Telescope Disappointment?

[Nightspore]

 

This 90mm 'Omegon' MightyMak is the scope that disappointed me the most. These were also marketed by Kasai as the 'Pico'.

 

 

Apart from the fact it appears to be mostly manufactured out of Bakelite I couldn't get a sharp focus above about 30x. It has a 1000mm focal length making it about f/11. 

 

 

I pretty quickly replaced it with an Orion 90mm Mak which was far superior. The Orion cost about the same. 

 

What are your telescope disappointments?

 

 

[+Bino-viewer]

When i brought my first serious scope : an OO 10" F4.8 nearly 20 yrs ago, i remember being initially disappointed with it.

But back then i new nothing at all (i don't know a whole lot now) about telescopes, and knew even less about thermal management.

 

I'd take the scope out from my warm bedroom, mount it up and expected pristine views right away.

That particular OTA was not even open ended at the primary mirror end.

In effect i was taking a warm stovepipe outside and expecting it to perform.

And the planetary views i had from it, surprise surprise, were rather disappointing.

And added to that i didn't even know what the word collimation meant !!

 

It didn't put me off though, and i'm still at it 20 yrs later, and i have a scope that cools down as quickly as they come for its aperture.

[Nightspore]

It took me years to get used to the idea that a 102mm Mak took a good 40 mins to acclimatise lol.  I've never been disappointed with my Synta Mak's. I have plans to get the 127mm and my bino's out for the Venus dichotomy on the 27th. Although I may be disappointed by the weather.

[Doc]

I don't think I have ever been dissapointed with a telescope. I have had quite a few scopes the first one came with a really wobbly tripod that was a pain to use so the views were pretty bad. The ones I've had in order are:

 

Prinz refractor

Hardin 8" dobsonian

TAL100r (which I still own)

Bresser 152r refractor

Meade Lightbridge 16" Dobsonian

William Optics GT81

Skywatcher 12" dobsonian

Skywatcher 120ED Esprit (Which I still own)

Clave 80mm F15 refractor (which I still own)

[Clive]

55 minutes ago, Doc said:

I don't think I have ever been dissapointed with a telescope. I have had quite a few scopes the first one came with a really wobbly tripod that was a pain to use so the views were pretty bad. The ones I've had in order are:

 

Prinz refractor

Hardin 8" dobsonian

TAL100r (which I still own)

Bresser 152r refractor

Meade Lightbridge 16" Dobsonian

William Optics GT81

Skywatcher 12" dobsonian

Skywatcher 120ED Esprit (Which I still own)

Clave 80mm F15 refractor (which I still own)

A 60mm Prinz refractor was also my first telescope, I'll never forget my amazement of the first views through it of the moon, Jupiter and the 4 satellites and my favourite at the time, Saturn. I had it for years before it became the finder for my late 10" Newtonian. But it's probably not a patch on todays telescopes of a similar size.

[+Bino-viewer]

My first childhood scope was something similar.

Not a Prinz, i think its made by 'Astral' and a bit cheaper.

The tripod wasn't too bad, it was wooden, but the mount was a little on the shaky side.

It was a 60mm doublet, but think it may have been stopped down to 50mm

It didn't even have a finder.

It had only a fixed eyepiece, and zoomed out by extending it to 4 positions, giving 15x 30x 45x and 60x

I remember finding Jupiter and Saturn with it and seeing Jupiters 4 moons for the first time, and Saturns rings.

I remember watching a lunar eclipse one night and set the alarm for 2 am and stuck the scope out of an open window to follow it.

I recieved it from my parents in 1980 or 1981. I think Halley's comet was a reason to get it, but that turned out to be a damp squib.

I didn't use it that much, even though the interest was always there, and left it gathering dust in the attic , when i moved out in 1993,

where it was to be another 8 years before i got back into the hobby and purchased the 10" OO Newt.

When my dad passed away in 2017, we cleared out the house, and my old scope was still there.

It was very dirty and the optics had degraded a bit. Even though there was a bit of sentimentality there, i decided to scrap it and it went to the tip.

That was my first refractor, and i'm now on number 4 and 5 and in all probability they will see me out.

 

 

[+seven_legs]

My first scope was a tasco 40mm with retractable zoom eyepieces. It was on a table top tripod. 

I think i was 10 years old when i got it. 1979 was the year i think. 

I thought it was amazing then, but if i had it now would probably think differently lol. 

[BAZ]

Do you know, I was thinking that, my first Tasco! But I couldn't say it disappointed, it was a thing of wonder even when you realise it didn't show you the whole of the universe. But it did show me a bit of it and it was Saturn that I still remember even now that got me into this hobby.

[+seven_legs]

8 hours ago, BAZ said:

Do you know, I was thinking that, my first Tasco! But I couldn't say it disappointed, it was a thing of wonder even when you realise it didn't show you the whole of the universe. But it did show me a bit of it and it was Saturn that I still remember even now that got me into this hobby.

I completely agree. 

[Nightspore]

I had a 60mm Tasco when I was at school. I thought it was great, I just wish I knew where it was now lol. The Omegon MightyMak was the second Mak I ever bought. The idea was a grab and go lunar scope that could be mounted in a Vixen style mount or, at a push, a garden table mounted little Dob. 

 

 

The Omegon case that was included with the MightyMistake was the best thing about the scope!

 

 

Holds the Orion nicely.

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Nightspore

[Guest]

On 19/03/2020 at 22:09, Nightspore said:

It took me years to get used to the idea that a 102mm Mak took a good 40 mins to acclimatise lol.  I've never been disappointed with my Synta Mak's. I have plans to get the 127mm and my bino's out for the Venus dichotomy on the 27th. Although I may be disappointed by the weather.

I apologise if I am repeating myself but I have the Synta 127mm Mak  and think it's great, although it is on an EQ3/2 mount and not the Supatrack. Common sense suggests that the 127 is not much better than the 102 but when I bought the 127, I was told that it had a much better build quality. I was thinking about getting the 102 and having some spare money for more eyepieces but was advised not to. I don't always follow the cooling rules but I keep it where it is nearer to the ambient temperature than the house.

 

I don't look through it much these days, as I do more photography than visual.

[Nightspore]

25 minutes ago, Sunny Phil said:

I apologise if I am repeating myself but I have the Synta 127mm Mak  and think it's great, although it is on an EQ3/2 mount and not the Supatrack. Common sense suggests that the 127 is not much better than the 102 but when I bought the 127, I was told that it had a much better build quality. I was thinking about getting the 102 and having some spare money for more eyepieces but was advised not to. I don't always follow the cooling rules but I keep it where it is nearer to the ambient temperature than the house.

 

I don't look through it much these days, as I do more photography than visual.

It's difficult to ascertain the comparative build quality in many respects. The 127mm is bigger and heavier, so probably seems more substantial. Overall, they seem the same to me. They're all Synta.

 

 

The 102mm is great for the Moon and very portable. I can take it out easily as a grab and go and I'm partially paralysed in my right arm and hand. 

 

 

The big difference for me is that up to 10cm/4" I can pick the OTA up with one hand. I just can't properly do that with a 5" OTA.

 

 

If I keep the 127mm low on the AZ5 and sit immediately behind it with bino's it is fairly manageable for me. That 27mm (over an inch in old money) more than the 102mm definitely shows.

[Al.Grant]

 

The first scope I bought was a Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO.  

It wasn't actually the scope that was the issue, it was the AZ mount the is just too flimsy.  The slightest gust of wind and it all wobbled.

 

I still have the Skymax 127 and it gets regular use as my travel scope on a Fotomate VT-680-222R photographic tripod, which works perfectly.

 

The mount and associated SynScan bits are still sitting up in the loft.