DirkSteele

What oin earth were the testers doing to get dust inside the scope? When I have received scopes for review, I treat them like my first born!

Masters of advertising though. Those ads in Sky and Telescope in the late 90s and early 2000's were something else. I remember having a copy of S&T on a flight to the US in my teens, and spent most of the flight just staring at the adverts and dreaming of what might be (possibly a nightmare as it turns out!).

Quite enjoying this simple little game (love the music too!). Learning which lens for which object is part of the challenge but really getting those critical hits is key to a high school (nice appearance of a space invader when getting consecutive hits). I have plenty of room for improvement but pleases with my score so far.

Wait, we can get bargains in astronomy?! Sadly, I have always bought all my equipment new so nothing purchased stands out. Perhaps I need to change that habit.

Interesting question. Sadly, I have minimal experience with the NP101 having only had a peak through one a couple of times, and that was wide field stuff, so cannot speculate. I almost bought that scope back in 2004, though decided to go with the TMB LZOS 115 f/7 instead. The latter was definitely a good choice and not deserving to mentioned in this thread.

I will throw the cat among the pigeons (and I am not talking an SCT!) and surprise some of you. It is my 180mm LZOS triplet. Why? Certainly nothing to do with the quality of the scope. Its awesome. Its because I never use it. It has not seen starlight in several years and I expect the cost per observing session with the scope is still above £1,000 (there is a good reason why I have not reviewed it depsite owning for 10 years). It is just too big and heavy for the mostly quicker looks I find time for, especially with a young family. However, unlike every other piece of equipment listed on this thread, one day it will transition to my best purchase. I will eventually move out of central London, it will get a permanent home and be ready to use at a moment's notice! Chris North going in for a look. He liked it a lot.

Venturescope! That is a blast from the past. I bought a lot of my EPs from Ninian back in the day when I sitll spent a lot of time at my parents on the southcoast and kept my scopes there. Quite surprised by your experience with the NP101. I have read many reports that suggest it does given up something to the best in terms of planetary performance but not to the degree you experienced. Did it take a knock in shipping? Sounds like these things are ultra sensitive to collimation of both sets of lenses and then then needing a trip to Tele Vue to be fixed. Not ideal if you are the other side of the pond.

Any of these three will serve you well when it comes to double stars.

I reviewed this for Astronomy Now a few years ago and it was a very enjoyable read. Despite having a masters in astrophysics it was never needed and just quite frankly an exciting read thanks to the writing style.

I really enjoy doing outreach. It is great to see and hear the reactions to amazing views (like Saturn or the Moon) in the eyepiece.

Any guidance you can provide on budget would be helpful.

It is the carbon fibre Gitzo Series 5 GT5532S. All the series 5 have a stated load capacity of 40kg but the 5532S is the most rigid of the whole offering as it only has three leg sections. It weights 2.8kg and closed length is about 62cm so fits in a suitcase without blowing your luggage weight allowance. I reviewed it years ago and am still very happy with it. http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2014/05/15/gitzo-systematic-series-5-gt5532s-carbon-fibre-tripod-review/ For either the Tak or Borg, a smaller tripod such as the series 4 (which I use with my Tak FC-76) would be more than enough. http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2016/03/07/gitzo-systematic-gt4552ts-carbon-fibre-tripod-review/

The two above would have been the scopes I recommended as well. If you move into triplet land, they get much heavier so a far more robust tripod and mount solution is required. My APM TMB LZOS 105mm is airline portable but it is over 6kg so a very different beast to the above. Here it is in a Pelican 1510 plus the other stuff I have taken abroad.

Did you retrofit those encoders or did they come installed? I purchased mine before such an option was available but would be nice to add it possible.

it’s one of those special obstructed, mirror based fracs. Only disadvantage is you cannot see the space vampires.

Not much to add above what has already been posted but I own a number of Delos among many EPs and have tried others I do not own, and the 10mm has been the stand out in that range. It is why I have never considered the 10mm Ethos.

Perhaps, if the provision exists, hang a weight from the underside of the tripod. I have found that helps keep vibrations under control in windy conditions.

200x is exactly my experience as well where the inflection points seems to happen.

Need to see what difference this pier makes (I had been using the tiny pier from the Sky Watcher Az Gti - surprised it did not buckle to be honest!), but I think the length is pushing the limit a bit once the magnification gets up to the level we know this scope can easily take. I also need to see if an even more robust tripod helps. Solid as rock on the APM AzMax Load but that is not a surprise given it throws my LZOS 180 f/7 around pretty easily. How about your experience?

Needed a half pier to boost the height of my LZOS 130/1200 when using my Ercole on the Gitzo Series 5 tripod. Tecnosky model from Astrograph delivered today. Quite a hunk of metal.

Look forward to some reports on performance now that has arrived.

Needed a half pillar to raise the height of my APM LZOS 130 f/9 scope when used Alt Az. Found Astrograph had stock of the Tecnosky half pillar so placed an order at the beginning of the week. For some reason my credit card woud not process (have been having issues with it recently so likely to change it soon). Rupert sent alternative payment instructions upon my request. Which I promptly paid. Arrived today well packed. Quite a hunk of metal and should fit my needs well.

Nice coving! 😉 Look forward to hearing how it performs.

Completed one.