Highburymark

Interesting report Gavin. I too found the GRS lacklustre on Friday evening with Tak FC-100. Slightly more defined with a Baader Neodymium filter.

But if you are getting any sort of star resolution in M13 with London light pollution, clearly the new scope is a gem. From where I am, M13 is an indistinct milky blur, even in a well collimated C8 Edge. 

On 2 May 2017 at 03:06, recceranger said:

My ED80! ???

Love the Baader focuser - very smart.

On 29 April 2017 at 17:02, iPeace said:

Here's one.

A) 24mm Panoptic or ES

B Decent mid range zoom

C) Nagler 3-6mm zoom 

= unbeatable travel EP case.

Is there any better configuration of 3 EPs to cover all bases?

21 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi all,

I'd just like to thank everyone so much for their kind words and for joining me in celebrating what for me is definitely the scope of a lifetime. 

At the moment the scope is in boxes as we have visitors over for the Bank Holiday and I don't want to be rude by disappearing off into my mancave with a long metal tube...but as soon as decently possible I will be getting up close and personal with it!

A few early observations (sorry) on the scope itself.

The overall condition can only be described as "mint". It is virtually unmarked, even though it is 18 years old. Serial number 99008, so built in 1999, the 8th of it's type of that year to be built. The mount was built in 1998, and is, I believe, the model before the EM10 which morphed into the EM11. I think the main difference between them is that my earlier EM2 only has RA electric drive, with slow motion controls to both axes (I think the EM10/11 came with GOTO). That is absolutely fine by me as I am visual only, although I do like to track with the mount at high powers. The manual states clearly that on good nights magnifications of x100 per inch of aperture are readiliy possible. The  Tak finder is 7x50mm and beautifully built, with helical focuser and I believe it has an illuminated reticule with it...certainly, one can be retro fitted to it if not.

The scope also came with Tak LE 7.5mm and 18mm eyepieces, (I have used 18mm LE's before and was very impressed with them), a Tak 1.25" diagonal prism, and a very interesting Tak Vari-Extender, which apparently can give a range of barlow type increased magnifications from 1.6x to up to at least 3x, perhaps more.

The mount itself is of lovely build, with polar illuminated scope and flawless finish. It's definitely "beefier" than my recently sold Vixen GP mount, I would say closer to the GPDX in size. It seems overengineered for the official 7kg capacity, and I believe the true capacity to be nearer to 10kg. We will see. The scope tube weighs 7.5kg, remarkably light for such a large tube. For those of you that are familiar with the Skywatcher/Helios Evostar/Celestron CR 150mm achro F8, the Tak is of similar diameter tube, but shorter and much lighter. It's an impressive looking tube, with flawless finish. The large 2.7" focuser (R&P) is buttery smooth. This is the first Tak I have ever seen in the flesh, and, nice though they look in photos, I honestly think they look so much better in real life.

The optics on the lens are like new, clearly never touched or cleaned, in a beautifully engineered oversized cell which is fully collimatable , (I will NOT be touching that though!). The single cradle for mounting the tube on the eq mount is very heavy duty and feels rock solid.

The tripod is fully extendable, made of hardwood and looks ideally suited to supporting the mount and scope, again in as new condition.

I think I am going to have some fun with this setup!

I'll post more in the equipment review section when I've had a proper chance to set it up and have first light. And pictures of course...

Thanks again for all your kind posts everyone

Dave

Wow - sounds like you've got a wonderful set up Dave. Impressed by the scope's lightness - and very nice to have the Tak eyepieces and prism to keep the weight down. 

The BBHS diagonals are new - I think they've only been on the market for a year. And they are obviously niche products - none more so than the T2 amici correct view version. Maybe Baader have only produced a handful of these Mike - which might explain why they haven't yet achieved the consistency of the other Baader diagonal lines?

5 hours ago, Stu said:

Knowing a bit about ex's, that sounds dangerous!!!

PS for the grammar kings and queens out there, I am uncomfortable with the apostrophe but didn't know what else to do!

'Exes', I reckon Stu.

More importantly, what a beautiful telescope - congratulations Dave. I had an opportunity to look through one recently, but bad weather - inevitably - put paid to the planned observing session. Look forward to your first light with the Tak

Welcome back! I wasn't around when you last posted, but good to hear you're back in action

1 hour ago, jabeoo1 said:

Pleasure Mark !  Glad its gone to a lovely new home

Rare version with lettering on it that focuser....... its a one off. 

 

 

Didn't realise that James! Always a sucker for that type of thing. 

1 hour ago, DRT said:

That looks great, Mark. Did they tell you what the problem was?

Loving the red Moonlite! First time I've seen one fitted to the scope. Do you feel the upgrade is worth it?

Thanks Derek. The problem was just  that the threads linking the helical focuser to the scope had seized. Not sure how they separated them - it was beyond the combined efforts of the builders and plumbers who are working here at the moment. I have read of similar problems from other owners. I would definitely recommend the upgrade to those having problems with their focuser - though prices differ for the Moonlite and the feather-touch so worth shopping around. FLO price for the FT for example is cheaper than some other retailers

Here's my Lunt 50, recently returned from a painful operation at the scope doctor to have its old focuser removed, smartly kitted out with new Moonlite - with big thanks to previous owner Jabeoo 

6 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

I have just spent the morning cutting foam & reorganizing eyepieces, diagonals etc into two cases ready for the big dob's arrival tomorrow.

Here are a couple of pics of the end results:

As the saying goes, "Now I am all done with eyepieces!"

Alan

 

Delos binoviewing - it doesn't get much better than that. Very nice indeed Alan.

5 hours ago, avtaram said:

My latest 1.25" eyepieces. 

NLP - 30mm

SLV - 25mm  20mm  15mm  10mm  6mm

Avtar

Very nice Avtar - keep hearing great things about SLVs but haven't had the chance to look through one yet. 

Thanks John. Haven't properly road tested the Naglers yet but they are a remarkable package considering when they were designed. I'm expecting them to be marginally outperformed by Delos in the Tak but who knows? 

As if to illustrate the discussion above, I have completed my new lightweight EP case - Pan24, Pan15, Nagler 11, 5 and 3.5, Delite 7 and Nagler zoom 3-6 for my Tak but also useful for Equinox 80ED and Lunt solar scope.

Heavier case for C8 Edge. Leica zoom for everything. Pentax XF zoom and TV plossls for solar. No doubt I have far too many eyepieces, and lots of 'double-ups', but before I decide which ones to sell I'm going to enjoy having them all for at least the next six months.

Nice post ipeace. 

Like men-only golf clubs, cheque books,  and five day cricket matches, maybe astronomers' upside down/reversed images of the night sky will be an anachronism by 2040

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

My frac's seem to be breeding. And there is a newt and a Mak in there too so sorry!

 

Great collection of scopes - why bother going to an astronomy store when you can make your own?

9 minutes ago, John said:

The Delos 17.3 is excellent. It's the heaviest of my lightweight set though. I recently picked up a Nagler 13mm T6 which shows nearly as much sky in a much smaller package. The Delos is really easy and relaxing to use though so I'm happy to give it case room.

As you say though, these are nice "problems" to have to think through

Hmmm - I might start thinking like that and reclassify the Delos as a slightly porky lightweight - in which case no need to contemplate offloading it ?

1 hour ago, John said:

Nice set Mark

I've also built a 1.25" lightweight set to use with my fracs. Trouble is that I'm finding that they are convenient in the 12" dob as well so my Ethos set is not getting as much light as it used to

 

 

Precisely the problem John - but a nice problem to have. I also have Delos 6, 10 and 17.3, Ethos 13 and a Leica zoom (8.9mm-17.8mm) - so lots of doubling up. I don't like rebalancing the scope in the middle of a session, so can justify having separate light and medium heavy sets. The Delos now look like the most vulnerable EPs in the case, except the 10 and 17.3 are perhaps the finest eyepieces I've ever looked through - so crisp and colour free in the FC-100.

9 minutes ago, DRT said:

That is a lovely set, Mark, and I'm glad the Pan15 ended up in good company

But you need to find a black cap for that Delite - that clash would keep me awake at night

 

Blimey you're right Derek. My standards are slipping

Not yet be-cased, but here is my new lightweight EP team, bought for use with Tak FC-100 on light alt az mount and camera tripod after selling off lots of other kit. Thanks to Steve (bomberbaz) for the Delite and Derek for the lovely little Panoptic 15. 

Very predictably green and black - I know. I did start out with plans to look at ES/SW/WO options, but they just didn't offer the right focal lengths, fov and light weights I was looking for. Despite their age, the Nagler T6s still provide a unique combination of wide field and compactness. Can't wait to try them all out.

23 hours ago, Pig said:

Here is my latest offering ....thanks to the Dr

 

Not so much a grab and go case as a grab and pull ?

3 hours ago, Floater said:

we could remind ourselves that Mr Nagler (no less) suggests we should need no more than three or four eyepieces.

 

What the hell does he know?

54 minutes ago, JOC said:

So this is my beginner case.  Yes, I know some of the sizes are unsuitable, but I'm experimenting and learning in the process - also trying out terrestrial targets.  NB.  also no black and green here.  The big case is one I got from a charity shop on Thursday - it contained an electronic executive golf set - I had to pay £12 for it, but told the shop they could keep the contents as I only wanted the case.  The little one was £10 new from ebay.  I've toyed with the idea of replacing the foam in the golf case - and got the foam to do so, but at the moment the existing holes are hanging onto what is in there quite nicely and I don't know whether to fiddle further.

 

Hi Joc - if you don't know whether to fiddle further with your EP cases, you're on the wrong forum. Fiddling further is mandatory here, even if it means spending vast amounts of cash unnecessarily, or spending a cloudy weekend refoaming. So fiddle away. 

20 hours ago, Philip R said:

Here is a photo of my 'modded' Meade ETX105 OTA...

...plus a few accessories.

What did your 'modding' involve Philip? I'm just about to sell my 105 ETX - despite it having the most superb optics. Just have too many telescopes! 

But yours looks very nice indeed

Thanks John, and good to know about the Nirvanas - they seem like great value against the WOs.