FLO

One 4tronix Secondary Mirror Dew Heater 100 x 70mm Elliptical Mirrors (12" Telescopes). Customer Return Wrong size ordered. Good condition, includes cables / adhesive strips. Open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £25.00 £22.00 (saving £3.00)

One iOptron GEM45-EC NUC GEQ GoTo Mount with iPolar, LiteRoc Tripod & Case. Ex Demo Brand new, unused open box demo. Full manufacturers warranty. £3,489.00 £2,791.20 (saving £697.80)

One iOptron CEM70-EC NUC CEM GoTo Mount with RA Encoder & iPolar. Open Box Brand new, unused open box demo. Full manufacturers warranty. £4,149.00 £3,319.20 (saving £829.80)

One Sky-Watcher 9x50 Right-Angled, Erecting Finderscope. Ex Demo Ex demo, good condition but missing lens cap. Scruffy packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £75.00 £67.00 (saving £8.00)

One StellaMira 1.25" 90º Di-Electric Diagonal. Ex Demo Ex demo, scruffy box otherwise excellent condition. Full manufacturers warranty. £69.00 £62.00 (saving £7.00)

One ADM Vixen-type Universal Dovetail bars 14 inch. Customer Return Didn't suit customers needs. Good conditions but some slight signs of use / light scratches. Repackaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £57.00 £51.00 (saving £6.00)

One Astrozap Light Shroud for RC Telescopes 10" RC. Customer Return No longer required. Good condition, open packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £80.00 £72.00 (saving £8.00)

One TS 3" Rack and Pinion Focuser M117. Customer Return Customer needed a different version. Good condition, open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £356.00 £320.00 (saving £36.00)

One Sky-Watcher Field Flattener for Esprit-80. Customer Return Returned due to a fault with the telescope purchased at the same time. Flattener in good condition but signs of use on the threads and missing the original dust cap and not in original box. Full manufacturers warranty. £139.00 £125.00 (saving £14.00)

One Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector - Photographic. Customer Return No longer required. Slight signs of use on threads / dust cap but overall good condition. Open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £151.00 £135.00 (saving £16.00)

One Sky-Watcher SynScan V5 handset. Customer Return No longer required. Tested, A-OK, good condition, open packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £159.00 £143.00 (saving £16.00)

One Asterion EQ3 Drive Kit Pro. Customer Return Didn't suit customers mount. Good condition, complete, open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £319.00 £287.00 (saving £32.00)

One iOptron CEM26 Center Balanced Equatorial GoTo Mount with 1.75" LiteRoc Tripod + Case + iPolar. Customer Return Customer changed their minds, new / unused complete with tripod and all accessories but open / scruffy packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £1,389.00 £1,250.00 (saving £139.00)

They already have. If you shop around you might find a retailer with pre-increase stock. HTH, Steve

Michael, think back to when we last met at Lucksall. Do you remember how impressed you were when using Grant's 16" StellaLyra Dobsonian? His telescope does the same. Here is a video he just sent me. In normal use people don't grip the top of their Dobsonian telescopes and shake them so the AZ bearings, designed for downward load, work well. Nothing to worry about. HTH, Steve videoplayback.mp4

Oh Michael. It is a large 12" Newtonian on a Dobsonian base that is, like you say, MDF boards screwed together. You could add some corner blocks or brackets if you want to make it stiffer but I doubt to will be worth your time. The telescope settles nicely when in use, when observing. For a Dobsonian this size it is par for the course. It is not faulty.

I find that hard to believe 🙂 So has my own 10" StellaLyra Dobsonian. I haven't yet tried the 12" model you own, Michael, but it sells well and looking through our customer returns records I cannot find a single Return. Literally - nobody - has returned one. (This is unusual because most Dobsonians are returned at one time or another, if only because the customer was surprised at how large it is). If you suspect your base is faulty then please email us to request another. That is good to hear 🙂 Indeed it would. The purpose and ethos of a Dobsonian telescope is to make large apertures and quality optics affordable. This is why the base is a simple flat-pack self-assembly design. When you buy a Dobsonian telescope you can be confident almost all your money is spent on the telescope. Not the base. This is good and how it should be. HTH, Steve

Unfortunately, yes. Pentax increased their prices 1st march. We had existing stock so was able to delay applying the increases for two weeks. We have set what we think are sensible retail prices, based on the new trade price list, but it'll be a while before prices settle. We'll check competition in a week or two then adjust if necessary. To be fair to Pentax, they haven't increased prices for a loooong time. Steve

We were not involved in the selection or voting but, FWIW, I like the chosen design. Easy - just drop us an email. Steve

An update regarding the new ZWO AM5 Harmonic Drive mount 🙂 ZWO have advised us the new mount will start shipping June (later than originally thought). They will not have the previously mentioned green laser pointer (because most countries have laws / regulations that prohibit the use of lasers for astronomy) but will instead have an additional 12V output. Also, the original plain black panel will feature the design shown below? (At FLO we will email everyone with an AM5 on backorder so they can choose which panel they prefer but thereafter all AM5 mounts will feature the new design). HTH, Steve

Thank-you for sharing your views on this eyepiece 🙂 We don't know but if the manufacture (Long Perng in Taiwan) does then we will definitely stock it. It is good to hear you confirm this important detail. Eyepieces, like telescopes, evolve over time (the StellaLyra series are sourced 2022 onwards). Steve

One Astro Essentials Flexible Dew Shield for 9.25" Telescopes. Customer Return Didn't suit customers scope, all good - open packaging. Full manufacturers warranty. £29.00 £26.00 (saving £3.00)

One Ocal Electronic Collimator. Open Box Arrived with a damaged box, contents new, unused, complete. Full manufacturers warranty. £169.00 £152.00 (saving £17.00)

One Dual-speed Crayford 1.25/2" for Sky-Watcher Explorer. Customer Return Didn't suit customers telescope. New condition, open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £139.00 £125.00 (saving £14.00)

One ZWO ASI 120MM Mini USB 2.0 Mono Camera. Customer Return Developed a fault during warranty, we replaced with a new one and this has been repaired by ZWO. Good condition, complete with all cables, open box. Full manufacturers warranty. £145.00 £130.00 (saving £15.00)