Product Review of - Infinity 76P 3 Reflector Telescope - Ovl942 - Tabletop Telescopes

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Infinity 76P 3" Reflector Telescope
[OVL942]

£34.90

by Ken (CameraKen)

Date Added: Sunday 02 December, 2007

www.skyatnightmagazine.com

Sky-Watcher Infinity-76

VITAL STATS
_ PRICE £49
_ APERTURE 76mm
_ FOCAL LENGTH 300mm (f/4)
_ FINDER None supplied
_ SUPPLIED EYEPIECES 30x
_ MOUNT Altazimuth
_ MANUFACTURER Sky-Watcher
_ TEL 01359 244200
_ www.opticalvision.co.uk
_ FOR Easy and intuitive to use
_ AGAINST Non-standard eyepieces

Although this instrument is aimed at the children’s market, it definitely has wider appeal. Mind you, you’ll have to be thick-skinned enough to use a scope that looks like a stubby Space Shuttle when the lens cap is on. The Infinity-76 abandons a conventional mount in favour of a rugged plastic bowling-ball style altazimuth design, strikingly like the Edmund Scientific AstroScan. It works like this: instead of fiddling with locks and slow motion controls, the scope swivels on its spherical base to point at any region of the sky. Once you’ve located your target, just let go and the scope stays wherever it’s pointed. And unlike the rest of the scopes in this Group test, the Infinity-76 can be used straight out of the box.
The scope uses the same parabolic 76mm f/4 (300mm focal length) primary mirror as the equatorially mounted Sky Watcher SkyHawk-76. Consequently, this diminutive instrument delivers a far better performance than you’d expect. The views with the supplied 15x and 30x eyepieces are sharp, contrasty, and of a wide enough field that a separate finder isn’t necessary. In fact, at the lowest power you can hand-hold the scope comfortably. It’s sad to end on a bad note, but the helical focusing mechanism prevents the use of standard 1.25-inch eyepieces.

VERDICT
VALUE FOR MONEY 92%
OPTICS 81%
EASE OF USE 88%
BUILD QUALITY 73%
MOUNT 62%
OVERALL 79%

96 BBC Sky at Night February 2006

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]

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SKY-WATCHER ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPES

Ade Ashford Says...

"Having tested and reviewed a wide range of astronomical telescopes over the last couple of decades, for me there is one manufacturer that's risen above the rest in terms of delivering a coherent range of uncompromising, well-conceived designs, embodying consistently good optics and sensibly engineered mounts at very competitive prices ...that's Sky-Watcher!!"
Ade Ashford BSc

Ade Ashford has tested and reviewed astronomical equipment in a professional capacity for several publications, including Sky & Telescope, Astronomy Now & BBC Sky At Night Magazine. He is currently living in New Zealand and is an astronomer at Mt John Observatory, Lake Tekapo.

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