Adam J

For planetary I would go with the 462, for EAA or lunar the 385 due to the larger sensor.

The focuser does not work like you show in the diagram. The same length of tube is in contact with the pads and linear bearing irrespective of the amount of travel.

Lens clips will cause the shadows in the halo of a bright star...but they will not cause the star itself to be out of round shape. Mild pinching can have the same effect but this is not mild if I am honest.

I am thinking that will change once current stock is used up and then it will increase too.

As above it's either pinched optics or trefoil, either way it needs to go back because there is not way that can be considered diffraction limited performance. Huum I have noted that this is a used scope.... Really the only thing you can do is send it back to the seller if he will accept it back or if he won't then send it to someone like wellenform. http://www.wellenform.biz/ for adjustment. Not cheap. You could try releasing the pressure yourself if it is in fact pinching, 1/8th of a turn of each lens screw then test between with an artificial star. It can sometimes be the retaining ring but that is less common. But if you go too far then it will make things worse and then you really will have to send it to them or another optical lab for bench testing and adjustment. If its ground into the glass they may be able to reduce the effect by rotating the elements but not fully remove it. Sorry to give you such bad news. Let's hope that what you tried worked. Adam

Some of this is similar to the reason why some people will pay for apple and others think that android is just as good and cheaper.

Just to give this additional context. The cost of three 3nm narrow band filters in the smallest size now exceeds the cost of a Esprit 100. Wow.

Yeah I would never do that either. I'll be really interested to see how badly this hits their sales. Its a bold move when they have other companies with improving products nipping at their heals.

Take a look at this: appart from the channel name making me cringe, it will give you bad dreams if you paid for premium filters. Extra points if you can tell me everything he did wrong lol. For me the best but is that he has purchased 36mm filters for a scope and camera combo that don't require them and then look how he is attaching the camera to the scope.....

Mainly, basically there are none I can see with my AD filters. SII to a lesser extent and Ha seems to be the easiest and most get it right. I would say contrast is better in comparison to baader too. Which is not to say that baader filters are bad filters.

It's about the anti reflection properties I love my 5nm ADs but I paid 250 on average per filter when I got them and astronomik was 160 those prices have diverged significantly. I notice a significant difference from my 7nm baader filters that's for sure.

No you are not understanding at all. I am talking about the distance from the primary. If you put and extender into any location after the focuser it will move the focus tube inwards yes but it will not have changed how far back your sensor is located at all. It will still be located in exactly the same position as it was without the extention and hence it will still be placing the same forces onto the focuser. If your still having issues seeing that I am happy to produce a diagram tomorrow for you. Adam

But that won't change anything the mass of the camera and other equipment will still be the same distance from the pivot point irrespective of what spacers you add. The only thing you could do is place a spacer behind the focuser. But as I say above you really should not need to do that, these are solid focusers.

The focus position is the focus position you cant change it, the camera sensor will always land in the same place relative to the lens, I would not thing that any of this would trouble the focuser on an esprit 120 though, they are pritty solid things. Adam

Whatever you do dont buy rubbish just so you can get it in time for christmas day, if scopes are out of stock in the run up to christmas its becasue those are the good / popular models, you may end up buying twice, better to give him voucher for a astronomy shop or order something and give him a print out of information on what he is getting. Adam

Looks like something is binding in the drive, easy to adjust it if you know what your doing. Something just a little too tight and its binding then jumping. I have one on order and I fully expect to have to tune it out of the box. If you got it from FLO let them fix it for sure, done get a replacement as its just as likely to need adjusting. The AZ GTI is great when you give it a little attention from what I can tell but the QC is horrible. Adam

For galaxies dont use a filter unless you are in brottle 6+ for nebula get a duel narrow band filter. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/optolong-filters/optolong-l-enhance-narrowband-deep-sky-imaging-filter.html or https://www.firstlightoptics.com/optolong-filters/optolong-dual-band-l-extreme-filter.html depending on how deep your pockets are. Get the two inch an thread it onto a flattner / reducer / coma corrector, dont get the clip. The clip is just a 31mm filter in a mount it is silly that they want more for it than the 2 inch. Adam

https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/skymax-127-az-gti?_pos=6&_sid=5bb5fc7bd&_ss=r Looks like it's a little out of your budget in the states and out of stock. But it is the complete package.

In the UK at least it comes with what you need to start out. Red dot finder two eye pieces and a Barlow. Of you wanted a better eyepiece then you could start out with a zoom to make life easy. Assuming this package or similar is available via a local supplier, FLO ship internationally but it's out of stock. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html You won't get one in the UK at the moment but maybe more luck in the USA. Covid is causing supply issues. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-9-27mm-zoom.html It's always hard to recommend something when someone is asking for someone else as you can be sure of their area of interest. Adam

Skymax 127 on the AZ GTI mount is a combo I am planning on for solar system work. Personally while I think the big dob is a great option it's one you may regret in terms of size portability and ease of use. So you will need a place to keep it and he will need to learn to find targets himself.bthe skymax on the az gti mount is controlled from a phone and can find and track objects automatically.

What are you planning to image?

I actually have a preferance for the top version too. More natural far better resolution.

I completely agree one of the things I liked about the 100 was that you could have a fast scope without the reducer. Reducers are far harder to get right.

Yeah I know what they are likely going up to from the US prices and I can 100% say that they have officially moved into not worth it territory. I recommend they are avoided at the new price. They will only stay at that price if people are willing to pay it. Its already weird that the 5nm is about the same price as the 3nm. Get them while you can I guess. Adam

Another case of a DIY astronomer reinventing the wheel....