First impression taking it out of the case is how light and small the scope is for a 185. The sliding draw tube helps keep it more compact than a typical 7" scope would be normally.
I like that the rings and D plate fit in the case while installed, but I always separate them when mounting as it's easier to place the scope in the cradle when on the mount.
The rings and plate are very light weight with the plate also being skeletonized.
Overall, the scope is impressive. The build quality is excellent, and optically it is better than I expected for the size and especially the price.
The paint finish is a semi gloss white and very nicely done. When I saw the apricot colored anodizing in photos I did not really like it, but in person the scope is attractive.
The glass was exceptionally clean with no dust inside or out visible.
Handling the scope in the dark, you would not know that this is not a top tier scope. The sliding dew shield is smooth and wobble free with a nice velour like lining.
The focuser is rugged and holds the weight of a binoviewer or large eyepiece like the ES92 perfectly with no slippage. There was some image shift visible with heavy eyepieces, but I managed to dial it out with a slight adjustment to the draw tube tension with the four adjusting screws. You need a short 3mm Allen key to access the two screws near the focuser.
Surprisingly, the FT focuser on my AP160 also needed an adjustment of the mounting screw position to eliminate any shift when I first received it.
I really like the sliding draw tube. It allows a lot of versatility when using a binoviewer without a GPC for low power viewing. With a 1.25x GPC, the tube is fully extended and the focuser is only out a short amount.
There is also a Takahashi like camera angle adjuster with 360 degree etching around the tube which is another nice touch.
I mounted it on an AP1200 and went through several simple stars tests the first evening. There are no glaring errors visible when racking in and out of focus. The pattern appears very similar on either side. No signs of astigmatism or any pinching at temperatures ranging from 56 to 75 degrees;
After being in daytime temps of 85 degrees and the observatory reaching 90, the 185 had no issues reaching equilibrium within 30 minutes or so of opening the roof, putting up a clean image of Vega.
There is no visible color aberration in focus and a slight amount out of focus. I took a couple photos without any flattener or reducer and other than the corners the star quality looks good. There is some blue halo around brighter stars like Vega, and I will see how much it is improved when the flattener and reducer arrive.
I had my AP160 mounted on a TTS160 to get a baseline in the same conditions on how the 185 would perform. After owning the AP160 for 18 years since new, it has become an excellent measuring stick. With the ES92 12 and 17mm, the 185 was giving views of globular and open clusters that were quite beautiful. Tiny bright dots scattered throughout that were too many to count.
It is equally sharp to any views I've seen through a premium scope at these powers. Many more stars resolved than with the 160. More comparable to my C14 when used with a binoviewer.
I recently had an AP180EDT to try out and by memory the views were very much the same.
Saturn was sharp and detailed, but not as etched as the AP's, especially when going above 200x. Seeing was limiting me to around 323x using the 3-6mm Nagler in the 185, but the image didn't appear to break down due to the optics.
The Askar has a warmer tint on Saturn than with the AP's, and the background did not as appear ink black at similar exit pupils.
Looking at close doubles like Zeta Herculis (currently listed at 1.5") shows a nice split at 260x, and a large gap at 431x
Pushing it up to 1078x with the 2.5x Powermate, which was obviously excessive I could still see the split through the distortion.
Antares was also a clean split which is often difficult at my latitude.
Airy Disks appear excellent at high powers, but the flaring effects of seeing are a bit more obvious in the 185 compared to the 160. Judging from the DPAC results of the 185 posted here on CN, I would guess the superior color correction of the 160 and better wavefront likely contribute to minimizing the degrading effects of turbulence.
For the purist, I would say that the Askar is equally capable for DSO's but not quite in the realm of top tier scopes for high power viewing on the planets. It does perform really well on double stars, and has the added advantage of aperture.
The large aperture certainly seems to help, as I can see the same level of detail on Saturn as with the 160 but just not with that perfect etched on glass look I've seen with AP's, Taks and TEC's.
This scope almost seems too good to be true, and I really expected to be let down by some aspect of its optics or mechanics. I'm enjoying it immensely, and plan on trying more AP and also find out how it holds up long term.
Many thanks to both Joe G. and Jason for their perspectives on the 185 that led me to give it a chance.
Mike
