SVX180T-2

After about one month with my new SVW180T2, I wanted to write a review of this incredible telescope. I received the telescope with lens #54 from the second run, which has a Strehl of 0.972 and excellent DPAC results in all 3 colors. It is a top-heavy scope, best requiring a helper to load onto your mount. It did take me a couple of weeks to order and install all the necessary adapters and accessories. But what a treat, when things were up and running.

Vic is a very patient person, answering all my questions. I had a few good questions, but most were about my insecurity in buying such a large and expensive telescope. Luckily, I ordered it and received the scope within one month. I can tell you that the short wait was worth it. At my age, being put on a wait list that is longer than my life expectancy does not work so well for me.

Having been a previous customer of Stellarvue, I knew the quality of the lens and mechanical parts on their scopes. My first telescope from them was a Stellarvue 115, using only for visual observations. I learned at that time about the importance of a great focuser, such as the FeatherTouch focuser. Over the years, I thought that aperture ruled and had several Celestron SCTs, including an Edge C14, Edge C11 and RASA 11. They were great scopes, but something always seemed missing.

When I moved to Arizona, astrophotography became my passion. I needed to learn much more about astrophotography, and so I bought and sold several telescopes, trying to find the perfect one. Slowing but surely, I rediscovered the beauty of refractors again. I had been using the William Optics FLT 156mm Apo Triplet Refractor for the last 5 years.

Doing mostly astrophotography of DSO, the Stellarvue SVW180T2 could not possibly perform any better. The contrast and resolution of the lens clearly exceeds anything that I have ever seen. The focal length of the Stellarvue SVW180T2 at 1280mm is very close to my previous refractor. The field flattener results in absolutely round stars to all corners on the image and I look forward to using the flattener/reducer lens. The detail in an astro image is well demonstrated by looking for very small galaxies. Previously there would be an elongated smudge, now there is very clearly a small, beautiful galaxy on the image. There is no issue with color aberrations and with the help of autofocusing software and the FeatherTouch focuser, I can achieve nearly perfect and very sharp focus. And it’s a lot better than I could achieve with my old aging eyes. I am very happy with this purchase, and I realize that this is the pinnacle of apochromatic telescopes.

I am an astrophotographer and I selected the SVX180T for deepsky imaging with the rationale to generate highly resolved images with a focal length of 1280mm. When I selected this scope, there was only theoretical information available on the performances, but based on the fantastic track record of Stellarvue on their instruments, I decided to trust the company and order the refractor.

I received my SVX180T last winter and installed it remotely in Spain in May. As soon as I started taking images with the scope, I immediately noticed an incredible sharpness of the deepsky objects. The stars are perfectly round on the center, as well as on the corners using the full frame CMOS camera ASI6200MM. This is true for all filters used, including R, G, B, L, as well as the 3nm narrow band fiters Ha, OIII, SII.

During these initial 3 months of images aquisition, I had the opportunity to immortalize the M101 galaxy (LRGB), the WR134 Wolf-Rayet nebula (HOO), M16 (H-HSO), the Elephant's Trunk nebula IC1396 (H-HSO), the Eye of God NGC7293 (H-HSO) and the Pacman nebula NGC281 (H-HSO). For all these images with no exception, the resolution obtained is among the best images ever taken from earth. When published on Astrobin, most of these images were awarded, thus confirming the very high quality of the images obtained with the SVX180T. My congratulations to the Stellarvue team for this exceptional instrument.

I had first light on my just received SVX180 last night.This telescope has lens #34 which is the first green light DPAC I believe.

I tested it in my Bortle 6 backyard by looking at the Double-double in Lyra with a Pentax 3.5mm XW eyepiece at 347x. This object was nearly overhead. I have been observing through telescopes for over 50 years. This was the best view that I have ever seen. Four tiny orbs with nothing but black space between them. I also looked at the crescent moon at 347x. The fine details looked superb. No color fringing on the limb was seen.

Well done Vic!

5 stars for the SVX180T and 2 big thumbs up for Stellarvue. I have one of the first SVX180T shipped, but have been waiting on a PMX+ to mate it with. It arrived just in time for a first light on Halloween. It started out as just a few kids, but in a matter of minutes parents were arriving and soon out numbered the kids. My SVR102T was also setup and both scopes at about 150X. Adults all had the usual comments but one 6 year old is now etched in my brain. I was kneeling next to the eyepiece helping the 6 year old when he stepped aside for next child, he had a look on his face like he had seen a ghost or even God, and then the expression just faded away and he high 5 me and exclaimed "unbelievable...dad can i get one!

Now my review. The fit, finish and engendering are all first rate. The Moonlite focuser is mated perfectly and the supplied adapters for imaging and visual work perfectly. At 150X I think the views are better than my SCT and Newt are at 150X. My SCT and Newt wont support any more then 200X. The SVX180T, using a cheap barlow at 300X had rock solid views even I think I may see God in it some night! Yes i am pleased beyond words with my SVX180T I have been a customer of Stellarvue for about 6 years now, and Vic, his entire staff and Stellarvue are the absolutely the best people I have dealt with in this industry. ********** Plus 2 thumbs up.

Charles Andries..AKA "The Slo Table"

My 180 was delivered six days ago. I am still working on set up but did some viewing and limited imaging. Jupiter is awesome. I told my wife this is the best telescope I've ever looked through. Jovian moon shadows on the surface of the planet are really sharp. Great surface detail and contrast. I am very pleased.