34 replies to this topic

[Charlie Hein]

Takahashi Mewlon 210 Review

By Tim Snowdon

[Bart]

So, do you like your Takahashi Mewlon 210?

Kidding aside, nice review!

[RAKing]

This is a thoroughly enjoyable review!

I have often lusted over a Mewlon and don't know if the CFO will ever approve the deal, but it's nice to read an article from someone with more than a few days' worth of experience with this design.

And I certainly agree with Tim about the Mark V binoviewers. They are terrific and transformed my planetary observing sessions.

Cheers,

Ron

[JimP]

Excellent review. Thanks very much. Be careful about wanting to increase the size of your Mewlon. Going bigger is something I find myself always wanting to do but it can cause problems. Would the 250 be OK on the Ioptron mount? Would your seeing allow it to outperform your 210 on most or only a few nights a year? Would it reach thermal equilibrium in a reasonable amount of time? 8" of aperture in a collimated, scope with good optics and at thermal equilibrium is a fantastic lunar/planetary and double star scope!
Agree completely with you on the binoviewer. They really transform lunar and planetary observing for me.
Congratulations on a great scope. Hang onto it!!

best,

JimP

[wpappas53]

Tim,

I really enjoyed your review, makes me want to sell my TOA-130 to fund a Mewlon!

Regards,

Bill

[Herr Ointment]

A well written review and a very interesting combo. Thanks!

[Heavens Above]

Excellent review. Thanks very much. Be careful about wanting to increase the size of your Mewlon. Going bigger is something I find myself always wanting to do but it can cause problems. Would the 250 be OK on the Ioptron mount? Would your seeing allow it to outperform your 210 on most or only a few nights a year? Would it reach thermal equilibrium in a reasonable amount of time? 8" of aperture in a collimated, scope with good optics and at thermal equilibrium is a fantastic lunar/planetary and double star scope!
Agree completely with you on the binoviewer. They really transform lunar and planetary observing for me.
Congratulations on a great scope. Hang onto it!!

best,

JimP

Hi Jim

The ioptron Pro can take the weight of a Mewlon 250 (just). But I agree about the need to be careful about increasing size.

As I now seem to get good, or better, seeing on about 65% of nights I think I could go to the 250 without running into seeing problems. Also I do not mind a few bad nights for those nights when it all comes together.

[Fomalhaut]

Tim,

I really enjoyed your review, makes me want to sell my TOA-130 to fund a Mewlon!

Regards,

Bill

Bill,

Make no mistake! These two scopes are much more complementary to than substitutes of each other!

Chris

[WRAK]

Very interesting review - only the very idea to have to act 2 hours in advance to avoid thermal problems during observations makes me uneasy.
Wilfried

[Heavens Above]

Hi Wilfred

It would be great to be able to view without planning, but if planning helps me observe significant extra detail, particularly on the planets and moon, then I am then I quite happy to make this sacrifice. And all performance scopes need some planning. My old TMB 115 apo took at least an hour to reach thermal equilibrium.

Tim

[chboss]

Tim

Great report, thank you!

regards
Chris

[J_D_Metzger]

Tim,

Great review! I don't have a Mewlon, but I do have a MiniTower that I love. I use a Starizona Power Pack, which I attach to the mount with velcro. Works great, lasts several hours, and like your setup, no cable wrap.

Starizona Power Pack II+

[BlueGrass]

Tim,
Your review is one of the better hands-on articles I've read in quite awhile. Thanks for taking the time to write and post it.

[Heavens Above]

Tim,

Great review! I don't have a Mewlon, but I do have a MiniTower that I love. I use a Starizona Power Pack, which I attach to the mount with velcro. Works great, lasts several hours, and like your setup, no cable wrap.

Starizona Power Pack II+

Thanks for tip - but I find using the Lithium AA's works fine for me, if I did more 'slewing' though I would go for something like this.

Tim

[Scott in NC]

Very interesting and informative review, Tim. Thanks for sharing that!

[emastroianni]

I read your review and found it excellent in all aspects. Clear writing, sharp, well composed photos, and full of useful detail.

[Heavens Above]

Thanks guys, I enjoyed writing it. The only thing I would love to have been able to add was a direct comparision with a TEC 140, Celestron 9.25 and an Intes 715D.

That would be interesting, but difficult, as these sort of camparisions should be done over a number of nights.

Tim

[BillP]

Tim,

Absolutely wonderful review and your writing style was thoroughly enjoyable

I have a TSA-102 and often think that a Mewlon 210 would be a wonderful compliment. Curious...have you ever had an 8" SCT? If so, how do you compare it to the Mewlon's design?

[Heavens Above]

Thanks very much Bill.

I have never owned a 8" SCT but a friend of mine who looked through my Mewlon earlier this year has a Meade 8 SCT. We were looking at Mars and in his words he could not make out the surface detail visible in the Mewlon in his scope. I have done a little viewing through his scope and it seems a fine instrument, but my observation was that while the stars were not in anyway bloated, they were not the pin-pricks of light I get in the Mewlon.

Ideally I wanted to do a side-by-side shoot out but never had chance. I think if you can get a good quality SCT they can be superb. I would love to be able to do a 8, 9.25 and 11 shoot-out-with the Mewlon. I imagine that if the seeing was great the Mewlon 210 would come somewhere between the 9.25 and the 11 inch. Which asks the question why don't I get an 11 inch. I am tempted to buy a second-hand one to compare, then I can sell it without loss if I decided the Mewlon was better, or the weight and size of the 11 is too much.

Then again as I cannot afford a 10 Mewlon maybe I need a 10 dob, then you get back to all the usability issues I discuss in the review.

No easy answers, all scopes have compromises.

[issdaol]

Hi Bill,

I currently own a Mewlon 300, I have also used a Mewlon 250.

I have also owned a 8 inch Meade LX90 (with good optics) and owned a Celestron CPC1100 and a smaller Vixen refractor.

I can say categorically that from extensive use of all of these that the Mewlon 250 is much superior than the 8 inch Meade or 11 inch Celestron for optics and visuals. The Mewlon has very dark background and higher contrast and sharpness. The Mewlons also show nice pinpoint stars.

Mechanically it is hard to compare as the fit and finish of the Mewlons is very professional and leaves the mass produced scopes in a different category.

Cheers
Phil

[ckwastro]

I can say categorically that from extensive use of all of these that the Mewlon 250 is much superior than the 8 inch Meade or 11 inch Celestron for optics and visuals. The Mewlon has very dark background and higher contrast and sharpness. The Mewlons also show nice pinpoint stars.

Mechanically it is hard to compare as the fit and finish of the Mewlons is very professional and leaves the mass produced scopes in a different category.

+1 for the Mewlon 210 as well in comparison to the 8" - 11" SCTs I've owned and / or used over the years. Obviously the 11s resolved more than the 210, but it wasn't much of a contest as far as contrast and sharpness.

[BillP]

Thanks. Does anyone know if the baffel tube is such in the Mewlon that it vignettes any with long focal length wide fields like a 31T5 or 40 XW ?

[houser23]

Hi Bill, are you referring to the 210 or 250? I sold all my widefields and replaced them with top shelf planetary glass so I couldn't tell you one way or the other, maybe one of the other guys can chime in here.

By the way if you ever decide to do a 34mm shootout I have what your looking for.

[issdaol]

Hi Bill,

I have just purchased my first wide-field which just happens to be the Nagler 31mm T5 :-) I will give you some personal feedback after my next observation session which will be on the weekend (weather permitting).

In the meantime I have not heard any issues from other Mewlon owners.

Cheers

[BillP]

Thx!

btw, meant with the 210.