alan potts

John,

So that is is 3 Nagler zooms now? If so I think that means you don't like it for some reason.

Alan

Reeny,

That makes the postage look hellish expensive, nice little case. I am not friends with the post my sons Birthday present has gone missing and they make it sound like its my fault for ordering it.

Alan.

Faulksy,

I have a space in one of my cases now and nothing seems to fit it. A very nice collection of glass there if I may say so.

Alan

As small as that.

I know we have different scopes and of course eyes but I find the Radians just a bit better, it could just be conditions in sky. I do also tend to use the Radians on Planets only as I find them much easier to use for longer periods, similar applies to the XW's and Delos. Going back to your zoom in and watch the doubles open up, a must for any double fan in my books.

Just been spliting my favorite dogs up with the same zoom in my APO, it was very easy tonight, for a change.

alan.

Third time lucky John!

I rather like the zoom, it is very good quality considering it is a zoom, ok it is not quite there with the BGO's and the short Radians but it is not far behind. At 5mm the eye-relief is also very generous when you compare, as I am sure you have with a 5mm BGO or similar. The only down side is you don't get much for your 300 quid, I think this is what puts me of the ZO II's or is the cost.

Alan.

John,

That is not your third 3-6mm Nagler zoom I see there . is it?

Nice kit in any case

Alan

Is the Bomb for when you are out at a dark site and you have unwanted visitors.

Alan

Mert,

I would have thought with having the 20mm 100 degree ExSc you would have been better going as near to the 30mm that you had for extra field or indeed even buying another of the same. Sorry to hear about the drop, I know how it feels, I lost my 6mm Delos this way.

The 24mm Panoptic is as good an eyepiece as you can buy, maybe even the best of the 1.25 inch fitting in this focal length area. A few site members have the 27mm and speak very highly of it though I have never even seen one of these, let alone owned one. The suggested 26mm is a superb eyepiece though I feel it has a lot of pincushion distortion as I pointed out in my review, on the moon it was horrible in my opinion, but sharp as a razor. This is used most of the the time as a wide field hunter eyepiece and it is only that I have a couple of long scopes that I even saw this, when you sit the obect in the centre on a driven scope you would not really notice. When reviewing an eyepiece though I tend to spend most of the time seeing where the faults are and looking at the edges.

Can I suggest that the 31mm Nagler may be a better choice on your monster Dobsonian, you clearly have used an eyepiece in this area of focal length and few can hold a candle to this one.

Alan

Is it worth trying a wanted on Astro B&S and on site? 

It is an interesting point on the CC, if I ever get a Dob it is worth knowing, I have never seen coma that I can remember. I made a 12.5 inch Newt when I was 19 with the help from people at work. This must have had coma but I didn't use it that long before my work changed and I drifted away from astronomy, I also think the fact my eyepieces were not what I have today may well have masked it a bit.

Alan

Alan,

Is he not a flexible friend? Your CC makes your scope faster? I was always of the opinion they slowed scopes down a bit or is that just the famous Paracorr from TV.

Alan

Alan.

You could always buy the Meade one, it has black and green on it.  Go dig deep and get the 35mm Panoptic, I can't see you regreting it, sadly for you, you don't see to many secondhand.

Alan

Alan,

Yes I find it excellent, it is great for just looking at like a few weeks back, the star fields in Scorpius and the like, I would say it is the eyepiece I use the most, even when I use the LX and I do have the 41mm as well.

This is a bit too big in the M/N but I have given it a go.  I pay no attention to the exit pupil, I know it spills light but I just enjoy the very wide views, it's the secondry mirror that stops me using it.  I use the 41mm on the 115mm refractor and that is F7, I love it.

But you need the dark.

Unless it has to be Televue,  I found the 34mm SWA Meade/Maxvision a very close runner-up, think about it.

Steve, "Cracking eyepieces" not a good idea.

Alan

Alan,

I know my sky is very good and maybe as good as any you will find in the UK. I use a 35mm Pan very often in my 1000mm Mac/Newt giving an exit pupil about 7mm. The only time it causes concern it when it is not dark, like if I happen to look at the Moon as I am waiting for darkness.

So if you have a LP sky I would advise against the move as you tend to get the mirror shadow in the middle of FOV, but when dark no worries.

Alan.

Some really impressive stuff.

I love Rowans new eyepiece case but no eyepieces, what is the big white one? that could be a secret 80mm UWA that we have not heard of yet.

Also YKSE's graphic of the eyepiece case design is excellent, I am sure it is cheaper to do that than it is to fill it.

Alan.

Stu,

I can see you are like me serious about your Televues. Seeing my old 10mm almost brought a tear.

Shaun,

Very nice collection indeed. I love the way the Delos are all in a neat line.

Alan.

Good News ,

The new visual back has come and I can't wait ti see it, I sincerely hope it is a bit better quality than the one that is fitted.

Such a shame the optics are very good, I had it up to X270 last night and on Saturn and the Moon it was very sharp, even at around X200 on Antares it was showing a fairly tight disc and diffraction rings, no mean feat on a star only 21 degree above the horizon .

Alan

Seems as if I am not on my own when it comes to rebuilding the scope. It should really be better than it is. The optics themselves are very good and the other bits spoil the package.

Is it possible to buy a crayford for it that fits without this converter?

Alan.

Dunk,

No I haven't as it happens, I have to be in the mood for DSO. Of late I have spent so much time doing notes on the Pentax 5mm v the 4.5mm Delos and the same for the 14mm versions. I must take some time to just do a bit of sky surffing. This time of year I was always obsessed with bagging Antares, I wish I had a pound for ever minute I spent on that over the years. Anyway I nailed it the other week and again last night.

I want to try the M57 center star with the 12 inch again this year but with a BGO 9mm this time. Wouldn't mind some suggestions of DSO targets?

Alan.

Sky-watcher 180mm Maksutov.

I got this scope a few months ago now and have a good few nights out under the stars to see what makes it tick. The scope cost about 830 pounds for me here which is not as good a deal as you can get in the UK but you have to consider I also bought the 190mm M/N at the same price, so much a case of swings and roundabouts.

When the scope arrived I collected it as always from Sofia from my friend who is the Meade/SW main dealer. I unboxed it with him in the shop, there were a few things that were in my books not up to scratch from the outset, the eyepieces and the diagonal. I asked if both of these could be passed to someone starting out as part of a purchase to help them along. With having mainly Televue accessories they were never going to be in the frame. So the box came with 5 things in it and I set off home with 2 things, the finder and the scope.

The finder is the same as the one that comes with the M/N190mm only being a different colour, though I firmly believe the quality of the black one that came with the M/N is better, it seems sharper to me.

Mounting

The main scope is not very heavy at 8kg and sits much better on the HEQ 5 pro mount than their M/N 190mm. This was my mistake believing a photo on a catalogue, why do they pull tricks like this. I was not a site member at the time and regret this every time I mount it up, someone would have told me it was not meant to be.

The mounting plate is a fair place to start as it is with the dovetail bar type of system, at first glance I was not so sure about the stability of this but after a good few outings it seems to be adequate for the job in hand, though I would have preferred a cradle mounting. I have already touched on the finder and this seems to cause a few minor problems with alignment of scope and finder. The mirror cell outer wall seems to be slightly conical and the finder shoe is attached to this. It makes it very difficult to align the scope with it as it is not pointing in the same direction, it is only slight but enough to put the fox in the hen house though easy enough to put right.

Optics,

Having tried the scope out on a good few targets, mainly Saturn, Venus the Moon and double stars, I have to say I find them excellent. It would appear this is where the lions share of the cost has been spent.

I have used the scope mainly with Televue eyepieces from 41mm Panoptic to a 7mm Nagler, the former vignettes slightly at the edges as this was never designed to be a wide field scope. I just find set-up a whole lot easier with the low power, the 35mm Panoptic does not suffer with the same problem so that gets most use. Images of the planets are very sharp with great contrast, one can see a great deal of detail with this piece of equipment. I bought it to try and take my mind away from the dream of a 6 inch APO and to a large extent I think it is working. The quality of airy disc at higher powers is almost as good as my APO 115mm which cost 4 times more, so high praise indeed.

One thing that I have read from many members about these scopes is cooling time. Last night I took the scope from the basement which was at a temperature of 24 degrees to outside at 29.2 thinking this will not be a problem, even after an hour it was still showing turbulence that was from the scope and not the general seeing. These members knew what they were talking about and have even read these scopes should stay outdoors.

The one area where I feel Sky-watcher have really dropped the baby is the visual back. This is part of what is sold as a good quality scope, not the most expensive on the market but not the cheapest either. The visual back is terrible, the set screws feel as if they are going to strip the thread they sit in and the whole assemble is of poor quality. I hope I can upgrade this soon, for me it really spoils an otherwise nice piece of equipment. The one thing that I would like more than any other and this is not just aimed at Sky-watcher, why don’t more companies do deluxe versions of their scopes. I am pleased with what I have bought even though some of it was given away, I would however be delighted with a better finder and better visual back. With an upgrade of these, the diagonal and eyepieces for say and extra 150 quid or there abouts maybe everyone would be happy.

Mak/Newt 190mm and 180mm Mak

I know that the two scopes are different and as such should not be compared with each other but as I have both I feel I should. If I could only have the one it would be the M/N 190, it is just that much more versatile with superb wide field views and almost as good high at power. I would normally not make such a comment but with having Televue eyepiece that will replicate similar powers on both feel I can.

If however you are an out and out planetary man or woman or are a keen doubles player this is a scope that should be strongly considered .

Clear skies,

Alan.

Tinker, Nice collection of Pentax's, really good eyepieces.

Rowan, Portable it better than my lot sometimes, if I went somewhere and took all of them I would need another car.

Alan

Faulksy,

You have got me wanting again, that 22mm looking good enough to eat.

Alan

Keith,

At the time I got the first case I didn't have the 21 and 10, it is as simple as that. Do you think I should have a case for Ethos only? These cases are cracking value but they never seem to have more than one at a time. I have fallen out with TS but that is the only place you can get them, 43 quid I think they are excellent, they really are almost as good as Peli, I have 4 of them and they are now about 85-90 quid each this size.

Alan

I was going to get into Bino viewing, I had two 24mm Panoptics but no bino viewer ( thats what you call doing it about face) I sold one the week before I flew to England which was a shame because a site member PM'ed me and asked if I had one spare.

Naemeth, nice work there with the puns.

Alan.

Faullksy,

Two things wrong with your plan, one, now I don't drink and two, i had to give my cuffs back when I left the Police, you can take the wife though, one careful owner.

Alan.

Steve,

That's how much it is here but on the sea they will charge 1.60-1.80 for a beer, still not bad.

Alan