Starwave ASCENT 102ED F7 Refractor Telescope Geared Focuser

Discuss other brands of scopes. If the team sees enough activity we will add a new subforum.
Post Reply
User avatar
Jaq1967
Earth Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:13 am
4
Location: United Kingdom
Status:
Offline

Starwave ASCENT 102ED F7 Refractor Telescope Geared Focuser

#1

Post by Jaq1967 »


for £549.00
SWAS102EDF7_DSC_3019_800w.jpg
@ https://www.altairastro.com/ASCENT-102E ... cuser.html

What do you think? Glass I think is 51 like on the one on TS-Optics (...identicle?: https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... cuser.html )

Sky at night seem to like it: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/revi ... pe-review/

I am so much in the market for a easy setup tube. Yes, I am new(ish) to this, but feel I need to get away from big bulky fiddly reflectors and go to lighter no nonsense refractor - without breaking the bank.

I know this is bare-bones. I want to use it for AP and visual. I probably will go for both flatteners (x1.0 and x0.8 reducer) and the finder-scope option (my one is the pony small one that came with the Sky-watcher) and will need a good 2" diagonal for this. In the end I guess I will fork out £845.00 - before haggling price? What do you people think? And, what is comparable for sub £1000???

I did toy with the Sky-watcher Evostar 100ED DS Pro. You can get a good, configured boxed unit for £719.00, but do not think it is as fast. Is it as good???

All open to ideas... Help!!

Jaq
Telescopes: Altair Astro Starware 102ED-R, SW P150 reflector, SW SkyMax127 mak, Meade ETX90 mak, SW Startravel 80 Table Top Telescope
Mount: HEQ5-Pro, EQ3-2
Camera: Pentax K-50, Pentax K-70, Altair Hypercam 183C Pro TEC
Accessories: Various


Image
User avatar
Lady Fraktor Slovakia
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 9860
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:14 pm
4
Location: Slovakia
Status:
Offline

Re: Starwave ASCENT 102ED F7 Refractor Telescope Geared Focuser

#2

Post by Lady Fraktor »


A really nice refractor, I have the Teleskop-Service non ED version and it is a very nice telescope.
It will keep up with the Skywatcher quite well though the Skywatcher will have slightly less chromatic blur due to the FPL-53 used in it.

What mount are you planning on using with this?
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
The only culture I have is from yogurt
My day was going well until... people
Image
User avatar
Jaq1967
Earth Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:13 am
4
Location: United Kingdom
Status:
Offline

Re: Starwave ASCENT 102ED F7 Refractor Telescope Geared Focuser

#3

Post by Jaq1967 »


Lady Fraktor wrote: Sat Sep 21, 2019 6:01 pm A really nice refractor, I have the Teleskop-Service non ED version and it is a very nice telescope.
It will keep up with the Skywatcher quite well though the Skywatcher will have slightly less chromatic blur due to the FPL-53 used in it.

What mount are you planning on using with this?
HEQ5 Pro. Should be ok I think.
Telescopes: Altair Astro Starware 102ED-R, SW P150 reflector, SW SkyMax127 mak, Meade ETX90 mak, SW Startravel 80 Table Top Telescope
Mount: HEQ5-Pro, EQ3-2
Camera: Pentax K-50, Pentax K-70, Altair Hypercam 183C Pro TEC
Accessories: Various


Image
User avatar
dritter
Moon Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:18 pm
4
Location: Canada
Status:
Offline

Re: Starwave ASCENT 102ED F7 Refractor Telescope Geared Focuser

#4

Post by dritter »


I have what appears to be the exact same telescope with Lunt Engineering branding on it. It is the Lunt LE102OTA model and is sold in North America under this name.

The scope is quite good for visual although it does not have as good of color correction as an FPL-53 triplet would. Still, the color rendition is quite acceptable for an ED scope and I have to really look for CA by using very high magnifications.

Not sure how well it would work for AP though. Probably not bad but I'm pretty certain it would need a flattener. And the color issue may be a bigger problem for AP, or maybe not. I've never tried it so I don't know.

Another major issue for AP is the quality of the focuser. My version came with a decent two-speed focuser that should have no trouble with a DSLR. Mine looks like the same focuser with the gold knob seen in the photos. This focuser easily handles all my eyepieces including a 2" 35mm Panoptic. However, I don't know how well this focuser would hold a heavy mono camera with a filter wheel and perhaps an OAG. It might work but compared to a FeatherTouch or Moonlite it might be borderline as well.

It is also rather light for it's size and an HEQ5 should have no trouble carrying it. Even with AP gear it should easily work on this class of mount including the AVX for example. In general the build quality is good to excellent. The fit and finish is nice and mine has held up over the years. I also have the 80mm version, it's a really good little ED scope too. For the money it's hard to find better value in either version.
Dave
User avatar
frant Great Britain
Moon Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri May 24, 2019 9:51 pm
4
Location: Cambridge, UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: Starwave ASCENT 102ED F7 Refractor Telescope Geared Focuser

#5

Post by frant »


Reportedly a very nice scope, though I don't have one to speak from direct experience.
As can be seen from my sig I'm a fan of Altair equipment, and they're a very good vendor, so if you have any issues they'll bend over backwards to help you, here I can speak from experience, even though it was with a 3rd party product they sold, not even their own.
Richard
OTA: Altair Astro Wave Series 115mm APO, Altair 70EDT-F 70mm APO, Altair Astro 8" RC (CF). Mount: CEM60.Sensor: Atik 383L+ Mono CCD, Altair Hypercam 1600M ProTEC. Guiding: Lodestar x2 and SX OAG. Reducers/Flatteners: Planostar 3" 0.79x and 3" 1.0x, AP CCDT67 0.76x, Altair 0.85x, SW 0.85x. Filters: 2x Baader 36mm NB and LRGB, SX Filter Wheel, ZWO EFW. Software: SGP, Stellarium, PHD2, PixInsight. Roll off roof Obsy and a bad case of imaging addiction.
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Other telescopes”