Quick observing report with a budget scope

[Guest DN18]

Had the chance to do some star tests with the Visionary 114 telestro last night.

Stuck in the 22mm Vixen Lanth and got a nice suprise. All stars were nice and bright, with

good sharpness across the field.

So did a few comparisons with the Vixen and the basic eyepieces that came with it.

Main difference is the narrow field of view with the supplied 12 & 20mm. They are very

narrow, but still acceptable for starters.

The Alberio and Gamma Delphini double stars were fantasic through the Vixen. The colours

in alberio were superb. Not as bright through the basic eyepieces, but were easy to split.

Collimation is,nt great with the visionary scope I have, which did,nt help.

I only used the vixen 22mm on the Lyra double double. But with only 45x I was pushing my luck.

Biggest shock was the Ring nebula with the vixen eyepiece used. Despite Lyra hanging

over the river wharf with all its light pollution, M57 was bright and clear. Even looking

directly at it with no averted vision still gave great results.

So I think I,ve dispelled another myth to add to the one where some people think all 15x70 binoculars from china are the same.

That is that not all cheap scopes from China are a waste of money. All you need to do

is add a half decent eyepiece, and you,ll end up with a cracking little starter scope.

BTW the mount is,nt great. So for best results, dont do what I did, and test on a windy night

[Guest Eddy]

Nice write up nigel, the smaller scopes do tend to have dodgy mounts