RobertI

Great vid Chris, your years of experience shine through in your words. I don’t have the wide experience of different scopes that some other folks do, having owned 7 scopes in total - those in my sig plus a 6” F8 Newt. I have often thought about the perfect single scope for my needs and I think it could be a 120ED, kind of in between your two very well considered suggestions, but a step up in price again, especially versus a budget Newt. I guess if it is a single scope one is willing to pay a bit more! ? I would love to spend some quality time with an 120 ED to test my theory.

I think we should have a series of ‘meaningful votes’ on the subject. ?

I can see why you would be unhappy to post in the new forum based on that assumption Alan. I am not sure it is true though. Personally I have always been visual, but I tried EAA due to light polluted skies, and it really worked for me. I have no interest in cameras or processing and if I could afford NV I would jump at it! By the way, I have no idea what ‘gain’ is!

I really like this mount, I think it is an often overlooked gem. I did a fair amount of research for portable mounts in this price bracket and I really couldn't find much to not like about it. Probably echoing the above review video review, but the things that I really like were: Very sturdy tripod, much better than tripods on the Celestron equivalent mount, an excellent feature not to be underestimated. Freedom find, which means you can undo the clutches on the axes manually to move the scope and not lose your goto alignment. The ability to still use the mount manually (by pushing the scope) without power - I've no experience of how usable this is in practice, but if it is usable I think it makes the mount very versatile indeed, and still useable if you are struggling to get the hang of goto. As for the scope, 150mm / 6" is a very good size and you will see plenty. Apparently this model scope does NOT need collimating (aligning the mirrors) which is very useful indeed if you are a beginner. On mounts of this size I would say that this sized telescope is pretty big and possibly pushing it, but with the excellent tripod, I would say it should be fine. So in summary I think you wont find much better in my humble opinion. As always though if you are a complete beginner, I would recommend getting to know the sky with the naked eye and a pair of binouclars and a good astronomy book or app, learn the main constellations and the brightest stars. You will then be more confident whenyou come to use your scope. Have fun!

I think all the points made are very valid. Clearly telescopes used to be much more expensive and most people would make an investment in one scope to last them a long time, so that one scope had to be able to do a lot of things, and smaller aperture scopes have their limitations (although fewer limitations nowadays with the excellent quality optics available).

Good news Steve. I recently did some research looking for a lightweight, high capacity AZ mount for visual and EAA, and the iOptron AZ Mount Pro came out near the top of the list; some very nice features and reviews were very good.

What scope will you try it with Stu?

From the video, it looks like the dewshield reverses and becomes a slide on protector, very clever!

What a lovely looking piece of kit, perfect for a lightweight mount, clever design fusion of APO scope and SLR lens.

What a great feature!

Paul, you have very similar conditions to Kelling Heath - can't be bad!

Data below from my site on the Essex/Suffolk border. I don't really know what SQM means but I have imaged objects of mag 20 with my lodestar and 30 second exposures, not sure if this confirms the data in any way? It can get very dark overhead on transparent nights, but there are three massive sources of light pollution 10 miles away in each direction (Colchester, Ipswich and Felixstowe docks) so any mist or vapour in the atmosphere and the sky turns orange. I live on a new build and consider myself very lucky to have the majority of the garden streetlight free, although I live in daily fear of the dreaded 'insecurity' lights being installed.

Well done! Keep us posted.

The Occulus is ‘untethered’ so you can take it anywhere and it can be used without access to a phone or internet, but to download apps you need to pair with your smartphone (Android or iOS), be connected to internet via WiFi and use the Occulus app (according to the blurb, I haven’t got the headset yet!).

That's really good to hear Agnes! I don't have the links as I haven't got thet headset yet, but happy to share when I have worked it all out. Actually part of the reason I was attracted to the Occulus (actually VR headsets in general) was the experience of 'being in' some of the virtual landscapes or setting. I loved being able to take myself out of my chaotic day and insert myself into a calm zen-like room overlooking a specacular landscape or on a beach. I can see it being a good relaxation tool and there are some nice looking meditation apps out there. I think that's pretty good value Paul - compares favourably with £250,000 for a seat on Richard Branson's spaceship! Cheap is good Helen! Can't go wrong for that price, the apps look very impressive, let us know how it goes. ?

I recently experienced the Apollo 11 and ISS simulations on a friend’s Occulus Go (virtual reality headset) and was blown away. It was so immersive and realistic, and all for £200. My reaction afterwards was that Elon Musk and Richard Branson are wasting their time with space tourism! When I saw it was reduced to £169 I felt duty bound to place an order, in the name of science of course. ? Should arrive in a few days, i’ll download and review some astro apps if anyone is interested.

Good news Chris. ? The altitude axis on my SkyProdigy is also much noisier than the azimuth. Fortunately it's the azimuth that does most of the slewing so at least its the right way round! Keep us posted on first light part deux.

Unbelievable! ? Hopefully should be with you very soon then.

Have they told you what the problem was and what the fix is?

Great stuff, at least you know the adjusted model will have been fully checked and adjusted (hopefully!). ?

Did you get this problem sorted Chris?

Looks very promising Chris and it's a lot cheaper than a 100mm APO + reducer! Perhaps you could continue the test by piggybacking the scope on the CPC800 for some longer exposures/integrations (when you get it back)? Should be fine for up to 30 seconds in most areas of the sky.

That’s weird but interesting Chris, must be a clue to the cause. Sadly I do not have enough knowledge about the inner workings to guess at the problem, perhaps someone else can.

I don’t think you're alone Chris! It will be interesting to hear FLO’s response, keep us posted.