Hi,
I've read good things on CN about the C80 Firstscope of the Vixen days, about how much better the quality was in those days.
I already had a Chinese SW90/910 refractor as my Grab N' Go scope, and it's a good scope, I do like it.
A couple weeks ago I saw an ad for a ''C80 made in Japan'' for 90$ Canadian. Looking at the seller provided photos it showed the little Vixen logo and Made in Japan printed on the original shipping box. So I thought, let's see what Vixen stuff is all about!
Today I made a side-to-side comparison between the two scopes.
Day time, interior target so no effects from atmosphere.
Target: dark blue lettering on the white front casing of my heat pump's wall unit, at the other end of a 45-ft corridor.
I pushed magnification to 182x using a 10mm ortho EP and 2x barlow. Since both scopes have the same focal length, they gave the exact same magnification. I used the same EP, barlow and diagonal for the 2 scopes.
I thought the SW90/910 would win by a tad because of the extra 10mm in aperture... No way!
The C80 gives more sharpness and much more contrast. The dark blue lettering came out much darker and clean, unlike in the SW90/910. Overall a much more pleasant image, and I believe the extra contrast will shine in planetary use. The funny thing is the white background seemed a bit brighter in the C80, even though the calculated exit pupil was 11% less. I can't explain it. A difference in the AR coatings perhaps?
Another strong point in favor of the C80 is the mount. I've had a chinese Alt-Az mount of the same generic design as the C80's (on a Celestron Omni AZ102) , but what a difference in quality! C80 has butter-smooth slo-mo controls, and so much better quality, all the parts look good and feel solid, precise.
And lastly, the tripod: OMG! The older Vixen wooden tripod is so steady! Vibrations dampen so much quicker than on the recent chinese lightweight aluminum tripod... my guess is 4-5 times faster. Yes folks, I'm a believer now!
This C80 is a keeper. Many thanks to those who wrote good things about this scope!