The Orion 110 f6 Eon is 25 inches long with the dew shield retracted. It comes as an
OTA in a very nice case. The case is more substantial than my Skywatcher cases. There are reinforcing brackets along the length.
The fit and finish is very fine.
A very nice feature for my style is the 2 points of rotation in the focuser assembly.
One adjuster allows for the orientation of the focus knobs and one allows orientaion of a camera or your diagonal. I find this very convenient as to the diagonal. When observing with a go-to mount the orientation of the
EP in the diagonal can become very confused. With the Eon it is a matter of unlocking the rear rotator and swinging the
EP into correct orientation for viewing. There is no need to loosten the compression rings on the diagonal. The rotations are smooth with no gravelly drag. For my style of observing this feature alone is worth the cost of entry.
This
OTA weighs 15 lbs with the losmandy rail attached.
The dew shield slides very nicely and has no slop as it moves and when fully extended is one with the main tube.
The interior finish of this tube is outstanding. Light is absorbed very well and looking into the objective one sees a nice dark hole to the rear opening of the focuser. The baffles are well attached with none of the gaps or rough weld points I have seen in some tubes.
My unscientific impressions of the Optics are that it is as good or better than my ES120 FCD100.
While viewing the moon I had clear crisp focus and very pleasing contrast even in the usual areas of the brillient, poor contrast brightness of the large fully illuminated disc. Views of Saturn and Jupiter with poor transparency but fine seeing conditions were also high in contrast revealing detail in spite of the negative mitigation of the less than fine quality of my sky while doing this viewing. This
EP I am using may contribute to this high contrast view, but the images I have acquired thus far with my Nikon d810 seem to indicate it is predominantly a characteristic of the
OTA.
The focuser is like velvet. Fine focus is a delight. The R&P build is very precise and quite robust. Mounted with the d810 camera the Focuser tube is rock solid and stable...no sag...no play. The focus lock is robust. The knob is large and precise with no "crunch" when tightened.
The tube rings are buit like a fitting that could hold the cannon barrel on an M1/A1 Abrams tank. Very well made, large fixtures knobs with threads that also to operate smoothly.
The OPT comes alone in the case, no finder, but there is the common Synta finder mount.
And last but not least is the rotating clamp for your diagonal or camera kit in the focuser tube. There are no screws to twist or fiddle with. It functions somewhat like the Baader Twist lock feature, but this is built as part of the focuser. It is a convenient feature and like the other hardware on this
OTA it is rock solid.
I am looking forward to a shootout between my Skywatcher 100 f9 Evostar and this Orion 110 f6 Eon.
SCOPES :ES127 f7.5, SW100 f9 Evostar, ES80 F6, LXD75 8" f10 SCT, 2120 10" f10 SCT, ES152 f6.5.
MOUNTS: SW AZ/EQ5, MEADE LXD75, CELESTRON CG4, Farpoint Parallelogram.
BINOCULARS: CL 10X30, Pentax 8X43, 25X100 Oberwerks.
EP: Many.
"I am more than a sum of molecules.
I am more than a sum of memories or events.
I do not one day suddenly cease to be.
I am, before memory.
I am, before event.
I am"
