Mikel56

I’ll Google collimate for the celestron. I think the lenses are for photography. Priority now is the stand. Thanks for your help, I have a better idea now, M

The £369, with tripod looks good. Two telescopes at 10kg each is about right. Both telescopes are heavyish. Thanks for that, I like the look of the mount too. M

Not a typo. I was thinking a couple of hundred for the mount M

Thanks David, can you tell I’m new ! M

Thanks for your reply, appreciated. Below are two photos of the “dovetails”. Apart from the two big nuts on the Swift the dimensions for each dovetail, width wise, seem to be the same. I was thinking I could replace the bracket of the Swift to the dovetail fitting as on the Celestron allowing me to use, hopefully, the same basic mount. If the telescopes and lenses are ok I would thereafter look towards updating the mount. I don’t think the celestron was used. The Celestron has a black knob against an orange disc at the end of the telescope. I have no idea it’s purpose. I also have 5 USSR lenses (silver as in the photo) and would they be for photography ? thanks M

I jumped in at the deep end and bought a number of items for £151 which I think is reasonable. I’m an absolute beginner and now own a Celestron Star Bright xlt 9.25. With that I also got a Swift 831 and a travel scope. Included were a “bunch” of eyepieces and other “stuff” as in the photos below. I don’t have a mount (stand ?). Would it be possible to source a mount that would suit the Celestron and Swift ? The fittings for the telescopes (part of the telescope) to the mount are both different however the celestron looks as if it would be easier to source a mount. Would it therefore be possible to modify the Swift fitting to suit the same mount ? In hindsight I should have bought a telescope with only the necessary pieces instead of trying to fill the gaps. I’m not sure how reliable the components are however as best I can tell all the “knobs” operate freely and everything was well packaged and sealed. In order to prove the equipment a fairly cheap mount would be best, I think.