Mike Murphy

Yes, it makes no difference. The reticle is not illuminated because the light source (led) is nowhere near the reticle. Going to do without illumination.

Any thoughts about the polar scope illuminator on the SW GTi? I would be interested in knowing the design criteria, method and possibly who? Having using a number of devices that were properly thought out I come to this. What the…. A bit like like someone shining a light in your objective while you are at the eyepiece! Any knowledge where the initial concept comes from? UK, US or China? Perhaps the illuminator design was dropped on an intern? Just wondering

Had my Starbase 80 since last Friday (5/8/22). M57 looked great, even saw central darkening. Last night split Epsilon Lyra with 6mm and got a look at M13, kind of granular like my old 4” Unitron. I did exchange the longish alt lock and slow motion controls with hardware store knobs. Regardless of the observers experience level I think this scope is a very good value for the money.