Chris

You've clearly grafted very hard, and it looks fantastic as a result. Loving the pier adaptor/wine rack also!

Good luck, Shane. I look forward to following the build.

The over mounted setups shown during the last couple of pages made me smile. who reckons a "show me your over/under mounted scopes" thread would be a fun idea? I've certainly under mounted a few in my time ?

Yup, still got it as my avatar. I've just sold that one towards the house move. Wonderful scope, and I one day hope to have the larger C11 Edge in an obsy. I used to have the C8 Edge on an NEQ6 in an obsy at my old house.

I remember your excitement when you picked up your FS128. A wonderful telescope to own, the FS60 was fun even! How do you find the cool down compared to your 4"?

David, you know what you need to do Any help choosing just let us know

Thanks very much, Mark Yes I was trying to be practical with the two scopes I chose, I'm glad your observations back this up. I've never owned a scope bigger than 8", but I used big beasts up to 16" back in my Uni days. For pure visual the 12" Dob does sound amazing, I have a work colleague who swears by his 12" Dob, but he does say he rarely gets to use it, and I think this can be a problem with large scope unless they're in a obsy or a garage/shed acclimatised and ready to go. I've received the first scope to review already! Very exciting! It's a Skymax 102mm Mak on a Pronto mount. I'll be doing an unboxing video which will include setting up the scope, and later on when I've had a decent amount of time under the stars, I'll put together a more considered review with pros and cons. I'm looking forward to it...that's my reserved answer

That 127Mak is defo the right scope for you, Jules. I know you've tried plenty of scopes to get to where you are (pot calling the kettle black here )

I do love this about refactors. I'm happy seeing less, but less with beautiful depth, contrast, and sharpness. I think this is why I was happy to sacrifice a bit of aperture refractor wise (in this hypothetical situation) in favour of more versatility with mounting, faster cool down, and transportability (if that's a word) P.s. awe inspiring images as always, Olly.

Would the f/5 version be a better compromise?

It's not impossible, but you obviously have to compromise on abilities.

I feel another video coming on - Best single scope for visual.

Thanks Rob Got to say the ED120 is a great choice for a single scope, it wasn't easy for me to rule that one out other than it being less flexible mounting wise, and has a longer cool down and less transportable. It's hard to cover every base and where to draw the line when picking just one scope, I know the ED120 would have been a better compromise on DSO observations. I've heard some premium 4" fracs such as the Takahashi seem to punch above their weight comparing well to the ED120 on DSO's. I only have experience with the tiny FS60 which I'll admit did a very good job for it's tiny aperture.

The reviews say they're about on par optically. The differences lay with the mechanics and aesthetics I think. Info from this guy who compares the Questar, C90, and ETX90:

Love it! what a beautiful Questar setup! I had a lot of fun with the poor mans equivalent (ETX90) throughout my uni years.

There is a lot of grass is greener when it comes to telescopes I feel, I know the itch far too well Ian

That would be a dream scope in a obsy for sure! Setup and cool down would be a nightmare if you had it bring it all out from the warm, but what a wonderful obsy scope that would make! I guess it depends on to what extent? and where we draw the line? But to the standard of many amateurs including myself I think one scope can. We might have to agree to dis agree

C8's are great scopes once collimated accurately! I miss my C8 Edge, but selling it will ultimately result in me owning a C11 Edge in an obsy once moved, so it will be worth it.

Thanks Mike, very kind of you to say, great minds hey Yes, we are spoilt with aperture now days which is of course a good thing. However, when you take into account setup, cool down, average seeing conditions, focal length etc, the old 4" frac/6" Newt's seem like very practical scopes to own for those of us without an obsy. As for the 6" f/8, I had the 150p Skyliner Dob f/8 a couple of years back and couldn't believe how formidable it was on Jupiter. Best bang for buck planetary/Lunar scope I can think of that one.

Thanks Steve, taking every aspect into account including transportation, mounting, imaging and observations of various objects, they are the best compromise I can think of

I'm just wondering what focal length eyepiece you'd need for the double cluster?

Hi all. Martin aka Grumpy Martian recently started a thread to help him decide between buying a 6" f/5 Newtonian and a 4" f/7 Refractor. I've often thought either of these could be all the scope you ever need. Both scopes can be used effectively for many areas of astronomy including; DSO imaging and observing, planetary imaging and observing, solar, and EAA. so I decided to put together a video singing their merits....not literally singing their merits, you don't want to hear that I really do think either of these could be all the scope you ever need, but what do you guys think? Is there another scope you would choose instead?

I straight up prefer the look of the 'White Cat'. If I was in the market I would choose that one.

Gav. I don't quite have the words for that setup!

Here's a review or run through of the original version with the handset. Might be of use