Northernlight

Ok maybe i have - but have any customer actually had their mounts delivered ?

Well hate to say i tried warning everyone about this guy and i got shot down in flames.  Many years ago i warned about mark from an astro company who he was supposed to be doing work and "allegedly" took the money for contract to produce some goods and did not deliver on them.

Anyone who has given him money needs to speak to their bank and put forward a fraud claim or get the police involved as he's taken peoples money under false pretence of having a product which never existed - all he ever had was an idea and nothing more.

It's good to see these mounts finally shipping after some many years of delays and design changes.  I really hope the mount performs well, so people are rewarded for their patience.   Looking forward to seeing some real world guiding and point accuracy numbers.

In the end I gave up on both Ts & Lacerta

I placed an order with TS and after 4 months they hadn't even started building my scope and just gave a different excuse each time, so i cancelled the order.  I then talked to Telesckop Austria about their new lacerta but gave up on that as  the launch date just got delayed further and further.

In the end I got sick of waiting and just bought a 10" Quattro and upgraded the springs & focuser as well as adding a primary mirror mask and so far it seems to be working well, as i get nice tight stars edge to edge with the Skywatcher Apalantic coma corrector.

2 minutes ago, Neil27 said:

I think it is shipping, but alas too late for me as I went the Mesu route. I really hope it is a success and wished Mark all the best after a lengthy correspondence. Only time will tell regarding its performance.

Indeed, but we need to see the mount 1st. The shipping post you tagged from 24th of Feb, stated mounts were shipping - So in 4 weeks of shipping nobody got their mount ? are they being delivered via mars. I really wanted to Mark to succeed, but i really dont trust JTW anymore- so i'm still saving for a mesu which is tried and tested.

Hi Neil,  I've lost count how many times JTW claimed to have been shipping these mounts, so i would take anything they post with a truck load of salt, not just a pinch. This is why i'm asking if there is anyone on the  forum who actually has one in their possession, as not seen anyone posting about the mount praising it or otherwise.  If it has genuinely started shipping i would have expected people to be posting review of the mount and it performance. 

Stayed away from following or commening on this thread for quite a while - Did anyone ever get a JTW trident ?  or are there any reviews of it ?

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply  - I took the leap and bought a set of CatsEye collimation tools and boy what a difference having a 2" Cheshire makes. The combination of the Blackcat XLS 2" cheshire  and the Blackcat Xl for the primary make thing so much easier. Now the Catseye XKLP auto collimator - i'm not a fan of that - as i really struggled with it.

The good news is that i sorted my collimation and it looks so much better now.

Cheers,

Rich.

apparently they are not available until end of Fed, so a bit of wait to get my hands on one. I'll do proper review once i get one.

I guess for imaging - contrast is less important than visual - for me it'a about holding collimation across the sky better

Hi John, was that for visual or Imaging ?  It's good news if there is very little impact on diffraction spikes as i only want one of these CNC cells to stiffen up the front of the scope as i think the oversized secondary of the Quattto Series flexes the standard spider vanes as it moves across the sky.

Going to have a look online to see if i can see any imaging examples.  I can only assume they help with holding collimation and dont have too much of a detrimental impact on the diffraction spikes as all the high end scopes are using them.

Hi Mark, here is the link to the 10" one, but they also do a 8" version, but they are bloody expensive

https://www.telescopi-artesky.it/en/artesky/tuning/5087-retrofit-secondario-artesky-per-newton-250-skywatcher-8055517137109.html

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone out there had upgraded their secondary spider to use one of these CNC secondary cells ?  just looking for some feedback to see how much of a difference they make - primarily interested from a collimation perspective, but also interested to see how much it impacts your diffraction spikes.

Cheers,

Rich.

So you think this is secondary rotation error ??

Hi All,

I recently bought a SW Quattro  and in the process of setting it up.  So far i'm seeing some strange things during the setup process.  I've used a 2" concentric  tool to setup the secondary and in the tool the secondary appears perfectly central and presenting a perfect circle but the inner circles appears oval shaped as per Image A below.

looking down a cheshire sight tube - The black shadow which appears oval is more obvious as per Image B.   So not sure what is causing this - i.e.is it tilt in the focuser or maybe rotation or tilt error on the secondary.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Rich.

Image A

Image B

Hi All,

I'm setting up a new ES HR coma corrector and initial testing shows coma only on the left side of the image. I know the spacing between my camera and coma corrector isn't quite perfect as i'm waiting for some fine tuning adapter - Is this likely to be some sort of tilt issue. ? Maybe on the focuser 

Cheers Rich,

you all make fair points - i just think that there is a much larger choice of OSC camera when compared to options available for mono in the consumer market these days, whilst going back 5-10 years ago the market for camera was predominantly mono, so i think there has definitely been a transition to more people wanting OSC than mono.

Hi All,

I just recieved my new 10" Skywatcher Quattro yesterday  and  noticed that the light baffles only come half way up the tube - Is this another chnage in design, as I thought  on previous earlier models i thought that the baffled came 3/4 of the way up the tube, i.e. 75% of tube covered vs only 50% 

I might have it all wrong and that they  always had 50% of the tube covere din baffled, so would love to hear from other quattro owners.

Cheers,

Rich.

Mark,

I just tried a heavy 2" Barlow in the draw tube and i can tell you it is a very snug fit and the self centering adapter works flawlessly and seems rock solid with absolutely zero flop. i know i haven't attached it to the scope yet - but i am very impressed with what i have seen so far.

Rich.

Hi Mark,

I'll be posting an update once it's fitted if my quattro ever arrives.  In the meantime, i might nip to the shed and put a 2" eye piece in the drawtube and see how well it holds it. 

you want a really short draw tube - the shorter the better as it makes it far more rigid.  You can also use extension tubes, which then doesn't impact on the sturdiness of the draw tube mechanism. 

wow lots of views of this post and no comments. I genuinely thought there would have been more interest in a high quality direct replacement focuser for Skywatcher 8" & 10" scopes.

Hi All,

Not sure if anyone is interested, but i just did a video review of the Lacerta 508N OctoPlus 2 focuser, which is designed for 8"/10" Skywatcher Newtonians, which i'll be fitting to my Skywatcher Quattro 10" when it arrives.

I've been looking for a solid focuser replacement for the stock Skywatcher one that doesn't cost crazy money like the FeatherTouch focuser, but is equally well built and smooth and I stumbled across the Lacerta focuser. Looking on the net, there wasn't much information about it or many reviews, so i wanted to do a quick review to share my thoughts on the focuser and hopefully it might be of interest and useful to other.

Information about the focuser

• Weight - 995g
• Draw Tube travel - 20mm
• Drawtube - Has 4 reinforcing bars & 8 bearings to keep it perfectly centered with minimal flex. 
• Drawtube  - Has a self centering / locking adapter built in.
• Drawtube - threaded to allow direct connection of coma correctors
• Designed specifically for 55-56mm back focus coma correctors.
• Base plate is direct replacement for skywatcher one - i.e. no drilling
• Height wise - Focuser sits around 75mm above your tube

Lacerta 508N OctoPlus 2" Focuser Review    (   <---- Youtube Video Review)

Cheers,

Rich.

Cheers MarkAR, i'll give that a try tonight and see, how i get on, as it's the stars that i have the biggest issue with.