Highburymark

Agree Peter. The head cloth was an important accessory in single stack. With the extra filter it becomes the most important accessory of all - getting your eyes accustomed to the slightly dimmer image is paramount. Like Jabeoo, I have been through a big learning curve with the Lunt - documented elsewhere on this site - it took several weeks and lots of experimenting to get the most out of single stack, but my expectations have been exceeded with DS since the unit arrived last week. From the start it delivered greater contrast and detail on the solar surface, and stunning depth to filaments, which now look like egg white floating in hot water. Active regions are transformed, although as yet the sun hasn't been particularly active. All this while retaining the same clarity of proms provided by SS. The sweet spot for me is larger with the extra filter, though not by much. These are only early impressions. Who knows, with jabeoo's suggestions above there may be even more performance to squeeze out of these wonderful scopes. I'm looking forward to some clear skies this weekend - will also be my first chance to test the Leica zoom on the Lunt and see how it compares to the excellent Pentax.

Is this cheating?

Going to stick to my promise to not review the double stack system before you Jabeoo, but I have say this: you are going to LOVE it.

Thanks - in that case....... I did in fact manage to have a very brief session with the new LS50C yesterday. Maybe four of five very short views when clouds decided to part. I was standing in an uncomfortable position, and the sun was just starting to disappear behind a tree - so it was about the most unpromising way to christen the new filter. It also meant I didn't have time to play around with the tuning or sweet spots. But the sun looked gorgeous - immediate improvement in detail and contrast. Slightly dimmer image - but that was no problem at all. Proms didn't seem to suffer in brightness or clarity. But it was an active regions and filaments that really stood out. As we've discovered, using these wonderful telescopes is a learning experience - I wasn't expecting it to blow my socks off - but based on this very limited start, i think it's going to meet all my expectations and then some. It just left me wanting MORE. And the great thing was - when I checked out the latest sun images on Gong afterwards, I was surprised that they were largely featureless. I thought I'd been looking at a fairly active sun, but in reality it was a below average day. Anyway - I will now leave the next report to you jabeoo- and I'll respond with a more thorough road test after that. And to answer your question - I'm just an observer - I've just got the B400 blocking filter.

Had been monitoring UK retailers for the LS50C for a while - then saw 365 had a couple in stock last week, so put in an order and took delivery yesterday. Not expecting to really put it to the test for at least a couple of weeks - combination of unhelpful weather forecasts and travelling on business - so won't pre-empt your report jabeoo. Very interested to see how your new set up performs.

Don't suppose that made it much more affordable jabeoo?

Jabeoo - I missed this thread first time around - but can I add my name to the list of those waiting with great interest to see how the new filter (and focuser) perform.

All that and Peak District skies too? Life's not fair.

Excellent colour co-ordination there djoemcgraw

I think the main thing is to keep these cases colour co-ordinated

I like your thinking Derek.

I've made a terrible mistake with my EP case. Dug out one too many spaces in the foam which makes it look like I'm missing a televue eyepiece. Can't think how I'm going to solve this problem.

Not just the best astronomy forum, but the best forum I've seen on the web - you do a great job

Almost 164,000 views of this thread and rising. A phenomenal number. Maybe we should start measuring interest in light-views?

The evo 6 and 8 share the same mount and tripod - which are very robust. The 9.25 has an even beefier tripod, though I can't comment on the stability of the mount. in terms of reviews, UK Sky at Night magazine reviewed the 9.25 late last year - and gave it 5/5. Looking into a black sky over the Med from the Côte d'Azur, it will be absolutely wonderful Freedom.

Helios 15x70 for me - really like them