Highburymark

Yes - it’s the 1.5x ED rather than the Q, Martin. I bought it for a range of reasons, but in particular to use with a pair of lovely 25mm Zeiss OPMI microscope eyepieces for higher power solar/lunar/planetary binoviewing. They are special eyepieces, but require a long stack for many applications. Early signs are the Extender works nicely with the TV85 too. Out tonight with the TOEs on Jupiter, but seeing terrible. Hope others had better luck.

Excellent! The process of solar addiction has cranked into gear…..

Congrats!! 🥂🥂

S*d the OCD. Far more authentic to have a diverse eyepiece collection. Floaters haven’t been a problem fortunately.

I’ve been surprised how often I’ve used it Stu, considering it gives 360x in the TSA120. Like the 3.3, it seems to boost magnification without diminishing the view. I’ve even had 360x on Jupiter on a couple of occasions, with the planet staying sharp and bright enough to justify the extra magnification. Obviously the scope has a large part to play in this, but the TOEs are the first planetary eyepieces to show me a modest but clear improvement in detail over Delites and XW. I think already you’ve seen hints of that with your 4mm TOE over the Nagler zoom - hopefully you’ll get a chance to see its full capabilities when seeing allows.

4mm TOE arrived last week. Had a couple of sessions on the Moon so far. Seems very nice - produces an icier view than the 3.3 I thought, but it takes time to see these eyepieces at their very best. Need to test them on different targets under excellent conditions to make them really sing. I wonder what their life expectancy will be? Will Takahashi keep them in production for many more years, as they have with the LE for example? Still feels like Vixen killed off the HR range too quickly. Perhaps that’s created enough space in the market for the TOEs to hang around for years to come?

Looks terrific - really handy option for travel. What sort of magnification is it capable of before image starts breaking down John?

The tracking vids are impressive Stu. As a purely manual mount it looks very nice indeed - certainly a level up from the Giros I’ve had

I use a reflective blanket for solar, which also doubles up as an effective night light blocker. Thoroughly recommend finding something that covers the head and allows you to focus on the photons coming from the eyepiece, not next door’s garden illuminations

Then there are also the Meade/Coronado Cemax gold eyepieces, which are supposed to be perfected for solar viewing, but I think are probably basic Plossls at inflated prices……. and far too tacky and inauthentic for such a beautiful telescope.

Absolutely. My travel scope is a TV85, and taking the PVS-14 away is no more difficult than packing an extra eyepiece. I’ve just bought a Baader zoom for the same purpose - nice eyepiece in its own right but can also be used for night vision with an adaptor from Precise Parts. The prospect of zooming in on globular clusters from a dark holiday location is one I’m very much looking forward to.

I find slo-mos are absolutely critical for solar Ha observing, when you need to constantly manipulate the view to pick out best detail. Great that AZ75 can be used with push-to controls, and of course it looks superb, but would need slo-mos to make me consider replacing my Skytee

Excellent post Vineyard! I’d missed it until now, but better late than never. You nailed it - this is visual astronomy, and it’s transformational. I now look at my PVS-14 as two machines - one, to be used with the fastest set up possible with the strongest filters for nebulae, and two, as an add on to normal viewing of globulars, galaxies and open clusters, ignoring speed. As long as transmission is good, even a relatively slow system (F/7.5 refractor, 18.2mm or occasionally 11mm Delite) delivers wonderful views of the brightest dsos like M13. And this is in worse light pollution than Gavin’s. As for night vision under dark skies - it blows you socks off. Dark skies with a large scope? Well, I’ve never experienced that, but Gavin’s images speak for themselves.

Am I missing something? All the table above suggests is you have to buy a 6” or larger apo to get a 9/10 rating. Ratings are almost completely related to aperture. It’s meaningless.

FLO came good. TOE 4mm arrives tomorrow, much sooner than expected. Looks like supplies improving. Bad news if you have willpower problems….

Nice report Stu. I also used SkySafari to try and track down Ganymede last night but it was very difficult in poor seeing. After 30 minutes I was just picking it up, but don’t think I would have without SS. Look forward to your views on the TOE 4mm - particularly in good seeing. With the 3.4HR, should make a perfect planetary pairing

I wouldn’t risk a 15kg scope on a Skytee II. It’s fine for 10-12kg with upgraded clamps, but 15kg would be pushing it.

Definitely - worth it for those Boxing Day views.

I’ve had several binoviewers - from WO and OVL to MkV, Zeiss and Maxbright. The most important factor is collimation, making sure all the optics are lined up correctly, including eyepieces obviously. Frankly, the on-axis views are pretty much the same in all models. The Baaders have the advantage of clicklock ep holders, wider fov, GPCs and other T2 accessories. But otherwise, the cheaper units will deliver equally satisfying results. I also think familiarity and comfort is a big thing. If you’ve found a pair that you love using, then keep them and enjoy them.

Yes - the 3.3 was the first one I bought a couple of years ago. Virtually all my praise for the TOE range is based on this eyepiece - though the 2.5 is just as good and I have the 4mm on order - but a long wait ahead. FLO is saying 60-90 days.

Nice report! The cool down time on these scopes is so fast, it can be almost ignored most of the year.

This looks very nice indeed - not just for imaging, but could be a desirable visual scope for airline travel too. Not many options at this aperture.

Website says they are at Kelling Heath until Monday

One of the features of my Zeiss binoviewer when using a GPC is it produces significantly higher magnification than my other pair - a Maxbright II - even with the same eyepieces. Haven’t measured the precise increase, but clearly there’s a longer light path between EPs and barlow. Today for example, using a TV85 and 24mm eyepieces with 2.6x GPC for solar, I was getting around 62x with the Maxbright and I’d guess around 80x with the Zeiss.

Those Denk Plossls look pretty good too. Beautiful coating.