CUSTOMER COMMENTS

Steven Tong
California
12.5" f/5
Lightholder Optics

I finally took the plunge about 4 years ago to buy a telescope. I've always been interested in astronomy (took courses in college) but never bought a telescope. I purchased a Televue Pronto and it was a great scope. The wide field of view really helped a beginner learn the night sky and appreciate the larger DSOs. But then aperture fever hit...I didn't like using averted vision to view even some of the brighter Messier objects (Ring, Dumbbell, etc.). I started researching about larger aperture scopes. I immediately nixed SCTs (long focal length) and larger refractors (too expensive). I settled on truss dobs (best bang for the buck). I looked at Obsessions, Starmasters, Starsplitters but they were out of my price range. More

I just happen to stumble onto NightSky Scopes from reading a review on Cloudy Nights. I went to Jim's website and check out all of the info. Everything looked good and the price was right. I decided to take the plunge and placed an order with Jim for the smallest scope he offered-a 12.5" with a Meade primary. This was in early 2002.

Jim was very helpful and willing to answer any questions I had-even though I really didn't have any since his website pretty much answered all of my questions. I was able to sell the Pronto on Astromart (for the down payment) and now the wait begins.

After 10 months (a couple of tropical storms/hurricanes-for Jim) and a couple of changes to the scope (all good), I finally have my NightSky Scope from Jim. It was a good Christmas after all. The changes that occurred were: Jim changed the style of the altitude bearings to a spoked-style which, IMHO, really enhances the look of the scope. The other change was in the primary mirror-originally it was a Meade primary, but apparently Meade was phasing out their Newtonian mirrors-it was taking a long time to get the mirror. That gave me an opportunity to research other mirror makers and I settled on Lightholder Optics-very good mirror-and John's a nice guy. Cost a little more money; but better decision in the long run.

Everything came packed in 5 boxes. The packing was very good, no damage at all. Just a couple things were missing, the light shroud and one of the altitude Teflon pads was missing a screw. Sent Jim an e-mail and he promptly forwarded the light shroud and a couple of screws to me. That's what I call prompt service! Another thing about great service, the JMI focuser drawtube became loose and I sent an email to Jim for help. Instead of just sending an email reply (which he did), Jim called me at home and walked me through the troubleshooting process! We fixed the problem (adjustment screws were too loose). You can't get that kind of service from a big corporation.

Reading comments from other customers and reviewers, my expectations on how everything would look/work were pretty high.......and I can safely say I was not disappointed. The finish on all of the wood surfaces was smooth and shiny-I can see myself! The triangle trusses had a very even and smooth matte black finish to it and the welds were neat and well done. I was very impressed with the mirror cell/tail gate. The construction has a professional look to it-this is one piece of nice metal working! The welds were neat/even and the black finish was very smooth. Plus, I love the lower, four-point edge support for the mirror-Jim makes the adjustments to center the mirror in the box and that's it! No sling to adjust and readjust and readjust. The captive hardware is also nicely done. I was also impressed by the groundboard and feet-made out of 9 ply wood and the 3 feet each consists of a square piece of 5 or 9 ply wood with a thick, square rubber foot attached to the bottom. All in all, the scope is one very nice piece of hardware!

I was able to put together the scope with no problem (first time ever!) Only one kink, had these washers left over, so I popped in the video that Jim provides and found out where they go. The scope's movement is very smooth on altitude and azimuth. I was able to take the scope out for a couple of nights for a test drive. This is my first time using a truss-dob, so I had to get used to moving the scope around and getting the right pressure (touch) to track objects. I observed several Messier objects (M35, M36, M37, M36, M42, M44, M45) and Jupiter and Saturn. The increase in aperture really made a difference!! I can now see plenty of detail in these objects without averted vision-everything is bigger and brighter. On a few moments of good seeing-Saturn really popped into view (Cassini's Division was black and sharp). I decided to wax and armor all the altitude bearings/Teflon to make the motions smoother when tracking at higher powers.

After using the scope, I realized that I am going to need a tracking platform to take advantage of the higher powers that are available to me now. I decided to order the new Type V from Sam Johnson, good price for a good platform.

To sum it all up: I am very happy with my Nightsky Scope from Jim Nadeau. The design, workmanship and materials are top-notch. I appreciate the customer service that Jim provides. If I would ever move up in aperture, I would purchase that scope from Jim.

Steven Tong

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