TheSkySearchers

Shorty Barlow wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:18 am

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:32 am

Shorty Barlow wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:59 am

It doesn't matter where you buy them from. Vixen are either made in Japan or China. ........
Vixen zooms now are no better than the Chinese made Celestron and Meade zooms I own.

Missed the edit deadline so here goes again.

Well that is certainly not my experience. This particular eyepiece is made in China, the Vixen LV Zoom that is. The Meade and Celestron clones are clones of the Vixen design so QC at the factory might be identical. Your previous remark about PRC QC being superior to Japanese QC is quite silly for an eyepiece that is only made in the PRC.

I suspect that there may be difference in QA/QC depending on the details in the supply chain. The PRC often does not play nice on quality issues as is well known. I think one has a chance of an additional QC intervention passing through Vixen's own or a conscientious Vixen distributor. In the US I use https://www.vixenoptics.com and https://www.mrstarguy.com and never have an issue. Only with third parties have there been problems on PRC made Vixen goods. I'm going to continue to do business with Vixen in the manner I find useful from experience.

You're assuming they're clones, I bet you have no actual evidence.

Oh, gee, you are becoming as informative and friendly as a tendentious thread over at CN. :asleep:

The evidence comes from the optical specs. 1) Identical focal lengths. 2) 7 lenses in 4 groups with a lanthanum element.

My LV's had Japan written on them, so I assumed they were made in Japan like the original Vixen LV's were.

My current example conspicuously lacks reference to country of origin.

gibbering deleted

Anyway, if your LV is Chinese the odds are it is the same as, or very similar to, the Meadetrons anyway. Which proves my original point.

Only if your logic is sloppy. Even if made in the same factory QC specs can be changed and products sorted accordingly.

So when I compared the new Japanese LV's to their PRC non-Vixen counterparts I couldn't detect any real difference in contrast and sharpness. I did find the PRC zooms were slightly brighter and had a larger maximum FOV. Which is why I preferred them. And like I said earlier, the new Japanese LV's all had the same mechanical issues.

I have never had any mechanical issues with a Vixen eyepiece so your statement is only your statement. I'm not persuaded.

*The phrase 'Turning Japanese' has a specific meaning in British English. I won't elucidate, but if you see Kirsten Dunst tell her I like her cover version (originally by The Vapors).

I await breathlessly your next anti Japanese anti Vixen screed. NOT!

My last thoughts on this. I find the logic that starts with small sample experiences and making sweeping generalizations about QC on a national scale to be false. In this case the claim was made that QC in PRC versus Japan was superior. Certainly a few anecdotes can't support such sweeping generalizations which are more like the "reasonings" that politicians and demagogues use to suppress thought. Along the way there are ad hominem against my contrary position which is based on my own experience which is equally valid. I did not deny the experience of the OP. The OP "assumes" I have no evidence though the optical specs are there for anyone to see. It is tiresome to defend a different point of view and get nothing but denial of validity attacks. It's a reason I don't post at CN.

Anecdotes are not data are not proof of diddly. Anyone who tries to claim other wise is playing fast and loose with logic and/or a politician.

Well as a long time Vixen owner or telescopes, mounts and eyepieces I am a fan of their products.
Owning Vixen barlows, Orthoscopic, NPL, LV, LVW, SLV, HR and both of their zoom eyepieces I can say that I have had no issues with any of them when comparing them to other eyepieces.
Even TeleVue liked the Vixen zooms enough to rebrand them with the TeleVue name so I imagine they felt they were good eyepieces.

Shorty Barlow wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 11:49 am

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:52 am
Even TeleVue liked the Vixen zooms enough to rebrand them with the TeleVue name so I imagine they felt they were good eyepieces.

Yes, they were good back in the day. That's my whole point.

I don't think she is saying what you claim.....

I think she can speak for herself.

I'm sure she can. I'm simply pointing out it's you trying to speak for her.

In my experience with LV and similar zooms such as the Meade/Celestron they are roughly comparable in performance.
I actually preferred the Meade/Celestron. Furthermore I had QC issues with the new Japanese LV's. The same issue in three consecutive examples. I assumed they were from a bad batch.

I've offered my own equally subjective evidence to the contrary. I dumped the Meade / Celestrons and kept the Vixen. Bigzmey's point about less throughput of light on the Vixen is resonant with my experience. I kept the Vixen for better contrast and am happy to have done so.

That's great. As I said, I stayed with the Meade/Celestrons. I found no difference in contrast between any of them.

Well fellas, all these posts and no guns or knives have been pulled - well done!

I'm pretty sure this is a picture of a Vixen manufactured TV zoom. Its housing is very reminiscent of Vixen zooms. Apparently Vixen made more than one model of these zooms. I believe these were made in Japan.

One of these models allegedly had a click-stop mechanism. I've been told that this was the model that TV distributed.

My posting was showing products from old to new and personally I have no issues with the level of QC performed over decades of use.
Every manufacturer has batches that make it through that are not at par with the regular standard, this is inevitable due to mass manufacturing.
What I would suggest is if this situation happens to you in the future, contact the main distributor for the product and speak with them.
The retailer most likely gave you another from what I suspect was a bad batch.
Bresser Telescopes is the main Vixen importer now as of January 2020 and they are quite receptive to user feedback and issues.
https://www.bresser.de/c/en/support/

I think it is time to move forward.

I apologize to the moderator team for my role in this mess.

I am not really sure what the retailer actually did. If I take their word for it they sent the faulty unit back to Vixen in Japan. Or it went back to Japan via their distributor.

I initially ordered the LV after discovering debris in the Lunt zoom. The LV is such a well known and exalted zoom I decided to try it. Apart from the debris and dodgy focusing action, it's a pretty decent zoom. I found it no better than my Celestron or Meade 4000.

I bought the Meade 4000 as it also had a good reputation.

I have tried the 'Meadetrons' experimentally in a binoviewer in daylight. Unfortunately my physical disability makes using them awkward, but I might give them a proper astronomical bino trial one night.

Well, I have no dog in this zoom-fight and I like you all, so please play nice. That said, I have selected the following short phrase as, IMHO, the most memorable subset of 5 words in a row from this particular thread. (And no, I won't identify who said it -- go find it on your own!)

"supreme bull goose loony zoom"


Added: Borrowed from this?? https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/ ... ckoos-nest
McMurphy: "Who's the head bull-goose loony around here?"

I have not used the Meade or Celestron zoom eyepieces but as I stated previously I have owned the Vixen zoom.
I found it to be quite a good performer though it did dim the view a bit as both Bigzmey and nFA have already posted.
Where I did find it did an excellent job was in solar viewing, both white light and Ha.

Using it with my Coronado PST the zoom produced a very nice vivid, well defined view.

Thread is unlocked, but please keep unsubstantiated comments about manufacturers out of the comments.

AntennaGuy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:44 pm Well, I have no dog in this zoom-fight and I like you all, so please play nice. That said, I have selected the following short phrase as, IMHO, the most memorable subset of 5 words in a row from this particular thread. (And no, I won't identify who said it -- go find it on your own!)

"supreme bull goose loony zoom"


Added: Borrowed from this?? https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/ ... ckoos-nest
McMurphy: "Who's the head bull-goose loony around here?"

I never used Cliff's Notes.

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 4:58 am

AntennaGuy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:44 pm Well, I have no dog in this zoom-fight and I like you all, so please play nice. That said, I have selected the following short phrase as, IMHO, the most memorable subset of 5 words in a row from this particular thread. (And no, I won't identify who said it -- go find it on your own!)

"supreme bull goose loony zoom"


Added: Borrowed from this?? https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/ ... ckoos-nest
McMurphy: "Who's the head bull-goose loony around here?"

I never used Cliff's Notes.

Well then here you go:

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/astronomy

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/physics

kt4hx wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 4:08 pm

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2020 4:58 am

AntennaGuy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:44 pm Well, I have no dog in this zoom-fight and I like you all, so please play nice. That said, I have selected the following short phrase as, IMHO, the most memorable subset of 5 words in a row from this particular thread. (And no, I won't identify who said it -- go find it on your own!)

"supreme bull goose loony zoom"


Added: Borrowed from this?? https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/ ... ckoos-nest
McMurphy: "Who's the head bull-goose loony around here?"

I never used Cliff's Notes.

Well then here you go:

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/astronomy

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/physics

Well.... I don't think I'm ready for that...