Wow! I recently made a wooden one for my Helios Quantum 7.4 45deg, you yours is a thing of beauty! Welldone.

I too hightly recommend others use a paraellogram with gaint bins. When i first got my Helios i really enjoyed them. But even with their 45deg eyepieces i got serious neck strain after 2mins of observing! And the woodenntripod they come with is totally terrible for astro use.

I was gonna sell the quantums because they were simply a pain in the neck! But now i have the paraellogram, i am loving them and using them everyday theres a clear sky. Its just so relaxing on a recliner with the eyepieces just floating into any angle you wish!

Off topic, the eyepieces that come with the H7.4 are good for dayime but any bright stars just off the centre of the FOV turn into double stars! The coma is terrible. I highly recommend hyperions, much better sharpness across the FOV.

What eyepieced are you using and how is the FOV sharpness?

Parallellogram mounts rule! That one really looks the business. I made a wooden one for my 15x70s. Much more comfortable than the photo tripod. An observing chair with adjustable seat can solve the EP height problem behind regular scopes, however.

It sounds like we are all singing from the same hymn sheet - and thank you for your kind comments.

To answer your question, Pingster: I bought two second hand 19mm TV Panoptics. They are lovely and sharp, no sign of coma at all. I also have a pair of 20mm WO wide angle EPs that came with a WO binoviewer. There actually is not much performance difference between them unless one is very fussy (which I have slowly become). The WO eps are very much the better value for money and the panoptics have that small but measureable increase in quality.

Michael: your point about the chair is entirely valid. I do find, however, a distinct pleasure in making the eps came to meet me rather than having to go down to meet the eyepiece. Almost like a roll reversal kind of thing!

With reference to the Hyperions, I find that I cant get my nose between the 2" barrels hence I have had to go down the 1.25" route. I guess I have smaller inter-pupillary distance (and a big nose!).

Clear skies and happy p'gram observing.

Mark