On the difference between cost of the AT and the Skywatcher, that becomes one of those thorny conversations that I normally hate to get involved with.
The AT was built to a price point and Astro-Tech did not hide this point even going as far as to post how and where they cut corners to keep costs down but produce a good telescope.
I love vendors that have a degree of transparency.
Skywatcher has done the opposite and will no longer state what glass it uses or where they are made. Synta/ Skywatcher/ Celestron refractors are not made in house but contracted out.
The older ones used FPL-53 (here we go
) but I
suspect that they have gone to a much cheaper to produce glass like FCD-1 which is considerably cheaper to make and figure but not passing the savings on to consumer. (Price has stayed the same)
Synta has to pay off their lawsuit to Orion somehow
Skywatcher is quite common here and I have looked through them many times and they are good telescopes, I unfortunately have not looked through the AT offering but opinions of people I give credence to have used them and they like them.
A well made Fluorite lens (with proper mating lens) has the ability to essentially give the most corrected view. Fluorite has virtually no light scatter of itself so colour blur becomes a non issue, as JG has shown before in the past, a laser passing through Fluorite the beam disappears.
I have debated quite a bit on finding a TSA-102 for myself but I keep finding more affordable refractors in the meantime.
In comparrison side by side I would expect my Vixen 115mm to keep up with the Takahashi quite well until the skies really started to deteriorate.
At that point the Takahashi should show a good image for longer.
The combination of 100mm
aperture and Fluorite lens is what makes these such a potent refractor.
Another excellent line to check for new or used is the TS Photoline series (Teleskop-Service) very good quality of glass and mechanicals and usually cheaper than the equivalent Skywatcher.
Gabrielle
See Far Sticks: Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser 127/1200 BV, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS 100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, SXP2, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II, Stellarvue M2C, Argo Navis encoders on both
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, Tak prism, TAL, Vixen
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss (1011110)
The only culture I have is from yogurt