John

How does the shaft fit with the extra saddle installed - does it screw into the saddle ?

Cherry pick the best ones and the ones that you will use. That goes for any range IMHO. Getting fixated on owning whole ranges is a bit of a mugs game, having been there and done that

It is a pretty difficult and tight double star to split. The component stars are uneven brightness which makes the already challenging 1.4 arc second split even harder to discern. It should be doable in your scope provided that the collimation is good, the scope is cooled and that the seeing is steady. Epsilon Lyrae is much easier. You could try Delta Cygni and Pi Aquilae to hone your skills - they are more challenging than Epsilon Lyrae but not quite as challenging as Zeta Herculis. Once you have cracked all those try Lambda Cygni - that's a 1 arc second split currently ! I have to say that I find refractors make splitting these challenging doubles stars easier because of the "clean" star images they present. Newtonians can do it though, you just need to look past the scatter from the secondary and it's supports.

I have flagged this up for FLO's attention. Stocks of equipment are under pressure currently because of the worldwide pandemic of course so while FLO will do their best I'm sure, the remedy might not be as quick coming as usual.

This worked OK: This was pushing the pillar too far: 2 inch steel tube tripod in both cases.

I try and do without pillars wherever possible for this reason. I have the 8 inch for the EQ6 but I've yet to use it. The AZ100 is already a reasonably tall mount. The Bray Tablet was very squat as is the APM Maxload. Very different approaches to the AZ100 though:

Hardwood tripods dampen any vibrations that do occur very well - that's the joy of them (as well as their looks) and also why ash wood is used for hammer and pick axe handles I'm still tempted to get my T-Rex onto a Berlebach just for the way the setup looks, as much as anything else

Ben, you make a very good point there A couple of years back I discussed comparions between the 8mm BST Starguider with my 8mm Ethos and basically was told that it was an unfair comparison - £50 vs £500+ Actually, the BST did rather well albeit over a somewhat smaller AFoV Mind you, when you do a "group test" you can only use the eyepieces you have available. I was very lucky that FLO would lend me stuff for my reviews All credit to Steve for compiling and posting this report

I find the 10mm through to 3.5mm excellent even with some optical design differences. I've avoided the 14mm and 20mm because of their field curvature which is quite different to the shorter focal lengths and does not suit certain scope designs that well:

At least you saw something of the Veil so you know where to find it now. The transparency here last night was poor so I didn't bother with faint fuzzies and stuck to double stars.

I have a Uni 28 and an EQ6 2 inch steel tube tripod. They seem to be about as stable as each other but the Uni 28 goes a lot taller. The EQ6 is still a good height but you need the legs fully extended with a long refractor on board. The Uni 28 legs don't need to be anywhere near fully extended to get the mount to a decent height. The only reason you might want to use a pillar extension with the Uni 28 is to ensure that a long scope clears the tripod legs all the time, not for additional height. I have the 8 inch pillar extension with the EQ6 tripod but I don't find that I really need it. An EQ6 tripod plus the 8 inch pillar might be a lower cost alternative to a BB Uni / Planet for the AZ100. It does not have the looks but it is a stable tripod. My T-Rex mount is similar in bulk and weight to the AZ100 but does not use counterweights.

Glad thats sorted for you at last. The one you now have is how they have looked from Skywatcher for years - the original one looked different.

That would mean moving to 2 inch eyepieces of course. Not sure that @cutepetgroomer wants to go there yet ?

You have got to really push the equipment on really challenging targets as well as easy ones, under a variety of conditions, over a number of sessions, to draw consistent conclusions. Or at least that's what I found. See what you think of them by the Autumn

I own an XW 7mm. I've not noticed this effect. They all have slightly different optical designs though so I guess it's quite possible that some FL's will suit an individual better than others ?

Great stuff Steve You just need to repeat the comparison under nice dark skies now before drawing conclusions

I found the seeing "variable and hazy" tonight. I gave up trying anything too hard ! Another night and you will get it, I'm sure. Good move for being flexible and finding something that could be viewed reasonably well

Probably the tightest that I've split with any confidence, so far Once you get to an arc second or so the atmospheric conditions become hugely influential I think.

On the CN forum some folks suggest that the BB Planet is highly desirable with the AZ100 if you are using push to, to maintain accuracy. I didn't use that facility with the early versions that I had so I don't know if there is something in that or not. I think @Stu uses a Planet.

And here.

Sorry for that misunderstanding Chris and good for you for making that commitment

I think they are only used with eyepieces that would be bulky and heavy anyway due to the glass element numbers and sizes. I don't think the use of the hybrid barrel itself dictates the eyepiece size and weight. Personally I would prefer that such eyepieces go for a 2 inch barrel and be done with it. I use 2 inch barrel extensions with my Ethos eyepieces that have the hybrid barrel. I can use 2 inch filters with them then as well

I've just measured my Ethos 13mm. It would need a 45mm clearance to fully insert the 2 inch and 1.25" barrel sections without contacting anything below. More if you had a 1.25" filter fitted of course. I think the Baader 2 inch - T2 adapter has a depth of around 30mm so, yes, a T2 spacer would be needed. Baader do those in a number of lengths I believe.

It might have a finder that can be pointed in the same direction as the scope too !

The 130P mirror will be of the same quality as the 150P. It is the same mirror set that the Heritage 130P uses in fact.