Celestron C6 SP


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Celestron C6 SP
Nice little scope. Well built. Black metal tube with a focuser that travels horizontally along the tube on a dovetail. Still moved by a rack and pinion. Very smooth focuser. Keep the focus lock just loose enough that it does not bind, or you will get image shift while focusing. The entire stalk/secondary moves with the focuser. Focuser has a vernier gauge, and is sturdy enough for photography. Optics are excellent, but comma is quite noticeable without high $$$ eyepieces or a comma corrector. The venerable Super Polaris mount is well matched with this light weight tube. I take off 1 point because I hate comma and for the oversize secondary mirror. MUCH better than the new Chinese 6" f/5 scopes.

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron C6 SP
I have one of the original Orange barrel scopes, Works well with better
plossel eyepieces, can see the cassini division on saturn, have seen m81 and m82 clearly.

I would highly recommend a very dark sight for optimum use of this scope, since it is F5, it captures alot of light. A Dark Site coupled with the F5 ratio is excellent for big faint fuzzy's and photography

Overall Rating: 7
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Celestron C6 SP
I have one of the early 90/ late 80's models before the sliding dovetail was added to the Super Polaris. Frequent collimation checks of the f/5 system (every viewing session) eliminate comma. Up to about 200x it will match or outperform most 8" and some 10" sona-tube dobs due to the extra care I give to collimation and the excellent Vixen optics (made for celestron by Vixen). One plus is the Super Polaris EQ can be set to 90 degrees lat. and you have an alt/az mount (just use it like a dobs!). Best of both worlds due to the short 750mm focal length. Only negative comment I have is it will not take 2" eyepieces and the focuser style makes it almost impossible to change to a 2" focuser. Lumicon makes a 36.4-2" adaptor which threads into the vernier focuser, but it would have to have some vigneting due to the smaller 36.4mm opening. Excellent scope if you can find one for a good price (not produced since mid 90's).

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Celestron C6 SP
I have one of the early 90/ late 80's models before the sliding dovetail was added to the Super Polaris. Frequent collimation checks of the f/5 system (every viewing session) eliminate comma. Up to about 200x it will match or outperform most 8" and some 10" sona-tube dobs due to the extra care I give to collimation and the excellent Vixen optics (made for celestron by Vixen). One plus is the Super Polaris EQ can be set to 90 degrees lat. and you have an alt/az mount (just use it like a dobs!). Best of both worlds due to the short 750mm focal length. Only negative comment I have is it will not take 2" eyepieces and the focuser style makes it almost impossible to change to a 2" focuser. Lumicon makes a 36.4-2" adaptor which threads into the vernier focuser, but it would have to have some vigneting due to the smaller 36.4mm opening. Excellent scope if you can find one for a good price (not produced since mid 90's). I take off one point for the lack of 2" option. Other than that, in the 6" newts this is probably one of the best available.

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron C6 SP
Very good star test. No significant aberations. Bright images for the aperture. Mount is rock solid with smooth tracking, in both axises.

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron C6 SP
I purchased this scope used and am very pleased. Images are sharp and bright. The focuser is smooth and the mount is superb. The star test was near perfect with only a slight hint of aberations. Much better than the modern Chinese clones offered under various brand names. Highly recommended.

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron C6 SP
Exellent telescope for visual, CCD and Astrophotography. Mount is rock solid and smooth. Optics are fantastic. Collimating everynight virtually eliminates coma. Focuser is unique but smooth and solid. Images are bright and sharp, both planetary and deep sky. Polar alignment is easy with included polar scope. Too bad these are no longer available.

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron C6 SP
I traded for my C6 5 years ago. It was in excellent almost new condition when I recieved it. Views were very good out of the box, even though it was well used (But definately NOT abused!), the mirrors were starting to tarnish and out of collimation, and it was probably manufactured around 1984 or so. It came with the older original Polaris mount (Small brother to the later SP and GP mounts) and short wooden adjustable tripod. Extremely solid with smooth slow motion controls, and excellent damping time (Less than 1 second). Solid setup! Great widefield views (2.2 degrees with a 24.5 Meade Widefield), and very good performance with good contrast on the planets. Star test was between 1/5 and 1/6th wave, but a bit rough (Which I found out later was the coatings).
After collimating the planetary images were about as good as my C102 Flourite I owned at the time. Contrast and detail were comparable. Photographicly, the scope is actually designed for it. I mounted it on my GP mount and was able to take 5 minute unguided photos! 10 minute guide exposures with fast slide film yeilded excellent results. Good all purpose Scope.
At the 1998 SSP at Shady Pines Campground in Savoy, Mass. the little C6 shined! The best views of the Veil, Pelican, North American, and California Nebulas I've ever seen! WITHOUT a filter! With one, the views began to resemble Black and White Photos you see in the magazines! Even my neighboring 18" dob owner was impressed! "Nice optics and great little scope, I have to get one of those!" He stated.
Last year (6/99) I decided to get the mirrors recoated with 96% reflectance multicoated Aluminum. Recollimated and redid the star test. 1/6 wave for sure and smooth surfaces. Rechecked The same nebula at SSP in 1999 and what a difference! "Picture like" with the filter and almost as good without! Much less light scatter then before.
Planets were now seemingly better than the flourite C102. 6 bands on Jupiter with detail beginning to show in the bands. GRS was obvious. On Saturn the bands on the globe and ring's shadow showed in sharp detail with excellent contrast. Cassini division black as coal.
I've considered selling this scope a few times and always decide not to. For one reason. It would be nearly impossible to replace if I had a change of heart.
If you have a chance to buy one of these even if you have to pay more than the newer chinese clones are selling for, BUY ONE! It is an excellent wide field and planetary scope. Vixen still makes them for sale in Japan, but not here anymore. Great Instrument for anyone, whether it be a solitary instrument or a great little second quick (I forgot to mention it is very portable) use one. This one is a keeper! A 10 for sure!

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron C6 SP
I just bought my SP-C6 (gave 5000 SEK, around $500-$450) and have only had time to use it once. But I must say that it preforms very well. Nice, bright, views of saturn and jupiter whit the 18mm Orto. The sky wasn't clear enough to view nebulas or galaxies (ok, maby it was me who was to lousy to find them :)). Overall it showed of fantastic. The mount is ROCK solid (love the precision of the Super Polaris). And now that I collimated it I can't wait until this baby can peek at the sky again :)

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron C6 SP
I won't provide a rating, because what I really have is a Vixen R150S which is what the C6 is pre badge engineering. This scope is brilliant. I have had mine for 15 years + AND it can support Vixen's latest Skysensor package (do other manufacturers support their products from 15 years ago?). Beautiful crisp wide field views. I almost considered trading recently but realised I would not be gaining much so ended buying a Meade ETX-70 as a portable scope instead. The Vixen holds pride of place.

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Celestron C6 SP
The SP is a very solid mount for the lightweight OTA. The set up is small and light enough to take anywhere in a car. The optics are wonderful, with very little coma for an f/5 system. The setup would allow deep sky photography with the proper additional equipment, and 6" of aperture is really a lot to work with under dark skies. I've detected the arms of M51 through this scope under extremely dark and clear skies. Just too bad it isn't sold in the US anymore.

Overall Rating: 10
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Celestron C6 SP
This is my second SP-C6 optical tube assembly (silly me, I sold my first one a while back) and the fact that I picked up another one says it all. The Vixen-manufactured optics in this Celestron import are absolutely superb. Star testing shows perfect airy disks and coma is negligible for an f/5 system. Images are bright, crisp and sharp for both deep sky and planetary observing.

Deep sky images in this scope are significantly brighter and sharper than any other 6" Newtonian I have looked through. M1, usually lost in my heavily light polluted skies, shows well in this scope from my backyard. Open clusters show more stars than other six inchers I have used (did a side-by-side comparison) and globular clusters actually resolve into individual stars on nights of good seeing, a feat usually achieved only by my 8" SCT. Nebulae also show sharp detail with lots of mottling and filaments. The sky background in this scope is a bit brighter than in a 6" of longer focal length, but the contrast is good with a little back flocked paper added opposite the focuser.

Don't let the f/5 fool you. This is also an excellent planetary scope that you can push to 250-300x in good seeing. In recent observing sessions, Mars' surface features were clearly visible and Cassini's division on Saturn was black as ink. Last night, lunar shadows transiting Jupiter were sharp black dots. I have seen as many as 11 distinct cloud bands and other features on Jupiter and nice clear bands on Saturn on nights of good seeing. Lunar images are crisp and sharp, even when pushed above 300x.

I have not had the problems with coma o collimation that other reviewers cite. My particular scope is relatively coma-free for an f/5 system and holds its collimation very well. It needs to be collimated only every month or so. The optical tube assembly is extremely portable and lightweight with highest quality construction. Even the rings are wide, thick and rock solid - far better than the cheap rings that come with most Chinese scopes sold now. I use this OTA on a Polaris mount (not Super Polaris), and even this smaller mount provides a rock-steady foundation for the size and weight of this tube.

My only complaint is that the focuser (a rack and pinion focuser that slides horizontally and moves the secondary with it, rather than vertically like most scopes) has a little play in it that makes it difficult to keep it sharply focused. Screwing down the focus lock once you achieve good focus can help, but only if you have parfocal eyepieces. Both of my SP-C6's have had this problem and I can't seem to adjust the focuser adequately to get it to stay put.

All-in-all, an outstanding instrument that I won't make the mistake of parting with again. This scope performs so well and is so portable that I hardly use my 8" SCT anymore and am considering selling it. Too bad Celestron doesn't offer it anymore (Vixen still sells their version). Buy one if you can find it used for a good price at $250-300. You won't be sorry.

Overall Rating: 9
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Celestron C6 SP
Excellent mount, not so good optics. Primary had astigmatism, secondary much larger than it needs to be. Primary held by rubber pads that apply pressure to mirror, loosening helped a bit with astigmatism but the scope was useless beyond 200X no matter how well it was collimated. Do not purchase one unless it could be tested first.

Rolando Chavez

Overall Rating: 6
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Celestron C6 SP
I have been using this scope for about a year now and it is by far my favorite scope. The views are excellent and the mount is very stable. I plan on using it for many more years.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
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Celestron C6 SP
a rack and pinion focuser that slides horizontally and moves the secondary with it, rather than vertically like most scopes) has a little play in it that makes it difficult to keep it sharply focused. Slips and comes loose, after 8 years it is sloppy and un usable.

Overall Rating: 4
Optics:2 Mount:4 Ease of Use:8 Value:4
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Celestron C6 SP
Celestron's 1st. reflector,made 1984,the C6-SP. was discontinued by1990. the 'scope was made by Vixen optical
of Toyko. wonderful optics. build quality is nice too.wear
in horizontal focuser maybe a problem but is repairable.
newer vixen 152mm f/5 reflector is made either in japan
or some made by chinese(shop carefully?) not all Vixens are
made equal.

Overall Rating: No Vote
Optics:9 Ease of Use:8 Value:9
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