Capture the sky with Stellarvue’s SVX 102T

Putting it to the test

After using this scope for a few hours, you can easily see why views through a well-made refractor are addicting. The optics are virtually perfect. With this scope, stars are not just pinpoints — they are microscopic. Open clusters become brilliant jewels hung in a canopy of black. The crescent Moon is another treat as the color correction and the contrast are simply off the charts.

The flip side of a small refractor is that you need really high-power eyepieces to explore the other end of its performance. One good example is viewing the famous Double Double in Lyra, comprising two pairs of double stars. I love these stars for testing because the two pairs are aligned 90° to each other, making them nature’s test for astigmatism. And the 102T proved itself astigmatism free. The stars split into perfect dots with identical inside and outside performance. A smaller scope already has an advantage in poor seeing conditions. And with the 102T, the stars jumped around instead of smearing out.

For me, the best performance test for any scope is your memory. After a night of viewing, can you still see in your mind what you looked at the previous night? With the 102T, my head was full of my previous night’s observing. 

While it doesn’t show diffuse objects as well as a large Dobsonian, double stars, open clusters, the Moon, and the planets are a joy to behold in this scope. And, after seeing what the 102T can do, I’m eager to see how other scopes in Stellarvue’s lineup perform. In fact, the highest praise I can give the 102T is that I’ve already ordered its bigger sibling, the SVX 140T — a 140mm refractor at f/6.7 — to add to my collection.

Product information

Aperture: 4 inches (101.5 mm)
Focal length: 714mm
Focal ratio: f/7
Length: 23.5 inches (59.7 centimeters) with focuser
Weight: 9.8 pounds (4.4 kilograms) with adapters
Price: $2,995 with Stellarvue focuser;
$3,495 with Feather Touch focuser;
$5,399 with Moonlight Computerized NiteCrawler focuser
Contact:
Stellarvue
11802 Kemper Road
Auburn, CA 95603, USA
530.823.7796