DRT

Just now, Stu said:

Worry yee not Derek, just for ultra grab and go visual use

Good to hear, Stu - I thought you were being drawn in by The Dark Side ?

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

This arrived today. Have been wanting one for a while, very lovely ‘chunky’ little thing, feels very nicely made. Focuser is very smooth and it is incredibly compact with the retractable dewshield. It reminds me of a more up to date, slightly bigger version of my old WO SD66 and will hopefully come everywhere with me, to places the Tak dare not go (or rather fit!)

You're not secretly becoming an imager are you, @Stu?  '

Great reports, Chris, and very pleasing to hear what this scope can deliver.

14 hours ago, bish said:

I know it has been discussed many times before  - but you feel the need to change the XW's back to TV? I would think the XW's plenty good enough for 70 degree.

Do you think you have changed your eps more than any other person ever??

I think you might be right ?

10 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

No clouds?.

Nope. Teleskop Service only include jelly sweets in their boxes  

26 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not seen those before Derek, is it even smaller than the Mini Ercole? Looks interesting.  It has a little more height than my Giro-WR so probably won’t need a pillar of any sort to avoid tripod leg clashes! Nice, although I do see the white is a little unusual. Can’t see it in the dark though I guess  

Sorry, a typo - it is an Ercole Mini, not a Giro Mini

It's exactly the same as the one I had a couple of years ago apart from the white bit, which looks like it is made of Teflon.

A new Tele Optic Giro Mini arrived today from Teleskop Service. 

The white central bearing looks a bit strange but I might learn to live with it ?

47 minutes ago, DRT said:

ED150 and the matching CNC dovetail and rings?

I posted this before seeing @John's other thread - honest I did! ?

1 hour ago, John said:

Any guesses ?

 

ED150 and the matching CNC dovetail and rings?

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

Post person attended today and I brings my XW collection to short fl ones. 
Now have the 5XW and 3.5XW.
Just need to add the 10XW and 7XW as time passes and I will be in EP Nirvana.

Very nice, Alan.

The final piece of my Nirvana Jigsaw arrived last week from FLO.

This is what Nirvana looks like...

29 minutes ago, Panda Alvin said:

Does anyone have the dimension of the rings / holder at its maximum ?
Just wanted to see what is the smallest bag or case it could fit into.

You would need a space 23cm x 14cm x 10cm to fit the OTA and holder bracket/rings fully assembled excluding the extension tube and any other accessories.

14 minutes ago, iPeace said:

I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of view offered by a very cheerfully-priced 6" f/6 from GSO. It set me on the Newt Path (the fracs are staying, of course...).

Good to know and I look forward to looking through this. 

I can assure you my Fracs are feeling no stress as a result of this latest purchase ?

52 minutes ago, iPeace said:

That's an absolute steal - and a GSO mirror is already excellent value. Glad you have a light bucket to swing around when appropriate.

The light bucket is now ready to go ?

5 minutes ago, iPeace said:

Hm...nice handle...and I've got the same family of rings on my own custom carbon newt. Where's the handle from?

I have a spare one if you want it ?

21 minutes ago, Gina said:

Depends how big the discount was.  But it will severely affect any resale value.

I don't mind that to be honest, @Gina - the purchase was part of a bigger plan to free up money for other uses. 

I sold some very expensive kit but decided I didn't want to do without the use of a nice big reflector for whenever it takes my fancy to use one. By the time I sell the accessories that I don't need and taking the discount, this thing will have cost me around £200. Not bad given that I planned to buy a new focuser for a 6" Orion Optics F11 Dob that currently doesn't have one but will now inherit the GSO Crayford from this scope when I fit my FeatherTouch Crayford to the 10" F5. Some creative maths then tells me the 10" only cost around £50  

4 hours ago, Paul73 said:

Bank of Televue properly raided!

As you know I had cause to empty my Tele Vue account a few months ago - it was very sad to see them all shipped off to new foster homes  

But fortunes change, and I now have a very nice box of 100º monsters and a full set of 70º XWs.

I have kept a small token of green and black in Nostalgia Corner in the hope that one day they might all return  

Yes, I know, there are overlaps - but I keep telling myself it's ok

20 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I could not live with a dent like that (even with a discount). Im a bit OCD about things like that. Id send it back. Love the observing chair. It looks very comfortable.

I have a brother-in-law who is a panel beater by trade.

Dent? What dent?  

2 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Guan Sheng- 830 = 10 inch f5  Newtonian.???

Correct! But it is the Altair-branded version  

There is a lovely dent in the bottom half of the tube which doesn't encroach on the light path and attracted a suitable discount. Very nice CNC dual-speed focuser and sturdy rings which are now attached to a 15" ADM Losmandy plate and the handle that you can see in the picture.

Very pleased  

37 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not so exciting, but a nice original Vixen counterweight for my GP.

There is something very similar to that in a box in my garage, @Stu ?

Can you tell what it is yet?...

The box is 137cm x 47cm x 47 cm

25 minutes ago, John said:

Now I will be very interested in what you think of that one Derek

I went for the Delos 14 in the end but was, and still am, very tempted by an XW 14 to join my other XW's.

Will be sure to let you know, John. I have been very impressed with the others so far so when this came up I couldn't resist.

Courtesy of @Ricochet this arrived today...

4 hours ago, happy-kat said:

I've put mine in a standard Skywatcher finder shoe and using that to mount on the mount clamp on my Skywatcher tripods.

It perhaps isn't perfect but it clamps quite solid and I'll also be using the DSLR on it.

I've also got an eqclamp I use with it as I haven't got round to tapping a 3/8" thread on the base leg.

That is a brilliant idea. Thanks for sharing ? 

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Smooth and very fine.

I second that - it's a very well made focuser at this price.

50 minutes ago, John said:

My delivery today was a 2 inch 2x Powermate. I've owned and sold a couple of these in the past but fancied another go with one

We will look out for it in the Classifieds, John ?  

PS: I know how this goes - I've bought and sold three myself