Peter Drew

Not a one person lift off , surely? 🤔

Really? fancy collimation tools have only been available for a couple of decades, we always managed before then with collimation caps. Final fine tuning is usually conducted using a real star. 🙂

It shouldn't make any difference. If you do a 2 or 3 star alignment the mount models the sky and the track[ng/goto operates from there. More important to finish the alignment wit an up and right sequence to reduce any backlash. 🙂

Despite having considerable experience of both building and using binoscopes I haven't had the opportunity to use very expensive wide angle eyepieces so my comments are confined to the use of a pair of Meade Super-wide (68*) 24.5mm FL and a pair of Super-Plossl (84*) 20mm FL, both pairs being 1.25" fit. My several binoscopes share these eyepieces and I get good results with them, it's shorter focus higher power eyepieces that give me problems as they make it harder to keep the eyes centred on the exit pupil. I use the 84* eyepieces on a 300mm F3.5 reflecting binoscope giving 50x magnification. The outer field images are poor but an advantage of binocular vision is that you can't easily pan your eyes round the view so you tend to concentrate on the good central area whilst still benefitting from the immersive effect of the wide angle. What is true, is that the characteristics of different wide angle eyepieces do impact on their binoscope performance and can be an expensive experiment if you get it wrong.

Probably not but you could play the "How many times a year do you get to use the telescope compared to the number of times she gets to use the stair carpet" card. 😀

Just rip up the stair carpet and lay it to your observing area. 😀

Done it already, nothing left I need for 20K. 🙂

This is why I'd never buy a Takahashi. 🤔

I could do it for you Steve. 🙂

We too easily fall into the trap of what suits us personally when being critical of a product. I'm sure that there are at least as many who will appreciate a good portable mount as there are for others with further ambitions and I'm also sure that ZWO and the other HD mount providers will have noticed it. 🙂

I share similar feelings but always remind myself as to how thrilled Galileo would have been with one. 🙂

Is the date entered in USA format? Welcome to SGL. 🙂

Hello KissAnti. I don't know this mount but usually removing the top plate that the telescope attaches to shows screws that hold a cover that is on top of the DEC gear. Removing this cover will allow you to regrease the gear. There may be a nut at the bottom of the DEC shat housing when you remove the plastic cover, removing this would allow you to grease the bottom bearing if there is one. Hope this helps and welcome to SGL. 🙂

Looks like being the best of the bunch if the price is right. 🙂

Very "entertaining" thread on the ZWO harmonic drive mount on CN. 🙂

+1 🙂

What a great launch and so fitting on a Christmas day, demonstrates what can be achieved when nations pull together. Hope all goes just as perfectly for the rest of the mission.

Not yet, but I do have a 5" F15 triplet that might be an interesting comparison if the sky ever clears again. Certainly not before the New Year according to the current local forecast. ☹️

I have a SW 150ED, purchased as used, I'm very pleased with all aspects of its performance but it is still only a 150mm telescope and can only do what a good 150mm telescope can do. It can't defy physics. 🙂

You could try cutting washers from a plastic milk bottle or similar and fit them between the knobs and the mount. This would increase the pressure and maybe improve the holding effort. 🙂

The lunar phase is different, could the extra brightness of the full Moon wash out the colour? 🙂

Managed to get a rare look myself this morning. Despite the forecast, here too was a brilliantly clear start due to being also high enough to be above the fog. Not the best of views as the Sun is so low now that only half of my aperture is usable plus there was a patch of condensation inside the objective both conspiring to reduce the contrast. Even so, the caravan train of sunspots was a sight to behold after the recent lack of them. The Ha view showed a lot of potential for flaring, hope there will be another opportunity before they pass. 🙂

Agreed, but this is the difference between dreams and reality. In dreams, the real downsides don't exist. As mentioned previously I have a 30" Dobsonian but my most used night time telescope is a 16" SCT. Both telescopes take no more than a few minutes to deploy but the 30" is wheeled out of its housing to face the elements (cold or wind) whereas the 16" is in a dome with a superb tracking equatorial mount. Spot the difference. 🙂

Be careful what you dream/wish for. I have somehow accumulated many good and some premium telescopes up to 30" aperture. The two I use most are a 16" SCT and a 6" dedicated solar refractor. As the saying goes, "The best telescope is the one....etc. 🙂

Seen a few. If cheap enough it's fun to play around with, objectives can be quite good at F11 but the rest is the usual ............ 🙂