Review for Vixen VMC110L Optical Tube Assembly w/ Porta II Mount

Author: artsiple from Verbank, NY on Apr 5, 2010
Pros:  portable and easy to use.
Would recommend:  yes

artsiple wrote:

I've been out of the astronomy hobby for some time and I decided to pick it up again. I wanted to start out with something that I could easily move around and travel with, so I bought a VMC110L with the Porta mount from Vixen. I have been really happy with it. Its very light and really easy to set up. The telescope itself is small enough to take as carry on when I travel. I also like the fact that I can just grab the tube and aim it without any knobs to loosen or tighten. It also has slow motion controls so I can make fine adjustments easily. The VMC110L comes with a flip mirror on the back and a place to put a second eyepiece or camera. I found that all I needed to hook my Nikon to the back was a t-ring and it turns the scope into a lens. I was able to shoot scenery and birds easily and the mount was plenty steady enough to do so. The accessories the scope came with are a red dot finder, which I really like, and a 25mm eyepiece that had enough eye relief that I could use it with my glasses on. I found the VMC110L an great small scope, especially for traveling. Its portability and ease of use make it an excellent choice for taking along on trips. It works great as a daytime spotting scope as well as an astronomical instrument. I would recommend this scope to anyone wanting a portable, easy to use scope, in a compact well thought out package.