Got the 82 today.
Initial impression (after playing with it during daytime for an hour or so):
- 10 cm or so longer than the 70, the difference seems remarkable (the 70 seems much shorter and much lighter when you hold them both side by side).
- whereas the 70 is well balanced on the mount, the 82 is distinctly front-heavy (not a big problem, just a fact)
- at first glance everything seems solid, well finished, mechanically (one exception below) and optically excellent, collimation appears impeccable, the image is sharp and bright. I cannot say yet whether it is brighter than the 70; the anti-reflection coatings produce differently colored reflections than on the 70.
- in contrast to my sample of the 70, where the eyepieces sit quite losely in the clamping rings (with - amazingly - no effect on collimation!), the clamping rings in the 82 provide too narrow a space for some of my eyepieces, so I have to figure out what can be done. I can mount Nagler, APM, the Kowa eyepieces, but I can only mount my Delites in the left socket, not the right one yet (DOES ANYONE KNOWS WHAT TO DO IN SUCH A CASE?), it's just a bit too tight.
More later (weather here will unfortunately not be ideal in the next few days). This will be fun !!
Pinac
Edited by Pinac, 03 August 2017 - 01:40 PM.