Ok, this is not a Takahashi, however it is perfectly good for most applications and good value at this price point. The mechanics are good, the fit and finish is excellent, the inclusion of a manual rotator is nice and with the correct flattener the star shapes are pretty nice for the most part. I have had some wonderful images over the last 6 months with this scope, definitely my most productive period since I started the hobby many years ago. The only sad point is that my 132FLT rarely gets used now! I wish the scope came with a finder bracket on the body, if you are using a guide scope and plan mounting a PC or ASIair, you need to purchase a finder bracket separately which is a pain, made worse if you forget to order at the same time and have to wait longer to be up and running!!

This is a superb piece of triplet, with medium reach. Great scope for most of the nebulas and few of the galaxies. With the flattener, the stars are round corner to corner. Luckily, I got the red one, which nicely matches with ZWO environment and GEM28. As usual, all the advice given by Alex prior to purchase regarding backfocus, attaching the camera and so on. 5 stars for the scope and FLO. I would give 6 for Alex. Cheers.

Five stars for both the telescope and the service! The GT81 is absolutely fantastic for astrophotography and has the great quality associated with WO gear. Purchasing through FLO gives peace of mind having had the Es Reid optical check and FLO’s service was great as they kept me updated on how the order was progressing and answered queries I had.