John

I can understand why folks new to the hobby want to try and "buy once and buy right" but it's really quite difficult to do this because each individual has differing interests, differing observing circumstances, differing budgets etc, etc. Often I think it is only by actually trying stuff out, sometimes as a reiterative process, that you work your way towards the equipment that is going to tick as many of your boxes as possible for some time to come. A few mistakes or blind alleys along the way is a key part of the process I think, frustrating though they can be at times. Thank goodness for the 2nd hand market !

I probably use my 70mm less often 🙄 Luckily it didn't cost much !

You might want to review your saving regime though 😉 Tele Vue Ethos 100º & 110º Eyepieces | First Light Optics

At least a couple of SGL members have 7 inch plus apo refractors as I recall, @stuy who has a 228mm F/9 and @DirkSteele who has a 180mm F/7. Both are APM / LZOS triplets. There are probably others too 🙂 Roger Vine (Scopeviews) has this 175mm F/8 TMB/LZOS (I think it is his own instrument): TMB APM LZOS 175 Review (scopeviews.co.uk) You don't see much about the larger Astro Physics, TEC or CFF refractors on here, I agree.

Neither of the scopes that I mention were poor in any way. They were very good examples of their type in fact. It was my judgement of my needs and circumstances that was at fault. I have owned a few SCT's and they were good too but I didn't seem to hold onto them for long being drawn to refractors and dobsonians rather more. Those are just my preferences though - yours may well be different.

I got over ambitious when I bought an Istar 6 inch F/12 refractor. By the time I had found a mount and tripod tall enough and strong enough to deal with the really long and heavy tube I had a setup which weighed over 50kg and with no observatory it needed to be assembled and disassembled each time it was used. Not really a practical proposition, unfortunately. I learned a lot from that project though and it was not too expensive so not a disaster by any means. If I go for a 6 inch refractor again I will stick to a focal ratio of around F/8 I think. Another one that did not work out quite as planned was a Meade Lightbridge 12 inch dobsonian. Again it was not expensive particularly but the overall weight of the scope and mount made setup and tear down hard work and once set up the scope could not be moved around the garden easily at all, which is a disadvantage with the obstacles I have around my horizons. Having learned from that experience, my next 12 inch scope was based on an Orion Optics tube assembly and with the custom made plywood base, weighed about 20kg less than the Meade Lightbridge 12 - around the same as a chinese made 10 inch dobsonian, so somewhat more manageable. Having owned dozens of scopes and mounts over the years, having a couple that did not quite work out is not too much hardship I feel and I did learn some lessons from those experiences 🙂

There is a 17.5mm Morph on e.bay currently priced at a touch below 75% of retail.

I missed this thread as well. I'm in a conundrum over this to some extent. I've seen what large reflecting apertures can do in opening up the deep sky and I've really enjoyed being on the receiving end of that but refractors do seem to have a different hold on me and it's difficult at times to work out entirely why It may be because my first astro scope was a refractor, it may be the link with early astronomers, it maybe those grainy black & white pictures of the Victorian astronomers at the bottom end of a long telescope ( complete with top hat or deerstalker sometimes 😁) or it may be because Sir Patrick Moore was reportedly a big fan of refractors. There are definite qualities to the views through a good refractor that have certainly contributed to my fascination with them - the lack of diffracting features in the optical path maybe ? The contrast for the relatively small aperture. The robust and unfussy nature of a well made refractor perhaps ? The consistent performance is a plus - a good refractor often seems to punch above it's aperture. While I struggle to tie down why I feel like I do about the refractor, the evidence of my leanings is hard to refute. I've owned more refractors than reflecting scopes over the 40+ years I've been observing. When I visit forums I'm drawn inexorably to refractor discussion threads or sections. When looking through used astro equipment adverts (an unhealthy obsession I know 🙄) the refractor filter is the one that I use more than any other. Perhaps I've given up trying to rationalise this now and I'm just rolling with it. All my scopes are currently refractors. I'm probably a hopeless case, but it's fun all the same 😁

Let's face it, neither is as cool as this one - British mirror making in the 1960's 😁

This may well have been posted here before but it might be new to some. The sub-titles are in Japanese but most of the movie is self explanatory I think. The glass making segment early on seems to have been filmed in an Ohara optical works. The scope and mount manufacture at Vixen.

I've used a couple of 14 inch SCT's and the views are impressive. One owner had their socks blown off when I put my Ethos 21mm in the scope and showed him Messier 13 with it 😁 I currently have a top class 5.1 inch refractor and that is very impressive as well. Still a massive dob for the "ultimate" for me though. Not practical where I am now but I can use my society 18 inch from time to time so that is something to fall back on (not literally !) 🙂

Lovely looking scope - congratulations Dave 🙂

20 inch plus dob for me as well. Having observed with a couple of 20 inch dobs, the views under the right skies are simply incredible.

Probably a case of the sky transparency being good but the seeing mediocre. Some nights it's the other way around. Very occasionally, both are really great 🙂

There is some interesting information on all this at the Spaceguard website: The Spaceguard Centre | The National Near Earth Objects Information Centre

I didn't use zoom eyepieces for quite a few years but now I find them in my focuser very often even though I have a case full of excellent fixed focal length eyepieces. I think todays zoom eyepieces have reached a level where their optical performance is close enough to fixed focal length units that the facility to almost instantly change the magnification is often enough to pursuade the observer to just "carry on zooming" rather than to change to a fixed focal length in the hope of a very modest enhancement of the view.

If found on public access land I believe they can keep them. Otherwise they belong to the landowner. I hope a sample gets to a recognised meteorite analysis lab quickly so that it can be determined to be of extra-terrestrial origin and the exact meteorite type identified. The recent fall at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire has turned out to be a rare type - a carbonaceous-chondrite: Gloucestershire meteorite is first UK find in 30 years - BBC News

While it is sad to part with a much appreciated piece of equipment it is sometimes the correct decision to make. I parted with my great 12 inch dobsonian last year, that I had owned and used for over a decade. I sometimes miss it but it was the right thing to do. I will probably part with more scopes in due course and it is quite possible that my wonderful 130mm F/9.2 LZOS triplet will be the next to go. As long as they go to an appreciative new home, that can make better use of them, that's all we can ask. I think it is better to make a thoughtful but pro-active decision than to let things languish and gather dust. That is probably sadder still.

My 12 inch Orion Optics based dobsonian gave me the most overall observing pleasure during the decade or so that I owned it. I had more firsts and "wow's" with that scope than any other that I have owned over the 40 or so years that I've been observing.

Each time I pick up and use the Svbony 3-8 zoom I wonder what it's price would have been if it had been produced under, say, Celestron or Meade branding ? 🤔 My guess is that it would be a £200 eyepiece then. Maybe more.

Not yet, but I will once storm "whatever it is" has passed and we get some clear skies again 🙂

Explore Scientific seem to supply eyepieces and diagonals to some of the really large telescopes. They get some good publicity out of it so I would hope that the equipment is provided for nothing or at least heavily discounted. Here at the 40 inch Yerkes refractor for example: Inside the World's Largest Refractor at Yerkes Observatory: Explore Scientific Experiences (youtube.com)

The best low cost eyepieces that I have used were the Baader Classic Ortho 18mm and 10mm. They have the usual ortho traits of eye relief about 80% of the focal length and a 45 degree sharp AFoV (+ 5 degrees which is less sharp) but for sheer optical quality I reckon you would need to pay a heck of a lot more to get anything better. Not for glasses wearers though.

I'm not a binoviewer user but I wonder if they add some light scatter to the view, even the really good ones ? Light scatter is a killer when trying to see the Pup star, whether it's from the atmosphere, central heating plumes, optics or observers eye.

The US company Siebert makes them up to 4.3 inches format, for observatory instruments (the Pentax is a 2 inch for scale):