cheap mirrors

Hey guy's, I don't know if this is a warning or something to make fun of myself, I guess a little of both. a couple months ago I put in the starting bid on a Sylvan 6" F5 parobolic mirror to make myself a newt to go on my new mount and one of my old ones. WOW! Man this mirror if thats what you want to call it is terrible. It's more of a blank with coatings and they forgot to grind it. It turned out to be around a F4 which is just fine no big deal, I just cut the tube a little. The views are something else though, I finally got some rings to come in after ordering them on December 23, I wont say where, its a place we all know and love. Sometimes things can't be helped when waiting on the manufacturer then when they finally came in I had spent all my funds on my card I put aside for astronomy only, you know that story but I had fun doing it. Anyway- I looked at Saturn and could'nt tell what it was, looked more like Arcturus, but DSO's looked decent on one side of the mirror. It only cost $23.00 so if anyone needs some good glass to figure and recoat its not too bad of a deal, they also have 8" too. I started to get one for 40 something dollars but did'nt have a spare shelf to just let it lay around forever. I think you've already figured out where I got this junk, I always find what should'nt be bought. I think I got a decent one coming from an old telescope maker that is selling off his stuff for $37.00 and free shipping. It is a 6" F4 so I wont have any trouble just setting this mirror in the tube. I have it looking pretty good so it's worth having a good mirror in it. One more thing, has anyone ever had any experience with Hubbleoptics on the same website or is it another Sylvan optics? They have some bigger mirrors for a decent price but I don't want to throw good money after bad. They even have 12.5" mirrors, Sorry for such a long thread. Sincerely, Darrell :C

I also have 1 of these sitting on a shelf. After testing it, found out it was junk. I use it to show my Boy Scout troop what a parabolic mirror looks like when teaching the Astronomy Merit Badge. One problem with refiguring it would be that it is only .625" thick. Makeup mirror may be a good use or ant incinerator.

I emailed the Sylvan company about their mirrors and today they actually emailed me back. They said that I was the second person today to complain about their 6" parabolic mirror. The other person said that their mirror was F3.5 instead of the F5 as advertised. Mine was between F3.5 and F4. I explained to them that the worst problem with this mirror is that you can't use it for astronomy and they had better be getting a new supplier before they lose their company. They also sell baby strollers, imagine putting little junior in that thing. I told them that word is out about their mirrors and to possibly expect to be stuck with a lot of shaving mirrors. At least they know we're here now. Regards, Darrell