Shimrod

Some big increases - I bought my EdgeHD 8" and AVX in August 2019. So in just 30 months: EdgeHD and AVX +30% Starsense +50% Skyportal +46% Reducer +14% Celestron Focuser motor + 14% The first three in particular dwarf some of the prices rises in Skywatcher kit seen over the last couple of years (I bought an 80ed in March 2020 and that is only up 20% !)

There is a beta version of updated firmware that addresses this problem available on the TeamCelestron website. This introduced a separate bug (details below) which may not be relevant to you - if you are not attaching any other devices possibly this won't be an issue for you. You would need to join the website to access the beta version as the terms of the website do not allow for sharing of any of the files. Unfortunately this change was from last August, and is the only change made last year - and there has not been a public firmware or software release from Celestron since September 2020. This was originally reported by Derik (the Celestron engineer who seems to run the website) as a staffing issue at Celestron which I guess they are still struggling with.

It's now on the FLO website at £1909 or £1999 depending on whether you go for the bundled tripod. Looks like it needs a computing device (The ASAIR PRO) to provide go-to functionality which would account for some of the difference between this and the RST135. Even at £2000 (non-discounted price) it is out of my price range, but if this does mark the start of lighter weight heavy capacity mounts, something like this could replace my AVX and AZ-GTI in the future. I'm not brave enough to be an early adopter though!

I bought the £15 Astro Essentials dovetail to hold a Canon 300mm F4, ASI533 and lens adaptor - about 2kg in weight. No issues and the dovetail has a 'safety stop' bolt should the dovetail slip in the mount and the right mounting holes to attach to the lens. A quick look on Amazon and you don't seem to be able to buy anything cheaper - even the Svbony 210mm dovetail costs more than the Astro Essentials equivalent. If you are not able to tap extra holes into the dovetail, then probably flexibility of mounting holes in the dovetail is more important that the cost.

That's correct, but it could be set up to auto-renew, in which case the registration will only extend a week or two before it is due to expire.

If he was operating as a sole trader (and it looks like he was) then there will be no entry on companies house - a sole trader only has to register as a business with HMRC. I did check a WHOIS domain history service to see if the domain had ever been registered in the owners name - but it has only ever been registered with Designtec - the people who built the website for him. (The service is https://whois-history.whoisxmlapi.com/ - and you can get a small number of free searches as a trial).

I thought you were going for Wnston Churchill 😀

I think there is a difference between poor and not being able to get focus at all. I doubt Celestron would ship an eyepiece that would not work with the telescope at all unless it is faulty - there is more likely another explanation for the failure to reach focus which buying another 10mm eyepiece would not resolve. Your telescope will have quite a large focus range and although you might not think you have to change it much when switching between eyepieces, it can sometimes require quite a bit of turning of the focus knob! Have you tried using the telescope during the day to test focus? Set it up a pick something in the distance - preferably at least half a mile away, but anything from a couple of hundred metres should be fine. With your 10mm eyepiece in, wind the focus knob all the way through from one end of the focus to the other (this can be as many as 30-40 full turns for the full focus range) checking to see if the eyepiece comes into focus. If this works, put your 40mm eyepiece in and could how many turns (and which direction) it takes to bring that into focus - this will help you when swapping eyepieces in the night. Have you also tried holding the 10mm eyepiece up to the light and checking if you can see clearly through it- it is possible that an internal lens has been put in the wrong way round or there is some residue on the eyepiece. Depending on how you stored the 10mm eyepiece before swapping over, is it also possible that dew has formed on the eyepiece which may also be causing your focus problems?

My laptop (low power HP Spectre X2) battery life drops from 9 hours to about 3 hours or less as the weather gets colder so definitely worth bearing in mind. My laptop charges via USB-C so I use a cheap £30 powerbank to extend the battery life of the laptop - everything else is powered by a Celestron Powertank Pro, which provides enough power for 3-4 hours (my 'night') with plenty left in reserve.

In the case of these articles, the websites are all owned by Future Publishing. This is a company that started off in the 80's publishing computer magazines, but now has a portfolio of nearly 200 brands. Some of these are magazines, others are digital only content. I suspect more effort goes into the search engine optimisation (SEO) than has gone into an article such as this - it is designed to drive traffic to the website - page hits means advertising revenue and possibly some affiliate commission through click-throughs on the products listed in the article. The biggest problem with any 'best of' list covering something like astronomy is that 'best' depends on so much more that just the telescope - individual circumstances and whether you want to image or observe. My litmus test for a website of this type is whether each product mentioned has a link to a full product review on the same website - an indication that the product has really been assessed and reviewed - in most cases this is not the case. Strangely though if you search the website, you can find more balanced reviews for the scopes in the list. I do have some sympathy for magazine publishing houses as people still want to see articles, reviews and news but there is a cost to providing that - so affiliate links and 'best of' lists to attract you to the website are here to stay - but it would not take have taken much effort to produce an article that had some value.

I've no experience of the ASIAIR products as other than mounts, the ASIAIR devices do not support my non-ZWO products (focuser). You may find this thread useful which includes some detailed iinformation from early users and links to some youtube video guides.

If you like the idea of a telescope where you still have to do some of the work, then you could look at 'push-to' telescopes as well. Orion Telescopes have the intelliscope system that might be what you are looking for. FirstLightOptics also sell add-on push-to kits for various Dobsonians, but they are relatively expensive (around £259) so are probably better suited to larger Dobsonians. Of course, that does give you the option of getting a larger Dobsonian without push-to (assuming no space or size restrictions) and then upgrading at a later date when budget allows. You may find that you enjoy learning the night-sky and the push-to kit becomes unnecessary. I should add that I use go-to myself, as I would struggle to find any objects in the nightsky with the level of light pollution where I live and for me that is the big advantage of push-to/go to systems.

Hardly surprising the article appears in multiple places, if you look the websites are all owned and run by Future. You will find a lot of content the same across these and other sites also owned by Future - as someone else has mentioned, articles such as this are all about driving traffic through affiliate links, so Future wants them to appear in as many places as possible. The wording of the articles and titles are optimised to appear near the top of typical search requests for telescopes, accuracy and detail of the content only needs to be enough for that occasional customer click through!

Thanks for the comprehensive write-up. I have looked at the Staraid a few times and it looks like a useful device - its a little expensive to buy as an addition to what I already have, but it only rolls into one three devices I have already bought to do the same functions (Starsense, iPolar and guide camera). I do like the idea of having something that can do polar alignment, guiding and plate-solving without the need for a laptop. Anything to get set up quicker is a real bonus for me. Do you use the sky recognition function and how do you find it? Does it just give region of the sky you are pointing at, or can you ask it to centre the mount on an object?

I don't know about the smaller Celestron powerpack, but I have the Powerpack Pro, and the AZ GTI on its own does not draw enough power to stop the auto-cutoff in the battery switching off the power. My simple solution for this will be to add a dew band once the right size comes back into stock to up the power consumption. This is only a problem when using it for visual, cameras etc will generate a high enough power consumption to keep the battery active.

If there are no external clutches, then apart from ensuring the mount is firmly secured to the tripod I cannot think of any cause other than a fault in the mount. Perhaps someone on here with experience of the mount will be able to suggest something else.

Can you hear any motors whirring when you try to move it the left or right? I don't know if the mount has clutches but it may be worth checking, and if so tightening them up (a loose clutch allows you to move the telescope without engaging the motors).

I use a Macallister case I bought from B&Q to hold my ZS61 and AZ-GTI mount. I don't think it would accommodate the EAF but would possibly take everything else assembled. If that doesn't work, you can get larger tool cases with foam that should do the trick - but they come at a higher price - here's an example on Amazon

Looking at the listings, I expect the Apertura and zhumell will actually be the same scope - with possibly just a different set of accessories. You might get a better response on this if you continue your thread in 'getting started' - Bresser vs GSO Depending on how quickly you want to get a scope, you might want to look particularly at those that are in stock - the Telescopesplus link does not seem to have any telescopes available to buy. There is a list of in stock telescopes at firstlightoptics which includes the 8" Skywatcher dobsonian

I've tried using my Skywatcher 80ed as a spotter and it really a bit too long when rotating around the axis - I've also used my ZS61 which is easier to use. It's ok for occasional use, but at some point I will buy a dedicated spotting scope instead. Weather sealing and a bit more rugged protection are attractive. There are a number of spotting scopes that take standard 1.25" eyepieces (and some that are completely modular), so it is possible to get flexibility. Some examples are: Celestron Regal M2 80ED (£650 ) Pentax PF80 EDA (approx £800, plus eyepiece) SVbony SV406P ED (approx £310) The last one looks very similar to the Celestron Regal, except the dual focus is on top of the scope instead of the right hand side (which is much better if you are left-handed!)

As an update on this, FLO are going to have a look at the camera for me (and even gave me a postage paid returns label). Good Service!

That's a nice compact package - I bought the Skywatcher wedge over the better reviewed Williams Optics one because I want to be able to take the mount to Iceland. For any trips like that, the case and OTA will stay behind and I will pack the mount/wedge into my camera bag. The case is too heavy to with by plane and I would have to leave my camera behind.

The guidecam is an ASI120mm and the main camera is an ASI533. I've had the mount since May and the full set up since September, and this is about as much action as it has seen! I had a week in Skye and managed to get a bit of visual observing in between clouds on a couple of nights, but the weather so far this year has been awful.

Thought I would add an image of my AZ GTI - I bought it as a compact travel solution for UK holidays as taking my AVX on a previous trip had proved a challenge. The case is a MacAllistair case (£41 with foam insert from B&Q) - everything else except the counterweight from FLO! The OTA is a Williams Optics ZS61

It looks like I won't be testing this - my iPolar camera does not seem to be working anymore. It shows as a device in windows and the software appears to connect, but then I get a 'failed to connect message'. Testing in the windows camera app, it seems the problem occurs when trying to read an image from the sensor. edit: I've just checked and it is four days outside the warranty period!