[LVAS] 100 mm Table Top Reflector

Fri Mar 5 20:13:55 PST 2010

Elena,

I see those type of small scopes all the time with missing Ep's, the finder screws out, the finder is in backyards, and pretty ruffed up.

Sometimes I see them with the back part of the focuser missing, and the list goes on and on. However, I find it fun to look in thrift stores as you are doing. We may very well run across a real prize one day. Do you think that we might find a $5,000 Questar Duplex one day with BB coatings with the round shipping case for...maybe $100 dollars?   

Well here is my report on the Orion 100 mm Table Top Reflector. 

1. Well packaged

2. Cosmetics perfect, nice and attractive paint, no scratches

3. Focuser works amazingly smooth, decent EP's

4. Red Dot finder works great and is easy to adjust

5. Optics, surprisingly good. 

6. Star images very nice

7. Slight miscollimation. It should be possible to correct with the secondary adjustment? 

8. Presented nice view of the Orion nebula, and the trapezium nicely separated 

9. M81 and M82 very easy and fairly bright...again surprising.

10. M45 filled the entire FOV using a 20 mm EP...nice

11. Good quality, sturdy, smooth movements

12. Well worth the $100 dollars 

I will use an artificial star next week and let you know how the collimation goes. It is only slightly out, but I have a difficult time without "perfect" alignment. Just my personality. 

Roger 

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 15:20:15 -0800
From: elenadlp at gmail.com
To: lvas at lvlug.org
Subject: Re: [LVAS] 100 mm Table Top Reflector

Roger, the telescope turned out to be a Meade 60mm. The tripod looked okay except for some nuts and screws missing from two sides of the accessory table. The refractor's finder scope was missing the back eyepiece. I also checked colimation which, of course, was the pits but all the screws were still in place on the finder scope. It also still had the diagonal. I propped the scope on a shelf and looked through it towards the corner gas station to check out the mirror which seemed to be okay. It felt like a cheap plastic department store scope and I was totally discouraged from buying it. The store had a $20 price tag on the tripod and a $20 tag for the telescope. Checked online and Walmart has the Meade 60mm for $55. LOL  Including the tripod. So whoever priced the scope and tripod at the Good Will store (not Salvation Army after all) did not have a good idea of its worth. I thought about offering $10 for the two items but decided I'd check online first. I might have been paying too much. LOL  And sure enough!  But it was fun checking it out. I think I'll keep checking the nearby thrift stores, JIC. ***Elena

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 2:25 PM, roger ivester <drivester at hotmail.com> wrote:

Elena,

I am forever checking the windows in Thrift Stores, looking for scopes. I was talking with Don Olive a few minutes ago. He told me that a while back one of his fellow professors at GWU found an orange tube Celestron C-8 at the local thrift store. It was the OTA with the wedge assembly, motor worked great, as well as the slow motion controls. It was lacking an EP and the tripod. Don gave him an EP or two and I think that he bought a tripod. Get this...he bought it for $18 dollars. 

Back to your 100 mm in the window. I like to use small scopes. 

Most of the time I take my standard X eyepiece out of my finder, drop in a 20 mm UO Erfle and it makes a great 50 mm wide field refractor, with a 90 degree correct image diagonal. This finder is on my 10-inch. Sometimes it is surprising what can be seen. M-81 and M-82 are almost in the center of it. I am also pleased with the quality of the star images.

Roger

    The moon and stars to govern the night.....   Psalm 136:9

Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 11:55:05 -0800
From: elenadlp at gmail.com
To: lvas at lvlug.org
Subject: Re: [LVAS] 100 mm Table Top Reflector

There was an Orion 100 mm on a tripod in the window of the nearby Salvation Army Thrift Store. I think I'm going to go in there and check it out. **Elena

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