Not exactly. The first of both the orange and early black GEM mounted C80s were on the Polaris mount and were designated only as a C80 on their OTA stickers. The alt-az version of the Vixen C80 were called the Firstscope 80 and had it on the sticker. The Super Polaris-C80s were designated as a SP-C80 on their stickers. What Bomber Bob called a C80P in post #15 and shows the sticker that says Premium 80 were only offered with a Alt- Az mount. They were the last of the 80mm Vixens and were offered as a upgrade to the Chinese models that were being offered in their place.
I have a Black SP-C80 and a C80 Polaris and the Polaris model and like the Orange one shown above in post #39 has C80 on the sticker
This Firstscope 80 sticker is from a Vixen Alt-Az model and Russell shows the same type in post# 11 as well.
The above ad was in an ad for mostly the Chinese models (like the one below)
Since it was an upgrade from the new Chinese offerings it no longer used the Firscope name.
This ad from Sept 1997 shows both Chinese and the last of the Vixens and that's the Premium 80 in the lower right.
What ads to the confusion is the Firstscope name was used for both the Alt-Az and GEM mounted Chinese models but never on the GEM mounted Vixens.
My 1997-1998 Chinese model sure didn't say First Scope, there may have been a few switch over models, as it moved from one country to the next, I believe they temporarily moved to Taiwan and quickly to China My 80 mm Firstscope is an early 1990 model. As I say the optics in my Chinese model was even highly rated by Ed Ting who I consider a great reviewer and was confirmed by myself. Sorry I just didn't get into in depth wordings like yourself. Its been about a decade since I did my research on these scopes. My goal was to always get either the 102mm or 120mm model, I don't remember the size but all I could ever find was the 60mm model in those Japanese scopes. Clear Skies to you. PS: The optics, the quality of the optics all were the same and that pretty well carried into the Chinese models, at least with my 102 mm it did.
Edited by LDW47, 15 January 2025 - 10:30 AM.