I purchased the scope from Wolfe Camera on Sept. of 99. After negotiating for two hours I decided to buy it. With a ten day money back guarantee I had nothing to lose. I took it home, set it up, collimated the mirrors and eagerly awaited for night fall.

Luckily I was blessed with excellent seeing ( 9 out of ten for steadiness) that night. First , I checked the diffraction patterns and I could see no difference in or out of focus and no visible aberrations. I aimed the scope at Saturn, inserted a 9.7mm Plossl (196x)and right away I knew this scope was a keeper! The image was extremely sharp with lots of detail. I increased the power to (298x) with a 6.4mm Plossl for the first time ever I saw the Encke's division, there it was clearly visible! The inner rings looked like they were "combed" or "raked" suggesting minor divisions. The colors in the rings were beautiful, from olive to white to yellowish. It really looked like an image from Voyager! Next, I pointed the scope at Jupiter and I could see so much detail on the cloud bands I describe it all. What really blew me away was that I could actually some detail on Ganymede! It looked like it had a polar cap on it and some lightly shadowed area around the middle of it. Different color variations were also visible within the great red spot. I kept switching back and forth between the two planets and kept increasing the power to 600x, 760x and 950x and the images were astounding to me! I recently re-coated the mirrors with Spectrum coatings and the images are brighter with more contrast . I did shorten the tube by 10" and cut 6" off the pier to make it more manageable and transportable. I've observing for over twenty years and I feel fortunate to have found this instrument. I shall keep it as long as I can. Next year I'll be building an observatory for it.