One lesson learned over 3yrs

[jaygpoo]

So 3yrs on in my astronomy quest and 8 telescopes later, plus god knows how much spent on bits and pieces . Here is one tip that nobody should ignore. Yes the mount is the starting point. Decide on you direction and sort a scope. Sort some good EP and a Camera if needed .. The point of this topic is that even the best telescopes rely on some of the worse made fitting to attach your diagonal and expensive cameras to. Many times my diagonal  holding expensive fittings has suddenly spun round as the telescope moved. When I brought my Celestron 9.5 I soon decided to buy a BADER CLICKLOCK   Money well spent. For a year afterwards I put up with the silly fitting on my fairly expensive 80mm ED APO but this week after yet another close shave I brought another click lock to fit it. Should have brought them in the first place before spending money on other less important items.  I do not work for the company or any other so no gain but take heed if you value your equipment. You can always remove it if you sell the scope and fit it on the next so hang on to the old useless fittings..   Hope its a useful tip from a sucker that is learning the hard way..     JAY

[Puglets]

Great tip I will bear this in mind when I purchase my first camera for imaging 

[LukeSkywatcher]

8 scopes in 3 yrs?. Seriously?. Care to name them all and tell us why they didnt suit you?.

[Freedom2099]

What's a click lock for?

[glowjet]

There is nothing like heading the experience of others, I personally will not entertain the single screw locking of the many devices that are on the market to-day, three screw brass, none marring clamps is the norm. For those that not familiar with a Baader Clicklock, I understand it is a ratchet rotating clamping devise for securing eye pieces or other devices on the optical axis of the equipment in use, and has a very strong hold 

[jaygpoo]

In answer to Paul about scopes. I started with a 6in reflector on a eq2 mount. Terrible mount and 1st lesson learned. (sold mount for more than the scope cost me) to keep small I brought a s/h skymax 127 which I loved and still think is the best small starter scope . Brought a EQ5 basic mount and then decided to try a refractor . After some research I got a 100mm Tal. Built like a tank and stacks of focus adjustment but oh so long! Saw a s/h Skywatcher refractor 120mm in a mount with extras for silly money so grabbed it. Lovely sized scope. Easy to transport and set up. Started to get into astrophotography  and saw the need for good lenses and much more . Again saw a s/h Altair 8in reflector and decided to try it. However I could not under any circumstances get on with the short focus tube and the need for tube extensions to focus my camera. Plus the weight of so much gear hanging on the tube while the mount rotated.  It had to go. I was impressed with the visual images that I saw through it . Sold it for alittle more than I paid. So settling down to the fact that I wanted a small good quality refractor for astro imaging and a large cassegrain for visual / possible astro imaging I did my reseach and after selling the Tal and the 120mm refractor I stopped messing about and brought my Skywatcher 80mm ED ApO Pro and the Celestron 9.25 MONSTER . The EQ5 mount that now had motors fitted also went and after a ebay search I found a company selling top quality factory refited NEQ6  Pro mounts for almost half the full price. An the 8th scope which I still have and use for guiding is a celestron 70mm travel scope (ebay £28)

[davedownsouth]

Just ordered some of these from Flo, sick of those little metal screw pins, hope these stop things falling out

[RT65CB-SWL]

Just ordered some of these from Flo, sick of those little metal screw pins, hope these stop things falling out

So what did you order?

[tingting44]

8 scopes thats insane! ive had 2 scopes in 3 years! (SW 130-p & SW-130-pds) if i had the money tho it would be a different story....

nice bit of kit the Baader click lock tho, nearly as much as my scope tho lol

[davedownsouth]

So what did you order?

I got a 2" clicklock, but also went a bit over the top and bought a 2" bader diagonal with clicklock and a 2" to 1.25" clicklock adaptor.  Doing this I should now be able to use any of my eyepieces of any of my scopes .

[Tinker1947]

There's nothing like a Click-Lock or 2 or 3 or well i could go on....

[DrRobin]

In answer to Paul about scopes. I started with a 6in reflector on a eq2 mount. Terrible mount and 1st lesson learned. (sold mount for more than the scope cost me) to keep small I brought a s/h skymax 127 which I loved and still think is the best small starter scope . Brought a EQ5 basic mount and then decided to try a refractor . After some research I got a 100mm Tal. Built like a tank and stacks of focus adjustment but oh so long! Saw a s/h Skywatcher refractor 120mm in a mount with extras for silly money so grabbed it. Lovely sized scope. Easy to transport and set up. Started to get into astrophotography  and saw the need for good lenses and much more . Again saw a s/h Altair 8in reflector and decided to try it. However I could not under any circumstances get on with the short focus tube and the need for tube extensions to focus my camera. Plus the weight of so much gear hanging on the tube while the mount rotated.  It had to go. I was impressed with the visual images that I saw through it . Sold it for alittle more than I paid. So settling down to the fact that I wanted a small good quality refractor for astro imaging and a large cassegrain for visual / possible astro imaging I did my reseach and after selling the Tal and the 120mm refractor I stopped messing about and brought my Skywatcher 80mm ED ApO Pro and the Celestron 9.25 MONSTER . The EQ5 mount that now had motors fitted also went and after a ebay search I found a company selling top quality factory refited NEQ6  Pro mounts for almost half the full price. An the 8th scope which I still have and use for guiding is a celestron 70mm travel scope (ebay £28)

Not unusual, in five years I have gone through a similar list:

Skywatcher 127 Mak -> Skywatcher 250 Flex tube -> Skywatcher Quattro 8" (still got).  Celestron C11 within 2 months of the Quattro (Still got).

At the same time as the Flex tube an ST80 (still got)

Last night time scope WO GT102

For solar a PST -> Lunt60 (still got)

In parallel for white light solar, a AR80 -> WO Zenithstar 80 (still got)

That makes 6 scopes for night time and 4 for solar.

I agree with you the 127Mak was a great first scope.  I liked my flex tube, but wanted to do more deep sky imaging, hence the move.

Robin

Best destroy this message after reading, MrsDrRobin might be looking.

[jaygpoo]

Well I really started something here and it was all about my frustration with telescope makers not using good qualitiy fittings to hold the expensive diagoinals/EP and cameras etc as standard or at least on expensive pieces of kit. Tinker seems to have taken the click lock to heart and is keeping the company alive.  Has anyone out there had their hands on more than 8 telescopes in their search for the perfect setup??  Jay

[Luke]

+1 for clicklock, nice piece of kit, as is almost everything from Baader it seems going by the various items I've had from them

The biggest lesson I have learned in astro, is keep it fun, don't do what you think you want to do, do what you actually like doing that fits your life. In my case, they were two different things. I loved the idea of deep sky imaging but hated the slog and late nights to get the data. That's just me. Might one day come back to it, but only if I have an obsy and a setup that needs very little looking after. It's been good because I discovered that solar imaging is more me, love a bit of lunar too though man flu has taken me down for a few months!

[jaygpoo]

Looked at you gallery Luke. Some amazing images. Have been thinking of moving to solar using the QUark with my 80mm ed apo. Are you using a chome  or prom filter?   What camera are you also using.  Jay

[Saganite]

Hi Jay,

If you include mounts, then yes 8 in 3 years.I started with an 8" Dob, lovely scope, and then added a Skywatcher Evostar 120 on an EQ3.

Fairly quickly discovered that the mount was not really adequate, convinced myself that I was to become an Astrophotographer, and bought

a Skywatcher 200p on an EQ5 from Ebay, sold the EQ3 and the Dob and felt that that was me sorted.The mount still did not satisfy me, so 

I bought a used EQ6 at a very good price from a club member, spotted a beautiful ED100 on Ebay that again went for not too much, in the same week,

and sold the EQ5 and the Evo 120 and thought that's me well sorted.Somewhere along the way I decided that imaging is not really for me, so I bought

a used 12" Lightbridge, set about " modding" it and the 200P is about to go.So, that's me sorted...?

[jaygpoo]

Hi sounds like your as mad as me!!!. Neq6 is a great mount but the power supply socket is a pain. I hard wired mine and have not looked back. 12" scope looks like fun but it must be a pain to move and store etc. The astrophotographer in me is the excitment of seeing a dark image come to life in photoshop knowing that you can not see it with the naked eye but that you have to locate it in the blackness of space!!!!  Clear skies  Jay

[Saganite]

Hi Jay, Yes the 12" is certainly the limit for me, but I can honestly say that I am very happy with it, and the ED100 on the EQ6 is the perfect complement.

Though I have no desire at the moment to move into imaging, I can of course see the attraction, but I just love sitting at the scope in the darkness , the peace and the quiet.

I can use the ED100 at some point, for imaging if I so desire. I might be tempted to exchange for an ED120( I just adore refractors and always have) but I am in no hurry.

The madness as you put it, has infected my Eyepiece case and chopping and changing during the same period has seen an accumulation of more than I need

but rationalization is now about to take place following the purchase of a binoviewer. I am seriously considering keeping 3 pairs of eyepieces and a few of my favourite singles.

Try a Binoviewer if you can Jay, it opens up a whole new universe.

[jaygpoo]

Binoviewer looks cool but the bottomless wallet has had a hammering and there are a few to choose from + do you use a 45 diagonal to help the viewing angle?  What make bino have you got anyway??  Jay

[Saganite]

Hi 

I have the Williams Optics binoviewer and it is a lovely bit of kit for the cost, which comes with 2x 66 deg 20mm eyepieces and a 1.6x barlow.

What is not made clear is the difficulty in achieving focus. I had to put 65mm of extension between the binoviewer and the barlow to reach focus in

the 12" Lightbridge but was well worth it, giving astounding views of the Moon and the best I have seen thus far of Jupiter.

To use in my ED100 I have to remove the diagonal and plug straight into the end of the tube, again results are excellent, but

 I hope to find a way to use it with the diagonal.

If you really want to understand what the "spacewalk " is like, try viewing the moon through a bino!

[Moonshane]

Someone on SGL once proclaimed, buy quality and you only cry once. Very true I think. Other benefits of quality are avoidance of the what if factor, safe and secure fittings, better views and higher resale potential.

My own take is spend your money on something that benefits more than less. E g I would prefer coma corrector and plossls to no coma corrector and wide fields. Both is better obviously!

[michaelmorris]

Another click-lock fan here.  Yes, they are bloomin' expensive, but yes they are good.