John

It can make a huge difference visually (I am visual only) so I guess it could also make a major difference in imaging. My best views of Saturn and Jupiter were many years back when they were really high in the sky. I've had some nice views occasionally recently but nothing to rival those views, despite my equipment and experience having moved forward someway in the meantime.

I can see the sense in that. Taks are packaged better than most other scopes though. My FC100-DL (purchased from Ian King) came triple boxed with expanded polystyrene struts supporting and separating each layer. Very impressive.

I have an Altair 70mm ED travel scope - I think it was the model before the one advertised on here ? Nice little scope. I use it on a Slik photo tripod and a TS alt-az mount for a very "grab and go" outfit weighing less than 10 lbs all up. A one handed carry outside. It shows a little CA on the brightest targets but the objective is well corrected so it gets very close to the limits for the aperture in performance. To some extent that scope has helped me over a period of reduced enthusiasm for astronomy as well 🙂

Good advice above to keep dew off the mirrors. Keep your eyepieces a little warmer than the outside temp and they will stay dew free and not mist up from body heat on colder nights. I keep mine in foam lined cases. The foam seems to retain a little heat for some time.

Also known as undercuts. It ought to be mentioned that are not universally popular 😉

That is the impression that I have gained regarding the TLP's. I did buy and try a 4mm TOE and compared that with my Pentax XW, Nagler zoom and Astro Hutech HD orthos but, while there were small differences in their characteristics, I didn't find that the TOE was consistently better than the others. The more I've compared high power eyepieces, the more I find myself agreeing with Roger Vine's conclusions on them: Eyepieces for Planets (scopeviews.co.uk) Find some that you like and stick with them. Observe as much as possible to develop your skills and catch the good seeing nights. Enjoy 🙂

I'm sure this will help the original poster no end with their issues 😁

I might make an exception with FLO because of their service record 🙂 More generally though, I know what I am doing with doublets but triplets are, to me, somewhat more challenging and, if the collimation gets a knock, diagnosing the issue and then sorting things out can be a much more complex affair. With the best will in the world, one can't know how a package is treated when it gets into the hands of a courier. It seems to me a risk to have a triplet checked and tested at before the start of it's journey, then subject it to the uncertainties of a courier. I'm probably over cautious on this though. I have only owned one triplet and I was able to collect that and bring it home myself from a seller whom I knew and trusted.

The original poster has one of these: The principles are the same as with a smaller scope but it's getting the mirrors safely in and out of the cells, especially the primary, is likely to be more challenging with the 16 inch Explore Scientific than with the 200P dob I think. When I had a 12 inch Meade the primary was held in place with a number of sticky pads on the rear as well as the mirror clips. Each pad had to be loosened and then cut away. A tricky task. The reason that I'm wary of being able to help, apart from lacking the time, is that I don't know the ES design so my advice based on Skywatcher, Meade and more lately Orion Optics dobs might mislead rather than help. I think the original posters best bet is to ask around forums (especially CN because there are more of these in the USA I think) to find someone who has actually removed and cleaned mirrors from an ES dob, preferably the 16 inch version, and find out from them about the process and any little quirks / issues that might be encountered and any tips to make the task easier. I did the same with the Meade 12 inch and so at least I knew that there would be sticky pads (16 of them !) to deal with and had some tips for how to handle them before starting the task.

I agree with @Franklin - it is an EQ1 class mount.

I misunderstood the 2nd paragraph of your previous post so tried to post some helpful information. Sorry about that.

If you have the 32mm plossl, that will show you the same amount of sky as the 40mm but with a more pleasing, and wider, apparent field. The exit pupil will be smaller as well so you should see a slightly darker background sky which helps pick out deep sky objects.

42-43 degrees at best. As has been said, some are less.

I think the original poster here has more in mind than just the collimation of the scope.

Agreed. A 40mm plossl in the 1.25 inch fitting has a max apparent field of around 43 degrees. Some are less than that.

That is a big exit pupil in the F/5 !

I did not think too highly of the Aspheric 36 that I had and that was in an F/12 refractor. I could still see some astigmatism towards the field edges.

You only really need 2 inch format eyepieces for longer focal lengths and wide angles of view. 2 inch eyepieces are not inherently any better in performance than 1.25 inch ones, other than being able to offer a wider view because the wider barrel can accommodate a larger field stop diameter.

I am usually the only member of our society that brings a refractor along to outreach events (apart from the solar ones of course). I find that folks are often rather surprised at the quality and contrast of the views that my ED120 puts up even when deep sky objects are the target. I don't envy anyone trying to show folks galaxies at an outreach event though. Apart from M31 and perhaps the M81/82 pairing, even with the larger scopes the reaction is often "well I think I can see something there ????" when showing a galaxy to someone new to scope use.

Often with these small lunar features the illumination needs to be "just right" to catch them clearly. Sometimes these windows of effective illumination only last a couple of hours. The rille (some sections especially) that runs down the Vallis Alpes and the smaller Plato craterlets are other examples of such features.

Some Tele Vue refractors use a form of sandpaper painted matt black to line the inside the scope tubes. It seems to work pretty well.

Very fine looking example of a classic 3 inch refractor @Stu 😄

I'm sorry that I was not able to follow though with my offer to help with your issues but, as I explained in our PM exchange on the other forum, having reviewed the issues that concern you, I realised that my lack of knowledge of the approach that Explore Scientific have used in the design of their dobsonians was likely to prove un-helpful to you and possibly even confusing. You may already have seen this thread on this forum from 2014 but it is quite extensive, relates to the same scope that you have and was started by one of our experienced members. It contains a number of tips and modifications that the owner discovered were helpful as he got to know the scope and these might be of use to you as well. Good luck with the scope ! Here is a link to the thread I mention above:

If I was purchasing a triplet refractor then I would probably arrange to pick it up myself rather than trusting it to a courier, even if it had been checked prior to sending.

Transparency is more relevant to this thread I agree.