Konus Reflector Stories?

Anyone tried those relatively cheap Konus reflectors? The 8" for about
$500 with dual drives and polar alignment scope sounds too good to be
true.

Richard in the western end of the Antelope Valley, California

wrote:
Anyone tried those relatively cheap Konus reflectors? The 8" for about
$500 with dual drives and polar alignment scope sounds too good to be
true.

Richard in the western end of the Antelope Valley, California

HI:

Bottom line? Konus scopes used to be very good. I bought an 8 inch f/5
I'm very happy with. HOWEVER...this was back when Konus was using Synta
as a supplier-they've switched to a different Chinese manufacturer. Not
so hot now.

Konus gear, you see, has nothing to do with Italy. It's all made in
China. That that we get in the states, anyway.

You can get the Orion/Synta verson of this scope for about 100 bucks
more (with a dual axis drive). It's worth the hundred bucks. ;-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
and _The Urban Astronomer's Guide_

Like SCTs and MCTs?
Join the SCT User Mailing List.
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sct-user

See my home page at
http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland/index.htm
for further info

For Uncle Rod's Astro Blog See:
http://journals.aol.com/rmollise/UncleRodsAstroBlog/

SInce I live in California, it prices out at $770 for the Orion SkyView
8". I know you get what you pay for, and I'm pretty sure I can get the
Konus for $550 to my door.

Tough choice, and my wife's boyfriend has started complaining that I'm
spending too much money on skytoys and not enough money on buying him
booze. I may have to go back to staying in at night and sleeping with
my wife again.

You must have your priorities!

Richard

wrote:
Anyone tried those relatively cheap Konus reflectors? The 8" for about
$500 with dual drives and polar alignment scope sounds too good to be
true.


Old truism is that if it sounds like too good a deal, it usually is not
such a good deal.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyone tried those relatively cheap Konus reflectors? The 8" for about
$500 with dual drives and polar alignment scope sounds too good to be
true.


Somehow I don't think you are going to be imaging with it, so why bother
with an EQ mount?

An Orion 8" F6 Dob might be a better choice.

"Stephen Paul" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyone tried those relatively cheap Konus reflectors? The 8" for about
$500 with dual drives and polar alignment scope sounds too good to be
true.


Somehow I don't think you are going to be imaging with it, so why bother
with an EQ mount?

An Orion 8" F6 Dob might be a better choice.

Why not? I've imaged with it many times. If you've never used one, where
is your expertize in this matter?

George

"George" wrote in message
news:vLTxf.701235$_o.658499@attbi_s71...

"Stephen Paul" wrote in message
...
Somehow I don't think you are going to be imaging with it, so why bother
with an EQ mount?

Why not? I've imaged with it many times. If you've never used one, where
is your expertize in this matter?


Put the Konus OTA on a Vixen GP and took this.
http://www.mysky.org/mysky/?article_...rticle=1:24515

Got rid of the mount that came with it.

Later sold the OTA. Kept the GP for my 80ED.

Replaced the Konus with a Hardin 8" F4 and added a G-11:
http://www.mysky.org/mysky/?article_...rticle=1:22643

Sold the Hardin 8" F4 and replaced it with a C9.25 for high resolution, kept
the 80ED as a piggy guide scope / DSLR imager:
http://home.comcast.net/~smarshallpaul/index.html

Not that that qualifies me for anything. But, I have used the Konus. The OP
didn't say one way or the other, whether he was going to image with it.
Somehow, I think not. Not that it can't be done.

wrote:
SInce I live in California, it prices out at $770 for the Orion SkyView
8". I know you get what you pay for, and I'm pretty sure I can get the
Konus for $550 to my door.

Tough choice, and my wife's boyfriend has started complaining that I'm
spending too much money on skytoys and not enough money on buying him
booze. I may have to go back to staying in at night and sleeping with
my wife again.



Hi:

If money's tight and that's the situation...my adivce? Yes, buy the
Konus. Use the "extra" 200 bucks for:

1. Two large bottles of Taaka vodka (I believe they sell it in a
half-gallons).

2. A Greyhound ticket for as far as whatever you've got left will take
you.

That's what _I'd_ do, anyway.

;-)

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
and _The Urban Astronomer's Guide_

Like SCTs and MCTs?
Join the SCT User Mailing List.
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sct-user

See my home page at
http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland/index.htm
for further info

For Uncle Rod's Astro Blog See:
http://journals.aol.com/rmollise/UncleRodsAstroBlog/

"Stephen Paul" wrote in message
...

"George" wrote in message
news:vLTxf.701235$_o.658499@attbi_s71...

"Stephen Paul" wrote in message
...
Somehow I don't think you are going to be imaging with it, so why
bother with an EQ mount?

Why not? I've imaged with it many times. If you've never used one,
where is your expertize in this matter?


Put the Konus OTA on a Vixen GP and took this.
http://www.mysky.org/mysky/?article_...rticle=1:24515

Got rid of the mount that came with it.

Later sold the OTA. Kept the GP for my 80ED.

Replaced the Konus with a Hardin 8" F4 and added a G-11:
http://www.mysky.org/mysky/?article_...rticle=1:22643

Sold the Hardin 8" F4 and replaced it with a C9.25 for high resolution,
kept the 80ED as a piggy guide scope / DSLR imager:
http://home.comcast.net/~smarshallpaul/index.html

Not that that qualifies me for anything. But, I have used the Konus. The
OP didn't say one way or the other, whether he was going to image with
it. Somehow, I think not. Not that it can't be done.



He did indicate that he was looking for an inexpensive scope. It is a
shame that the Konus doesn't come with a better mount, but for the price,
it isn't a bad choice. Here are a couple of images I've taken with my
Konus:

http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/Moon.jpg

http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/CRW_0659a.jpg

Once I get a decent guide scope, I'm sure I can improve on the deep sky
images.

George

"George" wrote in message
news:v9Xxf.484629$084.465367@attbi_s22...

it isn't a bad choice. Here are a couple of images I've taken with my
Konus:

http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/Moon.jpg

http://home.insightbb.com/~jryates/CRW_0659a.jpg

Once I get a decent guide scope, I'm sure I can improve on the deep sky
images.

I really like your moon shot. What camera?