Shimrod

That's a very neat solution - can you share where you got the case from? I keep my filters in their individual holders, but it can be difficult to see which filter is which as the cases all look the same.

It will most probably be a British astronomer with too much time on their hands and desperate for some clear sky.

My eyepieces have been despatched and should be arriving Saturday. I've also received a £10 off £50+ spend on Svbony from Retevis which I may use towards another eyepiece!

Possibly just a difference between worldwide and EU coding - there's only one type of each eyepiece shown on the Svbony website which has the 'W' coding.

I've also bought from Retevis on Amazon previously without issue - when I looked at the first listing on Ebay it was a different seller - but Retevis have three separate seller Ids for the different types of goods they sell - with a little cross over amongst some of the ranges. The one I ssaw was from retekess_eu which is mostly selling walkie talkies and a bit of Svbony kit.

Thanks for posting this - I have ordered the set of two - don't think I need both, but it gives me the chance to compare at a silly price. Each eyepiece is still selling higher individually than this on Amazon from the same seller (Retevis). I was a bit sceptical of the Ebay listing (too good to be true!) but it is possibly shipping direct from Germany rather than from in the UK. Worst case scenario is reclaiming the money via Ebay & Paypal if nothing turns up. I already have the 3-8mm zoom so this gives me a handy 2 eyepiece set to for my travel kit.

What is your issue with the slew speeds? I have both a Skywatcher AZ-GTI and a Celestron AVX - slew speeds are similar and I've not felt the need to use freedom find on the AZ-GTI. While at the fastest speeds both are noisy, it does only take 30 seconds or so for the telescope to move position even if it is a significant distance. That doesn't seem overly onerous. On the Celestron you can set the maximum slew speed to a lower limit to reduce noise - have you perhaps done that?

I think I may have used a hair dryer on the scope to fit the adapter. I remember getting very hot fingers but can't remember whether that was fitting the new adapter or trying to remove the original focuser (before drilling out the screws)

You may be charged a currency conversion fee depending on credit card. If you spend overseas it's worth getting a credit card with no currency loading fee. Travel credit cards at MoneySavingExpert.com is a useful starting point for a list of cards which are suitable.

I fitted a Steeltrack to my 80ed a couple of years ago and remember it being problematic. I had to drill out two of the screws holding the Skywatcher focuser in place, and then the Steeltrack adapter ring was a tight fit. I have been very pleased with the focuser since it was fitted - a definite step up from the standard focuser. If you haven't thought about it, check how much you can sell the stock focuser for - my sold for around £85 which was a welcome discount on the Steektrack purchase price!

There hasn't been a firmware update for the Star Discovery in nearly a year, so I would be surprised if it is out of date. In any case, I would recommend not trying a firmware update until you are happy that the mount works and only then perform the update if needed to fix a specific issue you are having. If you want to check your mount when it arrives, the current firmware version 3.40

Could either of you share a link for these? I also seem to struggle to find my power cables but have a gazillion USB cables lying around! I think it would be handy to have a couple of these in my cables box for emergencies.

Not sure where best to put this, as it could equally sit in an imaging forum. I came across this (pre-order only) while looking for something else on the Celestron site. It looks very similar to the Staraid autoguider, offering: Starsense alignment Polar alignment Auto guiding All without the need of a computer. This would replace my current autoguider, iPolar and Starsense camera - and I do like the idea of just having to run CPWI and image capture on my laptop. Downsides are it is Celestron compatible only - I also have an AZ-GTI and have been thinking about replacing my AVX with a strain wave drive mount. Looks like it will be around £800 (again Staraid prices) based on the US$799. I think I'll wait for the early adopter feedback before deciding whether or not to buy one. Celestron Starsense autoguider

I have sent you a copy of CFM with packages from November 2020 on PM. The AVX firmware has not been updated since 2018, so although this package includes the AVX firmware, are you really looking to update the firmware in the handset?

I switched to a digital SLR in 2006 after I came back from a holiday and realised that the cost of film plus development was around the same price as a Canon EOS 450. I don't miss carrying 30+ films in a little lead pouch either so they didn't get damaged by x-ray machines at airports! I made some attempts at astrophotography with my film camera but soon gave up as it was an expensive and frustrating exercise - no idea what if anything you had captured and spending £8 (film and development) to find out it was nothing! Of course, some of the ISO1600 film was also so grainy as to be almost unusable.

Assuming you have a Celestron mount, then the device you want to get is Starsense. It doesn't remove the need to perform telescope alignment, but it automates the process for you. Starsense

At the other end of the scale have you seen how much a National Geographic branded cruise costs? National Geographic cruises Maybe the cheap telescopes are all customers can afford after one of these trips!

How about one of these, recommended by @JOC in another thread? Around the same price as the smaller Celestron Powertank but with the capacity of the larger one! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385390539382?hash=item59bb10f276:g:TGQAAOSwL0tiUVgv&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8IDUsQUvx7SSsKHP2yr3Mxvc%2B2F1aIjrsLjuFscOr9uWqGBjxruvv0YT0Urd4sw4n6EskMho7%2FPx%2BipwgBVq%2BXkCGqI34rZM2w2czLawbKEFZOLendGxpvoG5gb0yOX8xGc%2BMBtQpMeUCU0qaBXTgIkx2WTk87Z%2FZcyFrykgcBU2lCwoWTEF1Hu2VLLzQz3%2Fbir1FhOf9yj%2Fc%2B2rVLU8izOGNfbjjz7F8%2FNAEHJbI9vycW25wLjuhOnZRboVjhZoNGvq5ZV9HowbOMapU1VNmxhZRzqL2WYr2TzhhNC7qhyK3IRm91dS51RAkjQZQKiHwg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBMtPDY8ohi

Glad to hear you got it sorted!

You may need the Ascom driver from the link provided by @wookie1965 which can be found directly here: https://skywatcher.com/download/software/ascom-driver/ It would be useful if you could describe the issue you are having - in what way the software/mount combination is not working. The name of the planetarium software might also be relevant to solving the issue.

I am all out of suggestions beyond the usual last resort - try a factory reset on the handset and see if that clears out any odd settings. It may be worth a call with FLO or raising a support ticket with Celestron.

Have you checked the handset to ensure the GPS module is set as the source? And how long are you waiting before checking date/time? The menu options for the handset are shown below - it should be the Mode option you need to change.if not set correctly.

Which GPS module do you have? I did not think the Celestron GPS module was compatible with the sky watcher mount. On Celestron mounts there have been some reported issues between starsense and the skysync GPS module. They are often resolved by plugging starsense into the handset port and the handset into the aux port. You also have to allow for a longer start up time as you need to wait for the gos module to get a lock on enough satellites. Final thing to check is whether the GPS module needs to be set as the source for date/time/location in the handset.

It's quite a step from retailer to insurance broker - they'd have to be regulated by the FCA which brings all sorts of additional administration to the business.

It's not uncommon for astronomy societies to have a mix of talks as they have to cater for people of all levels. IT might be worth keeping an eye on their upcoming meetings to see if there is something more suitable for a beginner.