Highburymark

A lovely Takahashi Epsilon delivered today - in beautiful nick (thanks to Richard in Ireland, its previous owner). Superfast at F/3.3 - when used with a night vision monocular and 55mm Plossl that speed will increase to F/1.7 - wickedly fast for sucking up light).

This was my point earlier Grant. Even as part of a wider EAA section, there are nothing like enough night vision users to support interesting threads/discussions. It will just become a backwater. I sympathise with you to the extent that no solution is going satisfy everyone. But if night vision had always been confined to a little visited corner of SGL, I might never have got into it. It was Gavin posting in the general equipment and observing forums that spiked my interest in the first place.

I think the Cloudy Nights NV/EAA forum has thrived because there are enough devotees to reach some form of critical mass. As night vision astronomy is only just starting in the UK (indeed, every known user in the country has already contributed to this thread!), I can't see how it's going to attract enough traffic to support conversations.

No need for sympathy Piero! I'm holding onto a very nice collection of eyepieces - and had too many anyway. I'm going for a Tak Epsilon 130d - Gavin's found it excellent for night vision.

One last picture of my EP case for posterity. Major EP sale imminent to fund new scope - including my prized Leica zoom. Have to look at it as cathartic, not utter madness - I suppose life will continue, but will it be worth living?

You're right - the strategic thinking behind these products is bizarre - a so called 'double stack' 60mm telescope featuring an inbuilt Quark for £700, undercutting the actual Quark by £400, and a double stacked Lunt by thousands.The couple of people I've spoken to who have briefly glanced through the Solar Scout 60 have said they're ok, but certainly not a quantum leap over the PST or Lunt 50. But there's so little comment from users online. I think everyone wants to see the entry cost of ha solar to come down, so hopes are still high for this product - but without a larger base of credible reviews it's difficult to know if they present value for money against other proven scopes

Beautiful capture Michael - hadn't seen it before

Nice one Alan. I've just picked up an 18.2mm Delite to add to my 7, 4 and 3. Supremely good eyepieces I reckon. The fov feels about perfect, with the added advantages of lightness, compactness and comfort using the lens adjustment feature.

Lovely! Look forward to reading your impressions.

I used the Tak focuser for two years (fitted with optional MEF fine focus). It was absolutely fine for normal loads (though I use mostly light eyepieces - Panoptics, Delites and Nagler T6s, with a T2 diagonal). I upgraded to a Feathertouch because I needed something more robust to handle a night vision stack, and heavy Baader binoviewer/Herschel wedge. It is simply superb - though I've been slightly shocked how far prices have gone up at many retailers since I ordered mine in the summer. So if you do consider an upgrade, shop around. You might still find one at the old price. And remember you do need to factor in an adapter, which isn't included in the advertised price on some websites.

It will just be a question of finding the right adapters to allow you to reach focus with the diagonal. One of the features of the Takahashi focuser is very limited travel, which means you need to get the spacers/adapters right.

No need now Matthew - I've been onto your excellent website ('alpha-lyrae' for the uninitiated) and read the reviews of your 60/76mm Tak - you have the same Feathertouch adapter as I do with 76mm diameter, so I'm going to track down a 76mm tube ring (SW or Orion) on which to mount my finder. I cannot praise the Feathertouch (FT2025) enough. It's an exquisite piece of engineering. Playing around with different loads this afternoon, I attached a Baader 2" Coolwedge, 2" Barcon barlow, several T2 spacers, Baader MkV binoviewer, and 2x Fujiyama eyepieces, and it handled them beautifully. Something that was just not possible with the Tak focuser. The fit and finish is also perfect.

Looks great Matthew! Is that a standard Skywatcher tube ring? I have the FT-2025 2" focuser with an adapter which has a circumference of 24.5cm - is that the same as yours? Very elegant solution.

I am very protective of that paintwork Mike - though noticed on another thread that it is possible to get Tak green touch up paint. Presumably would have to come from Japan - maybe we should order a shared bottle for UK SGL Tak owners....

Thanks Stu - yes, I left the second focuser section on there to reach focus without the binoviewer - for night vision and standard EPs. Will remove for native binoviewing - and presumably for white light solar with the Coolwedge - that's something I haven't tried yet but really looking forward to the next sunspot!

Both brilliant suggestions! Thanks Freddie and Mike. I had tried fitting some sort of contraption to the protruding screw Mike but failed - your idea is much better.

Thanks John - guess I have the Rigel/Telrad options if no other solution possible. Was hoping to fit a standard red dot finder shoe somewhere.

I've just taken delivery of a feathertouch focuser to cope with heavier night vision weights - it's a joy to use, but unlike the larger Feathertouch focusers doesn't have any holes to mount a finder - I only want to use a simple red dot finder. And there's nowhere else on the scope to fit one either. One option is to get tube rings to replace the Takahashi clamp, but I'd rather not do that. Just wondering if anyone has another solution?

Indeed - my Steeltrack is the previous generation Newtonian version.

Congrats. Lovely scope Gavin. And perfect for night vision. I have a Steeltrack focuser on my Lunt LS60 - mine was also a bit clunky when I got it - all sorted now and a very nice upgrade if you don't want to stretch to a Feathertouch

One very small bit of American aluminium with one very big function - the final link in my new night vision set up. Cue three nights of cloud and rain.

Thank you Peter - just had 30 mins outside - at this time of night surrounded by bright lights from adjacent houses and a school at the end of the garden - lovely array of stars made it difficult to recognise constellations. The tube appears to be blemish free from my inexperienced eyes. Most amazing (having never looked through an NV device before) was that the only way I could detect scintillation was to turn the gain up to the very highest level - otherwise very natural and familiar sensation of looking up at the night sky.

Sadly not Neil. Maybe you should be their marketing advisor?

Thanks Gavin! Free t-shirt too!

And here is the night vision device, just arrived this afternoon from Nighttec in Germany. Just waiting for a small adapter from TNVC in the States now, so will be a week or two before I can fully test it with a telescope and eyepieces - and see how it performs under the most light polluted conditions in central London