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.

23 minutes ago, John said:

Coma correctors are only really needed if you use wide angle or very wide angle eyepieces AND the coma distortions that you might see at the edges of the field of view bother you. Many folks use scopes of these specs without a coma corrector quite happily.

If they did include one, such as the Baader one it would add £135 to the price of the scope. If it was a Tele Vue one, it would add nearly £500 to the price of the scope !

I think useful upgrades might be to add a illuminated reticule finder to the scope, the Telrad is very good, a cheshire collimator and a good guide to what to see such as "Turn Left at Orion"

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/astro-essentials-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/turn-left-at-orion-book.html

In due course there are almost endless further upgrades to eyepieces, filters etc to consume any disposable income you might have !

Enjoy the scope

 

 

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!

26 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

Happiness comes once you accept that you need more than one telescope! Equally there will always be a need for one more eyepiece.

If you have found the mount in stock somewhere I would buy it now. Earlier in the thread you mentioned a DSLR - you could even use that on the mount while waiting for a telescope to arrive. I don't have one myself, but I have read good things on this forum about these: Stellalyra

You generally don't need to rush into buying any accessories - depending on the accessories that come with the scope the only essentials you may need to buy are a diagonal, finderscope and eyepiece (or 2). For imaging a T mount/T adaptor for your DSLR. I would recommend use the scope for a bit first to discover what you like looking at/imaging and then start down the accessory path.

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!!

5 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

That's an excellent recommendation. The way the weather has been recently I've found more use for binoculars than my telescopes for a quick look between clouds.

Also unlike telescopes there are more binoculars available in the 10x50 and 15x70 range and even if you buy from amazon the quality is decent. The Celestron skymaster series is a good budget starting point.

Some objects in the sky look better in binoculars than in a big telescope most notably the Pleiades, Andromeda galaxy (in dark skies), and even the double cluster.

Good luck with the search!

  

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!

20 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

You don't need to buy the mount and telescope as a complete unit - you can pick and mix. You haven't said whether you want to do photography or just visual observing. If you can clarify that and a budget, then you will get some suggestions as to what may be worth choosing from  stock that is available.

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.

1 hour ago, Shimrod said:

It's worth noting that the 'in stock' page only appears to show complete telescope and mount offerings. If you rummage around the FLO website you can find separate in stock mounts and telescopes (admittedly on the more specialist side), but Bresser scopes seem to have short lead times if something in that range takes your fancy.

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.

18 minutes ago, gilesco said:

While it is an uneasy feeling making an order and then paying the money, then waiting for the delivery - most retailers work to keep all their customers as happy as possible, just go with someone who has good reviews.

All replies on here will be skewed towards FLO as they sponsor and essentially pay for these forums, 60,000+ regular and satisfied customers is not a bad thing, but find another retailer if you wish, but apply the same criteria.

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.

13 minutes ago, gilesco said:

Just because an item is not in stock, doesn't mean you can't order it. Your order will go into a queue and will eventually be completed. I wouldn't expect that situation to change in the next 6 to 12 months.

I ordered an Apo in mid August, finally arrived late November.

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!