Astromaster 76 seriously it's good!

[stafford_stargazer]

Well I couldn't resist having a quick mess with this scope.

Bought it for £20 with eq1 tripod, complete as new, who wouldn't have a dabble for that price!

Ok, I know your all going to say it's a toy and steer clear but I was very surprised, and as some of you may know I've had and still got some bigger scopes.

But having got it set up in the garden I noticed firstly alot of play in the focusing tube and it wobbled about a bit in the assembly, I believe there like that, so I removed the focusing tube and placed a shim of plastic around the inside of the focusser assembly so the tube slides up and down nice and firm but with ease and zero play.

While the focusing tube was out I got my hack saw and took the end off it, the bit that falls closest to the secondary mirror, just after the rack and pinion gear I hacked it off there as when it was in focus at infinity there was about just over an inch of highly reflective plastic tube protruding into the light path inside the tube.

And with this being a small aperture scope , I didn't want to stop any light coming in from hitting that mirror!

It has no adverse affect and now when the focusser in fully in it doesn't protrude at all into the tube, bingo!

Don't know why they made it so long!

Also it's got to help with stray light as it was highly reflective on the outside of the focus tube, sort of resembled my old escorts mk1 bumpers, shiny and serves no useful purpose.

Having done these small mods and reassembled and made sure collimation was spot on, after some small adjustments to both main and secondary mirrors all was well and ready to go.

Before I put the tube assembly on the mount I noticed the mount was a bit shaky, eq1, typical I thought as it's a basic entry level tripod.

But after getting the socket set out and tightening the main bolt through the mount and tightened anything else that was a bit slack all was good and I was pleasantly surprised how sturdy it actually is for what it is, maybe this sort of thing gets over looked by the sort of people who would probably buy this type of telescope, newcomers etc..

But all in all now it was all sturdy and everything ready to go.

I did change the eyepiece that it came with for a 9mm xw eyepiece that I had for an old acuter spotting scope.

Pretty good quality really and miles better than the original.

First light last night was very good.

First to the moon, it was contrasty and sharp, in fact as sharp as any of my other scopes.

Magnification was 77x.

Turning to the right a bit I picked up Saturn, again it was sharp and contrasty, definite separation of rings and planet, and it was a joy to watch, nothing wrong there.

Venus next, nice clear view showing the crescent shape.

Now before bed I found Jupiter low on the horizon, again a perfect disk with both belts visible and moons.

This little scope which I know you wouldn't really advise or touch one yourself really has excelled.

It's dead easy to whip in and out of the house for a quick look when viewings not perfect and once the little mods have been done it really makes it quite a joy to use believe it or not.

Yes aperture is always king! But if you can pick one up at the right price it ain't bad at all.

I really enjoyed myself last night and it took be back to my first year of taking up astronomy back when I was about 17.

And if your on a tight budget the optics are actually very good and it would certainly show you some of the finer planets out there.

Can't wait to try it at a bit higher mag.

Hope this was helpful to someone out there.

And remember, if your looking to get into astronomy either buy a good pair of binoculars and avoid any toy type scope sold in catalogues and bargain stores.

And if you are on a limited budget but want to have your first look at the planets then if you get one at the right price second hand then I would say this certainly will do the job until you know weather the hobby is for you or not.

And when you upgrade you'll probably get your money back if you look after it!

I'd of done anything when I was 17 to get views like I did with this, but with no Internet and little advice I went through alot of small scopes and none matched the views I had with this.

Just a little review of an inexpensive scope by a proper manufacturer of entry level and higher end scopes.

Regards Gary

[nightfisher]

nice little write up, just goes to show a small scope can work well

[stafford_stargazer]

Thanks nightfisher, yeah not expensive but surprised me to be honest.

[xtreemchaos]

that was a bargin mate you have had ,its payed you back allready .thanks for sharing..charl..

[happy-kat]

Great post, illustrates what can be seen with little investment enough to get you hooked.

[stafford_stargazer]

Exactly my thoughts, that's all it took for me many years ago! Onwards and upwards from there, but my first views are my most memorable..