iPeace

What part is that you use? Looks promising.

Meaningful details...

For bright targets it is the bee's knees. That's when the right-angle mirror is most useful. When things get a bit more faint one has to do straight alignment, which can involve some gymnastics... I still have my RACI but I am trying life without it, so to speak... I like the Rigel even more, but I have only used it on the ED 70. Got some stick here on SGL for it being so ugly, so it will have to be a very dark night on which I try that finder on this scope

Oh, very well...

All one needs to know when in use...

That's a FEATURE

No self-respecting, serious astronomer can be without a floppy bear. As it is, I'm slumming it without the Tak...

+1 for floppy bear!

P.S. The 41 Pan and 26 Nag are still with me; major case re-do pending

Spot the diffs...

Feeling quite relieved about any issues I may have, now.

Odd, mine actually come out at night

I'm interested in what you had to "file" to get this to work, should you be inclined to divulge.

Similarly, with my initial modest collection of 1.25" greenies, I thought I knew what an eyepiece was, until the TV85 arrived with the 17mm Ethos and the 41mm Panoptic and I found myself sitting at the table - think group therapy session - asking them all: "All right, which of you is the actual scope?"

For me, actual weight turned out to be quite a surprise. My first scope is the carbon fibre ED70, and I remember my novice worries about it being attached to a camera tripod by a single screw . What did I know? Along comes the TV85, which seems to qualify as "grab and go" by quite a margin, and it is so much heavier...I now catch myself picking up the ED70's case and wondering weather the scope is actually in it.

I've stated elsewhere that enjoyment itself is the ultimate "grab and go" concept - the fun starts immediately, and includes setting up whatever gear you're using, no matter how long that may take, and indeed irrespective of how much subsequent viewing actually gets done. On a similar theme - I'm no angler, but I've heard it said there's a reason they call it "fishing" as opposed to "catching"...

Exactly

...and then, there surely is something to this. I have yet to try a newt, but with a grab'n'go frac on an undriven alt/az mount, FoV is king for me - now that I know what's to be had. My preliminary research had convinced me that quality eyepieces would be required to get the most out of a fast refractor - and there was no ignoring that green lettering was - on the whole - taken to be a pretty good indicator. I was very pleased with the experience of using 1.25" Naglers with my ED70 - when the TV85 appeared in the classifieds and just would not go away. A Panoptic and an Ethos were invited to travel along with the scope, and that spoiled me beyond any hope of redemption. However, as you also say, I'm quite convinced that none of this gear will make as much a difference as getting some quality observing time under some really dark skies, which I hope to do for a prolonged period soon...but I may as well make sure beforehand that my gear is sorted

Your approach is inspiring and puts things in valuable perspective. I started out in this business - not long ago - with a strong determination to stay on the grab'n'go path, convinced that "the scope you actually use lets you see the most". It's easy for me to feel greed for "more", or wonder whether I'm not selling myself short... Thanks very much for sharing.

For my part, I live in fear that scope will spit out anything without green lettering

I had originally ordered the TV model - which my supplier had (attractively) priced the same as a similar product their own brand - but someone beat me to it, so I was offered their own brand instead so as not to have to wait for the back order. I agreed, and it works perfectly fine. It's indeed threaded for 2" filters.

That's good enough for me . Are the barrel extensions themselves by TeleVue, or another brand?

Thanks - I've started using a barrel extender on the 8mm Ethos, and will probably get another for the 6mm. I notice you use them on these Ethos EPs as well, along with 2" caps. Do you keep the 1.25" caps on them when not in use? I can't get to the 1.25" cap in order to remove it with the barrel extender on (not extremely fat fingers, but there you have it), so that requires removing the extender, etc. Not using the 1.25" cap in favour of relying on the extender/2" cap combination to keep that end of the eyepiece protected in the case would seem adequate; the only thing I can think of is fine matter entering through the notch in the bottom of the EP's own 2" barrel and sloshing around inside the extender until it found its mark...

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