Swarovski Habicht CT-75 20-60 Value? (1 Viewer)

[jragsdale]

Howdy y'all! I just came into this scope from a local Craigslist ad. It is nearly mint, the 20-60 eyepiece and the objective are pristine. The only issue was the rear prism had a really bad film on it like it frosted over, but all other glass was perfect? So I disassembled the prism assembly, careful not to mess up any alignment of the prisms and cleaned it very gently and the film came right off. Got a perfect streak-free clean on it and put it all back together. Views are excellent, star tests look good and round, small amount of CA on Venus and Sirius (to be expected), very little on the moon and all terrestrial objects were crisp and sharp. This is a cool scope, love the draw tube action, but alas it doesn't have a permanent home in my scope stable. What would y'all say is a decent price I should put on this beauty? Very few auctions as of late to compare it to.

Cheers!
-Jordan

 

[Jason44]

Hello Jordan
I have never owned or even looked thru a draw tube scope. If I ever buy one due to a smoking hot deal, I would probably go after the CT 85. Very cool that you were able to clean up the prism assembly on your own. As far as pricing, I am sure it is not much help but I would check ebay of course, but also ebay UK. I also would google search the CT-75 20-60 and see if it takes you to past auctions on ebay and optic sites such as astromart, and gun auction sites that list auctions for optics that probably will show you what they sold for.

Sorry I'm probably not much help.

Cheers!
Jason

 

[John A Roberts]

Hi Jordan,

I’m not able to give any advice on price but I can provide some historical context

Swarovski draw tube telescopes are in two series:
- the AZF models from 1967 using Abbbe-Koenig prisms (AZF for Ausziehfernrohr or ’extending telescope’), and
- the CT models from 1993 using Schmidt-Pechan prisms (presumedly for Compact Telescope)

The draw tube scopes were multi-coated from their introduction in 1967 and initially marked Iralin, see: https://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3803698&postcount=18
(which is contrary to the conventional view that Zeiss introduced multi-coating in 1978)
And for more detail about the various models see the attached table (the three AZF Variations seem to have used lenses left over from the DT binocular telescope production)


The CT 75 dates from 1993 to 1999 (observed numbering from: F6316 03928 to F6916 25857 - add 1930 to the first 2 digits to determine the year)
It’s unique among the x75mm models in that it has interchangeable eyepieces (all the others have fixed eyepieces; and in contrast, all the x85 models have interchangeable eyepieces)
And it has phase coating but not dielectric prism coating (this seems to have been introduced with the current CTC version dating from 2001)

I’ve attached two images from a contemporary brochure, one showing the specifications with the various eyepieces, and the other the basic features
And for comparison, also see the current CTC 30x75's specifications


John


p.s. An advantage of draw tube scopes, is that due to their greater length (when in use, compared to fixed tube telescopes),
they are suitable for being used with various improvised rests for relatively casual observing (without the bother of having to carry and set up a tripod)
See the discussion at: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=174386

 

[jragsdale]

Hello Jordan
Very cool that you were able to clean up the prism assembly on your own. As far as pricing, I am sure it is not much help but I would check ebay of course, but also ebay UK.

It was a little tricky, once you remove the prism assembly, there's a cover plate held on with 2 plastic compression pins that you have to remove, then to remove one of the prisms (the rear one in this case), I had to remove 10 spot of silicon that holds everything in place, then it slides right out. After cleaning and replacing, I put new silicon on it so it stays aligned. The prism had a few hard stops in the assembly so you knew exactly where to put it back too, so it wasn't just free floating.

I checked all the interwebs I could search and haven't come up with any other listings yet, just a forum post about people "snagging one used on ebay for $700" about 8 years ago. So, maybe I'll start there and work my way down. I compared the optics to my 80mm ED spotting scope and aside from the minor CA, the CT-75 was able to resolve finer details than the 80. I had them both pointed at a sign 200 yards away and I was able to resolve the cross on top of a phillips head screw in the CT75 but could not in the 80mm ED Spotting Scope (Zen-Ray 80mm Prime with 25-50). :eek!:

 

[mbb]

Hi Jordan,

I’m not able to give any advice on price but I can provide some historical context

Swarovski draw tube telescopes are in two series:

• the AZF models from 1967 using Abbbe-Koenig prisms (AZF for Ausziehfernrohr or ’extending telescope’), and
• the CT models from 1993 using Schmidt-Pechan prisms (presumedly for Compact Telescope)

The draw tube scopes were multi-coated from their introduction in 1967 and initially marked Iralin, see: 3 New 8x30 Reviews by Holger Merlitz
(which is contrary to the conventional view that Zeiss introduced multi-coating in 1978)
And for more detail about the various models see the attached table (the three AZF Variations seem to have used lenses left over from the DT binocular telescope production)


The CT 75 dates from 1993 to 1999 (observed numbering from: F6316 03928 to F6916 25857 - add 1930 to the first 2 digits to determine the year)
It’s unique among the x75mm models in that it has interchangeable eyepieces (all the others have fixed eyepieces; and in contrast, all the x85 models have interchangeable eyepieces)
And it has phase coating but not dielectric prism coating (this seems to have been introduced with the current CTC version dating from 2001)

I’ve attached two images from a contemporary brochure, one showing the specifications with the various eyepieces, and the other the basic features
And for comparison, also see the current CTC 30x75's specifications


John


p.s. An advantage of draw tube scopes, is that due to their greater length (when in use, compared to fixed tube telescopes),
they are suitable for being used with various improvised rests for relatively casual observing (without the bother of having to carry and set up a tripod)
See the discussion at: Advantage of drawscope over fixed-length spotting scope if total length is the same?

That is interesting info! Thank you!
It makes me wonder how the older CT 75 would perform with one one of the newer eyepieces (e.g. 30x (S)W or 25-50x). If I understand correctly, those older CT (not ZAF nor CTC) 75 should accept these newest eyepieces. That might lower the price for someone with e.g. already an ATS scope wanting to have a more ‘portable’ draw tube scope, re-using the eyepiece.
The measurement that Gijs Van Ginkel has made, visible on House Of Outdoors’ website, show that the transmission figures of those older CT models (at least the 85,but I assume the same applies for the 75 of the same cintage) are not that great, much lower than the newest CTC/CTS. However, I am wondering how much of this is due to the body and how much is due to the eyepiece. If switching only the eyepiece would make a big improvement, that might be nice.
Does anyone know this or has has tried both older and newer eyepieces on those scopes?

(That is kind of the same reasoning as regarding the older AT bodies with newer eyepieces, in another thread here on the forum.)