80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

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Jones
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80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#1

Post by Jones »


20220222_145706.jpg
Made in Japan, ordered from First Light Optics UK, delivered yesterday to Arizona in USA. What a trip. Maybe that was why all the screws were loose. Specs:
49" overall length, 6.5 pounds weight as pictured, 5.5" focuser travel, but comes to focus with Diagonal only 1" racked out. Why all the unused travel? 82mm tube o.d. 2.5mm tube thickness aluminum. Looked like threaded holes only had 3 threads, maybe that was why the screws were not snugged down. Do not strip out threads by over tightening screws.

Plastic screws holding the vixen mount bar on. Put metal 6mm screws in. Put in a site tube and lens was not collimated. No collimating screws on lens cell. But there was wiggle room on cell screws, still would not center the 2 rings in sighting tube. Took 3 screws outta cell and rotated cell over to next screw holes and finally wiggled cell to perfect alignment.
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This sticker was prophetic, 2 hours before delivery the sky completely clouded up.
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Last edited by Jones on Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#2

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Beautiful!
A refractor I would happily include in my collection :)
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
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Jones
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#3

Post by Jones »


$450. usd delivered, seems kind of pricey for what got.
Mite get up early, late to look at moon.
It better outperform my old Tasco 76mm f/16.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#4

Post by Lady Fraktor »


I imagine it will produce some nice views for you.
I hope the clouds clear so you can enjoy it.
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
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Jones
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#5

Post by Jones »


This is Arizona, of course it was clear.
3 a.m. and Plato was perfectly positioned to count the craters on the floor. Did'nt see any. Also did not see any scattered colors. No red or yellow or blue noticed anywhere at 300x with a 4mm ortho.
Looks like this is a keeper. Can hardly wait till the planets come out from behind the sun. This looks to be my main scope for the early mornings.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#6

Post by Richard »


Yes 450 US is quite a lot , but prices have gone up and up , but looks great enjoy
Would be good to see how much better it is then a 60 year old scope , I hardly use mine so will probably give to someone , or sell it
Reflectors GSO 200 Dobs
Refractors None
SCT C5 on a SLT mount
Mak 150 Bosma on a EQ5
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

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Post by Jones »


Huumm.... Looked at the Takahashi 80mm Starbase and the focuser and lense cell look identical. Even the little peep sights are there. Also made in Japan. The more I use this f15 version the better I like it.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

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Post by davesellars »


Nice classic looking refractor!!! Glad to hear it's performing well.
SW Flextube 12" Dobsonian.
Starfield ED102 f/7; SW ED80; SW 120ST
EQ5 and AZ4 mounts
Eyepieces: TV Delos 17.3 & 10; Pentax XW 7 & 5; BCO 32,18,10; Fuyiyama Ortho 12.5; Vixen SLV 25.
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Jones
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#9

Post by Jones »


Kenko might be the factory in Japan making these, or maybe just another rebrand.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#10

Post by Ylem »


Sweet looking scope!

I think $450 including shipping is very reasonable!

Love those FLO cloud stickers.
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



Orion 80ED
Celestron C5, 6SE, Celestar 8
Vixen Porta Mount ll
Coronado PST
A big box of Plossls
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Jones
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#11

Post by Jones »


Kenko is the telescope company. Astro Hutech sells some of their items. 2 porta mount looking alt az heads and 3 x 80mm lenses f15, f10 and f7.

Looks like the dewshield screws on. Was wondering about that.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#12

Post by John Baars »


Very nice refractor. Good you were able to collimate it perfectly!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Jones
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#13

Post by Jones »


20220326_142112.jpg
First change you have to make is a Vixen finder shoe to mount a 50mm finder to go deep sky hunting.
Winter skys M42 Orion Nebula- nice amount of nebulosity seen, 80mm is just not enough to see E & F stars in the trapezium. M43 is the star just off the fish mouth, only the smallest nebula seen around it.
Move over to Canis Major and M41 cluster. Looks as good as any scope shows, nice pinpoint stars. Go down a little to the diamond ring cluster NGC 2362. At my lowest power of 40x with a 30mm plossl does not seem to be anything there, probably why Messier missed this, but at 150x it looks really dramatic. Bright central star surrounded by all those little sharp points of light.

Go up 1.5 degrees to the double h3945 a really nice orange and blue set.

Next to Auriga and those 3 clusters M36,37,38. Now the limitations of a 80mm show. The 3 clusters are dim and do not show very well. Out in the middle of no where a small scope can be exciting. But on the edge of a medium sized city they are washed out by all the city light. That little cluster below M38 cannot be seen at all NGC 1907.

Next to the moon to see how much power can be used there.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#14

Post by PeterD »


Jones wrote: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:20 am 49" overall length, 6.5 pounds weight as pictured, 5.5" focuser travel, but comes to focus with Diagonal only 1" racked out. Why all the unused travel?
I understand this was done by purpose since Japanese like to look straight through without diagonals. Must have much more flexible necks that I do :)

I happen to have f12.5 version of the very same scope. It is a shame that someone bought the last f15 one from FLO only few hours before me. Would certainly go for f15. It is on 60-90 day lead time now and FLO assumes that is rather an optimistic guess.

What and excellent refractor it is. Optically and mechanically as well. It is the kind of scope I always wanted and never had. Classics like Unitron's e.t.c have never been available in this part of the world. This one feel very close.

With a diagonal mirror in place some of my ortho's came to focus only a milimiter shy of the fully retracted focuser position. The astrometric eyepiece did not come to focus at all. Upgraded the diagonal to Baader T2 (non Zeiss) prism to gain some focuser travel. After measuring the optical length of the diagonal mirror and comparing with the Baader prism length from the website I was counting on 12mm of in foccus gain. However, to my surprise i gained only 6.5mm. The Baader must be longer that stated I guess.
Peter
Handful of refractors, a pair of old binoculars, tin box full of plossls and orthos, couple of EQ mounts with some wooden legs
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#15

Post by PeterD »


Jones wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:43 am Huumm.... Looked at the Takahashi 80mm Starbase and the focuser and lense cell look identical. Even the little peep sights are there. Also made in Japan. The more I use this f15 version the better I like it.
Takahasi Starbase 80 is supposed to be made by the same company. The difference is in colour (black vs Tak greenish) and focal ratio. The optics by Kubota Optical and mechanics by Scopetown/Scopetech IIRC.
Peter
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Re: 80mm f/15 Scopetech achromat

#16

Post by Jones »


The lens at f15 is great. Better than my old Tasco 76mm f16 by far. Better than any 80mm ed double. Maybe a -53 triple can compare but doubt it.
Arizona- where the sky's are not cloudy all night.

Triple lensed fracs are so yummy when looking at planets.
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