Shimrod

Both scopes come with a Vixen style dovetail so should fit your mount assuming it has not got a modified saddle. Losmandy dovetails are wider than vixen style dovetails.

They were having a break - it's back in April

Hiscox insurance is another company worth looking at - they specialise in high value insurance and cover unspecified items up to a single item value of £15,000. I have never used them - they wouldn't quote me last time I checked because I had made a claim in the previous year. I'd expect them to be expensive. Edit: For interest I have just done a quote for Hiscox unlimited cover - for some reason the contents cover is a 'reasonable' £250 a year, but the building cover is £900 a year for a standard 4 bed house.

Here is my schedule - unspecified items is a separate (and optional extra cover) to the standard contents cover, and the section quoted above for cover is for unspecified items. But as I said, always worth speaking to the insurer to confirm.

I had a week in Skye last September/October, and had only two clear nights out of seven. The house we stayed in was by the coast near Husabost (and Bortle 1 skies according the light pollution map) but it was seriously cold with the windchill! I think it is best to go as a holiday and take any clear skies you can as a bonus - being in the west it does get a lot more cloud that that the eastern side of the UK.

I think I put this in the other thread, but worth a repeat here - this is from the UIA insurance policy I have which would cover you requirements - although worth checking directly in case the policy has changed since I took mine out. I have included the definitions of Premise, Home and Buildings which would clearly cover items stored in a observatory, garage or shed. The section C extract indicates you are covered for unspecified items within the premises, and also away from the premises unless the items are stored insecurely. Sadly this can be an expensive hobby, and that includes insuring your equipment! Premises The buildings and boundaries of the home and the land, fences, walls, gates, paths, drives and terraces as shown in the schedule. Home The private dwelling you live in shown in the schedule as the Insured Property, together with its garages and outbuildings (forming part of the title deeds) all used solely for domestic purposes, or for working from home in a purely clerical or administrative capacity, with no business visitors and no business stock, money or equipment on the premises. Buildings The structure of the private dwelling and the domestic outbuildings, including aerials, wind turbines, garages, service tanks, tennis courts, swimming pools, permanently plumbed in hot tubs, terraces, patios, drives, footpaths, walls, gates, fences, hedges and fixtures and fittings all contained within the premises and all belonging to you or for which you are legally liable. Section C - unspecified and specified items We will not pay for: Any item being kept or stored away from the premises, unless it is either in your personal custody at the time, or it is in a locked and secure cabinet, locker or cupboard

Liverpool Astronomy Society has (or had) an observatory at Pex Hill, which is just south of the M62 at J7. It's a long time since I've been (or been a member of the astro society), but might be worth checking that area out. The Society membership is really cheap, so might be worth the cost to get access to the observatory site if it still exists.

I have my answer - the Sigma 18-35 EF-S lens does not have the Canon EF-S extension on the back of the lens so should be fine with a clip in filter.

That's not too far, just up the M57 then 10 minutes to get to other side of Ormskirk. One place I have looked at in daytime, but not at night is this Burscough You can get a little off the main road but don't know what the nighttime lights would be like.

I know the EOS clip-in filters are not compatible with Canon EF-S lenses, but does this hold true for non-Canon lenses as well. I know some of the Sigma lenses do not adhere fully to the EF-S specification and could be used on EF mount cameras (albeit with heavy cropping required). I have a Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 that I'd like to use for widefield, but shooting from my garden without a filter will not be very productive.

Have you looked at the area just north of Ormskirk - around Martin Mere and Holmeswood? That's probably the closest reasonable sky you are going to get - probably about 30mins to get to depending on which side of St Helens you are on. I don't have any particular suggestions - I have looked around the area a few times (and the skies are much better than where I am), but not actually found a 'safe' location for observing yet.

I have recently asked some questions about the AZ GTI and EQ setup in the mounts section. One of the questions was about polar alignment aids, and so you may find some ideas in this thread

I came across the post again today while looking for counterweight options - it was the clutch that failed with a Mak 127 in EQ mode.

Includes taxes and duties. Includes delivery as well even without prime. You can pay for faster delivery, but that's another £15 - I'm happy to wait 10 days, and having Prime doesn't get it here any quicker.

The Williams Optics wedge comes in a low and high latitude version, but even the high latitude only goes to 60 degrees. I couldn't find any references to people successfully using it at higher latitudes so I've gone for the safer (and lighter) option. I couldn't find the Skywatcher wedge available standalone (except for overpriced items on ebay and one shop), although a number of places did have the full star adventurer package in stock. The wedge was £60 delivered ordered through amazon.co.uk although it is sold by Amazon US and has a delivery time of around 10 days.

Try UIA. My insurance is high, but unspecified items can only be a certain percentage of overall house insurance. However specialist insurance is not necessarily cheaper. I made a claim for a camera that was destroyed by sea water while abroad. To cover myself for another holiday later in the year I had to take out specialist camera insurance - that cost nearly half the household insurance cost for seven specified items (listed, including serial numbers). You could also see what happens to your insurance if you list your telescope kit as specific insured items - although generally that only applies to items over £1000.

You need to look at the definition of 'the property'. My insurance covers items in my garden. But I also have unspecified items cover - originally to cover 'his and hers' photography equipment to cover items when taken away (either UK or abroad). I have increased this to cover my telescope kit as well. The insurer is UIA although the unspecified cover is expensive, and only allows one overseas claim per year. Insurance is around £550 per year but that is a higher than standard contents cover. There is a discussion from last year here which includes some examples of cover and definitions.

So I've ordered the mount - I went for the full package with extension pier and tripod from FLO so I can leave everything set up at home . I'll tripod share when I'm traveling abroad. I was going to buy the Williams Optics wedge but it doesn't seem to be suitable for Iceland (which is 63+ degrees north), so I have ordered the Skywatcher wedge from Amazon US which should be with me in about 10 days. Just need to sort out something for the counterweight now.

Thanks, I thought I had checked widescreen centre - a quick rumage through the in-stock wedge options and I'll order. I won't shop at Rother Valley as I found them quite rude and unhelpful when I was getting back into this hobby a couple of years ago. I know other people have had good experiences with them but it was a very poor first impression.

Now I have a quandry - I thought the AZ GTI was in stock at FLO - and it is, but only has a tripod, pier and mount package. I really only want to buy the mount. Do I spend the extra now or wait...it would still be within budget, but the extra cost is a 'wedge' of cash.

I was thinking 80ed in Alt-Az for visual, and with the DSLR or ASI533 attached to a Canon lens. I already have the appropriate adapters to use the ASI533 with my lenses. I had read somewhere (on here I think) that someone damaged the gearing on the AZ GTI using it in EQ mode at the maximum 5Kg payload - which the 80ed would be very close to reaching.

Those modifications look a bit brutal to me, and I'd be reluctant to do any on mount while it is under warranty. I noticed Altair Astro have a bracket for mounting the ipolar on a scope ring or dovetail, but they only sell it packaged with the ipolar itself. I think a bit more research is called for!

I would like this to be a small, quick carry out set - for the garden, but we also for weekends away when we can travel again and taking a larger set up is not practical. I'd like to keep this as light and simple as possible - I have a tablet laptop I could use if I can fit the ipolar to the mount, but for my ASI533 was going to try out the ZWO android app for 'standalone' imaging - otherwise restrict myself to my DSLR. In terms of location, outside my home location I would be taking it up near Aberdeen (family) and ideally to Iceland (annual aurora hunting).

Thanks, some useful information there. I have an ipolar so was wondering whether I could get that to fit in someway. I'm avoiding an ASIAIR at the moment because I have an electronic focuser on my AVX which the ASIAIR won't control and I don't want to change it - I also have a standalone guider so the ASIAIR would mean more spend to replace existing accessories. I've also just been looking at the Ioptron Smartstar Cube which has similar specifications, but with GPS. The AZ GTI does have the advantage of being in stock at the moment, and seems to be much more widely used.

I want to get a smaller, portable imaging set up for travel, and to take advantage of those short breaks in the cloud when it might not be practical to get my AVX out. The idea is to have everything set up so I can just carry out the tripod/mount with one hand, and the camera with the other. I have been looking at the Skyguider/Skytracker options, but neither has any goto facility which I really need in my light polluted skies. The AZ GTI doesn't seem to be much bigger and will also work with a wedge. Using the AZ GTI without the wedge looks like I might be able to get away with my 80ed as a visual setup if I restrict myself to 1.25" diagonal and eyepieces. Using the wedge would support imaging with either my DSLR or ASI533 with Canon lens - and probable excuse to buy another, smaller widefield telescope in the future. I'd appreciate any comments on which wedge might be best to use and any other portable mount options I should consider. Budget is around £400 for mount and wedge - I already have a suitable tripod. thanks