20 replies to this topic

[mloffland]

The William Optics Zenithstar: 66mm f/7 ED Triplet Apochromatic Refractor

By: Ethan Kalemjian

[Bluemeanie]

A little expensive for a finder scope. Wonder if they will make a 50mm too?

[matt]

There IS a 50mm scope (terrestrial) in the WO range.
I'm happy this scope is good. I have one ordered.

[J_D_Metzger]

Excellent review, Ethan! The little 66mm looks like another winner from WO. I think it will give the TV-60 a real challenge...

[Steve Napier]

Ethan,what a FANTASTIC review,looks like you have saved overworked Tom Trussock a job.
Even in the UK this is offered at a fantastic price and whilst I have recently bought a fine 80mm telescope this 66mm is only half the weight and a real plus for travel.
I often have to stop my 3" refractor down to 60mm for seeing conditions and I know that even at that small aperture a surprising amount can still be seen.
I hope they get the 2" Diagonal buisness sorted out.
Top Notch review.
Steve.

[Rainbow]

Very nice write up - many thanks

[miniventures]

Superb job, Ethan, thank you

[Oldfield]

thank you for sharing...

[TeamGS]

Great work Ethan! Thanks for sharing.

I can't wait for an imaging review, as I would like to know how this little gem compares to the ED80's for long exposure CCD photography.

Regards,

Gary

[Tom T]

Very nicely done Ethan!

Tom T.

[dbledsoe]

Post deleted by dbledsoe

[Emanuele]

dbledsoe, I'm sorry about your experience with the ZS66. This is very unusual though with WO, so it must have happened something after the QC Chech, in my opinion.

I'm sure though that David and the other guys will take very good care of you.

WO for me has been always outstanding!

Ethan thanks for the write up!

[Rammysherriff]

Gary,

I have one too (brand new as of yesterday) and it was bought firstly for ccd fun, and a travel scope second - I'll post results soon in the CCD forum but will try and link back here.

NB, UK supplier Ian King star tests the scopes before they are sent out so you don't get a lemon.

[kfred]

Nice report !

Fred

[dbledsoe]

dbledsoe, I'm sorry about your experience with the ZS66. This is very unusual though with WO, so it must have happened something after the QC Chech, in my opinion.

I'm sure though that David and the other guys will take very good care of you.

WO for me has been always outstanding!

Emanuele,

I received the replacement for my WO ZS66 Triplet Apo from David Yang today. Now I'm just waiting for sundown to see how it looks compared to the first one. I hope hope hope it's better.

Regards,

Don

[Emanuele]

Let us know how it goes Don!
I hope you'll have a great night with that little one!

[dbledsoe]

Let us know how it goes Don!
I hope you'll have a great night with that little one!

Much much better this time around. WO put a complete new cell and triplet objective on the scope I returned to them.

Last night wasn't all that great for observing, had to dart between the clouds looking for a bright star, but did get enough time to see that both intra and extra defocused rings looked nearly identical, excellent color correction and no astigmatism. There seemed to be a hint of pinched optics, barely noticable, and that may have just been thermal conditions as the sky was not all that steady. Jupiter, low in my sky, looked very very good. That was about all I could do thanks to the clouds coming and going at my location. But I do believe I have a keeper here.

[Emanuele]

Woowooo, great to know you have a keeper Don...

I wish I could swing for a 66mm but I'm saving up for the FLT-135!

[dbledsoe]

Woowooo, great to know you have a keeper Don...

I wish I could swing for a 66mm but I'm saving up for the FLT-135!

Oh my! Now that one we'll all want to hear about when you get it. Have they released them yet? If not, any projections?

[Emanuele]

September...that is what they said to me!