable rig. The optics on this scope are great, excellent contrast, no false color and the detail on the planets is outstanding. I thought the Sky 150 was good but this 5" scope is better and you get a wide field with this scope with tack sharp images. Transits of jupiters moons over the face of the planet are great and the shadow cast on the planet is not a blurry dot but a tack sharp
pinpoint on the surface, jsut simply amazes me how much detail this scope see's and it seen easily, its just pops out at ya. The stock finder I didn't go for but instead opted for a really nice cary bag and purchased a pair of finder rings with bracket which works real well. I purchased this scope from ITE because they go the extra mile to not only inspect but have the optics checked
by an optical designer who has highly calibrated instrumentation so the bottom line you have a know quality on the optics of your scope and the star tests
I've done have proven this. Have not yet had that much time to check the scope out on deep sky but I did do a side by side comparo with the Sky 150 and on Orions nebula the contrast on the MN 56 made it real easy to bring out more
detail on the cloud formation and there's nothing lost with the smaller scope at all but optically on the planets and the moon it looks more like the Hi end APO's I have had the pleasure to look threw so I am very happy with this scope.
The new models do have a crayford focuser but I feel for hi power viewing a JMI
DX3 would make it just perfect. Construction on this scope is solid and very rugged and once you collminate the scope it seems to stay. The only slighly negative coment is that this scope takes anywere from an hour to an hour an a half to cool down but once it does watch out it just gobbles up sky and blows away allot of larger SCT I'v looked threw allong with some APO's of similar size. I highly recomend this scope and its one scope that I will own for a long time for its portability, optical performance and amazing detailed
views of anything from planets, deep sky and doubles, its just one hell of a good scope!

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40373

Intes Micro MN-56
Simply astonishing views -- an incredible value for the price. My first look was at the worst object imaginable, the full moon. I was shocked to see the level of contrast and detail. It looked like a photograph, and beyond the edge was black, no glow or scatter. Stars were pinpoints. The helical focuser takes a bit of getting used to, but provides very fine adjustments to make high power focusing easier than it usually is. It's now available with a Crayford as standard equipment. I sold my MN56 with enormous regret a few months after I got it, and I'll be getting another as soon as I can.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 3 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40372

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