Bird-Jones design info

[ZeroKlass]

Zeroklass, your post is not helpful and it is without basis. It is also an attack on me.

I don't want to get into an exchange with any members of these forums, however I feel I must note that my post did not contain any form of libel whatsoever, therefore no attack on you was made.

My position as a moderator does not remove my right to express an opinion.

Agreed. However, when you journeyed over into the moderator realm you brought with you an obligation to keep a biased opinion to yourself. Think about it, as a moderator you are looked up to by a wide variety of telescope users on these forums, and a large population of such uses the type of scope that you deem unworthy. Sure, there are disadvantages to the BJ design, no doubt, but my problem is this: Sparky created an informative post for the users of the same scope design, and you come along and loosely present your opinion of "You should have or should just avoid this design altogether". I would think you would just be happy there are those who use scopes of all different varieties as we all explore the skies together.

My opinion did not include the word 'junk' did it?

In between the lines it did. That's all I have to say on the matter, not trying to be disagreeable by any means, I'm just voicing my own opinion based on several of your responses that were similar in nature. Clear skies!!

[bj139]

There's not much positive about the Bird Jones pieces due to the spherical ground mirror - which is why it has to have a figured Barlow to sort out the CA and SA -

Best bet is to avoid that particular configuration and go to an elliptical mirror and peace of mind

Don't you mean "parabolic" mirror instead of "elliptical"?

[jonesy311]

Wow, this thread turned fast. I am just curious of what kind of advice one seeks that has no biased opinion derived from some sort of dealings with or knowledge within that said subject. With that said, there plenty of posts here for the bird jones design, users niuno15 and CalanRoupe have plenty of posts, including a couple of stickies, that may answer the question directly or you may have to get snippets of info and sort it all out. I have a bird jones as well (PowerSeeker 127) and I am combing through for collimation help as well, if I find anything that may help you out, I will copy that link and post it here.

Good luck!

[neal_mlc]

I have a Meade 4.5 " bird-jones and the biggest problems I have had are the tripod(total junk) and the focuser which requires a very very gentle touch and patience. I have to agree with that alot of the department store scopes are junk but 99% of the people that are going to buy them don't know that they are junk. With all of that said I am planning on putting it on a motorized GEM and playing around with AP, and no, I am not expecting hubble type images.

[Kris me]

The "bad" Jones-Bird. I wish people do not judge the telescope by the cost of it.
I wish people writing bad comments actually ever used one.
Some times knowledge of science of physics ( optics in particular ) and ability to use telescope and lens design software to evaluate the Jones-Bird type helps a lot to understand it.
See the photo of piece of Orion constellation taken at end of March 2012 with JB and Sony NEX VG20E camera. ISO 1600, four shots at 1 sec exposure averalaid, (look at the bottom of the pic to see layers)scope JB 114/F8 on EQ3 no GO-TO.


Have a clear skies ....

[janikowskijr]

Bird jones aren't all inherently bad, while they may not be as easy or user friendly as dobsonians, they are a great first scope for many who are first getting into the hobby like myself, I have a zhumell eclipse 114 which is a bird jones, not many seem to have it as many have the celestron but i absolutely love the views i get, it can be tricky at first to learn to use the equatorial mount and the finderscope it comes stock with can be useless however an upgraded finder like a tel rad or star pointer makes it much more effective, for a beginning or low cost portable scope I love my bird jones, dobs are i agree 100 percent a step above but also cost more, a bird jones with a 4.5 to 5 inch aperture will provide great views of the planets including jupiter 4 of its moons, saturn, venus, mars , objects such as the orion nebula, and double clusters such as the one found in the middle of the ladle of the big dipper, many great views can be seen of many objects so do not be scared away by so many of the negative posts, if you have the extra money go for a dob, but for a start and entry into the hobby with great views go for it, have not seen the optics on the celestron bird jones but i love the optics on my zhumell. Good luck

Trevor

[CalanRoupe]

I ran across this thread right after I got my AM114 and was trying to learn more about it.... and the total lack of any decent information on the Bird-Jones.

Which is also the reason I did the YouTube channel and videos. I sure ain't no actor, and probably a boring voice. But I couldn't find the info I wanted, learned what I could and put it out there. Hopefully some have gotten what they need out of it.