NP127's Parable of the "Prodigal Nephew"
08/05/2005

As you may already know, Ron B[ee] has been using his 4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO refractor christened the
"Light Cup" since May of 2001 for many wondrous and joyful experience of the heavenly bodies.  Last year, Ron
B[ee] the "Prodigal Nephew" left the "Family" to ravagely acquire other APO refractor. It had a very fine optics
and was a fun wild party, for a while... until his "squandered resource" ran out on him .  But ever since that
night at RTMC in 2004 that Ron spent under the stars with the Tele Vue NP127, the love affair grew from a small
mustard seed to ...

Painting by Rembrandt

Now, the "Prodigal Nephew" has at last returned to the Tele Vue APO "Family". I ordered the 5-inch (12.7cm)
Tele Vue f/5.2 Nagler-Petzval APO refractor package in June from Skies Unlimited, a Tele Vue dealer in PA; I
have been extremely happy with their service.  Finally, it arrived today from UPS apparently safe, the "N-Day"
on Aug. 5th 2005.

eeny, meeny, miney, more, which is the NP127 hiding on the floor ?

I'm delighted that my NP127 is not built "like a tank" which would have added "tonnage"; rather it is built like a
light weight titanium hardened spacecraft, exactly the light weight APO refractor I've always wanted.  I'm extremely
happy with the professional fit and finish of the NP127, the sensory perception received when rubbing the "mildly
decor" OTA tube with my hand, the off-white color of fine jewelry (pearl), just like my TV-102.  There are no
screws visible anywhere on the OTA to be seen!  The added touch of a transparent dew cap is gossamerly sheer
naked excitement. Oh, and the incredibly small size of the included light weight hardcase (same size as my 4-inch
TV-102 case as shown in the photo)!  Did I mention the lens, so spotlessly clean (just like I remember how my
TV-102 came to me) as if someone has picked out every molecular particle of dust with a toothpick before shipping
and none in-between the lens elements !

TV-102 vs NP127 Length

TV-102 vs NP127 full extended - note diameter of lens cap - incredible!

NP127 OTA's polynesian pearl color decor finished

NP127 vs TV-102 OTA diameter - can't believe the left one is 5-inch!

The Tele Vue NP127 is one of the shortest 5-inch class APO refractor employing three or more objective lenses
on the market today, only 33 inches long.  It is the skinniest with a dietary diameter of only 5.2 inches and is the
lightest in agile weight of incredible 14 lbs!   The last 6.25" portion of the tube length gets progress narrower and
therefore has less weight .

Tele Vue's small attention to details that has escaped me all this time began to surface, such as

• Tele Vue's double box packaging (and no finesse APO should ever be shipped with single box and without a
  refractor case or the very least an option for buying one with a ready-made custom fit case!),
• larger sized knob everywhere where you need to turn something
• newly improved two knobs for the focuser draw tube and for the diagonal suitable to hang heavy
  accessories on it.
• a place on the tube ring to conveniently mount finder of different types (1X or traditional)
• one-piece OTA tube ring that fit like a glove yet so easy to loosen and slide the OTA,
• screw-less retractable dew shield yet with a snug feel which lock when fully retracted and won't just
  slide down the tube all the way to the focuser ,
• and how my Starbeam finder just fit in the case without the need to remove it for separate storage
  which help to encourage my "often-used" approach to observing, plus well thought-out extra storage
  space for diagnoal and eyepieces.
• even the hard case has been improved, with a two locking "hooks" now oversized!
• clear identification of the brand name, aperture, focal ratio is unmistakable and permanent, not
  implemented with sticker .

Such small details as these that one normally doesn't appreciate or perhaps even be cognizant of them until these
details are missed.

NP127 stylish, sexy see-through clear lens cap, note the rubberized very easy to grip knob!

No words necessary for this picture - you wouldn't believe how clean the lens is!

Looking down the objective lens, the coating looks flawless.  Looking up the "rear-end" of the focus draw tube
shows pitched-black darkness and utterly complete black flocking everywhere (just like my TV-102) with no shiny
black anodized tube anywhere in its interior which could cause severe internal reflection back into the focal plane.
Picking up the scope to mount it on my Vixen SP mount, the NP127 mystifyingly feels much lighter and more
balanced in weight than the triplet APO I used to have which was very front heavy.  Also I was afraid that its 33
inches in length may act as a fulcrum the weight difference from my TV-102; I 'm happy to report that even on my
skinny SP mount, it was very stable under the stars with damping time of one sec. and often less .

Also, I used to think "wow" the NP127 has a high price tag.  But now from experience, when I added up the included
"free" 2" satin Everbrite diagonal (I could use a new diagonal ), the free tube ring, the free adapter, the free
scope hardcase (which I sorely found out during my "prodigal" days that scope case ain't no cheap accessory!), a
"free" field flattener for imaging (an accessory in a triplet APO that costs whoppingly around $400-$500!), the Tele
Vue NP127 is actually quite a red-tag bargain on its own!  $6250-$500-$275-$300(case)-"$135(rings)"-$45 =
(why just look at that!) $4995.95 !

OK "Prodigal Nephew", all these sweet, sounding, serene verses, let's have the negatives, the disadvantages, the
disappointments, the undesirables, the downright bad rhyming verses .  Alright, I confess.  Upon objectively close
examination, scrutiny and precise measurement, the only disappointment that can be improved upon by Tele Vue is
that the NP127's aperture is not 145mm .  Well OK, the NP127 does not have rotating focuser
which most likely contributed to its light weight.  Having used a rotating focuser often for 5 months on other APO,
I would say that yes, it's a "nice-to-have" feature.  But I've been using my TV-102 without this feature since 2001
and have never had an awkward focuser position - and I'm using a GEM!  And in fact, I updated this portion after
two nights under the stars realizing I hadn't even missed this appendix of a feature in the other APO and thus has
not affected the usability of the NP127 in the least!

NP127 on my light-weight Vixen Super Polaris German Equatorial Mount

Last and most importantly, the "Prodigal Nephew" has been fully welcomed back with opened arms as if he has never
left!  And somehow the name "XXX Light Cup" (notice capitalized "L" and "C" ) just doesn't rhyme so harmoniously
with anything other than a Tele Vue APO for some reason under some inexplication to expound exactly , but fit
the Tele Vue-NP127 like a larger one-size-fit-all verse in an APO poetry!   Now at last the TV-102 can be on its way
to the new owner with a "Tide-clean" conscience  [RB: maybe? but not ] ; after-all, the NP127 is its one and
only true, genuine, DNA-matched , big "blood" brother of my TV-102 "Light Cup" !    My only one small regret
is that both ends are not jade-green like my TV-102 .   But wait, what is this I hear as I was putting away my NP127
and closing the scope case!  I leaned closer to the capped objective lens of the NP127 and I heard a whispering deep
muffled tone which sounded something like: "I shall show you the path to the universe in a way you
can't begin to imagine ".  Oh no, not another talking telescope !

Please stay tuned for my NP127 first ultra lite, light - visual and imaging delight .

Ron the 5.0000-inch Tall Evangelist B[ee]

PS - The bottom picture of the two cases contains the NP127!