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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on May 23, 2014 8:46:48 GMT -5
New Perseus AXT 204-9 will be produced based on the initial success of the first model.
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on May 23, 2014 8:56:51 GMT -5
I just wanted to update everyone on the development of our latest generation of 8 inch F6 wide field refractor. Some of you might already know that these new style Optical Tube Assemblies will have the following improvements over the previous models 1. dramatically reduced weight (estimated by over 40%). I have completely redesigned every single part of our existing model without decreasing structural strength and overall build quality so valued and appreciated by our customers. iStar telescopes are still produced and assembled individually by hand in Europe, out of all-CNC machined magnesium alloy and tested by my partner Mike Harden before shipment. 2. Our bulky, hard bolted Dew Shields where replaced by a slick, super lightweight fully retractable, longer dew shield with front alloy ring acting as a baffle in front of the actual objective lens. Secondly our new retractable dew shields are equipped with custom designed bayonet style locking and unlocking mechanism. By a counterclockwise movement the dew shield will drop in and lock itself in position. Dew shield will stay securely locked until you unlock it by a slight push and clockwise rotation by a few degrees. All 6 inch models will have this new bayonet style lock. 8 inch and larger scopes will have a set of 2 metric M5 custom design thumb screws to lock dew shield in place, also on bayonet style mechanism. 3. Baffles will no longer be bolted from the outside. So the main tube of each telescope will be nice and smooth without distractive looking bolts. I came up with a new and unique style of attaching baffles. Each baffle will be substantially lighter compared to previous style, and still completely CNC machined and precision attached on the inside of each telescope tube. 4. I'm also happy to say that I got rid of those old-style bulky and ugly looking lens caps. I replaced them with a super lightweight and superslim lens caps which are attached to the front ring of the dew shield by set of neodymium magnets. Simply put the new style lens cap into approximate position and it will automatically jump in place and stay there securely. 5. I have designed a new superslim lightweight two piece split style counter cell for all our latest generation telescopes. I got rid of the abrupt, nearly right angled counter cell ring between dew shield and main tube. Now there will be a very nice aesthetically looking curved, angled ring between dew shield and main tube. This ring will be powder coated with our unique transparent Opal Gel in sapphire blue color. Same type of coating will be applied on each front ring and rear plate of each telescope. Each model line will have its specific color just like now. 6. All new thin wall tubes and dew shields will be manufactured in United States. We are getting rid of the original Austrian made thicker and heavier tubes effective immediately. 7. From now on each customer will have a choice of buying a white powder coated telescopes with black mounting rings and white 2.0" or 3,5" rack and pinion focusers made for us by William Optics. Everyone will still have a choice of opting for a super quality US made rack and pinion Starlight feather touch focuser or a superb quality US made Crayford style MoonLite focuser. The correct size and style of reduction ring is already included in price of each telescope. Just like every other scope part, each reduction ring is of course CNC machined by iStar in European Union. First 4 units should be available for sale in approximately four weeks from now. I know already that at least three are already reserved and partially prepaid. Please contact Mike Harden for details about availability and exact shipping dates. Personally I'm very excited about these new telescopes and I'm happy to share my excitement with all of you at iStar Scope Club. I will be happy to answer any additional questions about these new designs. You can write me direct at my business email address ales@istar-optical.com Best regards, Ales
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on May 23, 2014 9:35:06 GMT -5
By the way I would really appreciate if you could share this information with the Cloudy Nights members. There where some CN members talking about iStar and our new generation of telescopes but their posts were completely lacking any detail. I don't want any more of the unsupported theories about iStar and our products floating around the CN forums. There are already plenty of those about iStar there. Thanks to one of you who will post the news about our latest generation telescope design on CN. regards Ales
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ivan86
Junior Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ivan86 on May 24, 2014 16:45:17 GMT -5
Hi Ales, as i told to Mike i would like to know which is the final weight of the telescope with rings and focuser included and also the transport length (dewshield closed).
I would like to use it with binoculars viewer, how much backfocus it have?
I have put on market in order to sell it a Meade ACF 12", as soon as i sell it and know the answer to the above questions ill place an order.
If you remember last year i was alredy interested at the 204mm comet hunter but the weight was a big issue, 40% less is a lot and finally should be easy to transport around.
many thanks!
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Post by jamesling1000 on May 25, 2014 2:15:49 GMT -5
Hi Ivan ISTAR usually only mentions their OTA weight... And for the 8" F8 or F9 is 45 lbs.... If the new version is 40% lesser in weight, then 8" F8/9 will only be 27 lbs... Then the new 8" F6 version will be below 25 Lbs.... For the accessories that are going to be mounted onto the OTA, can varies depending on individual... look at my 8" F8.8, the accessories, which comprises 1. The massive mounting rings and dovetail, 2. The 2.5" focuser, 3. The 2" diagonal, and 4. Zoom eye piece It weighs 8.8 kg or almost 20 Lbs...(refer to attachment photo) And the total telescope weight for my 8" F8.8 become 65 Lbs.... Which my existing Losmandy G11 just manage to take this scope , and I think is great for visual use.... For one to consider the 8" F6, of course you need not use the massive mounting rings and dovetail that I am using..., but at least factor in another 15 to 20 Lbs , to the OTA weight...... I hope the information from me , is useful for you.... Regards James Ling Attachments:
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ivan86
Junior Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ivan86 on May 25, 2014 3:26:40 GMT -5
Thanks James! With the weight loss and retractable dewshield maybe i can buy the f/9 version like your. The most important thing is that i wanna be able to carry it on mount alone. So if the f/9 version with rings and focuser weight only about 18kg should be easy. Also the transport lenght is important because i dont want divide the tube in two parts as you did James. If standard version is long 164 cm, the new with retractable dewshield should be 144cm or something like that. Waiting Ales Many thanks!
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on May 25, 2014 6:38:58 GMT -5
Hi Ales, as i told to Mike i would like to know which is the final weight of the telescope with rings and focuser included and also the transport length (dewshield closed). I would like to use it with binoculars viewer, how much backfocus it have? I have put on market in order to sell it a Meade ACF 12", as soon as i sell it and know the answer to the above questions ill place an order. If you remember last year i was alredy interested at the 204mm comet hunter but the weight was a big issue, 40% less is a lot and finally should be easy to transport around. many thanks! Hello dear Ivan, At this moment I cannot really speculate about the weight of these new generation telescope models. I will update this information as soon as we assemble first piece. The US made tubes are finished and Mike is taking care of the outside white powder coating finish as we speak. Right after the paint job one set of these tubes will be shipped to Czech Republic for a prototype assembly and testing. I will be back in the United States during this time but our production manager has been instructed about all this. He will inform me know about the final weight right after he assembles the first prototype. But I can simply guarantee that these new generation refractors will be at least 40% lighter compared to the first generation models. Ivan, if you want to receive your telescope in one to one and half months from now I urge you to contact Mike and reserve the last available piece we are producing right now. Simply because production of additional telescopes will take a minimum of three months. Before we start producing the Perseus 204mm F9 version I want to see how these F6, wide field comet catchers are doing on the market and how happy are the first new owners. As you and everyone else can see we listen carefully to what our customers are saying to us. Development of this new generation of telescopes is a direct response to your numerous requests about making our scopes lighter, in white finish, with retractable dow shields, shorter and better looking. I believe that we created a real champion here and I can't wait to hear first reactions from our customers. Best regards Ales
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ivan86
Junior Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ivan86 on May 29, 2014 11:54:28 GMT -5
Thanks to you Ales,
I have almost sold all my current setup, next week ill be able to place the order and prepaid it. I hope that there is still a piece avaiable, otherwise ill wait next production.
Im sorry if i do so many questions but please understand that buying an instrument with most of the technical specifications unknown is really Dangerous.
Ok for the weight, i can believe that it will be around 20 kg * 0,6 + 8kg (focuser + rings) = 20kg with fok and rings.
Ok for the transport lenght, if now the f/6 is long 122 cm then with retractable dewshield should be around 105 cm.
There are still two questions which i cannot answer, always about the 204mm f/6 COMET HUNTER:
1- How much backfocus it have? i need to know it because i want use it with binoculars viewer without using correctors 1.25x or more.
2- Do you guarantee a correction of at least lambda/4 (diffraction limited = strehl ratio above 0.8) of the aberrations ? spherical, astigmatism ? Do you proof it through certificate test?
Many thanks
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Post by Mike on May 30, 2014 16:34:31 GMT -5
Ivan, I have yet to see one of "our" scopes that will reach focus without using a prism diagonal or corrector with the binoviewers primarily because three of the different focusers we use have about 5 inches of drawtube travel. I can't remember how much travel the new 3.5" WO has which is standard on the new 204-6. I will not know until they come in next month. A friend had a TEC 160 that would reach focus because the TEC focuser had nearly 8 inches of travel.
We guarantee the lens will meet the above specs you have listed. In fact, specs will exceed those listed. We have several of these 204mm F6 Comet Hunters out there and there have been nothing but great reviews and satisfied customers. If we were selling subpar lenses we would not be in business and enjoy the reputation we do. A copy of a test result provided to you is pretty much useless and we do not provide them anymore. It was made into a major issue on CN that these interferometer reports can be "photoshopped" and some companies provide a generic copy with all their scopes etc. So you can thank our friends at CN for killing this courtesy. The tubes are new but the lenses are the same standard we have used for the last two years or so. There will be no surprises. I will personally star test every 204 that goes out the door. If there is a problem it won't make it to you for you to worry about. Besides, every scope and lens we sell has a five year warranty.
Mike
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Jun 3, 2014 8:30:30 GMT -5
Guys (Ivan, Mike Carman, James or anyone else who has some time),
Couple weeks ago I asked if one of you could post information about development of Phoenix WXT 204-6 from this thread onto Cloudy Nights. I am not allowed to post anything about iStar on CN Refractor forum because they consider that an illegal act of product pushing. Thanks to one of you who will take care of this task. Simply copy and paste the first post on this thread. You might as well mention few details about our newly produced and tested all white Ares WFX 150-5 R35 with new slim, reduced weight doublet. You find info about this super exciting wide field refractor right here on iStar Scope Club and iStar-Optical.com Home page. Thank you! Regards, Ales
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Post by Mike on Jun 3, 2014 8:51:11 GMT -5
The problem with this is if you don't actually own one then it is definitely product pushing no matter who posts it. I'm sorry Ales but if one has no personal experience with this particular model I think He and the thread will go down in flames. Ales, I will put together a post for a message in the "vendors" section outlining the features of the scope, pictures and prices.
Mike
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Post by Ales - iStar Optical on Jun 3, 2014 14:15:14 GMT -5
Okay Mike if you find time to put together an article with some pictures I will post it in the Vendor forum. Nevertheless maybe I didn't explain myself good enough. I believe that you can discuss a certain product specs on CN even without owning one. I simply wanted to explain all major differences and improvements of our new tube assemblies compared to the old ones. All this as a reaction and/or followup to couple of Cloudy nights posts. People where speculating about some of these improvements including possible white coat, new style of dew shield and so on. I just wanted someone to clarify this based on information already available right here on ISC, and to avoid spreading of unsupported rumors so typical for Cloudy Nights when it comes to iStar and our products. Ales
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Post by Mike on Jun 3, 2014 14:38:00 GMT -5
Oh that's interesting and yes I do understand now. Since I'm banned I don't keep up with CN anymore. What was being said about the white color?
Since we are being left along right now I wonder if it's wise to poke the hornets nest?
Mike
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Post by jamesling1000 on Jun 15, 2014 10:26:43 GMT -5
Hi Ales....
As I have been back from my recent oversea assignment, I decided to put up ISTAR latest development on the 3rd GENERATION OF PHOENIX WXT 201-6 Comet Catcher Refractor, in CN, under refractor section....
I am very sure many members would like to see and hear on the progress of these 4 units...and very much like to hear from the end user on this new model....
I also hope this new development will also be applied to the rest of the models as soon as possible.....
And you can even expand your range to cover 10" and above, since the weight reduction is 40%......
I am already in my fifties , and weight really matters me when come to astronomy, especially sidewalks...... so it will be nice not to downgrade the aperture size , instead getting a much lighter weight telescope....
REgards
James Ling
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Post by Mike on Jun 16, 2014 14:15:54 GMT -5
James, as long as everything goes as planned (Ales is good at what he does so I know it will) all of our scopes will benefit from the new changes. We estimate reducing the weight of each scope by some 40%.
Mike
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