I purchased this scope used and all I can say is its a steal for the quality you get, if purchased on the used market. New is less so, but still better than the rest of the high end refractor market.
Almost NO COLOR...NEARLY NONE! This sample is almost as color free as any of my Taks (102, FSQ, and 128) or APs (Traveler, Starfire 5") I used to own. The images match up to the best 4-5" scopes I've ever observed thru including an MN56. The tube and focuser is not as fine tuned as a Taks, TVs, and APs, but the optics are right there with them all, and even better than my AP traveler is. Definately a bit better than 1/6th wave when tested over several nights. Very good mechanical quality and smooth focuser, although not as smooth as the other premium scopes. 1" longer than an FS78. Only 9lbs, 26" long (20.5 with dewcap removed) and 4"s of unobstructed aperture. Definately airline portable when you remove the extension tube and dewcap. High contrast detail on jupiter and saturn. 6+ bands, GRS with detail within, festoons, streamers, blue ovals, band detail, shadow and lunar transits, A, B, Crepe ring, Cassini's division, and banding on saturn is all readily visible at powers from 100 to 240X. Very subtile features on the globe and in the rings, you can actually see striations, like a phonograph record. Very high quaility performance. You can't go wrong with one of these tubes on your mount. Real light weight and super portable with 20 minute cool down. Super versatile, visual to film to CCD. and reasonably fast at F 6.5. Focal reducers make them F 4 to F 5 for faster exposures. Probably the perfect 4" you can buy in this price range. It performs much better than the S&T review a couple years ago. If your in need of a versitile refractor at a reasonable price...this is it!!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 5
Date: 12/28/2002 05:56:52 am PST

Replies: 0