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Just to qualify my statement, I’ll try and get round to observing some targets with the 5” that, from memory, really impressed me in the 8”. Blue snowball nebula M5 M51 Sombrero Galaxy (M104) Hopefully in less moon affected skies than last night. Although I was quite chuffed making out two very faint smears of m65 and m66 in the 5”. I’ve struggled to see those with the 8” in bright moonlit skies.

Not sure if these are what you mean 😂 I have no clue about telescopes

So it’s 106cm length and the end is 23cm

@bosun21 I know it’s not on your list but for almost the same price as the Askar you could get a 4” Takahashi….. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-fc-100-series-refractor-telescopes/takahashi-fc-100dc-f7-4-doublet-fluorite-apo-refractor.html

This might be smaller than you want, but I've been using a 50mm RACI finder with a helical focuser for a super lightweight grab-n-go. This particular one accepts 1.25-in EPs and almost fits in my jacket pocket. I might upgrade to a 60mm StellarVue RACI to get a little more aperture, but the little 50 has done pretty well under dark skies. Good luck!

It'd be interesting to know it's power draw. Sometimes an air powering everything is too much for the little box.

3d printer helping out with my tidiness / cable management

You do have to stick to it. Half the time I'm experimenting with different equipment, did so last night and did 3 hours via a newly acquired camera body. It works but it's noisy, and too short of a lens used, so the data will generally be unusable mainly due to the FL. Onto the next experiment!

Interesting, wonder what the price range will be on the Asiair 2600 duo air🤔

Yep. Thats where I am on this I think 👍

Alas, it's not a Snorkel:

Gorgeous!

I downloaded Astroshader today to try on my iPhone SE Gen 3. Curious to see what it can do with my scopes tracking on an Az-GTi. Of course, it's raining now...

Probably nothing but I prefer refractor views for most targets. DSOs and planetary nebulae are what I find the big newts excel on.

Grant, Gary, and I are promoting our Remote Observatory project at NEAIC & NEAF this year. Lots of new toys are on show at exhibitor stalls, so I've taken some photos. They are only mobile phone pix, so apologies for the low quality. We are here for the week, attending both events, so I'll post more if I have an opportunity. Steve

Height might depend on comfort, some like to stand ideal for straight thru viewing . Others will like to be seated esp if using mirrors/prisms and at the eyepiece for some time, there is no one answer.

That's definitely more than "one drop". Very nice image.

@AstralFields Good to know that it all works. For a hand controller as long as you have some bits of wire you don’t even need to spend any money. Some people have separated the motor from the box (with circuit board & switches), joining the two with long wires. You can see the two separated in the Teleskop version - the motor at one end and the box with the electronics and switches at the other. I thought of having a hand controller, but personally I haven’t found it to be a problem. I have a little volt meter across the motor terminals on my version. All I do is make sure it’s set to the correct number (for me 2.35 - 2.37 volts) at the beginning when I have to bend down anyway and keep it there. I rarely need to fiddle with it and often don’t touch the potentiometer for several sessions in a row. Although the good thing about making your own is that you can personalise things to your taste/requirements!