This is my first Takahashi and it's just superb in all respects. I knew it would arrive triple boxed but I wasn't expecting the boxes to be air-gapped with custom fit polystyrene, and this pretty much sets the theme. Everything just speaks of quality - the scope, the presentation, fit & finish, even having a manual - it makes for a very nice first impression. I went full Tak and bought the accessory bundle as well - I'd heard the tube clamp is handy for quick balancing (it is) and I think having a finder just completes the look of a refractor (even if it's a bit pricey and not overly useful, but more on that later). The scope is surprisingly light given its size, I have it mounted on an AZ4 no issues at all.

I fortunately had clear skies two days later on a light-ish June evening. No planets, no Moon, so I looked at the brighter deep sky objects M13, M92, M27, M57. As expected, the views are exceptional with excellent contrast and stars standing out very bright and sparkly. M13 was nicely resolved into stars at 82x and looked great. I'm so pleased I have the finder and it puts up great views in its own right. I'd forgotten how much it helps to build the anticipation before viewing through the main scope and I've found star hopping with it to be very enjoyable. There's something about the finder and main scope working in harmony like this I think. I moved on to M51 for more of a test and both cores were visible with some shape to NGC5195 and a halo to M51, which I thought was pretty good considering the June sky. I was also imaging M51 at the time with another scope so the spiral arms I saw through the Tak were unfortunately just a recent memory of the laptop screen

I ended with a quick tour round the Sagittarius star clouds where I lucked upon M17 just from swinging the scope round, it was impressively bright and detailed. M8 and M20 both fit in the same finder FOV - little grey clouds surrounded by piercingly bright stars against a deep blue sky, wow. It was a shame there was a crosshair in the way tbh!

On a more functional note, all my eyepieces come to focus without swapping any adapters (1.25" and the focuser feels very sturdy, if a little stiff but I understand that is adjustable. The single speed focuser may pose a problem at high magnification but it's certainly obvious when in focus so that helps. Stars show nice distinct rings either side of focus which felt very powerful as my previous refractors have shown rings on one side of focus but blurry on the other. I seriously cannot wait to view the planets with this scope. The brief time I've spent with the Tak so far has more than confirmed it was worth taking the plunge (it took some serious "should I, shouldn't I" thinking). I know everyone says it but the views really are something special and it's also great to look at when inside. Massive thanks to Chris for all the assistance with my purchase - I am a very happy owner indeed!