Naughty Neal

Great review Michael and certainly yes ,100% a bargain of the century. To put it mildly if one makes use of the 0.5mm settings between the main stops one is getting a very good multi FL EP which accrues to approx £8 for each FL of 0.5mm (if bought at the bargain price of £80). Purists will still want their fixed FL favourite EP's but for travelling and weight an all in one EP, for those on a budget a must have EP which with a pair of quality EPs in the 15 - 30mm range will be all that is required.

A bit like Nessie, fuel to keep the conspiritulists going for years.

Could be an interesting talking point esp as an April 1st story.

What's the UFO playing at, at 2 oclock ?

Height might depend on comfort, some like to stand ideal for straight thru viewing . Others will like to be seated esp if using mirrors/prisms and at the eyepiece for some time, there is no one answer.

When I get home form my night shift of an weekend evening Saturday am - Monday am at 03.40hrs , I neither bother now about setting up . Now the clocks have gone fwd it's isn't too long before the dawn brightness suddenly creeps in. Last night by eye alone the seeing here wasn't great , even Polaris wasn't discernable neither were any other of the major players in the two Ursa's.

Looks pretty much like a generic diagonal seen for sale in various places , the side panel fluting looks the same as a Skywatcher or Stellamira.

I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't a generic size used and the same as Syywatcher use on Skytee2 or EQ5.

That reminds me that I haven't posted a pic of my new solar wegd e yet from my little spending spree.

I haven't decided yet but have the f12.5 80mm Scopetech or the f11 102ed Ascent but suspect it will be for the latter. The 80mm will likely be confined for solar use with a wedge. The white OTA on the Balck SP will look very contrasty.

I have cheated here and copy & pasted the pic from the 'For sale' section. Postman today was Stu and we had pre arranged a location to meet up on his journey home for the weekend to hand over the SP Gem combo.. Fortunately I knew of an easy location that only diverted Stu a matter of a few hundred yards off the M25 so he could then simply rejoin to continue his Westward journey. The SP GEM and tripod now resides with me. I know the age of these are at least some 30 or more years old now but the quality remains as does butter smooth movement of the pivots/beairngs. The tripod isn't too bad but obviously has some wear marks and scratches for the many years it has been around . At some stage in the summer I will likely remove all the wood and give it a light wire wool and then a nice coat of clear Briwax.

Oh dear, even daylight is working against you . At least somewhat one can rule out any issue with the new SF and of course your EP's , which of course you know are fine.

Try this very simple. BBC Four - The Sky at Night, Make a solar filter

Use it on some far away landscape dayight targets to put your mind at rest regarding clarity and then one can simply put down last nights poor seeing down to atmospheric conditions , whether that be thinly veiled clouds or the jetstream.

My second SV215 arrived today for BV use, again paid under £80 all in for it direct off of the SvBony website. Also a gift T - shirt supplied in xxxl size, with a screen printed front of the planets and Svb insignia and the rear has the twelve zodiac constellations on the rear . Also ordered via ebay some ID 31.63mm x 2 mm O - Rings to use as par focal rings incase the 1.25" is too long for my prisms/mirrors.