Highburymark

The Evostar ED has always been about excellent optics in the most affordable package possible. The price of these scopes is incredibly low considering the cost of apos a decade or two ago. Although it’s not branded, the diagonal is excellent - just as good as branded ones costing twice the price. Little dabs of glue are often seen on other scopes - particularly solar. Disappointing the focuser isn’t smoother - but the quality is bound to be inferior to more expensive products. Unfortunately it’s one of the ways that manufacturers are able to reduce the purchase price. The stock focusers on a few of my past purchases have been almost unusable with heavy gear like cameras and binoviewers. Hope you are able to sort it out - but otherwise you’ve got a fine telescope.

Just on a practical level the Mak will require extremely good seeing to give satisfying views, I reckon Martin. Particularly when activity is limited like now. I used Baader solar film with a 105mm Mak when I started out, but got far more use out of a 1.25” wedge and ED80 that I moved onto later.

It would be ideal Alan. I used to own a pair of William Optics too, again more expensive than the OVL, and the OVL branded pair are just as good. Though don’t come with their own eyepieces.

Great discussion with David Nagler yesterday about night vision and TV’s market strategy. Though clearly he didn’t trust Peter or me not to swipe the Apollo 11 eyepiece for this photo - note arm carefully protecting eyepiece

Thanks for the heads up today. Definitely feels like activity is very gradually increasing. Suspect we’ll have to wait until next year before the new cycle kicks in.

what I meant was 😱😱😱😱

Passable Gavin, passable. I’ll give you a few tips on how to improve your technique on Saturday at Astrofest.

I don’t think it makes much difference to the view. You need a B600 if you want to use a binoviewer or image - and it’s easier to sell the scope with a B600 blocking filter. Otherwise a B400 is fine.

Excellent - thanks Steve.

Just picked up a pair of Zeiss Terra 8x25. Fits in work case and great for watching the ring necked parakeets which have taken over London. Very happy with the views - very crisp and clear for such a tiny binocular. Fine control of CA. Comfortable, great eye relief, nice focus, small and light. Pretty much perfect, in fact. But I’m amazed that it comes with no end caps. No rain guard. Not probably big news to those on the forum who are familiar with these compact bins - but I can’t work out why they wouldn’t include some protection for the glass. Not an issue of Brexit-scale importance perhaps, but slightly baffling.

The main benefit of moving up to an LS60 from an LS50 (most of my experience is with double stacked scopes) is the ability to resolve finer detail, and keep views sharp at higher magnifications. Although an aperture jump of 10mm doesn’t sound much, it allows you to take proms up to about 70x in good seeing, whereas 50x was about maximum with the LS50.

To follow on from my last post, Astroshop is still selling new tilt tuned LS60s for £1370. If you can stretch to that, a very good deal.

Thanks for that comprehensive write up Vin. I think that eyepiece preference for binoviewing can be even more personal than single EP viewing. But I don’t think you can get much better than the eyepieces you’ve been testing. I love the 18.2 Delites too, along with pairs of TV Plossls and Fujiyama orthos. Haven’t tried any of the Zeiss microscope eyepieces yet - but SGL member Stu swears by them. Sounds like you may have picked up a bargain there.

Hi Tico. I think it’s a 2011 scope - so coming up to 9 years old. The price depends on a number of factors. Is it pressure tuned or tilt tuned? What size blocking filter does it come with? B600 or B1200? And does it have the standard Crayford focuser, or a Feathertouch? If buying new, a pressure tuned, B1200, Feathertouch version will cost more than 1000 euros more than a tilt, B600, model with the basic focuser. 1200 euros sounds like a lot for a 9 year old Lunt 60, but if it’s well looked after, has the more expensive features, and most importantly, delivers great views, then it may be a good choice. As a possible option, Astroshop (retailer in Germany) has been selling off its tilt tuned LS60s at reduced prices recently. You might be able to pick up a brand new LS60 there for only a couple of hundred euros more.

Very nice images indeed for white light

Think I’d be terrified to use it. Would have nightmares about the first pollen grain appearing on the objective. Or even worse, speck of dust inside.

Nice story Niall - hope your family enjoy the extra space this Christmas. Looking at your signature you might not miss the little 10” anyway.....

And bingo! Woodpecker in garden - never seen one here before. This afternoon was a tough test of CA. Low sunlight streaming through tree branches. Just a touch of purple fringing. But only evident under direct sunlight.

Thanks Ruud, hadn’t seen that review - and it’s probably the most complimentary of all those I’ve read.

Just picked up a nice early Christmas present - Hawke Sapphire 8x42 for birding mainly. Never had a pair of ED binoculars before. Almost £200 off at Birders Store. I believe this model has been discontinued now but I’m very impressed with the views. Super sharp across 80-90% of the field, comfortable, and so far can’t detect any CA. I have no knowledge of this market - have only owned 15x bins in the past, but these strike me as very good value, and might be fun to point them at the night sky too.

Though if it explodes (or should I say if it already exploded 500-600 years ago) it should also be visible during daytime. What a sight that would be.

The only time I saw a really significant difference was replacing a stock Celestron C6 diagonal with one of the dielectrics - WO i think. Huge improvement. Now I tend to use Baaders for T2 connectivity but like others don’t see any major difference. But as mentioned in your report Dave, perhaps Skywatcher is including better diagonals with its larger Maks these days?

Didn’t know that Brian - very useful bit of info. I managed to pick up a 100mm erf cheaply secondhand for my refractor but this sounds like an excellent option

Was referring to the fact that all Quarks/Scouts use mica etalons that have not made the grade for Quantum SE etc. Though I’ve yet to read a report about the Solar Scout which suggests the best examples are as good as the best Quarks. With the Scout coming in at £400 less than a Quark rrp, it wouldn’t be surprising if the better etalons were used for the more expensive product. All idle speculation, I agree. I’m in two minds about my Quark. So far not impressive on surface detail (though with blank sun and so-so seeing, it’s difficult to make a definitive judgement - particularly with the high magnifications that the Quark requires - hoping this may improve with a more active sun and more experience), but it’s fantastic for proms - through 4” frac the views are breathtaking.

For imaging alone you might find the Solar Scout pretty decent, as John says above, though every unit will perform differently. Ideally you’d be able to test the scope before buying, as these are very much entry level products, using filters that didn’t make the grade for Daystar’s more expensive offerings. There are still very few positive Solar Scout owners’ reviews on the web which is puzzling. But the Scout is exceptionally cheap. Buy from a retailer which is happy to exchange if there are any problems. I can recommend the AZ5 for solar observing though - it’s the perfect manual mount in my view.