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2009 Calendars! |
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Purchase any rifle scope from Anacortes Telescope & Wild Bird between April 15 and October 31, 2008 and receive a complimentary entry in our drawing for a free Marlin Model 1895MXLR rifle! |
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| Tele Vue TV-60 APO OTA |
Binoviewing with the TV-60
by: Paul Goodwin
I've read several reviews that say that you can't use a TeleVue binoviewer with this scope.
Not true: I've used one with the scope on the brighter objects, e.g., Jupiter, the moon, etc. - with very nice results.
Also, try looking at the moon with a 50x eyepiece - just before dark, when the moon is surrounded by the blue sky. Craters tack sharp. Beautiful image.
This is my second TV-60. I missed the first one after I sold it. A great birding scope - and an great grab-and-go on those iffy nights, when you don't want to lug your big scope out.
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| Tele Vue TV-76 APO Complete Package (Green OTA) |
Like a Brick
by: Robert Young
I've only had my green TV76 a short while, but love it. All the good things listed by reviewers of the ivory version are true. So far image quality has been indistinguishable from that of my much bulkier FS78.
Mine came used with the Feather Touch Microfocuser. This has made it a joy to use. Very easy to find optimum focus and an option one should plan on if buying a TV76. It does, however, make a scope that's already focuser heavy a little more tail heavy.
Another very worthwhile option is the Vixen alt-az Porta Mount. It's light, convenient to use, precise with slo-motion controls, inexpensive and a near perfect match for the TV76. You may need the TV balance aid to get the 76 to balance properly on this (or any) mount. I was fortunate enough to come up with a very satisfactory mounting solution using parts that were lying around.
I bought this scope for both astronomy and terrestrial viewing; primarily with the goal of having a good scope at hand in car or truck when the day ends at a good dark site or in a wildlife area. There was also thought of taking it on an occasional backpacking trip. Though small and convenient, the 76 is a bit too heavy for backpacking. A solid lump of glass the same size couldn't weigh much more. Did I mention, it's built like a brick?
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| Celestron 9.25" Schmidt Cassegrain OTA w/ CGE Mount Dovetail w/XLT Coatings |
Light Weight - Great Performance!
by: RCWolpert
The C-9.25 actually exceeded every expectation. I purchased the OTA for my Losmandy GM-8 with Gemini GoTo system, using the 11 lb counterweight.
The first night out I immediately noticed that this was not just another Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. It’s as if the telescope doesn’t know that it has only a 9.25†diameter primary and thinks it’s a 12â€. In fact, the views were every bit as good (often better) as obtained with my Meade 12†LX200 and 12.5†Newtonian.
The contrast with the sky background is improved over any telescope that I have previously used and the collimation was excellent right out of the box. The view of Jupiter was as good or better than I’ve ever seen with any telescope under 14†– a very pleasant surprise. M27 was as good as I’ve seen with the 12†Meade and my 12.5â€, and the 13.5 mag central star was easily seen. It took me half the night of observing to realize that I was getting almost zero image shift as I changed focus – a real annoyance in most SCT’s. Other SCT's I've used had a disturbing amount of image shift, but the C-9.25 has so little that it’s not even a factor.
On a night when the moon was not a factor and the Milky Way just barely visible, I decided to determine the limiting visual magnitude. I selected the star field of FF Cyg, a variable that has a listed minimum brightness of 14.2 and that was close to Zenith. I could actually see a magnitude 14.1 star directly and a 14.3 with averted vision. I was truly impressed.
Finally, with an OTA weight of only 20 pounds, I consider this scope to be the perfect choice for anyone who doesn’t have an observatory and needs a portable system that doesn't sacrifice performance.
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| Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium |
Great Device
by: M L Sparks
This device works perfectly and as advertized. We orginally tried Meade's MySky unit but could not get it or it's replacement unit to work at all.
Also the staff at Anacortes were wonderful to work with. They shipped us a second Meade unit which did not work and then agreed to exchange the failed Meade units for this wonderful Celestron SkyScout.
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| Meade mySKY Plus Personal Guide for Sky Exploration |
Does not work...
by: M L Sparks
The first unit worked but always pointed about 10 degrees off. I tried to update the scan disk by going to Meade's website. After the update, the unit would not work at all. Thankfully, the staff at Anacortes Telescope were wonderful to work with. They sent me a second MySky. It never worked period. I tried updating it on the Meade website - no luck. I finally called Meade support and they told me the most amazing thing - yes they new the updating routine on their website was flawed and in fact it would now be necessary to replace the scan disk and yes there was a $10 mailing fee to replace the disk which their website had ruined! I gave them my credit card information but the disk never arrived. A month later I called Anacortes - no arguments just great service. I returned the two MySky's and they shipped a Celestron SkyScout. The SkyScout works perfectly! One other thing about the MySky junk. Meade has given up on the GPS system. Units are now shipped without a GPS receiver. The unit's disk contains a database of cities that are supposed to sufficient to pin down your location. But if you want to use the unit in a remote location and IF it works - it can't possibly be as accurate as a GPS driven unit. This whole experience has made me a devoted Anacortes customer and doubter of anything that has Meade's name on it...
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