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@Space Hopper i little bit of diy: Losmandy AZ8 riser reinforced and a HEQ5 Rowan adaptor

Trying to dodge that bullet, have the 8 and 13, keep trying to convince myself the 20HDC is good enough

Could be worse you may eventually want an eyepiece that costs twice the price of the scope and a focuser that costs as much

You have to be careful with ethernet cables too - cheap rubbish is often an aluminium core with a outer copper coating, would not be surprised if the same is done with USB

For me its not the tripod that needs to settle - its the paving slabs it sits on - careful positioning required so i don't stand on them 😁

Mine is on a Planet as i bought the tripod a couple of years before the AZ was available. I wanted a spreader and not the chains, adding the spreader to the UNI took the cost too close to the planet to ignore doubling the load - they say you can never be over mounted.

I thought enrolment was automatic upon ownership 😁 I hope you enjoy your AZ once it arrives 👍

Will be very interesting to hear the answers to this - its a great question 👍

Seems to me that until now Skywatchers prices have been pretty much the same over the past 6 years i have been indulging in the hobby barring the implications of currency fluctuations, production costs will have certainly risen during that time and recently shipping costs have went through the roof affecting many different businesses and or product types being imported. There has to be a Return on Investment for those in the manufacturing and supply chain to survive otherwise there will be no end product for the consumer. If you don't like it there is always the used market to fall back on.

Now that the price difference is negligible, you could buy a lovely British mount and get some motors for tracking later 👍

After a slight delay due to snow, a extension for my 8mm Ethos along with 2 Baader Zooms for the bino and a fringe benefit due to the parts included with Baaders modular philosophy 👍 Have to wonder how FLO got the zooms though as they are still not showing as instock on Baader's website, as ever exemplary service from the FLO Team 👍 Not needing the 2 inch safety kerf nosepieces, i fitted 1 to the 2" BBHS diagonal - undercut no more. The televue extension did not come with a dustcap 😒 i can use a spare one from the Mk4 zooms though 😁

When the fluid in your eyeballs thickens due to the cold and you cant see properly its game over. Never had it observing but have on the bike. If your using 12v power for things you could add heated clothing to the kit list

From a few pages ago, for those cutting foam blocks the best thing i have found so far for a clean cut is a electric bread knife

Mine sits in a flight case from Musicstore with additional foam around it but i would not like to be carrying it about, large not to mention heavy. But something llike a soft case for drums or possibly lighting would work if you can find something of a suitable size.

Just saw the banner on FLO' site, thank you for cheering me up after a crap day working 👍

I read that too and it worked fine on the 200p, does anyone know why it is not recommended for mirrors?

Some PSU's for desktop PC's have a 120v or 240v switch, not noticing was a mistake i only made once. The Lenovo powerbrick above could fry a AVX regulator due to voltage but not run it, needs 3.5A @ 12v

Wood is good 👍

Can you feel your pain, however a fuse doesn't care about voltage - its the current - amps that cause it to blow. A electrical device will only draw the current it requires, the voltage drives this current. If you are in the uk where mains voltage is 230 to 240v what do you think your TV or Hifi would do if you plugged them into a 300v power supply - pop, fizzle and the magic smoke escapes. That your suppliers will take this back is exceptional if you have told them exactly what happened.

Johns solution is likely cheapest, if you have the AZ bar you could have some of your buckshee weights drilled out, or have an old counterweight bar re-threaded to suit the AZ The stainless AZ weights are rather nice though

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Seven filters for imaging Six eyepieces five counter weights four cleaning wipes three tripod feet two thermal gloves and a lovely dome observatory....

Zoltan has been selling Sharpstar for a quite a while now.

They say good things come to those who wait, which is just as well with the state of astro stock currently, arrived early though from Aunt Flo's estimate 👍

Liking the case for more easy transportation 👍 May need something like this soon myself

With the Baader T2 1.25 nosepiece the small GPC's can be screwed into it, with the Baader T2 / 2" nosepiece its a push fit with the plastic adaptor ring supplied with the GPC. If you go for the larger 2" corrector it needs to be able to pass all the way through the clicklock up the focuser tube if you have one on the scope