TheSkySearchers

My cool new refractor arrived yesterday, a flt 132! it's blue and beautiful. It has a 3.3" R/P focuser which isn't a feathertouch but it seems well made and quite smooth, I am sure it will handle the weight of my Aluma694 setup just fine. William optics have always been known for their gadgets and the dewcap that has an integrated bahintov mask is no exception, very nice! Comes with a great, heavy duty Losmandy style dovetail with plenty of mounting points, the focuser has their rotolock system which provides a very strong grip, even the dual speed knob side of the focuser has a aluminum threaded cover, not just a plastic push on. I was lamenting the fact that WO and others don't supply hard cases anymore but the soft case is actually pretty decent and nice to look at.
I paid the extra $150 to get the zyglo report for my scope, my thinking was it would guarantee that I get a good one and I was right, this blue beauty has a strehl of 0.977! The new Stellarvue offerings that i was considering (SVX-130t) are now made to a strehl of 0.98-.99 but cost $1300 more?? i am sure they are great but probably not $1300 more great, lol.
It's actually supposed to be mostly clear tonight, hope so!

A very nice refractor! Congrats!

It's a beauty, congrats!

Enjoy the new telescope

Wow! I am jealous! Congrats on the new kid

very nice!. very reassuring to have a data sheet of the optics test results asell

An excellent new scope you've got there - congratulations!

Enjoy the new addition. Like those extra do dads.

I am out tonight with the 132, thoroughly impressed! i owned a AP 130gt for a short while over the late summer and the Vega star test looks every bit as good in the flt 132.

Looks great: I hope the clouds stay away for you! Manufacturers have really upped their game over the last few years, and I think the fact that some are now publishing their Strehl results is pushing others to improve. I very much doubt that anyone could tell the difference between 0.977 and 0.98-0.99, so I think you have made a wise move; and that gives you $1300 for more goodies!

I spoke with Williams a number of years ago when I was looking to get a better scope than my Megrez 110, which sadly really didn't cut it for image quality once I tried to go above around 100x (a great low-power, wide-field scope though). They suggested their FLT 102 which had just come out at the time (and to their credit they offered to sell it to me at a terrific price), but when I said I was looking for a guaranteed 50x per inch on a good night, and was considering a Tak TSA 102, all they would say was "The FLT 102 optics are very sharp, but we can't match the Tak". It looks like they can now! (Especially if you get their zyglo report to keep them honest!)

I like the idea of the bahintov mask in the dust cap too: very cool.

Looking forward to your first light report. Whoops: just crossed with your comment above. More details please!

All the best,

Dean

Small... Very nice; good for you! Glad to hear it's a good performer as well. The blue looks so good...

Enjoy it and all the best,

The skies actually cooperated most of the night, I was kept busy as I had my Meade 70mm quad setup on the Cem120 with my new Aluma/FW8G that I wanted to try out for the first time along with the 132 mounted on the CGX. I found a couple nice doubles to look at (32 ERI and 38 Gem) great colors using my 8mm Radian. Vega out of focus using the 8mm radian and a 2x powermate only showed the tiniest amount of purple in the outermost diffraction ring, the AP 130gt was very similar and perhaps the flt 132 was a touch better.
My only real issue is the supplied rotolock wasn't up to the task in holding my Aluma/FW8G/AO-8a, I could rock it out pretty easily. It's fine with any diagonal and 2" eyepieces, later today I am going to see if there's any way to adjust the tension on it. If not I will look into the Baader clicklock as I know it will hold my camera gear securely.

Congrats on the new scope. I have the WO GT102 and am very happy with it. Post those images - waiting to see !

Just received my 0.72 reducer, I hated paying for it but you only cry once (per expensive purchase) but I must say it's impressive to say the least. For my camera set up it was really the only choice, my aluma camera with filter wheel and adapter puts me at 57mm back focus, pretty much every other reducer out there is made for 55mm. This reducer requires 63.3mm for my flt132 which gives me plenty of room. It uses a hefty collar with very fine threads that has a mm scale, make your adjustment and lock it in! It threads into the focuser with a big M92 thread, zero chance of it working it's way loose.

Tonight's setup, hopefully will finish off M33.

Looking nice! Im not jealous at all i swear!!
Will be very interesting on your result with the new tube!

Very cool new addition!