Alan White

My First Newt a Skywatcher Explorer 150p f5, what a sky surfing simple set up it was.....

And we all know just how good its being too, nice that you have joined the Newt Brigade.

Now that looks an interesting read, please feed back on how it reads.

Nice one John, something I really desire myself.

John I looked at one at the IAS last year and it’s quite a bit longer than my ED80, but how much was quite a surprise. Good luck with your purchases.

I will be interested in which way you go J. I keep being tempted by this or similar scopes to sit with my ED80. I have a Skytee 2 and have just bought a Berlebach Uni 28 Tripod to sit it upon and also an Altair Sabre 2 as well. Cannot comment as of yet as its not all arrived yet. That 102 F11 just looks so yummy, the red is now growing on me.

Interesting mount, clearly developed from existing AZ Gti. Any ideas of price yet?

Now that is old school style, like it Dave. Is this an older Ural or one of the newer ones? The Ural is an opposed twin if I remember correctly.

So reading the posts of ED and Dave, you do have it bad, but nothing wrong with that at all. It must be us low tech visual astronomers, I too am a classic fan of all things mechanical and optical, used to be into classic motorcycles too. Ed like the photography things you mention, I have a small collection of Rollei, Voigtlander, Olympus and other cameras, all still work.

Dave, that’s a very fine classic scope, wow. Slight scope envy going on in my head, very nice, I like older Vixen scopes a lot. Really look forward to the first light report.

Nice set up John, very nice indeed. Good luck with the baby sleeping!

If they are as nice as the Tak LE then I am sure they will great in your refractors, perhaps not the Vixen though..... how about I give you a fiver for the Vixen and save the upset ?

Nice set Dave, very nice indeed. Now know what the 7xl sale was about, or is that a other purchase?

I can only comment on the AZ4, Giro Ercole and Skytee 2. The AZ4 is indeed a solid mount and worked OK with my ED100, 150p f5 and ED80, but its a bit rough around the edges. The Giro Ercole is a bit big, beutiful and very smooth, but everything has to be spot on in balance, very nice mount, no idea why I sold it!! The Skytee 2 is biggest and heaviest with slow motions, agricultural finish and engineering, but it will support a lot and is rock solid. The OP was asking about the AZ5 which is a nice light mount and suited to smaller lighter scopes, but only when on a decent tripod.

Wookie you should be delighted, all the TV Plossls work well, the 20mm was my first TV eyepiece.

I said much the same thing when the 10XW I had arrived, it dwarfed all my other small eyepieces. Wonderful unit though, great views, enjoy.

Does that suggest the Equinox will hit the for sale boards soon? The plain lid idea I understand, but why not leave it in disguise and then surprise as the ED100 turns into a Tak, et Voila!

It certainly does for me Steve, my pockets are not deep enough or full enough for a Tak.

That shows how alike the ED100 is in size.

Clearly the SW 50mm finder is too good or cheap to replace with a hand made one.

Ah, the 4mm just needs to use The Force to protect it and other smaller EP.

But if you got hip and with it Jeremy the 23mm would be as small and light as the 4mm once de-cloaked

The Meade 3000 series started with the Japan made 9.5mm for me, it’s a very nice unit indeed. The new addition was available and Japan made too so I had to go for it, a slow burn collection, but I will collect Japan made ones as they become available and I have funds.