Rob

Quite a number of good points mentioned here. I would also make sure that you could pick 2 x mid range eyepieces within your budget. Now I'm not suggesting big money. But I started out with a 114 (4.5inch Reflector on an un-driven/non goto mount) I had a ball with scope over the following few years learning so much about the sky, star hopping & also about the scope, mount setup. I soon realised after taking advise that if I could upgrade the bundled eyepieces, what an improvement it would be. Wow so not wrong I recall moving on to a higher grade plossl and the scope seemed to come alive yet again!. So I would make sure you leave a a little in reserve for lets say a couple of BST EP's. A solid step up from the bundled. Now i know you may say what size EP's, that's one for when you chose your scope - type & focal length. Good Luck!. Welcome & enjoy the Hobby Rob

Nice Stu. Also great when you have earth shine. We had horrid cloudy / mist skies here last.. great conditions for a spooky Halloween, terrible for Astro! Rob

Wow!.. very nice. Enjoy. Rob

@OuroborosSo I have an image of the scope ready for action at 8.30am Tuesday morning, followed by a shot at 7.09am Wednesday morning after bringing the scope back in... an Observing session that's etched in the memory now

Oh no!.. sorry cats out the bag now!. Such a really great place mind. The skies last week just blew me away, and lucked out for a change!. You are so lucky!. Yes indeed, Friday night was rough.. and we traveled back on Saturday morning (A39 to A303) through really flooded roads. Rob

So I've just returned from a week away in Morwenstow North Cornwall. We stayed in a converted barn with all the mod cons, set in a old beamed built building plus a rather nice log burner and no broadband . It was fairly remote ith high elevation, no broadband and all water from a borehole pumped from underground! And most importantly absolutely no lights to be seen for miles in all directions!. I had observing sessions on both Tuesday night, and then after grabbing 4 hours sleep. Wednesday morning. And then to my delight a short (but sweet) session on Thursday night. The skies were a flood of Stars, it had been a while since being under such a site. The double cluster (in good detail) was visual by eye, and the milky way was so bright right across the sky. I took the Revelation ED80 and the motor driven EQ5, sure a simple setup.. but boy it delivered!. To be honest I was so flooded for choice of targets. I just ended up star hopping from one side of the sky to the other pulling in the all the photons I could. The seeing was very good, and everything just sparkled everywhere. Sure being out in the middle of the country side made it quite chilly, but that was not stopping me. Night 1 = 4 Hours of east to west targets from horizon to horizon + 4 Meteors Morning 2 = a further 1.5 hours to sunrise to continue the evening before sweep Night 3 = 3 hours of random targets across the whole sky, plus visually gazing at the milky way and soaking it in. Such an amazing 3 sessions. Not only was I recharged from work, but fired up with such excitement once again. Rob

Nice setup all round there John. I know the Baader focusers have a great rep. FLO have replied to me already. I need to measure the diameter on the scope. So that's the next step

I can see there are various connectors there. I'll drop FLO a line to see what can be done. Thanks Rob

Thanks John. I assume the Baader ST focusers flange is equal to the FT one?. I know I would still need the Bresser Adapter, but that's fine. Humm I do like those ST focusers I have to say.

I Appreciate your replies all!. Thanks I will contact Bresser as suggested firstly, may still go down the Moonlight or even the Feather touch upgrade as noted on the Bresser site (also movable to other Bresser & ES ED scopes) Rob

I agree too Rob......... In principle I agree Joe.. and not mad at all!. Now 1 issue.. I cant sell it as it was a gift from what was then my wife to be (now wife ..aka Boss). Shes also asked that I don't sell.. Fortunately I own a good example. Its not that I don't like the Hex focuser in all honesty either. However I bought the 1:10 upgrade and fitted. Its not working correctly, and to add insult I cannot get the thing off!. It just works when it wants to. The grub screws are all jammed, so I cant even take it apart to regrease. Clearly a lemon!. This broken 1:10 is annoying me hugely....

ooohh, that's very pretty. Enjoy!. Rob

Right!.. @DRT of course!.. thanks for locating Rob

I'm sure somewhere on the forum here I've seen a Moonlite focuser fitted to the New Bresser AR127L (hex focuser addition). Does anyone have this setup?. Or could confirm that there is this option without modification?. Thanks Rob

Like you, just so many to choose from!. I have 30 years worth of events/observations out of my 50 years of being on this planet. I'll list but a few though...... Hale-bopp comet (just jaw dropping) : Planet oppositions with high in the sky planets and staggering detail : Solar & lunar eclipses : Jupiter Moon transits : seeing a massive over head fireball with smoke trail : meteor showers : finding galaxy's by star hopping! The list goes on and on!. Been nice just to rethink of some while typing Rob

Nice!.. I'll be interested to see this when completed. Rob

That looks real nice.. even more so with the Steeltrack on there.

Nice report John. That really does look a great piece of kit!.. I'm feeling sure this will do well. Rob

You have some nice kit there. I mirror what john has said here on correct pricing. You must do your research and price to around 60% based on condition. You could use this site also - open a free account, no fees apart from Paypal fees https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/ Best Regards Rob

Agreed John

Agreed image quality. Nice concept idea, just not a polished end product to be fair.

I'm also interested on how this works out!. Mostly from a live view image on screen. Rob

Welcome to the SGL Family Tracy!. It will all seem a little overwhelming with options at first, but don't worry your in the right place. Like the others have asked. Its going to boil down to want you want to see/start with. You don't have to spend big to start the hobby. Enjoy!... Rob

Hoping for clear skies for you all!. I will make it one of these years... Darn work tends to take over being IT Dept of 1 now, plus a 7 day work cycle through 2019!. Have a great time Rob

Re visiting this thread. Its a tricky one, like anything these days technology is push how we do things. That said there are a lot of people that will sill prefer a book to a kindle!. Astronomy is a Hobby but also a Science. Astrophotography is also a Hobby that falls into a few categorys - Astro Hobby & Photography Hobby. There's nothing wrong with this. I feel the one actually assists the other in a lot of cases. Take Astronomy in it professional Scientific capacity.. Visual assisted by numerous types of imaging tech. I don't feel the Visual Astronomer is on the wane. I find there many more at every age getting interested in this hobby, and to see your first Planet or star cluster is always a wow moment!. Personally I've always tried to explain and investigate (where possible) the back ground to what your looking at. I like the Science side. People tend to see the Hubble style images and expect the same at the EP. I always point out the realism of expectation here. I also find I get super excited about some of those small fuzzies because I found something that was challenging. I also like to study my star charts and truly like to go off grid and push the envelope on the scope capability's. Sure I have imaged in lightweight format, and yes it was fun. But my heart is with visual. Rob