SvBONY SV550 122mm f/7 ED Triplet - $939 shipped

This is an SvBONY SV550 122mm f/7 ED Triplet OTA with soft case.  Having owned several Astro-Tech AT115EDTs over the past few years, I was delighted to discover this scope performs as well or better than those.  The correction for Spherical Aberration is surprising good, more like a much more expensive ED Triplet.  The scope came with a basic thin extruded Vixen dovetail rail that I replaced with an Astro-Tech ATH2 kit comprised of a thick, solid Vixen dovetail rail with matching handle.  The handle itself can also function as a Vixen dovetail rail, and is fitted with threaded holes.  The objective lens is in great shape.  I was able to get the collimation right on the nose using the collimation screws provided on the objective cell.  Using a good mirror or dielectric diagonal, like a Baader BBHS Silver Mirror or Tele Vue Everbrite Dielectric, I see no color around Vega at 285x using a 3mm Delite.  Views of Saturn are outstanding.  The focuser has 89 mm of travel, and is the very same model supplied by KUO on the high-end Astro-Tech and TS scopes.  It comes with a finder scope mounting shoe that can be placed on either the upper right or upper left side.  The two large shiny central Allen screws (see arrows in photo) can be removed in order to lift off the entire focuser shaft assembly and reverse it so the fine-focus knob is on the left side if desired.  This focuser operates extremely smoothly, is fully-rotatable through 360°, and has no trouble holding up heavy 2” eyepieces.  Speaking of which, with a Tele Vue 2” Everbrite diagonal and an ES 32/62 eyepiece at infinity focus, the focuser was at about the 68 mm mark on the scale.  I’m selling the scope because it really is a little too big for a CG-4 mount, which I sold recently.  I have a higher capacity mount and a larger scope now, and this really good SV550 122mm f/7 ED Triplet that has been sitting idle lately deserves a new home.  The eyepiece, finder scope, diagonal, mounts and tripods shown in the photos are not included, only the OTA itself with the Astro-Tech ATH2 Vixen dovetail rail and handle kit and the soft case, in the original SvBONY box.

The price is $939.00 with free shipping in CONUS and the PayPal G&S fee included.