Vixen 114mm ED f/5.3 nice scope!

Got my Vixen 114mm ED yesterday! It's bigger and more heavy than i thought it
would be, it came with a Skyview delux-2 EQ- mount from Orion.
The Vixen is a little big for the Orion mount, i would suggest a GM-8 or a
Vixen DX mount. It has a correcter that can be removed from the focuser, all
my observing was done with it removed.

I have only have a set of 1.25" Meade 4000 eyeps for now, the focuser is very
nice and smooth, just as good as my Taks FS-102 focuser! It has the very sharp
8x50 Vixen finder, and Vixen tube rings. This a f5.3 so it makes a nice wide
field scope, i bet with a 22mm Nagler the Vixen would be a killer sky sweeper!

I did notice some coma at very edges of the field, with a 32mmMeade, but thats
really to low a power for this scope. Mars was sharp and showed much detail,
at a power of 185x i could just see a faint hint of color. Took the scope out
this morning, seeing was not the best did some double star test, the scope
shows perfect pinpoint star images!
More to come, cant wait to get some Naglers for this scope...

Chas P.

I did notice some coma at very edges of the field, with a 32mmMeade, but
thats
really to low a power for this scope.

You are confusing coma with astigmatism. You are also ascribing this defect to
the scope, when in reality it is inherent in the eyepiece. The Vixen design
does not have inherent coma, and if you moved the center of the eyepiece to the
edge of the field, the "coma" that you see there would disappear.

This shows that it is important that any performance review of a telescope be
based on proper test procedures, and that the tester understand what
aberrations are what, and where they come from. Even reports done by so-called
knowledgeable "testers" that are published in the two magazines sometimes have
errors in them.

Roland Christen

You are confusing coma with astigmatism. You are also ascribing this
defect to
the scope, when in reality it is inherent in the eyepiece. The Vixen
design
does not have inherent coma, and if you moved the center of the eyepiece
to the
edge of the field, the "coma" that you see there would disappear.

This shows that it is important that any performance review of a telescope
be
based on proper test procedures, and that the tester understand what
aberrations are what, and where they come from. Even reports done by
so-called
knowledgeable "testers" that are published in the two magazines sometimes
have
errors in them.

Roland Christen

Hey Roland...what is it about your objective and cell designs that "demand"
top end OTA and focuser designs? Why can't you find some cost cutting
measures and still provide quality??

Hey Roland...what is it about your objective and cell designs that "demand"
top end OTA and focuser designs? Why can't you find some cost cutting
measures and still provide quality??


My customers demand it.

Roland Christen

Subject: Vixen 114mm ED f/5.3 nice scope!
From: (Chris1011)
Date: 9/17/03 8:50 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:


My customers demand it.

Roland Christen

***************
Ya gotta pay to have the best!
And AP scopes are worth the price...

Chas P.

"Chris1011" wrote in message
...
Hey Roland...what is it about your objective and cell designs that
"demand"
top end OTA and focuser designs? Why can't you find some cost cutting
measures and still provide quality??


My customers demand it.

Roland Christen


You choose to only supply the top 5-10% of society then. What if people like
me (which number in a percentage far greater than "them") demanded the kind
of instrument that I speak of..then what? You still didn't really answer my
original question either. Can you save objective/cell quality and at the
same time build a lower cost OTA/focuser outfit? Do you have the means to
do this?

A telescope is not just it's optics. The tube, focuser and mount are just
as important. When I am hanging my binoviewer off the end of a 4x powermate
and extension I can take it off and replace it with a camera and Mars will
still be centered. Can't do that with lower quality mechanicals. Until you
have


You choose to only supply the top 5-10% of society then. What if people
like
me (which number in a percentage far greater than "them") demanded the
kind
of instrument that I speak of..then what? You still didn't really answer
my
original question either. Can you save objective/cell quality and at the
same time build a lower cost OTA/focuser outfit? Do you have the means to
do this?

Subject: Vixen 114mm ED f/5.3 nice scope!
From: "Mick"
Date: 9/17/03 9:13 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id: LK%9b.31028$Cu3.26789@edtnps84



You choose to only supply the top 5-10% of society then. What if people like
me (which number in a percentage far greater than "them") demanded the kind
of instrument that I speak of..then what? You still didn't really answer my
original question either. Can you save objective/cell quality and at the
same time build a lower cost OTA/focuser outfit? Do you have the means to
do this?
*********************
Well if the AP cost to much, you can try a Vixen! They make a great scope for
the money!!!

Chas P.

Still no response to my inquiry by Roland..I wonder why? He was quick to
respond with the "because they demand it", but nothing to my second
response...

You choose to only supply the top 5-10% of society then. What if people like
me (which number in a percentage far greater than "them") demanded the kind
of instrument that I speak of..then what?

While it is certainly true that not every one can afford an AP, far more that
the top 5% to 10% can afford such a scope.

For example, if one buys cars new or leases them, there is plenty of economic
room to handle an AP scope just by being careful with choices.

There are plenty of good scopes out there that may not have quite the
mechanicals or quite the optics of an AP that are less expensive and are still
fine pieces of equipment.

Given the waiting lists for his equipment built the way he wants to build it,
he has no reason to change.

Of course lower quality AP would be a mistake, the mystique would be missing
and from that point on one would always have to question the commitment to
providing the highest quality equipment.

jon