Thank you, Carter and everyone else that responded. I am pleased to hear of the equivalency to the Orion XT's, as that is the model I've been considering if I buy a new one. The 12" Hardin is on Astromart for $500- Seems like a good deal, I just wanted to be sure before persuing it.
-Denis
----- Original Message ----
From: "carterscholz@No-Spam" <carterscholz@No-Spam>
To: sf-bay-tac@No-Spam
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 9:33:35 AM
Subject: Re: [TAC] Need Advice
Denis,
As Bill Cone noted, I have an 8" Hardin. I like it. Definitely
respectable, excellent value. The mirror is beyond criticism, made by Guan
Sheng. The mechanics are functional out of the box, but just. After using
it for several months I replaced the focuser, rebuilt the base, put teflon
and Ebony Star on the bearings. The base is heavy particle board and the
altitude bearings are very small and braked with springs, like the Orion
XTs. In general I would say the Hardins are equivalent to Orion XTs. You
can get an "upgraded" version for more money from dbaastronomy.com which is
very much like my custom job.
Carter
>I have been long considering moving up to a mid-sized dob. I am looking at
>something in the 10-12" range.
>I found a "Hardin Optical Deep Space Hunter 12" Dob" on AstroMart. Does
>anyone know anything about Hardin Optical? Is this a respectable
>instrument? I don't want to buy a piece of ****.
>
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-- What TAC Is About. http://www.observers.org/Join.shtml Webcam, DSLR, CCD Imaging use NorCal AI. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/norcal_ai/ Designing and improving TAC's website. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/tac-ops/ Sub-scribe or Unsub-scribe from TAC http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/sf-bay-tacReceived on Thu Nov 30 11:36:42 2006