Intes Micro MN-56

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Intes Micro MN-56
I have already posted my comments on this scope but I did want to give an up date on the focuser. The newer MN56's from ITE have a crayford focuser, when I got the scope I had noticed a ruff metalic sound coming from the focuser. Well a call to ITE and Bill sent me out a new one, the exchange was easy and once collimated I set the scope up and started again. The update now is the stock crayford focuser is not bad at all, had the scope up to 305X and it looke great and no shiffting of the focus setting at all, its a keeper. IMO if you were in an area of really steady seeing and you could noght after night push the scope to 400X to 500X then maybe a JMI DX-1 would be the best for focusing those stupid high power views but for all around use the crayford is fine, no image shift and thsi is one scope that continues to impress me. If you don't get the finder and go for the travel bag the Rigel Quikfinder works great with thsi scope, a real point and shoot system. Pro's for scope: great optics, built like tank, holds collimation well, good focuser, can easily adapt to CG5 mount for a reall solid system, no false color, excellent contrast and detail. Con's of scope: about a 1/2hr more cool down time from very warm to very cold temps,finders kinda ok. Highly recomended!

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Intes Micro MN-56
Im perplexed! I note the ratings here for the mn56 and logically
expected the mn61 to even come in better but it doesnt seem to -
why?
jw

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Intes Micro MN-56
I own this scope and its the best scope of this size for the money available.

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Intes Micro MN-56
I own this scope and its the best scope of this size for the money available.

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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
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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
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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
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Intes Micro MN-56
OK, people, that was enough. I'm going to buy this telescope!

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Intes Micro MN-56
OK, people, that was enough. I'm going to buy this telescope!

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Intes Micro MN-56
An answer to jw: MN56 and MN61 are not made from the same manufacturer. MN56 is made from Intes-micro, and MN61 is made from Intes. Both manufacturers are located in Moscow, but they are on the different locations. I have no more details about other things related to this matter or a background to the fact that they are using (almost) the same name.

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Intes Micro MN-56
not worth the money

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Intes Micro MN-56
just totally stunning for 5" just keeps asking for more power will have to buy more eyepieces @ very low focal lengths i own 5 scopes and this is just shines out on its own it dosent feel like a 5" do not hesitate just buy it i did and will never look back go for it

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Intes Micro MN-56
An excellent telescope which offers very good value for its fairly modest cost. Combines very well with a Vixen GP mount with which it makes a very slick, easy to handle and manage package. Long cool down time can be reduced by removing the rear plate and turning the scope upside down to take advantage of chimney effect which speeds cool-down to maybe 40 minutes. I keep mine in a cool conservatory which helps too.

Helical focuser a slight problem and can become misaligned easily if not used with great care. I found a setting which brings all my eyepieces, except one, into focus by simply adjusting the focuser knobs. The other eyepiece (a 3mm Radian) works too, if raised slightly in the mount. This prevents the misalignment problem and makes the focuser completely usable. I also replaced the terrible 10x30 finder with a Tak 6x30 unit. A small price to pay for excellence.

Image quality is superb with great sharpness and a level of contrast that makes you forget the slightly dull image caused by the modest 5 inch aperture. Double-double spit easy at 100x and recent views of Saturn at 250x were the best I have seen with any instrument. Excellent baffles prevent light scatter and I have experienced no ghosts with any eyepiece. In short, a superb alrounder allowing crisp-to-the-edge, wide field, low power viewing and high magnification work. Only, lack of documentation and doubtful after sales care prevent a 10. If you've spent £750 on anything else recently, start weeping now!

Overall Rating: 9
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Intes Micro MN-56
Bitchin'!!!

Overall Rating: 9
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Intes Micro MN-56
Just Great !!!

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Intes Micro MN-56
Just Great !!!

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Intes Micro MN-56
Could anyone with this scope mounted on a Sky View Deluxe or similar mount please post any comments they might have or any advice for or against?

Thanks

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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)
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Intes Micro MN-56
I've had a little over a month to evaluate this scope and I have formed some concrete opinions about it. If this scope were as good as an APO refractor Tak and AP would be out of business. It is an above average rich field reflector. The optics are crisp but would be better if they weren't so filthy from the factory. Mucho filings and internal dust. For whatever it's worth mine was certified at 1\6 wave but I have no idea if that's true or not. It does give impressive images for a 5" aperture but I've looked through two 8" SCTs that will do better. I've done about 20 hours of side by side testing with my wifes XT6 and for $369 the XT6 is a better scope. I keep the scope in my garage and it won't cool off in less than 45 minutes. The focuser is mediocre and the finder is not as good as Synta 6x30s. I have it on an SVD mount with a surveyor tripod. This is stable but very heavy. I'm going to keep this scope for at least two years but I will not even consider another Russian scope. Another drawback to this scope is that I find it very unforgiving to inexpensive EPs. If you want to get the most from this type of scope plan on only the best EPs and the high cost that comes with them. If I could turn back the clock I'd probably go a C9.25.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:7 Ease of Use:7 Value:5
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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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.

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Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
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>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...

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