Posts Made By: zack winestine

Hello -

I plan to buy a spotting scope primarily for bird and wildlife viewing (so size and weight are important to me). Although I know little about astronomy, I will be using the scope in a place blessed with extremely dark skies and low humidiity, and it seems a shame not to take advantage of this! My current thoughts are to either get the new Pentax PF-65ED or find a used Televue Ranger or possibly a used Pentax PF-80ED.

Would the Ranger offer any particular advantage over the Pentax scopes for astronomical viewing? Both Pentax scopes take standard 1.25" eyepieces, so finding appropriate eyepieces for them should not be a problem. And would the 65mm objective of the Pentax 65ED be a seriously limiting factor, compared to the 70mm objective of the Ranger and the 80mm objective of the 80ED? I'm entirely new to astronomy, and have no idea at this point what particular kinds of viewing I'd be most interested in. I love the size and weight of the 65mm Pentax, and optically it apparently compares very favorably with its big 80mm brother.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Does anyone have any experience with the inexpensive 2x 1.25" barlow being sold by Owl Services (I suspect it is made by GSO, but I don't know for sure)? How does it compare with the Orion Shorty Plus or Celestron Ultima? I'm planning to get a barlow to go with the GSO 15mm superview also sold by Owl services and also possibly an Apogee 7.4-22 zoom; it would be used with a Pentax PF65ED scope (focal length 390mm) mostly for terrestial viewing but also for occassional astronomical viewing (the area where I bird has VERY dark skies!).

TIA for any advice,
Zack

Hello -
now that Apogee no longer sells them, does anyone know a source for the 7.4-22mm zoom that was previously sold as the GTO zoom by Hands-on Optics?

Having spent a fair amount of time researching zooms and finally deciding on this one, it's frustrating to find out the dealer discontinued it! The Scopetronix/Orion Explorer II 7-21mm zoom does not work for me as a substitute due to its narrow FOV.

Thanks for any leads!
Zack