Konusky 200

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Brand and Model:Konusky 200
Price ($USD):595.00
Type:Newtonian
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:8 inches
f Ratio:5
Focal Length:1000
Finder:9X50
Electric Power:Dual-axis Drive
Mount:Polar Evolution
Tripod:Metal
Weight (lbs):52
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:

Vote Highlights Vote
Konusky 200
I have had this scope for 1 month now. The optics are excellent, and far surpass my 8" Meade SCT. I have viewed Saturn and Jupiter at 500x with no image breakdown and very clear detail (under superb seeing conditions, of course!)

The mount is the ubiquitous CG-5/EQ-4 mount seen everywhere. Konus uses the newer version with the ball bearings. A polar alignment scope is included, and seems quite accurate, once properly aligned to the mount. The polar scope is not illuminated. The tripod is tubular steel, and looks like a slightly downsized Meade SCT field tripod (LX-90, LX200, etc.) It is a huge improvement over the aluminum tripods typically included with the CG-5/EQ4 type mounts. I think that wooden legs would still be an improvement, but I am in no hurry to replace this tripod. Damping time is bwtween 1-3 secs. The OTA, however, is large and I am sure it would shake somewhat during windy conditions.
The mount includes motor drives on both axis, a nice bonus. The drives track very smoothly. I have managed 3 min. CCD exposures, unguided, with this mount. I have yet to test the PE, but would assume it is typical of this type of mount, probably around 10 arcsecs of PE. Two counterweights are included with the mount.

The OTA, as stated before, has excellent optics. Mine tests at 1/8th wave. I really can't say how suprised and pleased I am at the optically quality. I didn't think this scope would be a good planetary instrument, and purchased it for low power. I now use it as my primary planetary instrument (replacing my 8" f/10 SCT.) A nice bonus is that the scope comes with a chesire collimator and the mirror is pre-marked at the center. Collimation is fairly easy with the scope, and it seems to hold collimation quite well. The main drawback is the rear cell is covered with a metal plate attached by very small screws. The screws are so tiny, that when you unscrew them they usually fall to the groung (too small to hold in your fingers while unscrewing.) They could easily be lost in the dark. Konus probably should have put some type of thumbscrew here instead, but it is a minor matter. The spider has very thin vanes, unlike the large ones on the Celestron versions of this scope.

I was suprised with the quality of the focuser. It is all metal with the exception of the knobs. There is no image shift, even at 500x power. The focuser comes with 2" and 1.25" eyepiece holders, and as a bonus, has t-threading on the end for direct attachment of a camera. It has a focus lock, and would easily support the weight of a 35mm camera. The focuser was a bit stiff, although smooth out of the box. The problem was a very sticky (glue-like) grease used to lubricate it. I cleaned off the old grease, and re-lubed it with some white lithium grease. It is now very, very smooth without the stiffness. There are also four screws to adjust the tension of the focuser, but I havent had the need to adjust them.

The finish of the OTA itself is orange, and looks quite beautiful. I am sure there are some out there who would not like this color, but I happen to like it alot......if orange was good enough for Celestron, then why not Konus? At any rate, you certainly wouldn't have any trouble finding your scope at a star party! The trim rings are cast-aluminum, and are finished with a black-hammered finish.

The finderscope is another nice bonus. It is a big 9x50 finder, and again is much better optically than the one that came with my Meade SCT. The really nice thing about this finder, compared to my Meade one, is the finder mount. It uses a spring mechanism that places tension on one side of the finder. This means that there are only two screws to adjust the finder - one screw for left and right, and one for up and down. This makes aligning the finder a breeze - it takes about 10 seconds to do (no exaggeration!), and is super intuitive. If you have ever tried aligning the Meade finder scopes with the 6 screws, you will REALLY appreciate this finder mount.

The OTA is mounted with two cast aluminum rings on a dovetail bar. The dovetail bar is held onto the mount with two screws. There is a piggyback camera attachment included on one of the tube rings (nice touch!)

Accessories! The scope comes with two Plossl EPs, a 17mm and a 10mm. They are of good quality optically, although the housings are a bit cheap. I believe these are the same EP's that Orion sells as their "Sirius Plossls" - basically, generic Chinese plossls. They certainly are good enough to use if one has no eyepieces of his/her own, and are better than most ep's that come with scopes today. A moon filter is also included - it works fine. Also included is a set of tools (allen wrenches, screwdriver, wrenches) for assembling and collimating the telescope. Collimating eypiece, motor drives, and piggyback adapter are included as well.

Drawbacks: The manual slow motion knobs are plastic and could break easily. They should have given some nice cables instead. I will be replacing these, but it is not a priority as the motor drives work quite well. Rear-cell cover should have been supplied with thumbscrews instead of tiny philips head screws that are a bit of a pain.

I feel that overall, this is an excellent scope, especially for the price. I can't believe that I only paid $600 for all of this - it is definitely worth every penny. The few problems with it are very minor complaints. It is fairly easy to use, and provides excellent, contrasty views at high and low powers. The mount is much more stable than the CG-5's with the aluminum tripods. The included bonuses (motor drives, big finder, piggyback adapter, chesire collimator, tools, eyepieces, filters, polar scope) are all of good quality and make it even better of a value.

Since purchasing this scope, I have sold my 8" Meade SCT (something I didn't think I would ever do) and saved lots of money! This scope is just as transportable as an 8" fork-mounted SCT, and provides way better views. Plus, the orange OTA is really beautiful (to me at least!)

Highly recommended!

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:10 Mount:8 Ease of Use:8 Value:10
Weight: 9 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=180392

Konusky 200
This is my first review submitted here after owning over 20 scopes over the past ten years so bear with me…
I purchased my Konus 200 8 in reflector new through e-bay and have been very satisfied with it. There was one major flaw when it first arrived that does need mentioning here for would be “newbies”. Upon first light the images were severely degraded and a quick star test showed the problem immediately. The primary mirror clips were tightened to the point of causing the mirror to deform. The resulting image showed a somewhat “triangular” star pattern near focus (three clips are used on the mirror). I removed the primary cell and loosened the clips and recollminated the optics. The next night under the stars was a completely different experience. Star images were textbook!!!! This little scope was a surprise!!!!
After having spent many night out with it viewing Mars’s approach and recession I’m very impressed with the quality of the optics. Detail is abundant, and the views are as good as any $1000.00 SCT I’ve owned (over 10), and nearly as good as my 127 ED/APO refractor.
I would recommend this scope to anyone from Newbie, to seasoned amateur.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Mount:8 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 6 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=299020 

>There was one major flaw when it first arrived that does need mentioning here for would be “newbies”. Upon first light the images were severely degraded and a quick star test showed the problem immediately. The primary mirror clips were tightened to the point of causing the mirror to deform. The resulting image showed a somewhat “triangular” star pattern near focus (three clips are used on the mirror). I removed the primary cell and loosened the clips and recollminated the optics. The next night under the stars was a completely different experience. Star images were textbook!!!! This little scope was a surprise!!!!

I've just bought the same scope and I think I have the same problem! I haven't yet started to recollimate it - any tips?
Konusky 200
This is not the Konus of old. The Synta mirror has been replaced with a non parabolic Bosma. Everywhere you look quality is lacking. The cheap focuser spirals in and out by up to a quarter inch in all directions as it slides on 4 teflon strips. The four vane holder for the secondary are extremely thick and the tube rings for the finder are way to small leaving minamal play to align to the main tube. The supplied counter weights are not enough to even balance the scope out of the box!For all practical purposes this is nothing more than the new Baytronix 8" scopes sold on Ebay but with a nice flashy orange finish which is the nicest thing that can be said about the scope.if you are interested in buying this particular scope I would strongly advise you scrape up another $100.00 and buy an Orion 8" skyview pro and add a drive system later otherwise you are just wasting your money.

Overall Rating: 3
Optics:1 Mount:5 Ease of Use:5 Value:1
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=549575

Konusky 200
This is my 3rd scope, and I am amazed at the optical quality. I have owned this scope for 1 year now, and it has replaced my CR-150 as my primary planet scope. It throws up much sharper and more detailed images than the 6" refractor. I have pushed the magnification over 500X on several occasions of good seeing, with no image breakdown whatsoever. When I first got the scope, star test revealed slight astigmatism. I then loosened the mirror clips slightly, and the mirror shows a perfect star test - approximately 1/10 wavefront. This is the best mass-produced mirror I have looked through.

The mount is the newer version of the CG-5/EQ4 with the tubular steel legs. This is an improvement over the aluminum legs.

This has got to be the best deal doing right now for an 8" scope. It comes with 2 plossl EP's, 9x50 finder, polar scope, chesire eyepiece, and motor drives.

I immediately bought Orion's soft case (made for the XT-8), which fits this scope perfectly, and protects the beautiful paint job.

Excellent optics and value - a solid 10!!!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:7 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=317916

Konusky 200
[Note: Vote moved from description by webmaster]

Great scope for the money. Comes with alot of extras like an extra eyepiece, a dual-axis motor drive, and a moon filter.

I'm just a beginner, but the views from the scope seem very sharp (haven't had the chance to get spoiled by looking thru a top of the line scope yet).

A couple of negatives. The clips inside the stem of the slow-motion control knobs began to break almost immediately and made 1 of them useless. To their credit though, Konus replaced it free of charge. Also, one of the locking screws on the base of the mount was so bent it couldn't be turned. I can't be certain if I did it or it came that way. I managed to open the base and straighten the screw myself. If I was unable to fix it, Konus was willing to replace the mount base for me.

I've had this scope for over 4 months now, and I'm still very satisfied with it.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=143495 

>[Note: Vote moved from description by webmaster]
>
>Great scope for the money. Comes with alot of extras like an extra eyepiece, a dual-axis motor drive, and a moon filter.
>
>I'm just a beginner, but the views from the scope seem very sharp (haven't had the chance to get spoiled by looking thru a top of the line scope yet). 
>
>A couple of negatives. The clips inside the stem of the slow-motion control knobs began to break almost immediately and made 1 of them useless. To their credit though, Konus replaced it free of charge. Also, one of the locking screws on the base of the mount was so bent it couldn't be turned. I can't be certain if I did it or it came that way. I managed to open the base and straighten the screw myself. If I was unable to fix it, Konus was willing to replace the mount base for me.
>  
>I've had this scope for over 4 months now, and I'm still very satisfied with it.

i just purchased this scope used on the AM. And I can tell you it has excellent optics. 1/6th wave. Very smooth. The images MATCH my 8" Zambuto starsplitter tube on Saturn. The images are also much whiter than the SS. Slightly dimmer stars are noticed. Just as sharp as the SS. I also notice that this scope has a very smooth focuser, and the finder is second in sharpness only to my previous Tak 7x50!!! This is the 3rd Synta 8" scope I've checked out, and all 3 had premium figured mirrors. Two f 6 8" dobs had virtually perfect star tests with excellent spherical correction. 

Bernie
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