GazOC

14 hours ago, John said:

Do you think that these will replace the Evostar ED DS Pro range in due course ?

Depends on price, I guess. From the looks/ specs there will probably enough of a price gap between these and the "old" EDs that both could co-exist as the Equinox range did?

I quite like the green too (and most of the WO designs) but it wouldn't be a factor in me deciding whether to buy a scope unless the looks were literally the only thing separating 2 candidates for purchase.

On 08/10/2019 at 20:33, johninderby said:

The thread on CN goes on for three pages and doesn’t actually say anything. CN = Waffle

Lots of in-depth opinions about the green livery (on a prototype to boot!)

The ratio of imagers to visual astronmers has definitely shifted away from the visual side but I'm not sure if there's significantly less of us than there used to be?

How many of the people coming into astronomy through imaging would have been interested in visual astronomy if the imaging technology hadn't have been there? Seems to me that for a good percentage their interest wouldn't have been piqued in the first place so it's not like visual astronomy is losing huge numbers, just that imaging is attracting extra people to the hobby?

Wow! I've always wanted one of those things but it's a little out of my price range  

Some models don't seem have the Schott branding either. No idea of this is just a printing omission or due to the glass being used?

I wonder how many have actually been sold? The price isn't terribly off-putting but the mounting requirements would have deterred some people (myself included)

A little like those long focal ratio refractors that people drool over but relatively few people actually buy

1 hour ago, steveex2003 said:

That is a sad story indeed.
None of this stuff is remotely cheap. I'm not sure I would be able to avoid a certain level of resentment in your shoes to be honest.

It's hard to think of another area of business where something purchased relatively recently for that amount of money would be totally unsupported by the manufacturer. I'd be bouncing

5 minutes ago, GazOC said:

 

Oops

The weight seems to be USP over other 100 deg eyepieces, they are •••a lot••• lighter than Ethos/ ES/ Myriad/ TS etc

I'd be surprised, Dave . Maybe just a few irate astronomy geeks 😉

Back on at 9 according to the schedule

I thought I'd sat on the remote and changed the channel by accident

They've put the bloody tennis on instead

Would that be the FPL 52 version?

3 hours ago, John said:

They also have the less expensive alternative:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p10150_TS-Optics-EQ-Dobson-Teleskop-Nachfuehrung----Plattform-fuer-55--N-S.html

 

Never seen that before, John. That's a bit of a bargain

On 30/05/2019 at 21:04, Stub Mandrel said:

Yes, I mix and match my HEQ5 and EQ3 counterweights.

I have a black HEQ5 and a white EQ3/2, the counterweight bars are different sizes (bizarrely the 3/2 is thicker than the HEQ5) so I can't use the HEQ5 weights on the EQ3/2.

There seems to be plastic washer on the HEQ5 weights to make the hole narrower, wonder if I could hammer that out to use the weight on the EQ3/2?

I can make something up if you'd like? 😉

A faulty eyepiece is one of the least likely causes. If it's just a few mm away from focus then using the adjustment bolts to move the mirror is easy enough to try 

Still got my white cover version of the Observer book, got to admit that I've not opened it in years though. I've still got my original 8x40 binos that I got for Xmas when I was 11 or 12 too

I really like the idea of the self contained, rechargeable battery in these mounts. One less wire to faff around with in the dark .

I've never owned a triplet but I think that's normal. The lenses don't focus the different wavelenghts of light at *exactly* the same point 

Looks fun tech but I'm not sure how practical it would be?

I bought a 150mm f5 refractor off FLO years ago that had a small chip in its objective lens, as far as I can tell the chip has zero effect on the views the scope gives.

Steve from FLO kindly sold the scope off very cheaply because of the damage and I've always felt I got a bit of a bargain 

Assuming things such as that the tube is cut to the correct length to achieve focus etc. then I think you've got a real bargain. 

I seem to remember those lens cells aren't cheap. One of reasons they didn't catch on much as upgrades was that there wasn't much/ any saving in just buying a  new ED80 instead of upgrading the lens cell in your achro