Jurger

If you share the link to the item, or share the actual file, I can ask my future brother-in-law to have a look as he is in the 3D printing business. As long as it's not a blaster from Star Wars which comes in a massive file which requires about 5 days of continuous printing (an ex colleague asked him if he could print said blaster! He said no!) then who knows, may (or may not) just do it for free.

Thanks John. I appreciate the comment about the coma corrector, valid point. Ordered a Cheshire collimater along with the scope. I'll invest in the 'Turn left at Orion' book, seems highly recommended. Yeah I'm sure in due course I'll pile loads of money into the hobby! As first mentioned, I was looking into AP, but the sheer cost of even starting out on a decent setup was admittedly out of my debt comfort zone! So I've tried to go biggish and basic to start with! Looking forward to lugging it up Bootle/Corney fell in the western Lake District on a clear night!

Bit the bullet and ordered a 10" Bresser Messier dobsonion plus collimator from FLO. 'Hopefully' they should have one within 3 - 4 weeks. What other 'must have' equipment should I be purchasing? I'm pretty sure a coma corrector is a must? Lord knows why you aren't provided with one if they're such a 'must'! Looked at upgrading the focuser to the dual speed (£75), but didn't want to batter my credit card in one fell swoop! Any tips for this particular scope will be much appreciated. TIA

Welcome Micheal. Sounds like you've got an amazing career ahead of you! Where in Ayrshire are you? I lived in North Ayrshire for 5 years or so. Me and the missus went to The Scottish Dark Sky Observatory near Dalmellington years back for their 'astro romance' event (it was around valentine's day). Can't remember it being romantic.......can remember it being bloody cold!! Hope you enjoy the forum.

So, as it stands.....my missus is buying me a 'slate bed' pool table for my birthday. And I'm buying myself a 10" dob for DSO visual......once they become available again. Think it's the best way forward atm before my head implodes!

Yes I've found the £1400 tripod/mount in stock. 18 years ago, my father bought a 2nd had reflector. Don't know how big it was or what make. But it cost him £80 with the tripod. I remember getting it out in the back garden, and finding Jupiter with it. Don't get me wrong, it looked bloody small. But the detail......looked quite brilliant to me! The reflector wasn't/isn't even that big. Collobration??? Never heard about it back then. I've since discovered that I live in a bortle 4 area (I'd question that tbh!), but my parents live in a bortle 3 area, which is a 25 min drive away. I actually remember going out the back of my folks and looking up at the night sky with awe! Hmmmmm! Perhaps buy the mount, and snaffle the old boys reflector for the time being!

Absolutely at my witts end with all of this! It's my 40th birthday shortly, and the missus was going to buy me a pool table to stick in the garage as I play pool for a pub team......well I did prior to lockdown! So after telling her that I wanted a telescope, she agreed to buy me the Skywatcher AZ- EQ6 GT Pro mount, and I'd buy the scope myself. However after looking at scopes (still don'tknowwhich one), then the other accessories required etc etc I just feel overwhelmed tbh. I originally wanted to go into general observation with some AP. But after looking into it (spent the last 4 days on my phone with multiple tabs open), I was leaning towards Deep Sky AP. Hence the £1400 tripod/mount. It's as if the more I research things, the harder it gets! Perhaps I should just get a more simple DSO setup, or a pool table!!

Hi Nik. I do have a small pair of binoculars, and a Celestron Ultima 80 spotting scope. Unfortunately the mount is pretty garbage/basic. This is maybe a stupid question, but do folk tend to mount binoculars? I recall getting a stiff neck and arms using a pair!

Hi Shimrod. I was looking towards the Skywatcher 200PDS with HEQ5 mount. I appreciate what you're saying about picking and mixing, but it seems that you can save a few quid by buying the package. I'd be using the scope for 'general observation' with some AP thrown in. My budget is around £1200 or there abouts. Many thanks.

Thanks for the info, but there's nothing I fancy available. I posted in another 'beginner' section about a Bresser scope, and the response was that the mount wasn't that good.

As far as I'm aware, FLO don't do finance. Well, there's no mention of it on their website as far as I can see. Otherwise, yes I'd go with them as it's showing some loyalty to the forum sponser.

Yeah that's a fair shout tbh. Just wondered on this community's thoughts on the subject as opposed to being strung along by a retailer on the hope of a potential customer. Didn't think about actually ordering something and just waiting.

Good evening all. As the title says, there is an evident shortage of telescopes available from retailers. I guess COVID is the reasoning. Much like The Dogs Trust, who have been having over 200 applications submitted for a single dog (we rehomed one 4 years ago and I still look on the website from time to time). So, does anyone have any idea when suppliers will be able to offer telescopes again? I checked on FLO in their 'in stock' section and there were 3 models available. I appreciate the feeling is that the 'used' market will be flooded post COVID, but I reckon Bob from Carlisle won't offer me finance! The Dogs Trust will likely get a lot of their dogs back also unfortunately. Tia!

Many thanks for the replies. Gives me a bit of food for thought. This is the Skywatcher I was looking at https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-explorer-200pds-heq5-pro-goto-telescope.html Would this be a better scope/mount? Like I said, it'll be for 'general' astronomy and imaging, so is this the kind of thing to be looking at? Not that anywhere has them in stock though!

Good evening. It appears that new telescopes are few and far between atm. I have read on here that some companies advertise as 'low stock' just so you ring up and they harvest your details for a future sale! Anyhow, was looking at this https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/bresser-messier-nt-2031000-hexafoc-exos-2-goto-telescope.html Was looking at a similar priced Skywatcher but it's not available. I'm not massively fussed as to whether I want to look at the planets, or deep sky objects. Either will do. Will likely want to attach a DSLR to take snaps of whatever! 2nd hand isn't an option as I intend on adding to my monthly direct debits!! TIA!