Louis D

One of my pet peeves is newbies who buy a discount chain store scope and THEN ask on here "Is the XYZ scope any good? I just bought one down at the MegaLoMart." Why do they do that? Do they plan on returning it if we say it's terrible? I really appreciate beginners who ask on here first BEFORE buying as the OP has done. Kudos, @Longy717! Even for us experienced folks with lots of gear already, it's annoying to not be able to buy our next toy on a whim.

Is there any truth to Baader's claims below that their GPCs actually correct for added chromatism of the binoviewer prisms? I've never seen this claim made for OCAs/OCSs. I just use the nosepiece of a Meade 140 2x Barlow to reach focus at 3x and have never noticed any chromatism in my images. A Baader Glaspathcorrector® is not a Barlow lens! The reason for this name is only secondly the displacement of the focal point A Glaspathcorrector® is primarily intended to correct the prismatic color fringing that occurs on Refractors due to the high amount of glasses used in binocular prisms

And yet I've had better luck with that style. Go figure.

That's the style I had solder issues with. The top thread just under the dimming knob kept unscrewing which put strain on the pot to LED solder joints.

Perhaps you could 3D print an adapter for the current RDF clamp that would hold the Rigel QuikFinder.

The member in this video had issues with decentering using the Baader Clicklock. It doesn't evenly cam down from all sides like a proper locking collet. Instead, it simply pushes in from one side like a glorified brass compression ring.

Only ever had this issue with a Rini homemade eyepiece that used an aluminum insertion barrel. I had to sand it down with emery cloth to get it to fit. You shouldn't have this issue with commercially made eyepieces and extension tubes. Does it fit in the original focuser without the extension tube?

For visual or photographic use? For visual in my Dob, I use a GSO/Revelation CC with a 25mm spacer ring between the optical section and the eyepiece holder. It requires only 11mm of in-focus.

Something weatherproof, light, and flexible like thin, closed cell foam sheeting or Kydex plastic sheeting.

OCA = Optical Corrector Adapter OCS = Optical Corrector System GPC = Glass Path Corrector The first two are terms commonly used in the US while the third is commonly used in Europe. The first two are mainly there to help reach focus while the third claims to correct for chromatism in the binoviewer prisms. Of course, if you're using the latest Zeiss binoviewers with more mirrors than prisms, I'm not sure you'd want to use a standard GPC designed for an all prism binoviewer with it since it might overcorrect chromatism.

So far, I've found all modern illuminators to use the same thread.

I've left the translucent 1.25" field lens cap on my 12mm NT4 because it's hard to see and remove up under the 20mm 2" skirt extension to make it parfocal. You get some light, but you know something is wrong.

When one of my illuminators died due to bad solder joints that I gave up resoldering; I just bought a cheap, used 12mm Meade Astrometric MA with working illuminator simply for the illuminator for $35 a couple of years back. The eyepiece is terrible, but the illuminator is terrific.

Yes, I think 2nd (or even 3rd or 4th) hand equipment may be the OP's best bet to get something decent at an affordable price now. I've even known astro sellers to throw in some basic eyepieces they have lying around unused with scopes that didn't come with any once they find out the purchaser is a newbie and has none.

Also be aware that this Barlow has been reported to be closer to 2.2x.

Well, no, I've never had the need to replace an illuminator pot. All I can suggest is to run it back and forth a bunch to redistribute the conductor and/or scrape off the internal oxide build-up within the pot. This works great with audio equipment pots when they get "noisy".

I tend to use binoviewers only for solar system objects. I have a dedicated 1.25" diagonal for them to reduce focuser in-travel. I rarely swap between binoviewing and monoviewing during a single observing session. It's not that big of a deal on a Dob, but it is a bit more of a pain with refractors and CATs since it requires swapping diagonals.

Not sure where you're getting 4.8 degrees for a max field 2" eyepiece. Let's assume a 70 degree AFOV 40mm 2" eyepiece such as the 40mm Pentax XW. It would yield roughly 420/40 = 10.5x with a 70/10.5 = 6.67 degree TFOV. That's a huge difference relative to the 3.8 degree TFOV of the 32mm Plossl. Nearly 3 degrees wider. I do this a lot with my AT72ED when panning rich star fields. It allows me to pick out clusters and asterisms that are otherwise too big to recognize as such. For high power, you might try @John's goto of a 7.2-21.5mm zoom combined with a Baader Q-Turret 2.25x Barlow.

Those star shower laser shows may be using as much as 100mW lasers and have been causing issues here in the US. Are they even sold in the UK given that laser pointer law?

So the mere act of owning or taking delivery of a >1mW laser is an offense under this statute? The mere act of pointing a laser to the sky is an immediate offense? How many people were arrested for having those Christmas laser light shows missing the side of the house and pointing into the sky? I read of a lady in New Jersey who was issued a warning when hers got knocked over backward and was lasing nearby planes.

I did this years ago with a much slower telephoto lens for the OM mount. I put a short macro extension tube on the rear and added PVC plumbing parts and thumbscrews to hold an eyepiece at prime focus. It worked well enough that I bought a telescope the next year. I suppose a T-mount would be better because then you'd have a threaded mount to attach to, but I was unaware of them back then.

In my suburban skies, I can't even make out my red and violet laser pointers' beams in the sky. They're just too dim.

I just use green laser sights purchased from China via ebay. They're mounted on Picatinny rails or barrel mounts. They come with momentary switches on a coiled cord making them really easy to use and not forget to turn off. Unless you make a deliberate effort to lase aircraft, you should be fine legally. It's people lasing police helicopters and landing planes that ruin their use for everyone else. I just listen for aircraft and do a quick check of the skies before lighting up to stay out of trouble.

Those mounts are wobbly and difficult to track with at high powers. It has a three inch spherical mirror of fairly long f-ratio, so it is serviceable optically. It will provide decent views of the moon and star clusters. Remember that when buying new, you have to deal with missing parts, stripped threads during manufacturing, and possibly damaged returns sold as new. With used bought from someone who has been using it, those issues have all been resolved. It's easy enough for the seller to walk you through the use of the scope if picking up in person. The seller can demonstrate that motions and image are in good working condition to you.

Generally, the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130 gets the nod for best beginner scope. It does exceed your budget by a little bit, though.