rwilkey

18 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Welcome to SGL. It looks like it could be a Bird Jones style of Newtonian reflector in which case I would hold off from buying a Barlow lens to increase the magnification. Can you possibly take a photo of the label on the side of the telescope which should have some numbers on it which is the focal length and ratio/ aperture etc. This will let folk know whether it's a a Bird Jones or not. Regarding the teeth on one of the drives being non existent there's always the 3D printer solution.

Hi there and welcome to SGL, focal length and ratio is 1400/150, which, looking at the picture of the scope suggests this is a Bird/Jones type telescope.

Hi, there are better out there but in my opinion I have never owned a better 'on axis' eyepiece, it was also my very first ever upgrade.

Hi Chris, a warm welcome from me too, not far away from you.  Clear skies!

On 20/12/2023 at 16:17, Voxish said:

I have been looking for a 6 mm Radian for 2 years, rare things these days it seems. ABS used to be a wash with them, not anymore.
 

Mr Asperger here needs all his gear to match sadly, my own self imposed hell. 

I have the 6mm & 8mm Radians which I bought on this forum, there was a 6mm on Ebay a week ago, so they do appear from time to time, I do confirm, they are very good.  Good luck!

Hi there, the 80's are better for back-packing, but the Orion starblast II 4.5 and Celestron inspire 100az are better in my opinion, the advantage of these is NOT because they necessarily give more magnification as most observational astronomy is done at lower powers, but because the larger aperture allows you to see more fainter objects - so in my mind, if you can fit the 100's in your back-pack, then go for one of these.  We have a saying on SGL: 'Aperture is King'.  Good luck!

Welcome back Nick, from another frac lover!

I have just under 60, however, I cannot part with hardly any of them as they were part of my 'growing into astronomy', I have sold about 3 or 4 that's all. 

From an ergonomic point of view I prefer the ExSc, however, the twist-up eyeguard on the Luminos is a great feature which I love (I have the Axiom LX's).  The 23mm which I sold was cumbersome and heavy though.  I think I would prefer the old Axiom's rather than the Luminos.

I have always preferred the use of Moon filters, for me it helps define the surface of the Moon where otherwise it would be bleached out, I prefer the ND13 as this gives cracking views for me.  I also use OIII and UHC occasionally where the object calls for it, but apart from the Moon I prefer not to use filters but always have them on standby.

I think you are using too much magnificartion: 1500/2.5 = 600x.  Much too high for our thick atmosphere and the scope (max useful mag = 300x).  A 5mm will give you 300x but even so you would have to trek out to a dark sky spot to have any chance of acheiving this.  Clear skies!

My problen is that I have no real regrets and tend not to sell any eyepiece I have enjoyed.  A good example is the Explore Scientific 82º Series, but when a 'job lot' of Naglers came up on eBay I couldn't resist them, or have the heart to sell my treasured ExSc.  The other thing is that you get different experiences from using different eyepieces, which I find stimulating, well, that's just me! Pictures below:

Hi Chrissy and a warm welcome from me, also in the West Country. Good advice above, get used to the mechanics of the telescope in daylight hours.  Clear skies!

Hi, I found the 2" Barlow cumbersome and sold it.  I much prefer a 'shorty' 1.25".  Sooner or later you will get 1.25" eyepieces and a 2" Barlow will seem a bit overkill, especially if you only have the 28" LET eyepiece to use it with, I tried 2" low power ep's with the 2" Barlow and found it simply did not work, anyway, that defeats the object of having a low power eyepiece.  Your next best move is to consider 1.25" eyepieces, in a zoom or otherwise, in my opinion.

10 minutes ago, Ags said:

I have heard that from several people, but I have owned the Nirvana 16 and while it gave many enjoyable views  particularly of the Moon, I ultimately found its edge correction, curvature and astigmatism unbearable. My sources tell me those issues do not affect the Nirvana 13 however!

Interesting, that has not been my experience with the TS UWA "UWAN" 82 degree 16mm. 

I have all the ES 82º series, however, I bought a 16mm Nirvana clone (Telescope Service) recently second hand to compare it with the TV 16mmT5 and to be honest the Nirvana clone compared equally well with the TV.  I would recommend the Nirvana to anyone.  The FLO price is also very competitive.

Hi Tony and a warm welcome from me.  Clear skies!

Hi Long John and welcome from me too.  Clear skies!

19 hours ago, Don Pensack said:

I'm surprised you don't use the 4" refractor on the SkyTee mount.  It is far more stable.

I had issues with shimmy using an 80mm f/6 refractor on the Porta-II.  Are you using the heavier tripod?

Hi Don, I don't interchange tripods now as I am partially disabled and can't handle the 200P.  I have the Porta II on the standard aluminium tripod, I have never had a problem with it and find it quite sturdy.  See below:

I find using the Nagler 31 T5, with my 102ED is quite satisfactory with a Vixen Porta II mount.

Hi Mick, a warm welcome from me too.  Clear skies!

Hi Bobby, a very warm welcome from me too.  Clear Skies!

On 20/02/2023 at 15:44, Louis D said:

They were a good budget option 5+ years ago, then their prices climbed into near Tele Vue territory even pre-pandemic, at least here in the US.  There's a bit of a sale on ES-82s here right now; but even then, the Nirvana ES are a much better value.

Hi Louis, I bought all the ES 82's from Agena Astro before the prices went up and they appeared in Europe and the UK, still stunning eyepieces, but agree with others that the OVL Nirvana looks to be a good budget option.

On 09/01/2023 at 14:20, Franklin said:

The same has happened in the US where Explore Scientific are now the main Vixen distributor.

I bought most of my ES eyepieces from the US, as they were very much cheaper before they turned up in Europe and then the UK

32 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

Yes, that’s been around for a few months now - I think. Although the Skywatcher 200p Dob is still being sold by FLO.

I had only just spotted it, and thought 'great!'

I see the Sky Watcher 200P Dobsonian after being replaced by Stella Lyra has now been superceded by one called 'Ursa Major 8" f/6 Dobsonian', still a parabolic mirror but the construction looks more robust and also a better f/ratio at f/6.  It also has a 2" Crayford focuser instead of the silly 1.25 and 2" swap overs of the original Sky Watcher.  It also has a cooling fan and Plossl eyepieces all for £349, pretty good, found here:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ursa-major-telescopes/ursa-major-8-f6-dobsonian.html