Moonlit Night

I have seen it happen. A 10 inch OO Newtonian hit a concrete floor, quite a noise. The scope in question was 2 months old. The bloke in question sold the rest of his gear a little later.

ADM are the only brand I would use to be honest. Quality sells itself.

I wouldn’t want anything cheap attaching my scope to the mount. A good saddle might be cheaper than you think

It doesn’t make any sense taking it off air at this time of year. Can you imagine what would happen if the BBC decided not to show Gardeners World from May to August?

Doesn’t JeremyS still run a 4 inch Tak on an AZ4? Must be a similar size to the Starfield?

Like John said. If it was me I would add a 2 inch WO carbon diagonal or one of the Altair 2 inch ones. It’s future proofing really.

Incidentally a 150P goes very nicely on an AZ 4 too, perfect even.

This is true. Starfield (fl7) + AZ4 = 👍 TAL 100RS (fl10) + AZ4 = ☠️

I don’t know where the idea AZ4’s are sticky! I have owned 3 of them over the years. All of them were without exception buttery smooth. I never experienced any balance issues either. I had a Altair version of the scope you have on one for 3 years, brilliant combination. I know a lot of people strip Skytee mounts down after purchase to remove the glue like grease that they were lubricated (sic) with

Welcome to SGL

Yeah, I wouldn’t touch one for a 4 inch. The AZ4 would be rock solid.

Brilliant Don, exactly that.

Absolutely that…

Nice

Hello You have plenty of power with what you already have. You have an 80mm scope which would put you at the very top of your magnification for that scope with your zoom barlowed at x170 unless your seeing is incredibly good. I would have thought x12O would be loads most evenings for planetary observation. Anyway enjoy your gear. You have a great outfit with enough magnification to cover all your bases.

This thread is as old as the hills, however that’s not going to stop me posting. With a 102 refractor (fl8.6) my most used eyepieces are 5mm, 7mm and 13 mm Delites’. To be honest that’s probably all I really need 95% of the time. Planetary observation is my main interest. A 32mm plossl pretty much covers everything else.

Back in the day that was true. My old Swift battered my friend Neil’s (very cool to be called Neil at the time) Newtonian. Silvering is in a different league these days not to mention parabolic mirrors which were absolutely not the norm.

I always wanted one, I still kinda do. One of the best, if not the best 6 inch Newtonian of its day, before the Chinese got there stuff together obviously.

They do, they do. You could always by one of these: https://www.teleskop-express.de/en/telescopes-4/apochromatic-refractor-55/ed-refractor-222/ts-optics-102-mm-f-11-ed-refractor-with-2-5-rap-focuser-11262

I should/prob will.

As a self confessed refractor fan I think you should buy the Newtonian. If you were talking about a fl7 with fpl53 or even fpl51 I would be tempted to tell you to buy the frac, but not a fl10 achro, even a TAL 100RS

Anyway what ever mount you choose do yourself a favour and buy yourself a Starfield from FLO. I have never heard a bad word said about them and I doubt anyone else has either? Anyone?

The funny thing is one never hears dobsonian user complaining about the lack of slow mo. When I had a mount previously with slow mo I took them off. The cables were never in the right place it seemed to me and I just felt that it was less intuitive, less friendly and generally not as much fun. But hey ho, that’s just me I guess. I have been nudging AZ mounts for decades, perhaps it’s a nack some never learn, like me and EQs, I can’t get on with them at all.

Just a bump for some else

Also one would imagine a AZ5 would be more manly than the AZ4, which it absolutely is not.