Ganymede G185 (Apogee)


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Brand and Model:Ganymede G185 (Apogee)
Price ($USD):199
Type:Plain Refractor
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:80mm (3.1")
f Ratio:f/5
Focal Length:400mm
Finder:6x30
Electric Power:
Mount:Alt-Az
Tripod:Aluminum
Weight (lbs):
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:80mm, F.L. - 400mm, ƒ5 Refracting Telescope w/MgF2 coated optics, 2ea -1.25" eyepieces (K9 & RK20), 1.25" 45° Erect-Image Diagonal, 6x30 finder & bracket, helical rack & pinion focusing, fully adjustable aluminum tripod w/pan & tilt head (1/4" 20), accessory tray and lens covers.

Vote Highlights Vote
Ganymede G185 (Apogee)
Picked this up from Apogee on clearance for $99. I did notice a slight misalignment between the focuser and the primary prior to first light so this rating as based on a slightly modified unit.
OTA is solid and the focuser is smooth. The coatings are decent. When OTA is used with a good eyepiece I hardly noticed any off color on jupiter or saturn. The supplied eyepieces will cause severe color on bright objects unless coupled with a good barlow. Jupiter showed five bands on a night of below average seeing due to light cloud cover. Saturn when viewed the same night easily showed gap between rings and planet. Was able to view 4 main stars in Trapizium.
For the price this is a tremendous buy!!! if you add a decent mirror diagonal and some better eyepieces and a barlow this is a teriffic WA low power scope. I tried it up to about 100X and it performed well.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:8 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=79789


Ganymede G185 (Apogee)
I bought the G185 on closeout also at $99.95. I did the ST fixes as found on the Yahoogroup 80f5 group. Interestingly, the lens was too tight, but it came from the factory with blackened edges - most cheap 80s don't.

I have compared it to a C90 and a C8 (kinda unfair). The c90 using a orion diagonal and the G185 a lumicon. Celestron plossl eps (32, 26, 20, 6.3 and barolow).

While the C90 was brighter, the G185 had "pin point stars". Performance was outstanding on juipter (almost no false color, just a little on the moon - basically I could tell when I was out of focus due to color being present).

Banding was evident on juipter (3 or 4) and the moons were quite nice.

M5 and M15, M10, M12, did not resolve, but we very nice (I can resolve M15 with the C90 and the barlowed 6.3). The moon is just astounding for such a small aperature scope, as was M27.

The Alt.Az tripod that came with it is useable, but a small eq. mount works better.

Finish while not TV quality is not bad. The focuser needed a little work, but it is smooth now.

For a quick grap and go scope this $99 wonder works great. Put a $50 dollar orion diagonal on it and a 32mm plossl and you've got a wonderful ride in the milkyway.

Over all, ST80s are useful and very fun scopes. This might have better optics than most brands.

Jeff

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:7 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=122331

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