Steve Paterson

I'm looking to buy an IDAS SHO filter set (STD class for > f/3.5) for my mono camera and can anyone recommend a good quality 2" mounted LRGB set to match? Unless I've missed it, I don't think IDAS sell them - happy to be corrected.

I would consider getting one of these if it had wi-fi and a mobile app or could connect to the ASIAIR Plus.

Good news everyone! I saw a video on Youtube where someone had the same oil leak problem with his ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro and returned it to 365astronomy for repair. So, I contacted Zoltan who later replied to say he contacted the seller and found out where he purchased it from and when. He thinks he will be able to repair it for free or at least clean it and then see. So, the outcome is looking positive. Thanks to everyone for your replies and for keeping me on the straight and narrow. We have a great community spirit here. Take care all and don't ever forget to look up 🤩 Steve

I quite understand and have no intention of naming and shaming on this group. My posting here was simply to understand the problem with the camera and seek feedback on how I can instigate a repair. Best regards, Steve

Hi Olly, is there a way I can check if he's in this group, like a member search function? Apologies if it's obvious and I've missed it - been a long day! Update - found the Members section and found a New Member profile having the same name. I don't know if it's the same person though as there are very few details on the account. I have however sent the member a message asking if it's the same person.

Thanks for your replies so far. I bought the camera from a member of the Facebook group 'Secondhand Astronomy Equipment UK - For sale /Swaps / Wanted' who, as I mentioned before, has washed his hands of the problem saying it's easily fixed online and no refund offered. I'm checking with my bank now to see if they can do anything. I've also contacted the group admin to ban him from the group for selling a faulty item without providing a refund. I've since seen some online videos about cleaning the sensor including one where it was sent to 365Astronomy for repair. I might end up doing this and have to pay for the repair whilst reminding myself never to pay for anything like this again using bank transfer. Lived and learnt! Update - the bank can't do anything as it's a bank transfer. Note to self - Paypal in future. Thanks all once again.

Good idea and I'll contact my bank. Thank you.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll have a leg to stand on here because I paid by Bank Transfer and my bank (Santander) take you through a series of questions before making the payment e.g. have you seen the product, are you collecting it etc. I'd like to name the seller here but GDPR could probably bite me and it wouldn't serve any purpose. I don't know if it's possible to do a member search in this group in case he has an account - will check.

The seller has just got back to me and has washed his hands of it saying that it can be easily fixed online and won't provide a refund. That's not the way I respond when I sell something and a shame there are people out there like that. So I'm now left with faulty camera.

Thank you. I've contacted the seller and informed him of the problem.

Hi, I bought it from a private seller so I'm going to try to get it returned to him.

I bought a used ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro camera yesterday, it arrived today and on checking the sensor I saw the following and wonder if this is an issue. If you look on the photo, the left-hand side has what appears to be an area that is separating. What is separating from what I don't know but it looks disconcerting to my untrained eye. What do you think - is this faulty? Thanks for any replies in advance.

I don't own this tripod but I got to see and hold one a few days ago and I have to say that I personally wouldn't buy it as an astronomy tripod. Two tests were: a) Solid small mount with an 18kg capacity with a Celestron C9.25 (approx 9kg with no eyepiece or accessories - so OTA only) on this tripod - vibrations took many seconds to die down which would make focusing very difficult. b) This tripod at its lowest setting, legs fully splayed with no mount - grab hold of the legs at the top and try to twist them. Not rock solid at all and there was enough movement to make me think the vibration issue is caused by the tripod. If I were looking in this price bracket, I'd give the Berlebachs serious consideration instead. Part of the problem is this tripod does not have a spreader bar. But please don't take my word for it - try the tripod out if you can before you buy and try out similar tests. One other thing to consider - this tripod only extends to 830cm. Is that high enough for your use because that's on the short side. A consideration if you're going to use it with a longer refractor but please check.

I'd forgotten about that so thanks for the reminder! Handy for a quick blast to check on how bad the seeing is at present for Jupiter and Saturn

Before I made a wheelie bar, my set-up time was probably around 5 minutes: 3 trips to carry it all out then a couple of minutes to setup and align. Now that I have the wheelie bar, I wheel the mount, tripod, weights and OTA out all fully assembled so that has made it a wheel-and-go setup. Ask yourself, do you have to carry it far, any steps to climb or obstacles? The mount and tripod together weigh about 23kg and that's before the weights and OTA. Software setup is easy - just turn on, choose AZ mode, key in the time, align and that's it. It stores your lat/long and time zone but not the time - you have to key in the time each time. Once aligned, you can loosen the clutches and point manually and it keeps alignment due to the dual-axis encoders - although I just find it easier just to use the handset. It's a great AZ mount and there's not a lot of competition in that price bracket. It's not perfect but good value for money I'd say.

Thanks Magnus and for sharing the photo. That looks a very nice set-up on the Berlebach Planet tripod plus a great sky. I wonder if there's a similar product to the Baader tangent assembly because with a higher payload capacity because they quote this as 7kg max and I'm likely to go above that. If you know of one then I'd like to hear about it. I'll also do a search but wouldn't it just have been a complete job had Sky-Watcher provisioned for this? I see you've also switched the main saddle and puck to the ADM version. I've done the same and it's much better. I find the bolt handles a little small to really clamp down so I bought this a few days ago and it's great! Really clamps it down! https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adm-misc-mounting-accessories/adm-rosette-knob-hand-tool.html So a question to the floor - does anyone know of an alt-az adjustment device with a high payload capacity (say 10kg or above for a bit of latitude - pun intended )

My apologies if this has been done to death before but I'm wondering what other AZ-EQ6 users do to align two OTAs in azimuth when using the mount in AZ mode - you know, a scope in each saddle? The mount caters for altitude alignment using the small bolts on the secondary saddle but there's no provision for aligning in azimuth. I thought about shimming the saddle/dovetail but it would be nice to have some way of adjusting the azimuth on the fly like you can in altitude. With the popularity of this mount, someone must have walked this path so I welcome your feedback. The scope that will sit in the secondary saddle will typically be around 7 to 10 kg but could over time be anything up to recommended maximum (25kg per saddle I believe). I mention this in case anyone recommends adding an alt-az adjustment device which might have a limited payload weight. Other than this, I think the AZ-EQ6 is a cracking mount. I'm visual-only these days and only use the mount in AZ mode. Thanks in advance. Steve

I bought mine from Optcorp in the US and got it shipped to the UK. I contacted T-Factory but they didn't have any and put me in touch with Optcorp.

Great photos. My T-Factory PCB-EQ2 kit arrived this week so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

I must admit, I'm pushing the weight limit on my Polarie so I'm very interested in the SWAT-350 and Toast Pro links. These are new to me so lots of research needed. Have you looked into either of these options in any detail and is one more favourable to the other? Thanks, Steve

Great reply and many thanks for the links Thanks, Steve

Hi, I'm a big Polarie fan and this looks a very nice and stable set up. Do you have a link for where you got the Polarie cradle from please? Also, did you buy the XY-50D from K-Astec in Japan directly (http://homepage2.nifty.com/astec/XY.html)? Thanks, Steve