Price: £213.00
Focal Length: 7mm, 82° field of view
Weight: 340g
Supplier: David Hinds Ltd
Telephone: 0845 260 4770
Website: www.telescopesplus.co.uk
The Axiom is a substantial chunk of metal and glass measuring 54mm in diameter, though its beautifully finished aluminium makes it look much larger.
The Axiom’s twist-up eye shield is the smoothest we've seen.
It’s possible to move the shield up with the rubber adjustment ring while keeping the main barrel still.
This meant no twisting force was applied to the eyepiece in the focuser, which could make it shift position.
The shield is quite effective at blocking stray light and reaches a good height of 15mm, which meant we could place our eyebrow or cheek lightly against it.
However, when it is fully extended the width of the field of view is a bit restricted.
With the shield retracted, the eyepiece is spectacle-friendly.
When we turned the Axiom towards the limb of the Moon there was some glare, which lightened the sky beyond.
The contrast on surface features was good at the centre of the field, but dropped off towards the outer 30 per cent of the field.
The Axiom’s focus was excellent across most of the field of view.
There was a small aberration of shape and colour right at the edge, towards the field stop, with a slight blue flare and tear-drop shape on the brighter stars.
When we turned towards that quadruple star, the Double-Double, we were impressed with the excellent resolution and separation, even using our low-powered 100mm f/8 test refractor.
