Takahashi FS-60C

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Brand and Model:Takahashi FS-60C
Price ($USD):995.00
Type:Apochromatic Refractor
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:60mm (2.4")
f Ratio:f/5.9
Focal Length:355mm
Finder:5x25
Electric Power:
Mount:
Tripod:
Weight (lbs):lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:Takahashi America's FS-60C Page
Cloudy Night's Review
Todd Gross's FS-60C Review

Vote Highlights Vote
Takahashi FS-60C
Excellent tiny APO scope. Of course it is not a 4", but neither is the weight. The airy disks are large and Double Double looks cute (but very cleanly split!). Very good star test.
I enjoy the SolarMax 60mm Coronado H-alpha filter on it
as the lightest and smallest serious setup. (The image of the sun appears a little bit better on this Tak than when I used the same filter on my TV102. Slightly more contrast and sharpness in the Tak, yet in all other applications 4"APO is -of course- much much better).
All the FS series benefit from using the TAK Extender Q
for high powers. (That goes for my Tak SKY90 as well.) But due to their speed they allow wide rich views without the Extender Q, and I consider it a terrific new trend.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=122608

Takahashi FS-60C
I love this wonderful little jem of a scope. I have it mounted on a Takahashi Lapides Modified Teegul which sits on an Oberwerk Jarrah wood tripod. This combination is super fast to setup (1 minute from the trunk of my car, no kidding!!!) and performs flawlessly. During my 45 minute break at work, provided it is a clear night, I get to enjoy the sky for about 15 minutes. Being that I am in mega light polluted Miami, Fl I am limited as to what I can see but the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and some brighter Messier objects are quite a treat. I would recommend this scope to anyone who wants a portable, gran-n-go, super high quality scope.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Ease of Use:7 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=590931

Takahashi FS-60C
The Takahashi FS-60C is a dream!

Colorfree, really portable, light weight, with a fantastic focuser, and with the optional f/4.4 reducer a perfect wide field astrocamera.

If I would buy it again?

YES! Ten of them!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 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=460373

Takahashi FS-60C
I've had more fun with this telescope than with any other telescope I've ever owned in 25 years of astronomy. The optics are superb, the scope is tiny, cool-down is quick, and it is wonderfully easy to move out of the house for quick looks. As a result, it gets used a lot when I'm too tired or busy to set up one of my larger telescopes. The mechanics of the FS60-C (especially the focuser) are excellent. In-focus, I see no remotely objectionable false color at all. The telescope exhibits breathtakingly beautiful classical airy disks of in-focus stars. Planetary views are not in the same league as large-aperture scope views, but significant detail on Jupiter and Saturn is seen. The scope is wonderfully stable on my Manfrotto photo tripid.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 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=423840

Takahashi FS-60C
Might just be the perfect, and the best, grab and go scope in the world. Mounted on the Lapides modified Teegul, the 60C can do lunar, solar, & planetary with ease. Mount it piggyback on your big GEM and the deep sky is yours!
Handles every ep from the 2.8 Tak HiLE to the Pentax XW 40mm with ease. Lots of extention tubes to fiddle with if you go into widefield astrophotography, but the optics won't limit you!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 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=363574

Takahashi FS-60C
Recently bought the FS60C and the "Lapides modified" Teegul alt/az mount after years of fiddling frustration with a Meade LX90. I have a Thousand Oaks solar filter on the LX, and bought the Kendrick/Baader filter for the FS. Guess what? I've been out under the stars more in the few months I've owned the FS than in four years with the LX! It's fun, I see more objects with better contrast, and solar views are so fine in the FS it makes the Meade look like junk. Customer support with Meade is so foul, and that's a shame. Haven't had to use tech support with the Tak...and that says a lot, too. Out the weekend, no problem resolving individual stars in M13, and could just make out dust lanes in M104.
I've also used to dedicated Tak 2x doubler, and while it works well it does require some juggling w/ tubes and adaptors. A good apo Barlow is almost as good, and a bit easier to fiddle with, but not quite as well optimized for the 60.
As long as you're not out trying to resolve very faint DSOs, you'll most likely enjoy the 'Baby-Tak'. The Teegul mount, by the way, is pure enjoyment. Maybe not quite as easy to center objects as the TeleVue Gibralter, but once on target - keeping objects centered is a marvel.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=358834

Takahashi FS-60C
An outstanding little flourite APO scope, amazingly good images for such a small size. Makes a wonderful wide-field photo or CCD scope, color correction is very good. Could use a bit more focus travel (both in & out) for photo/CCD use, but that's my only quibble with this outstanding bargain!

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Ease of Use:6 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=193198

Takahashi FS-60C
The Tak FS60C has been the best and most versatile scope I've ever purchased. I suppose this is saying a lot for a 60mm, so I'll give you some detail: 1. Before you think you've outgrown it, you can use it as a finder; 2. Optics are awesome, even at high power. The first time I looked through it I aimed for the moon, and I couldn't believe me eyes. I've got an Orion 90mm refractor, but I always opt for the little guy. You'll see the Cassini division on Saturn pretty easily, and Jupiter's gas clouds are a snap; 3. Remove the dew shield and it breaks down to 9", so that you can stuff all of its 2.9 lbs into your camera bag for that trip to Hawaii; 4. With the Extender Q1.6, the 568mm focal length is great for guiding everything I own up to the TAk FSQ106; 5. Superior construction, super smooth focuser, well baffled, convenient finder attachment point for 25mm to 50mm finder scopes, and a removable dew shield so that you can screw on filters up to 72mm with reducing rings to the threaded 62mm -really smart idea!

I guess I have only two complaints, but they are so minor that I've rated it pefect anyway. My 9mm Meade guiding eyepiece doesn't come to focus with the Tak 1.25" star diagonal; that problem is solved, however, with the use of the Extender Q. (Just a note: all of my Tak and Teleview 1.25" eyepieces come to focus with this scope.) The second minor minor problem is the need for two camera mounts, one standard the other wide. (The wide mount requires the CA35 for the reducer.) It's just that I object to spending more money on a bunch of parts. I haven't tried the C2X doubler; the Extender Q is a lot more expensive but more versatile since it works on the FCL 90 and the FSQ106. The FS78 camera angle adjuster and reducer work on this scope, and I recommend both parts. The reducer gives you a really nice flat field at f4.4, but shots made prime focus will show defects at the edge, so save prime shots for the moon and sun. If you are a photograher, you'll love this scope since the angular size of the sun and moon shot through it are very pleasing on composite photographs.

A note for the beginner: I'm 6'1", 210 lbs., and when I started years ago I underestimated the value of light weight and portability. 5 to 1, I use this scope more than any other.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 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=186246

Takahashi FS-60C
A super little scope, nice quality, superb images BUT apeture and super short FL can work against it. I had issues getting high power eyepeices to focus until i adjusted the fittings. Also i could not get an mx5c to focus at all until i bought a different adaptor for the TAK. So bear this in mind as out of the box may not work. once all the above solved the views were worth the asking price. However you may prefer to save a bit more and get a sky90 or an fsq106

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:9 Ease of Use:6 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=106675

Takahashi FS-60C
Super travel scope. Scope plus accessories fits in a camera case that easily fits into cabin size limits for UK. I mount it on a Manfrotto tripod thats small too. Ball head isn't so good though. Is there a better way? Saw crisp shadow of Io last night on Jupiter at 75X using 4.7mm Meade ultra wide eyepiece. Saturn reddish band distinct as was Cassini division also at 75X. Increase magnification by 5X Powermate or 2X Barlow. Terrific on moon. Very quick and easy to use. Set up time around a minute or so. Minimal tube currents. Although cost is high its ease of use means lots of viewing with minimal preparation time.
Ron Morley UK

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:7 Ease of Use:8 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=47695

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