Northern Soul man

Hi John, what a fantastic report mate very well thought out and very well presented, great to see your getting on with the Evo - it shows through in your updated report - I think it comes to us all when we buy new equipment - we all have to learn the best ways to go about things, sounds like your really enjoying the Evo and it just goes to show that you have to get the "trial and error" out of the way before things start to get better. Enjoy the Evo and thanks very much for the initial report and this update John Regards and of course "clear skies" mate. Paul.

Freedom - very nice to hear this mate - well done - now the WAIT BEGINS !! - I ordered my CPC and had to wait a few months for it - It drove me mad - if your anything like me it will become a nightmare the longer you have to wait for it - but I think the wait will be well worth it - the 925 is a very good performer on the Planets/moon - It will be a pleasure to use- nice to see John pointing us to the review he had posted for the Evo 925 - very nice and well presented - thanks very much John. I've been out the last few nights with my little 127 Mak on the CG5, you mention earlier about the alignment procedure - well I have to say that I Have tried various different alignment routines, from an EQ and Alt/Az and have found them to be very accurate, the CPC is a pleasure to use - even the basic 2 star auto align feature works very well on the CPC with all objects accurately aligned in the FOV - then to the CG% with the EQ mount align - its a little more detailed with a 2 star align, you can then add calibration stars - I think up to 4, but even on the 2nd initial alignment star on the CG5 things become very accurate with all the latter calibration stars being smack bang in the Centre FOV of a 40mm EP - I just use the 40mm Plossl for all my alignment routines and find it to be very accurate - I have never felt the need to purchase a reticule EP to make things really precise - I'm mainly visual and find both the routines very accurate and with minimal set up time, Away I GO !!! Just a point, I always level the tripod before beginning with the CPC and the CG5 - with the CG5 I always sight Polaris through the hole where the polar scope fits - I find this more than accurate for my visual needs - I even tried a solar System Align last night just by sending the scope onto Jupiter - it was a little off, but well within the FOV of the finder, once centred and the "align" button pressed, tracking was very precise. I hope the waits not too much for you Freedom - your going to love the 925 - Congrats. Paul.

Hi Recc, There has been a really long thread on the Evo scopes on Cloudy Nights in the States - those who have bought them have tried to actually weigh each part, the tripod, the mount and the tube separately - from what I can gather the Evo 6 and 8 have the same tripod and the same mount - obviously a different tube assembly. The 925 on the other hand has a sturdier tripod (I think its a CPC tripod) but the same mount as the 6 and 8 - so the much heavier 925 OTA rides on the same mount as the 6 and 8, but its just the tripod that's beefier. This is where everyone is trying to find reviews on the 8 and the 925 - as said earlier people are speculating about the mount having to take such a large tube as the 925 when people were saying that the 8SE was struggling on its mount - a single arm mount. Been trying for ages to find a review of the Evo 925 - but I can't seem to find anything ? Paul.

Nice 1 Guys, I didn't comment on the stability of the mount as I've tried to find reviews on the 925 Evo - but there doesn't seem to be anyone posting reviews, over here and on Cloudy Nights - but surely Celestron have had feedback from the SE's - as we all know that the 8SE is on the very limit of the mount, but some have said that its usable - especially for a grab and go. Not sure but I think that they supply the SAME mount (not tripod - its the beefier CPC one I think for the 925) for the 6, 8 and 925, so, with the difference in weight between the 6 and 925, as said, is considerable ?? It would be nice if someone could give us a review of the Evo 925 - I think there has been quite a few sold over here and in the States - so I can't see why - probably that if it were unstable - If it were your NEW scope - would you post this ? Regards. Paul.

Hi Ya Freedom, even with a degree your going to be able to see the majority of the objects we have in the night sky. There's only a few objects which warrant a larger field of view, but you can use the 925 with the 130 for larger star fields. The 925 is a very nice scope - you will have hours of fun on the Planets and the Moon will be just amazing - the level of detail on the Moon alone will keep you going for a few months and its always nice to re - visit our favourites. A lot also depends on the amount of light pollution you have or if you can get out to much darker skies, not sure but I think the Evo comes with a handset - some have said that the software your supposed to use with the Evo is a little thin on the ground for objects, so you can just use the handset to send the scope to more objects, the GOTO on the scopes is very accurate - the only thing that will be of a problem is the level of light pollution you observe from, I live near a large town and can normally get down to mag 10 - 11 for some of the brighter objects, under light pollution the Galaxies will just be a smudge in the EP - its only when you get under very dark skies that these Galaxies show a little more. Personally I find my Binoculars better for the large star fields - my 15x70's give nearly 4.5 degrees - so more than enough sky here for the larger star fields and open clusters, you can then use the 925 for objects like M2, M15,M36, M37, M38 - low power will show them nicely in the FOV, you can then increase the mag to go "inside" and have a wonder around - these objects will only show as "misty" patches of light in the Binoculars - so I tend to use different equipment for different objects - but the 925 will excel on the Planets, Jupiter and Saturn will be stunning through it, I can spend a few hours at a time just centreing Jupiter, letting the scope track and keep the object central and just watch the different features cross the Planet, even the Great Red Spot can be seen on the better steadier nights and I can track the progress. HTH a little Freeedom, I have settled with long focal length scopes and found them to be more than capable for the majority of the objects in the night sky and have learned to live with my local light pollution - if you have a dark sky then this will help you the most - objects will be shown with much more contrast and enable you to search for the really faint stuff. Regards. Paul.

Nice 1 Alan, that's great mate - i think once you have owned an SCT for a while it becomes only natural to think if your getting the best out of the scope. When you take a step back and just think what your about to do, you realise that there is only one mirror that needs adjustment - not like the 2 mirrors of a Newt/Dob and as we all know that the seeing and the atmosphere will have a far greater effect on the scope than a slight mis - alignment will create - as you say the SCT's seem to hold collimation well - so long as you have the screw/knobs fairly tight as to hold the secondary still - if there's a loose screw/knob on the secondary this has the tendency to allow the secondary a certain amount of movement, so its worth ( if the scope is out of collimation) just tightening the three screws/knobs, giving even tension on the secondary - as you say - they may only need increments of a 1/16 of a full turn to achieve perfect collimation. I've also found that if your doing any imaging on the Planets just to check the orbiting Moons of said planet - wether Jupiter or Saturn, and have a quick look at the images of the Moons - as this will give a good indication of perfect collimation - or any flaring/off centre alignment. A great Post Alan and thanks for posting. Paul.