Uncle Rod's Astro Blog

No, I've never been one for fancy-dan lens-type scopes. Oh, well, I'll admit I did want (mightily) a Unitron Photoequatorial back in the good old days, but I outgrew that notion. Sure, I own a Short Tube 80, who doesn't? But that's as far as it's gone till now.

Till now? What's changed? The review copies of William Optics' APO (http://www.buytelescopes.com/manufacturer.asp?s=2&m=49) refractors, a Fluorite 80 ("Megrez II") and an SD 66 ("Zenithstar") that showed up on Chaos Manor South's front porch this A.M.

I'm just bowled over by the build quality and--from what I can tell on terrestrial objects--the optical quality of these little scopes. Yeah, "terrestrial objects." As you might have guessed, IT'S CLOUDY and looks to remain cloudy ("rainfall in excess of one inch) Naturally. Of course.

Stay tuned, though, because in addition to writing detailed reviews of these scopes, I'll be recounting my adventures in refractorland here.

Oh, did I mention the 82 degree Uwan widefield eyepieces that were in the  box, including the humongous 28mm? They look superb, and will be put through their paces. The only true test of astronomy gear is out under the stars, but, yes, I'm impressed. This stuff looks world class.

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