pete_gamby

11 hours ago, heliumstar said:

I just checked the prices on FLO. They went down across the range. So if you want them now is the time. As far as being discontinued. We now have information from multiple sources that SLVs are being discontinued.

@FLO any chance of asking Vixen UK about the replacement, if any?

Optics Planet's website is not a particularly reliable source of information about whether something is discontinued - they "discontinued" nearly all Opticron models by accident at one point last year!

We have had no notification that the SLV or SSW eyepieces will be discontinued. There is usually a "last chance" offer made by Vixen Japan when they discontinue a range of eyepieces.

The offers that FLO have are for the last of our stock which we wanted to clear in the most efficient manner.

HTH

Cheers, Pete

Sales and Marketing Manager - Opticron

Have you ever changed the internal battery on the Skysensor? It could be that it has come to the end of its life and that's why you're seeing the odd behaviour.

https://www.celestron.com/blogs/press-releases/celestron-reinvents-sky-exploration-for-novices-and-introduces-robust-sky-mapping-solution

https://www.celestron.com/collections/starsense-explorer-smartphone-app-enabled-telescopes

On 09/10/2019 at 16:07, GrahamKnott said:

So it comes down to this: does anyone know what size (and type) of bolts I need to get? Thanks in advance.

The larger bolt holes on the Porta II are M8 with 1.25mm thread pitch. The smaller ones are 1/4" with 20tpi pitch.

HTH

Cheers, Pete

Sales Manager, Opticron - Vixen UK Distributor

Skywatcher EQ3/EQ5 motors are compatible with the GP series mounts including the GPE.

Available from the forum sponsors:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/enhanced-dual-axis-dc-motor-drives-for-eq-5.html

Best regards, Pete

AFAIK there is no solution for using the MT-1 motors with a 3rd party goto controller. The Vixen goto solutions used a variety of different motor types but none were MT-1.

We point people to the EQ5 Synscan option since the iOptron GOTO Nova disappeared.

HTH

Pete

The price of the Vixen mounts in the UK is largely determined by the yen exchange rate.

In 2008, the SRP for the GPD2 without motors was £495. At that time £1 bought 200 yen.

In 2013, the SRP for the GPD2 without motors was £849. By then £1 bought about 145 yen. In addition, the cost price in yen had been increased by Vixen by 15%.

At launch, the AP mount (without motors) was £599 and £1 bought about 180 yen.

Today we are back to £1 buying 145 and a retail price of £729.

Inflation would have increased the 2008 price of £495 to around £629 today.

Who'd want to be a Vixen distributor?!

Pete

Hi there

This Berlebach adaptor is one solution:

https://www.berlebach.de/?bereich=details&id=117&sprache=english

I believe FLO can get Berlebach parts here in the UK.

HTH

Pete

This probably will get disqualified as they aren't strictly MY binoculars :-)

I could probably have put this to bed sooner - sorry for being late to the discussion. Here is what Vixen Japan told me when I asked them about this some time ago:

"Once a wrong field of view specification was indicated on the #3727 by mistake and it was corrected to a 65 degree FOV later."

So, just a typo on the eyepiece. Quite an important typo in many people's view I'm sure...

HTH

Pete