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There are larger refractors and there are less expensive ones, but nothing on the planet will give you a life time of pleasure like this one will. Its overall size, optical quality, an stunning visual and photographic performance, makes it the most balanced, practical, usable optical instrument on the planet, Period! Ralph Aguirre.
Absolutely brilliant! Planetary views beyond any description, deep sky observing very good too, due to excellent contrast. The TOA series are the only triplet refractors out in the market which have two FPL-53 elements which means better color correction than any apochromatic refractor made today. Watch out the weight...this thing is a beast!
The TOA130 (1000m @ f/7.7 is Takahashi's newest line of triplet refractor, surpassing any refracting telescope currently being manufactured. It's hard to come to grips with just how good the TOA performs it has got to be the finest scope in this size class in the world. I'm not blowing smoke, the TOA130 changes the way you understand using a refractor and the way YOU would hope one would view like, only this one is REAL! The image quality is mind blowing, life like and real and the more you use this scope the more you want to and we haven't left our Solar system yet. What the TOA gives you when looking into deep space is another image quality that makes you truly take notice. As I do more of my viewing looking at Nebula, Star clusters and many of the amazing galaxies, the TOA will astound you with the way each object looks, not like a magnified image more like your cruising through space! The other portion about this scope is it's weight, IT is a BEAST at 22 lbs. and the focuser is typical Tak snap-to quality, the sliding dew shield is very good but it is the image quality that grabs you, that's a TOA130! James Edwards Elk Grove CA
I have looked through several scopes as both a casual observer and as a photographer and I have even built my own. There have been some good and some bad but none quite like this one. The Tak 130 is almost perfect. When visibly looking through the scope the shear contrast and detail of the object is so striking its like you can reach out and touch it. I have found that the Tak 130 is excellent for planetary imaging. Unless I had tried it myself I never would have thought that a 130mm aperture would be good enough to catch planets. Is too small right? I was absolutely Wrong! On Jupiter I am able to resolve several swirly bands visually and photographically and cloud detail never before possible by any of my past scopes. For me the amount of detail that I can catch with this scope on a night or day of good seeing has gone from good (with my old scopes to freakish with the Tak. I do not consider myself a night time imager. I really like the sun but with my new Tak I have been staying up late to get images of all my old favorites just to see what the Tak can do. The old Wow factor that got me into photography is back.
There is nothing I could say bad about the Takahashi 130, it is a great telescope, the optics are almost perfect. In the middle of the city I was looking most M objects. Be advice that took 9 months to get mine but worth every minute and every dollar I paid.