Space Hopper

@szymon @Icesheet Thank you both for your opinions, they are much appreciated. I have sent AstroTrac an email this afternoon, asking for resolution. A full refund , or delivery of my order. I have given them till the end of the month. @Icesheet : you may be right. Maybe they have no money left ? I am order number 32. If they only have a small order book, perhaps the design / testing / production costs have far outweighed capitol from potential orders....?

Hi all. Just wanted to resurrect this thread to get a few opinions. So basically, i paid a deposit on 01 July 2019, and the remaining balance for the basic 360 tracker on 16 July 2019. Just under £1200 iirc. I had an email from Richard last August 2019 saying they were in production, and they were hoping to be in a position to send out order before the end of September 2019. Then all went quiet. an update in November said they'd been a few delays, but they were 'on the home strait' Then all went quiet again. At the end of January it made an appearance at Astrofest. I contacted Richard again during the spring to enquire how things were and then Covid struck. Ok, no problem ; i appreciate that theres now going to be a big delay. During the early part of the summer (June) i contacted Richard again, and enquired if i could have a refund, citing financial issues, as my wife had lost employment. This was refused flatly, saying my order was in the production stage. My issue is, i want the mount, and have paid for it, and i've nothing to show for my investment. Of course, with a new product one expects delays, and the Covid issue has only made that worse. As a consumer though, i don't think i'm being unreasonable in asking for a refund after paying for an item almost 14 months ago that has failed to materialise. I'm not holding a grudge against AstroTrac at all, i still want the mount. But if they can't supply what i ordered over a year ago and won't refund me, where do i go.....?? Thoughts welcome......

I can recommend you spread your budget out, and look for second hand Tv's. Plenty of bargains out there, and with Tv, being expensive, most users really look after them and treat them carefully. I've brought plenty of used Tv and most are as good as new. Quality eyepieces that will hold their value too. If i had to suggest three, i'd go N31, E13, E8. And possibly add a 2" Powermate in there too.

You may be better asking the CN community about this place.......🙂

Thats a great capture Shivam. Sagittarius is a bit better in India though, than it is here......😃

Gitzo 5533s user here. A substantial purchase, but its an amazing tripod. A thing of beauty. I use a lightweight alt-az mount and a short tube 4" refractor and it handles them beautifully. I can swap the flat feet out and replace them with spikes if necessary. It's 2.7kg in weight with a 40kg capacity. I picked up a nice matching ball head off eBay to go with it.

Nice, interesting review Matthew. Thanks for sharing. Another alt-az mount enthusiast here as well !! 😃 The AzMaxLoad looks to be a perfect partner for the Losmandy FHD tripod. I looked into this tripod when i got my DM-6, and got an adapter just in case, but eventually opted for a lighter Berlebach. The DM-6 is rated to carry 40lbs or 18kg so would really not be up to a 23kg refractor. It takes my 140 scope with ease, and will take a C11 quite happily as well if i ever go back to a cat scope. Have you tried your 175 on the TTS-160 Panther ? It would pretty much max it out, but i think it would take it.......?

It will work, but the extra lightpath the big 2" diagonal will swallow up may be problematic. The focal length of the scope will be longer, and you may even lose a touch of aperture, although this is more an issue if adding other components as well, ie a binoviewer.

Bortle 7 here, one km to the north of Derby city centre. As a guide i'm unable to see Messier 1 Crab nebula from home, even with a 12" Newtonian. I have access to a darker site about 20 mins drive to the north, which is probable Bortle 4 on a good night.

Thats an interesting one. I've not seen or heard of them before, but i will certainly make some enquiries. Thankyou for sharing the link. Its rather a leap of faith to send a £900 binoviewer all the way to Croatia, and then hope it makes it back again....

@Neil P sorry to hear you've had a mishap. If you go down the route above with Denis, let me know how you get on. My own Mk5 has taken a few minor knocks over the years, it could do with recollimating i think, and i know it could use a good stripdown and clean.

2 scopes at present, having last year come down from 5. But there's that niggling doubt in my mind, and a yearning for another Newtonian......something a bit smaller than the last one. But not too much smaller.....

Good job Steve, nice image.

Alan : its performed really well. It has a much nicer interface with a big screen and easy to use keypad. Its an easy 2 star alignment set up and works beautifully with my DM-6 mount. I believe the same Nexus DSC is available on the new Rowan AZ100. Heres Serge taking you through it.........

@GavStar Hi Gavin, good to hear from you. No, it never happened. I was totally stuck between 2 scopes : the Baader 95 and the APM 105. I mentioned it to Rupert from Astrograph, and we had a chat and he persuaded me to opt for the 105. Aperture was the swaying point. I then cancelled my order with Baader for the 95. The APMs LZOS lenses had become somewhat scarce a couple of years ago, but APM were able to source a new batch in between LZOS Russian military contracts. Marcus at APM used a cheaper aluminium tube and focuser which brought the cost of the 105/650 down by well over £1000 and actually made it cheaper than the Baader 95 by the same amount. A case, rings and dovetail + carry handle were all included, so with this and the saving i opted for the APM. As well as the 105/650, LZOS also reintroduced the 100/800 and the 115/805. As you know, all have peerless optics. I was very tempted by the 100/800, but really wanted the compactness of the 105/650. No regrets, its a super little scope, and sits very nicely on my DM-4 grab/go mount. Ok, it doesn't have the travel potential of the Baader 95, but for the time being with house arrest, quarantine etc its not like foreign travel is an option anyway for the foreseeable ? I've also really wanted a Russian optic for a long time. This is an air spaced triplet design rather than the oil spaced design of the Baader Fluorite. But i already have one with my new TEC140FL, and thought it better to compliment that with an air spaced designed scope. One thing i have noticed is that the TEC does reach thermal equilibrium that little bit quicker even with its much larger aperture : do you find that with your 160...??

@Alan White Hi Alan. I'm afraid i let the scope go after responding to a 'Wanted Ad' on UKABS, as i needed the funds to help finance a new refractor purchase. I kept the Nexus DSC though and didn't include that in the sale, as it resides on my DM6 mount. I must say i do miss those 12" DSO views it gave on a good night, but don't miss the big bulky scope itself. I'm 53 now, and feeling it. I do sometimes sell things on a whim thinking something else is better, then regret it afterwards a bit. Thats just me though and thats what telescope nutters sometimes do......?? 🙄 I've actually thought about buying another 8" or 10" from time to time and mounting it on my Alt-Az. Serge was great, and basically custom made the encoders for the scope, even ringing me up and checking all the relevant measurements. I can certainly recommend him and Astro Devices.

@Steve Clay Hi Steve, it was purchased from Discmounts as an optional extra.

Here's my lightweight set up. Like you i was looking at a lightweight grab and go / carry to use while travelling to darker skys. I'm sorry i don't have any experience with the Bresser or SW options. I use a Gitzo photo tripod. Its only 2.6kg. Floorspikes are an option if i want them. Although expensive, i've been blown away by its performance, its a thing of beauty. On it i mount my American DiscMounts DM-4. With its extender it weighs in at 3.8Kg, and adding the tripod to that gives a total weight of 6.4kg. Holding it at the extender, its an easy one handed carry. The tripod is rated to carry 40kg and the mount is good for around 9Kg. A 100mm class of refractor is ideal provided is a shortish focal length. I wouldn't really want to mount anything bigger on it such as a one meter long refractor though. My scope weighs 6 or 7kg i think and has a 650mm focal length. Its an ideal combination. No balance issues at all. I've also used it for landscape viewing and some bird watching at well, and i've been really pleased with it.

I have binoviewing pairs of 24mm , 19mm, 14mm (actually 15.2mm) and 12.5mm Maxing out the power in the binoviewer with its amplifier, my 12.5mm give me 204x which is plenty for 95+ % of UK observing. I do have Powermate options as well (2x & 4x) so can up the ante if necessary, but they rarely get used visually.

The work of the devil. Biggest issue is they reduce the compression rings ability to get an optimal purchase on the eyepiece without having to over-tighten it. For me an undercut on a diagonal nose is a bigger problem. I've known my whole binoviewer rig slip and rotate 180º in the focuser once damp and cold set in. Most Baader diagonals have a removeable nose though, allowing a smooth bore nose to replace it. Problem solved.

@DirkSteele Matthew : both the extensions were purchased from DiscMounts with the respective mounts (5 years apart!) They are $225 / $200 options. @Coco Guy : fine if you have the machines and know how. I'm afraid i don't. @bsdsgl84 make no mistake, had the AZ100 come along in 2014, i'd have been right up there in the queue for one. I had a good look at it at last years IAS and was mightily impressed. It needs counterweights though, and a dual scope setup has never been a requirement for me. How well will it hand track Jupiter at 200x ? Is it as buttery smooth as the DM6 i wonder....?? (ok i appreciate it has the slow-mo controls. I've found the simple handle does the same thing just as well and easier.)

Revisiting this excellent thread for an update..... Looking at my images on page 1 made me realise they were 3 years old and the scopes there ( C8 Edge & WO FLT132) have both been honourably discharged. I still have the DM-6 and 'the Panther' and a few months ago decided to put together a lightweight grab & go setup to use with my 4" refractor. Enter the Discmounts DM-4. Basically its a scaled down version of its bigger brother but uses 4" discs instead of 6" on its alt-az axis. Its so much lighter than the DM-6 and i use it with my existing Gitzo carbon 'photo tripod' which is an outstanding bit of kit in its own right. It easily handles my 105mm refractor, and is my ideal grab and go. Although its do-able i have no plans to fit any encoders into it, as i already have that option on the bigger DM-6. Some photo's.....🙂 Comparison with the DM-6. I'm pretty sure i'm the only user with BOTH a DM-6 and a DM-4 in the UK, and there are not many DM-6 owners either. With scopes... Two more...

Beautiful. I'd have loved to have been there and seen that.

Is it ever.....!! The June monsoon is well under way ! 😀🤨🌧️⚡

Yes, i have an unused roll. I seem to remember it being 750mm wide which was annoying as it was just too short to flock the tube in 2 sections. Looking at the abm site now, its only available in a 1340mm wide roll, so ideal for OO 1200mm scope tubes. Quite pricy stuff mind. I have the smaller sized roll (750mm?) and perhaps ought to sell it on although i think i kept it for a future SCT project in mind..........😀