OMI: Customer Comments

Frank Green
The mirror is AWESOME! It wasn't bad when I sent it for recoating but the fov is so much brighter with better contrast then before and the star colors seem much more vivid. Many Many, Thanks, Frank

Ready for First Light. Keiji Tagami and family.
Keiji Tagami, 15 inch owner in Tokushima Japan says" I am thankful to Dave who made this wonderful telescope. This telescope satisfies me, not only when seeing a star, but when having placed indoors. In the field, I don't need any tools for set-up or take-down but carry it out quickly. Very smooth -- it moves, is not too heavy and is not too light. Extravagant woodwork finish which can feel joy for using. To it, it is the optical performance of the OMI mirror as reputation. It is as having expected in all. I waited for the good night of transparency and took 15 inches of mine to the usual observation place. A guide is omega star cluster of a CENTAURUS seat. Since it is climate peculiar [ with the low altitude in south ] to things and Japan, what is seen finely is a difficult object. It became the wonderful starlit sky which can be overlooked to the horizon. It waited for omega star cluster to carry out among south, and the telescope was turned. Peeping into the telescope which became almost level, I received impression in which the skin in the living body bubbles. Signs that the countless faint light star crowded in the view were visible with a cubic effect. Thank you really."

Donovan B. 20" owner somewhere in South Korea says "I thought you would appreciate this picture of another "Obsession First". It is the first official gathering of an Obsession Viewing Session in the Republic of South Korea. The Seoul Astronomy Club know as "Night Flight" accepted my personal invitation to host their meeting and enjoyed a breathtaking evening with my new 20" Obsession with an OMI mirror. Amazing views of Jupiter and Saturn, spectacular deep sky viewing, inquisitive questions on the quality of the mirror and telescope construction, and of course a wonderful group of observers rounded out with some old fashion American hospitality. A world class educational and cultural evening! Thanks for an American legend. (I'm the big guy in the back row!)."

First Light! Oudot Laurent in France and his 18".

Oudot L, 18 inch owner in Roanne, France says "I congratulate you. This telescope with OMI mirror is a marvel. The woodworking is magnificent. It is very easy to set up (ten minutes maximum) and it is a pleasure to collimate. I'm delighted with how smoothly it moved. No other telescope moves like an Obsession. A few days ago, with my club, we organized a star party. My telescope was the star of the night. Several hundreds of people waited to look in the eyepiece. I only heard scream of enthusiasm and especially " WOW " or incredible. Thank you. am very happy to have chosen Obsession. Several friends are very envious and have desires to have their own 18 inch."

Becki and 4 year old daughter Colie under the stars with 15 inch.
Becki C, Proud mother of a 3 month old 15 inch Obsession" in Fort Lauderdale, Florida says "The 15" is perfect for me, although every now and again I get palpitations thinking about the 20". I saw the Horsehead plain as day. I saw detail in M51. I saw the Owl gazing back at me. I am certain I broke laws when I looked at NGC 253 at > 400 power! And for the first time, I watched Io transit her little black dot across the face of Jupiter. The OMI mirror has been absolutely superb and I cannot brag enough about it! Thank you, so very much. Who need a psychiatrist? I have classical music and the heavens!"

I don't believe a galaxy is an option for 15". I wanted the best optics I could get, so I got the OMI. It is a near perfect mirror, and gives incredible views. Hard to say whether it makes a difference, but I have had many friends with similar sized scopes see things for first time in mine.

Good luck! Kevin
15" #659

Scott S 18 inch owner in Mission Viejo, California says "The scope and OMI mirror performed incredibly. I want to thank you for building such a wonderful Telescope and delivering it in less than one month! A great job. You should be very proud of your work. I have had the Telescope for three weeks and the seeing here in SoCal has been great on several nights over the last two weeks. The views through the 18" are hard for me to believe and it has forced me to put my AP 130 F6 away. Jupiter has been incredible. The Obsession Telescope with an OMI Mirror, and Feathertouch focuser has to be the ultimate Telescope."

James, I just wanted to let you know that I picked up my new 15" Obsession with OMI mirror number ob 15-50-081402 from Dave last Friday and have had it out for two nights so far. The mirror is awesome! I see now what is meant by "pinpoint" star images. It was giving better views that the 18" non-Obsession I was parked next to. Images were bright and sharp, with clearly defined features in galaxies and nebulae. Nice job, and thank you! Steven

Steven C. Coberly

Nick T, 15 inch owner in Concord, California says" Went to my 1st. star party to MT. Diablo just about 40 miles east of San Francisco Ca. with my new 15" scope which has optics from OMI. There were 25 of us there from my astro. club, we meet at least once a month there. Though we are aprox. 4000ft. above sea level and the nearest street light is aprox. 6 miles away the skyglow is still prominet(dark blue to dark grey, still better than my backyard). Still the views I got that night were incredible! Jupiter at 340X was like looking at a photo. When the air was steady (that was pretty much all night)I could count about 12 cloud bands easy! Saturn was low on the horizen so the views were nice but not as clean as Jupiter. I also viewed M42 easily picked out the 6 stars in the trapezium, the clouds looked like clouds you'ed see here on earth.I also viewed M51,M81,M82,M3,M13,the Owl nebula and its nearby galaxy. All were just AWSOME! My only disapointment is I was not able to view as much as I wanted(though I had my scope out for about 5 hours)due to the fact that there was a constant line of no less than 4 people waiting to see thru the scope. Veteran ameture astronomers were extremly impressed and kept coming back again and again to have another look. One of our members brought his 20" he made following Dave's book. When looking at the same objects there was not much difference, though I know his will go much deeper.Another member had his LX90 8", we compared my 15" and his 8" on M3. I was really surprised in his scope it looked like a smudge with a few dim stars while in mine it was huge and bright with coutless stars all the way to the core, it gave you a feeling of swiming among all those stars! To say the least he was a little disappionted with his LX90. M13 was nothing like the comparisome thats on the Obsession web page, I think Dave is a little too modest, when looking at it thru my scope it looked like his 25" comparisome( I mean the photo comparisomes).Anyway the night for me was a huge success. I've experienced no coma or very, very little if any, and stars at edge of FOV look like little dots."

Hi,

I took delivery of a 15" ( #643) this summer. I ordered the OMI mirror with enhanced coatings. I did this for two reasons: Primarily for expedited delivery. When I order my 15, Nova was very backed up on orders with a long wait time. The OMI option drastically reduced delivery times. In fact, ordered my scope in May and got the mirror in August.

Also, I liked the OMI website that gave me a great deal of very clear info on their mirrors. I felt comfortable with the company and its product. The people at OMI were exceptionally polite and helpful with my questions. I have nothing but praise for that company.

So far, the mirror has performed extremely well, with a Strehl ratio of .968. I recommend their mirrors with great enthusiasm!

Mark Bungart
15" #643

"I haven't been to your web site since I was researching my mirror choices for the Obsession 25" back in April or May. What a great improvement! I received my telescope and mirror in October. When I looked at my interferogram, I thought it was for mirror surface error. What a pleasant surprise when I read your "Understanding Your Interferometric Test Results" and found the specs were instead for wavefront error. "

Don Huebner
Obsession #621

My name is Kelly Proffitt and I am a proud owner of an 20" Obsession telescope with one of you're mirrors. I have been to a star party here in Va. and the scope and the mirror has been put to the test! The loudest (OOs and Aws) Came from observers that have there own scopes not the public! I think that the combo of Obsession and OMI is a winner!

Kelly Profitt 20"

"I have been getting in some good observing time this past weekend the seeing was rather steady and the views in the scope have been awesome M33, NGC891, NGC7331 and more was To coin a phrase (the best I've ever seen it)!"
Kelly Proffitt

Last Night at last it was possible to experiment for the first time my new Obsession 18 with an OMI mirror. I was with my observation group which meets every Saturdays after New Moon. For the first time in my life I saw the disk of a moon of Jupiter!! The planetary detail at 340X was astonishing. One of the companions who is a big defender of the apocromatics in planetary observation, told me that it was the best images of Jupiter and Saturn he had ever seen. Of course that I used my old Karl Zeiss Jena premium ortoscopic eyepieces. The Crab nebula had the shape we see in the photographs. And without necessity of adverted vision!! M36,M37,M38,ngc1907 were wonderful. Setting up and collimation are very easy. Star testing shows a premium mirror. Now I know that I'm probably the owner of the best telescope in Portugal, at least in what concerns amateur astronomy. Thanks Dave K.

Jose Ribeiro, Portugal

Hi all,

My telescope is better than anything I've read about it!!

Last Friday night, after a heavy rain, the sky became extraordinary. Me and other friends resolved to see the central star of m57. With my 4x Televue's Powermate and a 10mm Radian, at last everybody could see that star!! It was a very small but bright point, not what we are used to see in photographs. M57 itself was very detailed over almost the field of the eyepiece. But what is glorious, is the fact that the structure was so steady and the movements so soft, that it allowed us to manually drive the telescope at 823x magnification!! No doubt a great design!!

José Ribeiro

Obs18" #554, OMI mirror

Dear Mr. Kriege,

Fist I must apologize for waiting so long to tell you just how much I love this scope. I have taken it to two star parties and am preparing for the WSP in two weeks. I absolutely love it! I set it up in my front yard on Halloween night and showed every interested (and not interested) child a view of Jupiter and Saturn. On every night that there isn't a big moon or big enough window before it rises or after it sets, I have been out. My family misses me!

My three year daughter old saw the moon, Jupiter and Saturn. My 15 yr old son spent an entire night in <30 degree weather in the Everglades with me to see "fuzzies". I had the greatest feeling when he adjusted the focus and announced he saw and "extra fuzzy" in M33!

The 15" is perfect for me, although every now and again I get palpitations thinking about the 20". I saw the Horsehead plain as day. I saw detail in M51. I saw the Owl gazing back at me. I am certain I broke laws when I looked at NGC 253 at > 400 power! And for the first time, I watched Io transit her little black dot across the face of Jupiter.

The OMI mirror has been absolutely superb and I cannot brag enough about it!

Thank you, so very much. Who need a psychiatrist? I have classical music and the heavens.

Now, it we could only get rid of that moon.........

Becky Coretti,

Proud mother of a 3 month old 15" Obsession

Hello all.

Just a quick and dirty observing report on my first night with my new 18 inch Obsession! The OMI primary arrived on Friday, but I had to wait 2 more days as we had friends visiting. Undeterred by the moon, I set up the scope yesterday evening, collimated the optics and began to play. I left the star charts in the house-with the moon so bright I thought I would hold off observing Hickson galaxy clusters for another night. The main eyepieces used were a 22mm Nagler and the 31mm Nagler I ordered from Dave K and which arrived with the scope.

In the eyepiece of the 31mm there was a small globular (M19?, as I said, I left the charts inside). Beautiful.

I then swung the scope up to the moon. Amazing! I am completely ignorant about lunar features, but that could change soon. Spent about 10 minutes studying the terminator, and could have stayed much longer but the brightness was becoming uncomfortable. It was also my first chance to test the much-vaunted smoothness of the Obsession's movement as I tracked the moon. I wasn't disappointed.

Next target was the Veil. I didn't hold out much hope, as I've previously only seen it on moonless nights. Found it without any problem using an OIII filter-both east and west segments were easily seen, but the central parts were not made out. However, my patience was quite limited, so I didn't spend a lot of time in the area-too many other things to see! I was amazed by the amount of detail I was able to make out, considering the conditions.

My last real target was M57. Again, just an awesome sight. No central star, but any serious attempt at that observation will just have to wait for better conditions.

At this point I just began to slew the scope all over the sky, looking at whatever double stars, asterisms or whatever caught my eye. Again no charts, just playing with the scope and trying to take in the entire sky at once.

I guess it's obvious that I'm very happy with this scope! Now it's just a matter of waiting for a moon free night, so I can start working my way through "The Night Sky Observer's Guide." Thanks to all of you on this group for giving me a place to share my excitement.

Greg Edwards 18"

Rich D, 18 inch owner in Litchfield, New Hampshire says "Congratulations on constructing such a remarkable telescope. I have had it to a few public star parties with my astronomy club, and have hardly had a chance to view. The line was constant for several hours over a dozen deep at times. It is so gratifying to see children and adults appreciate the heavens. Best of all, my six year old on a ladder can track objects with ease even at high magnification. I am constantly amazed at how much can be see in detail with the OMI mirror. I nearly fell off the ladder when I had first light on M13 and the Veil with an OIII filter. The Lagoon, Swan, and Eagle Nebulas have been equally superb even low on the horizon. Everything I heard and was advertised prior to purchase has lived up to expectations. Words can not describe how happy I am about this purchase!!!"

20" #707, Mother Nature has not given me the fullest opportunity to challenge the new OMI/20" scope yet, however, I am very pleased with what I have seen to date. With over 35 years in this awe inspiring and life long hobby, my 20" Obsession with an OMI Mirror has overshadowed every telescope I have owned, bar none! Your Obsession eclipses all others and will faithfully lead me into the twilight of my observing years!

Thanks Dave,

Donovan Brock, 20" Obsession # 707,

Somewhere in Korea.

Obsession Users Group:

Recently purchased 15” f4.5 #800 with OMI optics from Dr. Warren Hossionian of Glendale, Ca. The unit is as new and saw first light last night in our moderately dark site near Carson City, NV. Excellent optics! It produced images every bit as good as a 17.5” Collier at the same site with the same eyepieces. This is my first Dob and I am delighted to be one of the Obsessed. The height of the 15” is ideal because of portability and I hate standing on ladders and will be using the instrument to teach kids in our local school system so they will need only a short climb to the eyepiece. This User notes: There is plenty of aperture with the 15” when combined with my Collins I3 intensifier to pull in just about everything. We pulled in some really faint objects last night including Caldwell 25. If you haven’t used the I3 you are really missing a lot of detail on the faint fuzzy objects. Since it is a near red and infrared detector, globular clusters, H2 emission objects and galactic cores stand out with amazing brilliance and detail. It adds about 3.5 to 4.0 mags to the star field viewing so figure it almost doubles your scope light gathering capacity. If you are planning to buy one significant upgrade to your equipment this year, consider the I3. Warning: Everybody at a star party will want to use the eyepiece on their scope and want to compare images with conventional eyepieces. You will be very popular.

I am interested in feedback on trailers to house telescopes, eyepieces, Rx-design GOTO subsystem installation and use, portable observatory equipment for a start.

Paul H. Guttman, M.D.