HIP3802

Hi John, and a warm welcome to SGL to both you and your wife! I'm just up the road from you - east of Nelson. That's a nice starter scope you have there, and a great Christmas present!  Although it is a fully automated scope you might want also to download a free planetarium software "Stellarium". This will also give you a realistic view of what you can expect to see through your eyepiece (Downloadable here: http://stellarium.org/en_GB). In Padiham you are also lucky in that you are never far from the countryside and some darker skies - especially around Pendle (try the car park at Barley for starters).  I'm sure you are going to have fun with your scope.

Martin

Qualia, another excellent and informative guide. Many thanks for taking the time to put this together in such a readable way.

Martin

Hi, nagarajan, and a warm welcome to SGL!

I bought a modified 1100D from Juan. Initially there was a delay due to  stock shortages, but when it did arrive it was fine. I would recommend him without any hesitation.

A very clear and well thought out article. This should certainly be a 'sticky'.

Looking at the other comments you now have an audience - many of them  very experienced observers - eagerly awaiting part 2!!

Hi, Jason, and welcomne to SGL!

Around the time of the Transit of Venus last year I bought a PST solar scope from Opticstar in Sale, Manchester. This in itself was worthy of a recommendation, as the scope was not only the cheapest price I could find at the time, but also came with a second 9 mm wide angle eyepiece courtesy of the store.

The scope worked well until the end of June this year when it stopped working, and developed an internal rattle. On reporting this to Opticstar Peter, one of the managers, suggested I take the scope in and they would look at it. The upshot of this was that after the problem had been identified (a loose prism) it was sent off for repair. On return two weeks later the scope was still not right - the solar finder scope was not working. Once again Opticstar took responsibility, did their own investigation and sent it off for further repairs. The result came last Friday when I received an e-mail informing me that a replacement scope had been sent by Meade.

The mark of a good retailer is not only the standard of customer relations when things are going well, but how those same relations are upheld when things don't go so smoothly. In this case Opticstar could not have handled my complaint better. They took responsibility from the start and although it was over a month from first reporting to receiving the replacement scope they kept me informed of what was happening. I couldn't have asked more from them. I will certainly be using them again, and would have no hesitation in recommending them to others.