Intes Micro MN-56

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Intes Micro MN-56
A well built 'scope with superb resolution.

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=103635

Intes Micro MN-56
Do not have no words to explain ; just simply call it a " WORLD CLASS INSTRUMENT"

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=320795

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
The clear skies all day today were too much incentive. The winds came later - gusts over 30mph. Kinda shook the 'ole MN56 tube - but at dusk and up to about 9pm or so not unbearable.

This was only the second time out for the new MN56. I got it on sale from ITE for $599 ($200 savings).

OK - did star tests and put the MN56 through it's paces with cool down time of an hour or more. Cool down made a huge difference. Stars focused through most of fov - extreme edges show coma but - hey - its an f/5
fast mirror.

I question those who state stars are sharp all the way to edge - seems kinda hard with the f/5 mirror. The big brother MN61 is I think f/6 or longer - that probably makes a big difference.

With good eps (32mm UO 1.25", a 20mm TV plossl, and a
12mm UP ortho - all 1.25" barrels) - scope showed nice images. For a while Jupiter showed remarkable details - I could see striated bands in equatorial
regions - the image equaled what I saw with an MK66 albeit smaller with the 12mm ep and at f/5 compared to f/12. Seeing condits broke down later as clouds rolled into area.

Saturn was fantastic for a while - planet was too small to show details but you could see subtle shading on planet and Cassini Division - but again a tiny tiny image even with the 12mm ep. It was tack-sharp but teeny weeny little.

M42 Orion Nebulae was nice even though there was a full moon - stars in trapezium sparkled like diamonds. I could only see 4 n the bright moon-lit sky. I anticipate a great view and lots of nebula details with an actual dark sky.

The final image was Venus in the Pleidaes. It was beautiful. That's when I decided the scope is a keeper. That eautiful wide field view of the open cluster with Venus was dreamy.

I did several star tests. Lots of circular concentric rings with
outer ring bright and distinct. Central obstruction was well imaged as perfect circle. It was ever so tiny off-center - but all rings were very circular and concentric. I suppose this would be a good star test.

So - for now I think I will keep the scope. The views with proper cool-down in bright sky with full moon and lots of wind were pleasantly good - I can't wait for a still dark nite to check out the Milky Way star fields with that wide f/5 field of view. It's just such an easy scope to use at that aperture.

Improvements - however - will have to be made in my scope. The finder is OK and adequate but hard to focus - I need a better finder to help find faint fuzzies on those dark nites. A right angle may also be needed.

The focuser on this Mak Newt scope also needs to be swapped out with a JMI multi-speed. It needs a fine focus option to zero in on targets - the stock Crawford is
functional but not very subtle.

I also need a few more quality eps and especially eps more powerful than a 12mm for planetary views. Planets are way small in 12mm or larger.

I also need a dew shield - if for nothing more than to protect the front corrector.

I guess the lesson I learned is patience - this scope is much better that I first realized. I gave it another try with proper cool-down and better conditions (albeit not perfect with wind and a full moon) and it proved a good good scope. The fast primary mirror makes pinpoint stars across entire fov through edges impossible - but with proper cool-down it's only apparent at very edges. They're not comets or anything gross - they just go out of focus as you near the edges. That's why I gave the optics only a 9 rating.

I use the scope on a Vixen GP with wooden tripod. It's a great combination. I can find a small object in scope, loosen rings, rotate tube so ep and focuser properly lined so I can use easily - and object will still be in fov. Now - that's a good scope/mount combo!!!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 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=351399 

> Stars focused through most of fov - extreme edges show coma but - hey - its an f/5 fast mirror. 

The MN56 is not f/5, it's f/6. This reviewer repeats his "f/5" error several times in his report. 

> The fast primary mirror makes pinpoint stars across entire fov through edges impossible - but with proper cool-down it's only apparent at very edges. They're not comets or anything gross - they just go out of focus as you near the edges. That's why I gave the optics only a 9 rating.

Sounds like field curvature and/or astigmatism/coma in his *eyepieces*. Maks are reknowned for wide _flat_ fields. The official specs of the MN56 include:
-- photographic field = 13.5 mm diameter;
-- spotdiameter at edge of photographic field = 11 micron.
This is superb sharpness at a considerable distance off-axis. It would have to fall apart completely, further off-axis, at a rate faster than coma becomes apparent in normal f/6 Newtonian paraboloids, to match the decription given by this reviewer. I doubt that could be the case, so I would suspect the eyepieces or collimation, rather than the telescope optics themselves.
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

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