Telescope Reviews: Garrett GT100-45°

Well, I've had my GT70-90° for some time now. I have never been disappointed with them. I thought I would go for more aperture,hence the GT100-45°.

They arrived triple boxed with more than enough packing with bubble wrap and peanuts.

I knew they would be a fair bit bigger than my GT70's. I was a little surprised just how big and heavier they were.

I use a Manfrotto 028 with 503 HDV head. This setup coped very well indeed.

My first object was unusual for me,it was Venus. I first used the 23mm eyepieces supplied with the GT's. This gave me 23x. I noticed straight away that there was a ghost image of the crescent in the left tube,none in the right tube. The CA was quite apparent also. Cyan in the left tube and Green in the right tube. When viewed together,the Cyan won.

The image itself was quite good. Nice and sharp if somewhat colourful. I then tried the 13mm eyepices that came with the GT100's which gave me 41x. More or less the same problem. If you don't like CA there could be a problem for you. Perhaps filters could help here?

Next up was the Moon. Again CA problems,but was very acceptable to me. I did like the image these bino's were giving of the Moon.

I thought before going on to my usual targets I would try some different eyepieces I had.
First to go in one tube at a time was my Baader Genuine Ortho's. Surprise,surprise, they would not come to focus at all. In fact they were a long way off coming to focus.
Next in were my Brandon's, no problem at all. They certainly cooled down the 'warm ' image. Very nice,but I don't really want to double up on these!

My UWAN's were next(not the 28 of course). I was really surprised with these. The 7mm,yes 7mm transformed the view of the Moon.Now this eyepiece gave me 76x. Don't forget I was using it in one tube at a time. Whether I can bring the images together if I had two remains to be seen? The image was very sharp,although a little dimmer.

I did have a quick look at Saturn. The best view was with the 13mm 41x standard eyepieces that came with the GT100's. I must say my view South is over close rooftops.

The first stars I viewed was Mizar. Lovely split,nice and clean. Thought I would try M51,one of my most difficult targets. Very easy. I could make out the core. Very pleased with that.

Usual targets next. M45,double cluster then onto my favourites M36 M37 and M38. I resolved these three better than I ever have. The stars are very good out to about 70% but loose out after that

So, am I pleased with the first light? Yes I am. I thought the right tube better than the left though. When viewing using both tubes the images are very good. I was thinking about doing something with the CA. Perhaps try a filter?

It would have been nice to get focuser caps and eyepiece caps which I didn't receive with the package. The mechanics felt quite smooth with no roughness. I was a little worried viewing at the zenith but there was enough suction on the supplied eyepieces to keep them in the focusers. The UWAN's were a little iffy though.

Forgive me if the report was a little basic. I'm not very good at this. I just thought it may help with eyepiece selection.

Clear Skies.

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Glen

www.lyraoptic.co.uk