AdeKing

I contacted Telescope House about mine first then remembered that someone on this thread had had a very slow response from them. On the phone they mentioned something about the blue filter containing silver which oxidises. Not sure whether this is right. Ade

I contacted Bresser Europe regarding my blue filter on Friday, had response asking for my mailing address yesterday with another email this morning confirming that a replacement would be shipped today. I'll post an image of mine later, it looks worse than some, but better than others in this thread. The views it gives are pretty good, but I'll be interested to see if the new filter makes a difference. I'm really impressed with the level of service from Bresser Europe. Regards, Ade

Yes an observing buddy has the ZS71 and despite only being 5mm larger in aperture it's an altogether bulkier scope. One of my best astro purchases so far.

Thanks John. I'm a bit heavy handed so thought I'd ask the question before trying to remove it and ending up breaking it. Thanks Mark.

That's my little WO ZS66SD Stu, probably my most used OTA by a long shot as everything I need for daytime terrestrial, solar and nighttime fits into its tiny flight case. I've not used the mount in anger yet and have not been able to balance it as well as my Mini Ercole. However the friction on both axes is very progressive and so far I've been able to view up to about 70 degrees. This was an impulse buy after id read Paul's comments and saw a used one available for a good price at MPB. With the ZS66 zenith should be theoretically reachable as the OTA will probably fit inside the frame, though it will depend on how far out the drawtube needs to be in order to focus. However, as I don't observe right at zenith very often I'm not that worried. I'll let you know how we'll it works once I've had a proper play with it.

A hoarde arrived last week, well with the exception of one item that was collected in person. As per the post above, a Svbony solar finder, hope you're charging a commission @johninderby . A Manfrotto 393 Gimbal head after reading positive reviews by @paulastro. And finally a new to me Baader Cool Ceramic wedge that I collected. All set up here for a quick WL solar session before the sun disappeared behind the trees.

I've just received one too and found that it was perfectly aligned for the Moonlite attached to my ZS66 straight out of the box. When the bright spot is in the centre circle, the solar disc is pretty much in the centre of the FOV of my 12mm Ortho. Very pleased with it. Interested to know how @johninderby removed the white disc to highlight the etched lines. I unthreaded the retaining ring but the disc wasn't going anywhere without persuasion with a blade so I've left it alone.

Thanks for giving some balance to my negative experience Steve. On reading my response again it is much more negative than intended. It sounds like good and bad examples can be had once you've got the item. My experience was clearly one of the latter and sadly enough to put me off. Apologies again @domstar for my rant above.

I had one of these a while ago and used it twice before quickly selling it on as personally I found it about as much use as a chocolate teapot. In the example that I owned I found that the "click" between eyepiece positions ranged from vague to virtually non-existant and as such found that I spent too much time twisting the turret left and right trying to get the eyepiece in the correct position to align with the optical path and give a view. I have no desire to replace it, though I guess that I could just have been unlucky with the one that I had. There are others available, in addition to the Geoptik one linked to above although they tend to be rather expensive. However, given the prices they sell for they should be supremely well engineered. https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p5863_TEC-1-25--Eyepiece-Turret-for-up-to-5x-1-25--eyepieces.html https://www.astronomics.com/takahashi-4-turret-1-25-eyepiece-holder.html https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/npae-rotating-eyepiece-turret.html Based on my experience I'd suggest that you avoid the Baader Q-turret and look towards something like a Baader Mk IV Zoom, which gets good reviews (I own both a Mk III and Mk IV Baader). The slight issue with the Baader Zoom is that the AFOV is a bit tight at 24mm at only 48 degrees getting progressively wider up to 68 degrees at 8mm, but I've never found it to be too much of a hinderance to be honest. The Pentax Zoom is very well regarded, but has a significantly higher price tag than the Baader.

My B1200 scope side filter reflects red/green though the green is not uniform like in your image. Serial: 20101259

At one of the clubs I attend, being in my forties I'm definitely a younger member, but in the other group there is a more even spread but nobody really under 30 I'd guess. I manage to make the monthly meetings with talks but struggle to attend the observing sessions due to them mostly being during the week and me having to be up early in the morning and all that.

An example of how to show a product at its best (not).

I had been observing for a while before I took a break and read your post Stu and that prompted me to dust off the Maxbrights and grab a, pair of 24mm Orthos. What a revelation, its so long since I've spent any time on WL that I'd forgotten how much more detail the BVs reveal in WL. The detail in the larger spot was stunning in moments of good seeing as you've already said. I think I might have even had a fleeting glimpse of true granulation too rather than the suggestion of macro-granulation that I normally see. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and early evening.

Thanks for the heads up, I wondered whether there was something lurking around the corner that was causing the proms on the limb, now I know.

This also makes an excellent upgrade for the Lunt LS60 by removing the square base plate. Good luck with the sale. Ade