Altair astro 115mm F7 ED - a new model soon?

[Guest nickyb]

Hi,

 

I'm shortly going to upgrade my old scope to a Altair 115mm F7 ED, the reviews look very good indeed and I plan to get an iEQ45 mount with tripod also.

 

I heard recently that Altair might be upgrading the focuser, which might incur a price increase. Does anyone on the forum know if this is the case, as I might wait until the upgrade 115mm comes out?

 

Finally, what do other members think of this scope?

 

Many thanks,

 

Nick

Cambridgeshire

[red dwalf]

You can speak to altair directly on this forum as both ian and nick are members (traders)

very helpfull guys and I'm sure they will help you out with your inquiries.

I have a altair 80 ed doublet which I like very much, the triplet version of this scope has excellent reviews, I couldn't afford the extra at the time for the triplet but wish I had as the prices of these have increased over the last year.

[Guest nickyb]

Many thanks for your help. I will contact them!

 

Nick

[fwm891]

Nick - you won't be disappointed - fabulous scope.

Current focuser is great anyway, very positive and holds my OAG, FW and Atik 383L+ without moaning.

The range of flatteners & reducers are very very good even with full frame imagers.

Yes I have one and can't see nay reason to change it.

[Guest nickyb]

Nick - you won't be disappointed - fabulous scope.

Current focuser is great anyway, very positive and holds my OAG, FW and Atik 383L+ without moaning.

The range of flatteners & reducers are very very good even with full frame imagers.

Yes I have one and can't see nay reason to change it.

many thanks for the info. 

[Brantuk]

+1 for the 115EDT - smashing triplet indeed and great vfm.

[+Bino-viewer]

It's a very well regarded scope. I'm sure you'll love the views through it. I love refractors.

I'd get it now, and see how you get on with the focuser.

If you want to upgrade in the future, there's great options to do just that.

[Guest nickyb]

It's a very well regarded scope. I'm sure you'll love the views through it. I love refractors.

I'd get it now, and see how you get on with the focuser.

If you want to upgrade in the future, there's great options to do just that.

Thanks Rob. Tell me, what do you like about refractors? I guess they have better contrasty views than SCTs etc?

 

Nick

[Guest foundaplanet]

Fracs....  Well, my opinion...That saying about sex on a stick.... I think that was coined for fracs... Some things that man has made have the perfect aesthetic and no explanation is needed...

[+Bino-viewer]

Hi Nick

 

Yes, i agree with col !    Definitely sexy...

 

In all honesty though........for me its the fact they are less fussy than reflectors / cats

 

Cooldown : they don't need as much as other scopes before they're giving great views (no need for fans etc)

Contrast :    you're right about this : no central obstruction  They also have effective baffling to help with this.

Seeing issues :  refractors seem to me to be less fussy in crap seeing (default )  and bad (really bad in my case) light pollution.

Collimation : A well put together frac shouldn't need collimating. (I've never touched mine and wouldn't know where to start)

 

Just a few of the many plusses. The smaller size fracs are obviously ideal to travel with, even on a plane, if you're an astro-photographer.

 

I much prefer the view in my frac when i'm doing planetary, or double star observing.

I've regularly used my 3.5mm eyepiece on the planets to give 264x magnification (double aperture) with little or no image breakdown. i once went up to 370x on Saturn.

 

Needless to say, you need deep pockets ! Crazy money can be spent !  You only need to look at the AA website at that 180mm oil-spaced triplet 

 

There's no price listing on the 115 as it appears to be out of stock.

But if its a Feathertouch upgrade, it WILL DEFINITELY incur a price increase. Probably of the order of £500 +

 

One last thing : i forgot to mention (on your eyepiece thread) focusing issues with 2" eyepieces.

You may find, if you buy a big heavyweight 2" eyepiece (of whatever make) that it won't come to focus on the AA115.

I had this issue on my FLT132. Also my duel fit Vixen LVWs  wouldn't focus either in 2" mode. Fine in 1.25" but not seated down in 2" mode. (Hope that makes sense)

This was easily remedied though by adding a 2 inch extender to the back of my Feather touch. 

It makes the scope a bit longer of course and made putting it away in its case a bit more tricky. Just something to bear in mind.

 

I then had the worry of whether my Maxbright bino would be able to focus (without GPC) due to me having insufficient back-focus with the 2" extender in place.

I didn't really want the hassle of removing it and replacing when out in the field.

I was lucky though : with my focuser racked  nearly all the way in i just managed to get focus with about 5mm or so to spare.

 

Let us know how it goes with the 115mm, and post a few pics of it when it arrives. Good luck with first light 

[Guest nickyb]

Hi Nick

 

Yes, i agree with col !    Definitely sexy...

 

In all honesty though........for me its the fact they are less fussy than reflectors / cats

 

Cooldown : they don't need as much as other scopes before they're giving great views (no need for fans etc)

Contrast :    you're right about this : no central obstruction  They also have effective baffling to help with this.

Seeing issues :  refractors seem to me to be less fussy in crap seeing (default )  and bad (really bad in my case) light pollution.

Collimation : A well put together frac shouldn't need collimating. (I've never touched mine and wouldn't know where to start)

 

Just a few of the many plusses. The smaller size fracs are obviously ideal to travel with, even on a plane, if you're an astro-photographer.

 

I much prefer the view in my frac when i'm doing planetary, or double star observing.

I've regularly used my 3.5mm eyepiece on the planets to give 264x magnification (double aperture) with little or no image breakdown. i once went up to 370x on Saturn.

 

Needless to say, you need deep pockets ! Crazy money can be spent !  You only need to look at the AA website at that 180mm oil-spaced triplet 

 

There's no price listing on the 115 as it appears to be out of stock.

But if its a Feathertouch upgrade, it WILL DEFINITELY incur a price increase. Probably of the order of £500 +

 

One last thing : i forgot to mention (on your eyepiece thread) focusing issues with 2" eyepieces.

You may find, if you buy a big heavyweight 2" eyepiece (of whatever make) that it won't come to focus on the AA115.

I had this issue on my FLT132. Also my duel fit Vixen LVWs  wouldn't focus either in 2" mode. Fine in 1.25" but not seated down in 2" mode. (Hope that makes sense)

This was easily remedied though by adding a 2 inch extender to the back of my Feather touch. 

It makes the scope a bit longer of course and made putting it away in its case a bit more tricky. Just something to bear in mind.

 

I then had the worry of whether my Maxbright bino would be able to focus (without GPC) due to me having insufficient back-focus with the 2" extender in place.

I didn't really want the hassle of removing it and replacing when out in the field.

I was lucky though : with my focuser racked  nearly all the way in i just managed to get focus with about 5mm or so to spare.

 

Let us know how it goes with the 115mm, and post a few pics of it when it arrives. Good luck with first light 

Cheers Rob for taking the time to email this very useful information, appreciate it.

 

Yes, I'm looking forward to the 115m, Tring Astro (who I placed a deposit) did say it will incur a price rise but they

did not say how much, and around a 2-3 month wait...but will be worth it and means I can save a bit more!

 

Will take your advice on the 2" eye pieces as I saw a picture of the sophos eyepiece and it was huge, nearly werighing

in at 1Kg!

 

Will keep you posted,

 

clear skies

 

Nick