Highburymark

Not if you check out end of year sales at camera websites - less than half price

Gitzos are amazing. Astonishingly light but eat up heavy loads for breakfast. Can't imagine I will ever need another camera tripod for alt-az. Mine's only 25kg payload though. Would be roundly thrashed by yours Stu

I agree. When I received and fitted the MEF-3 I was surprised at how basic it seemed. But it works very well. For me, the only alternative would be a full FT replacement.

Sounds wonderful! Nice report. I was slightly cursing my luck this week when due to work issues we had to move our summer holiday to Menorca forward by two weeks - slap bang into brightest part of Moon cycle. First world problem, I know. But then just thought how great it will be to have Mars, Saturn, Jupiter (and even Venus and Uranus) decently positioned and the time to really enjoy them with my Tak FC-100DC. There will be a couple of days of dark skies at the end too so can't complain too much. And even an eclipse of the Moon in late July.

Me too. 6ft 5ins and a steadily worsening back injury. For me the FC-100 is in a class of its own - a sub-3kg 4 inch 'scope with excellent optics which sits happily on a camera tripod and is airline cabin portable. The only competition I guess would be one of the Borgs. I just consider myself lucky to have such an option because even the C8 was getting too much for my back.

Very nicely put Olly.

Glad to see it arrived safely Ade. Cracking little mount.

Fabulous telescope Garry. And you may just have the best 80mm double stacked set up possible - with mixed reports for the 80mm etalon and the shadows it creates. Your 75mm filter should be spectacular with this scope. Very envious - but hearty congrats.

The XFs are great little eyepieces - particularly for binoviewing - light, sharp, good value, clean and contrasty views. Think they'd be much more popular if the range was wider and they'd been marketed to astronomers more actively. Haven't used an SLV, so can't comment on comparative qualities

Binoviewing with a Quark is most definitely possible and must be spectacular. Internal Barlow should also mean it's easy to reach focus with most scopes.

Must say I fancy an AZ5 mount head for solar. Currently use an Ercole mini on a Gitzo tripod for all astronomy. Very happy with it, but the 60mm Lunt scope with a double stack filter is a pretty hefty customer, which means the Ercole needs to be tightened to maintain a controlled view, which in turn makes manual tracking a bit of a chore. I've never used any mount with slow motion controls before, but can imagine this would be very handy indeed.

I was looking at the same ad(s) on ABS - will be interested to hear how they perform. Also interested to see what the new Baader Maxbrights will be like - expected to be announced in the next few months

Very nice Steve. Love my T6 11mm - can imagine your 13s will be fantastic in a binoviewer. Will look out for your report.

I have Stu's amazing reports to thank for showing just what's possible with a wedge. Picked up one of the Lacerta units a few months ago but haven't had chance to use it yet.

Don't expect too much - the sun is inactive at the moment, which means it's often devoid of sun spots and active regions - the features that are observable in white light. Have a look at 'gong ha solar' online to see precisely what's going on. When the sun's active, the Baader film gives nice and sharp views of spots - and even a little surface detail if you use a continuum filter. It's a great and cheap way into solar.

I have the 20, 15 and 11mm TeleVue plossls, and for me where their quality really shines out is solar ha. While the difference between the excellent Meade plossls and TV equivalents is more marginal on the night sky, on the sun it's dramatic. Outstanding eyepieces in my opinion.

Congratulations on the Quark Paul. I went the Lunt route. There are advantages and disadvantages to both choices - where the Quark really shines is its flexibility - so you can use it with almost any refractor, and get incredibly detailed views. A double stacked Lunt 80 is over £6k - while an 80mm achromat and a Quark is well under a quarter of that. It should be great with your scope too. Look forward to reading your impressions - roll on spring!

Can't say I heeded their advice Stu. A little OTT from the Tak Health and Safety dept.

Fair point - would have liked a sliding dew shield, but it would have added weight. Before I removed the dew shield on my DC in preparation for taking abroad for the first time last year I sought some advice from Takahashi Europe - they advised not to unscrew it too often, and to apply a bit of lubricant every now and then to protect the thread.

Excellent stuff John - it might become a habit

Agree that's a bargain Dave

A happy Christmas to you too - and to everyone else who has received some astronomical goodies from Santa this Xmas!

Is this your first Delite Mike? When you compare it with your T6 Naglers on the moon, you won't believe they have been made by the same company (apart from having the same top rate TV fit and finish). Naglers give a stone-coloured sheen, while the Delites deliver a cleaner image. I love both - would be interesting to read your thoughts once you've tried out the 18.2.

Interesting comparison from Dave. The other thing worth mentioning is that I remember the Pentax zoom being considerably more expensive than it is right now. If you don't mind the weight and fov, it's clearly a nifty option.

Until 2013 my eyepiece case consisted only of Meade plossls. Used with a much loved 4" Mak, they were superb. It was only when I bought a solar ha telescope that TeleVue plossls showed a distinct improvement. Sadly I lost that collection of Meade plossls - still miss them. Sorry for derailing thread - but Mike's words struck a chord