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[erikruud]

I haven't posted here in a long time, but I have checking in on things ever so often.

Having recently gotten older, I find that I have some cash on hand that I could use for a new scope.

I am currently leaning towards this one.
Bushnell ARES 5

It's the same as Sky-Watcher Heritage P130

This would be a big improvement over my 70x800 reflector.

I do a lot of camping and this would be a lot easier to bring along and a lot easier to set up.

Last summer I took my family on a two week road trip out west and I was in some of the best seeing areas that I will ever be in, but I didn't take my scope because takes to long to set up and takes up too much space in the camper.

I haven't found any bad reviews online, and this one in particular seems really favorable.

Here is a video overview and this is another one.

I already know what my first mod will be if I get this. A shroud.

Let me know what you guys think.

PS. Go here and click on Summer Vacation 2010 if you want to know more about the road trip.

[Paulie pchris00]

Depending on what you plan to use it for, this could be a nice little scope. It looks like it would be a nice addition for your camping trips. I love little pop-up campers! As a table top scope, plenty of picnic tables should be available at campgrounds. My primary argument against it is that it is a table top, but for portability, that will work out well. The saying is that the best telescope for any observer is the one they will use, and this looks like a nice scope to enhance your family trips, and maybe even some observing at home. Hopefully we'll see you posting your vacation pics this summer with telescope out west.

[erikruud]

Thanks for the input.

Let me list it out this way.

It's better than what I have, especially with the Plossl eyepieces.
It is portable.
It will get used more, just by virtue of the easier set up.
I can think of at least 3 things in my house to set it on at home.

Eventually, I'll move up to something bigger for home and it will still be a good travel scope.

[Paulie pchris00]

Those are great reasons to go with that scope. Let us know how your observing sessions with it go.

[-=CROMAN=-]

I can't seem to find the sky-watcher for sale in the states, only canada. They look like cool little scopes though.

[erikruud]

In the US, it is sold through Optics Planet as the Bushnell ARES 5.

You can get it here: Bushnell ARES 5

[erikruud]

Wow! I ordered it yesterday around 12:30pm. According to UPS tracking, it arrived at the Addison facility 11 hours later.

[erikruud]

Almost exactly 26 hours after ordering, it is sitting at home waiting for me!

Hopefully I will get a little time tonight to check it out.

[andrewgilhooley]

This is a lovely little scope. I bought one for my fathers' birthday last year.

Pros:
- Compact. *Very* compact.
- Good optics.
- Looks great.

Cons:
- Poor focuser (wrap a couple of loops of PTFE tape around it to clear up some of the slop).
- Single arm spider makes proper collimation almost impossible - I couldn't get the secondary quite centred under the focuser.
- Poor accessories. Pretty standard for Synta kit. Modified Achromat eyepieces. Get ye some Astro-Tech Paradigms instead.

For the money, it's a fantastic little thing. I can heartily recommend it.

[erikruud]

Thanks for the info.

I have seen the PTFE recommendation before and I have a roll of tape sitting on my workbench.

The US version from Optics Planet comes with Plossl eyepieces.

[erikruud]

Here it is!









These are much better eye pieces than I had before.


Super easy to set up.


The collimation can't be off to far looking at it this way.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Erik,

Excellent on the pics.

I dig the way it slides down onto itself for ease of portability.

On the open truss design, I would be interested if the ambient light around the observation would infiltrate the light path. A black cloth wrapped around will create better contrast I assume.

Post when you make your first observations and let us know what you think and how it compares with what you already have.

I hope you find time to join us when it gets warmer for our sessions ...and bring your new scope.

[erikruud]

Joe,

The collapsible design is really nice and it feels really solid. There is almost no plastic in it, and none of it is structural.

There is a black light shield to behind the secondary to block any light coming directly into the focuser. By the way, the focuser is a bit tight on mine. I'll have to see how it is after some use. I am planning on a shroud, possibly using black craft foam. Fabric would be harder to do because there are only two trusses there wouldn't me anything to keep the fabric from sagging in the middle.

I did get to spend a little time last night looking at the moon with it. The contrast looked pretty good in that short session.

I will definitely bring this down to the Adler one of these nights. I am already brainstorming on a wooden carrying case that will also serve as a table to stand it on.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Looks sweet. I'm curious about the focuser. Let me know how it works out for you. I may be in for one of these babies. I was amazed at how well the little $45 Celestron Dob worked out and this appears to be it's bigger badder brother.

[erikruud]

So far the focuser seems really nice. It's much smoother and easier to use than the rack and pinion on my refractor.

I just came in from looking at Saturn for the first time. I had left the scope out in the garage, so it was already at ambient. I set it up on the driveway, pointed in the general direction of Saturn, used the red dot to point it at Saturn, looked through the eyepiece and there it was. Very cool.

I tried every eyepiece I have in the scope, and I was able to get Saturn into the field of view each time with in seconds. I could never do that with the refractor, it was always a pain to reacquire a target after changing EP's.

I gave up when my fingers started to go numb from the cold.

A few more adjustments on the tension, and this scope will be just right. The Alt tension seems good, but the Az was a little too stiff.

I stayed out a little longer to try and see some Lyrids, but they are still to low in the sky and my neighbors house is in the way.

I did see several O'Hare-ids though. ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Erik,

Now, focusing is done by moving the truss in & out, right?

At the Adler, we had a reflector scope that had a fixed eyepiece tube and focusing was done by moving the secondary mirror along a track. Quite cool really.

Great on your first successful viewing!

[erikruud]

Joe, It has a helical focuser in the usual location. Some reviews for this scope have complained about the focuser being a bit loose in the threads. The usual fix is to wrap the threads with teflon tape. So far mine seems to be fine.

[erikruud]

Well I encountered my first cheap engineering fail with the Ares 5. I have a cloth bag that I use as a dust cover over the scope. As I pulled it off, I heard something fall down. I looked down at the bottom and sitting on my setting cirle near Kepler's head was this.



I had thought they were metal threads with a molded plastic head, but apparently they are all plastic.

I figured out that the were M6 metric threads and found some stainless steel replacements that should work.

[magic612]

Erik,

I've largely heard good things about that scope, given it's price point. Good aperture, adequate focal length, and at least it comes with Plossls (even if they are low-cost ones). I'll be interested to hear more of your thoughts about this scope, and hope I get a chance to view through it when we are both set up and viewing with Joe at Adler.

[erikruud]

Oh yes, I have been very happy with it. I'm just a bit peeved that these used plastic thumbscrews.

[atomant]

Hi Erik,

Being a short fast scope, how are the images thru the scope?
Do stars hold sharp throughout the view thru stock eyepieces?

Also being collapsible, how do you go about collimating the scope at every setup?

I have seen Orion sell their table top scopes with an option of mounting on photo tripod.
Hmm....ideal grab-n-go scope

[erikruud]

The views are generally very good. Sometimes I see some coma at the edges.

Most of the time I just set it up and go. The collimation seems to hold very well.

[erikruud]

I just checked and the vital statistics are almost exactly the same as your Vixen R130, although I would assume that the quality of the Vixen is much better.

[atomant]

Nah, the Vixen R130sf is now made in China too. So 50/50 on the build quality.

But that ARES 5 is pretty cool and unique. With a single support for the secondary, there should be less diffraction spikes interfering with planetary views.

I do think the 130mm f/5 newt is a sleeper scope.
Able to achieve over 2 degrees for sweet wide field views.
Also the parabolic mirror allows for sharp high powered views of planets without the CA.
It was almost the equal of my 80mm apo refractor, I no longer have.