RobertI

Great review Chris, nicely put together, good to see an honest and realistic assessment of the package. As you say it is a bit odd that Maks and SCTs don't come with dew shields when every refractor I have seen has one as standard! Overall it looks like a very neat and ligtweight package, with the tripod being the weak point, but not actually as bad as I had previously thought.

Thanks John, good to get confirmation.

Crikey, that's 425x and .25mm exit pupil by my reckoning! That it worked well was a testament to the eyepiece, and to your eyes.....and the scope...and the seeing. Perhaps I'm just a wimp with my low powers!

That would also be a big plus for viewing clusters and globs I guess. Just weighed the 10mm Hyperion, it’s 380 grams! More than twice the weight of the Nirvana! So weight not an issue.

Thanks Geoff. Now it starts to get difficult!

It might also give my little 72mm frac a new lease of life too!

Great thanks John. I shall weigh the Hyperion for comparison, but I think we may have a winner.

Thanks John, that is quite a recommendation, £75 for Nagler like performance! Very tempted. Any idea how heavy heavy/bulky it would be compared to say my 10mm Hyperion? On the Heritage the plastic platform holding the focuser ‘flexes’ if heavy and/or long eyepieces are used, not sure this affects the view in reality, but just wondering. I notice the literature says good for scopes under 1000mm FL, any idea why? I always thought the relevant factor was focal ratio?

I'm off to Cornwall with the family for a hol in July and am hoping for a bit of astro while there. I am planning to take the Heritage 130P on the SkyProdigy mount and am expecting to do mainly lunar as it will be fairly prominent. I have a 5mm BST e/p but am looking at a low cost 4mm to give a bit more mag whilst keeping the exit pupil a reasonable size ( I find 1mm exit pupil on the moon is very comfortable but 0.5 mm is very uncomfortable, so I believe 0.8mm and 163x mag should be as far as I can go with this scope, open to other opinions though). Can anyone recommend a decent 4mm eyepiece that wont break the bank, and is appropriate to the capability of the scope? Eye relief shouldnt be a huge issue. Shortlist so far: Skywatcher Planetary UWA 58 degree FOV, 5 element, £39 Vixen NPL Plossl 50 degree FOV, 4 element, £34 TS Optics High End Planetary HR, 58 degree FOV, 6 element, £61 Currently thinking that the Vixen might be the safest bet? Any help appreciated. Thanks Rob

Enjoyed a lunar observing session last night with the C8 and Tal100R. Conditions were reasonably steady allowing good viewing at 200x with the C8, which got most of the action. The most notable feature at low power was Aristarchus just breaking the straight line of the terminator. Closer inspection revealed intricately terraced walls. To the north, Mare Imbrium showed a spectacular 'bite' shape in the form of Sinus Iridium, bounded by rugged and cratered highlands. To the south, Gassendi was prominent with its small twin, lying on the edge of Mare Humorum. I wish I had spent more time trying to identify the features within (rimae and tiny craters) - one for another time. A number of Rimae were visible south of Gassendi, with three prominent craters bounding the south of Mare Humorum. FUrther south still, the terrain becomes very rugged and cratered, as if someone has thrown gravel into thick paint. Too much too describe, except for one notable crater, highly oval shaped with a peak at one end, caused I imagine my an impact at a very oblique angle - later identified as Schiller. Clavius was unmistakable and always makes me chuckle as I remember Reggie Perrin in 2001! FInished the session with a quick glance at some doubles - the C8 might win when it comes to lunar, but the Tal is king for showing doubles in all their beauty! Some dodgy images below for visualisation taken with a very shaky handheld iphone - I really must get a smartphone adaptor!

Nice haul of Hicksons, some 'pretty' arrangements too!

The colours really do stand out when you zoom in; grey, green, brown, lilac and blue. Beautiful.

Good result I would say, of all my scopes my Heritage 130P is probably still most used, either on a simple lightweight manual altaz (giro wr) or a lightweight goto altaz (Skyprodigy). I hear what you are saying about manual versus goto, it’s rewarding to find objects manually, but sometimes under my mildly light polluted skies, I find it’s not that easy to see all the stars required to star hop, especially with a RDF, plus contorting to look through finders ain’t fun anymore, so over the years I have come to appreciate goto more and more. I have also come to appreciate the lightweight altaz mounts such the AZ Gti or the Star Discovery (which I particularly like). And for info my Sky Prodigy keeps the date a time even when switched off which is very useful - sadly it’s not made anymore. Anyway clear skies and happy observing.

Illuminating post (pardon the pun), annoying to be reminded of how bad your garden site is. I feel your frustration. My site is not fabulous, the ‘observability’ being largely dependent on (a) whether neighbour’s bedroom/bathroom lights are on and (b) whether the atmosphere is reflecting the nearby towns’ lights, some nights are great, others appalling. At least we still do have pockets of dark sky in this country to make use of!

Trouble is, without knowing what the problem was with the Hyperions, it’s impossible to know whether any alternatives would solve your problem. Personally I wouldn’t risk buying any expensive eyepieces at this point, perhaps a couple of budgets to see if they work before proceeding any further.