FLO

Not intentional. Honest 😇 The tripod and mount are only two from a long list of new products waiting to be photographed and added to our website. Only so many hours in a day ☕🙂☕

The tripods are new. The Alt-Az mounts are also new, kinda. (We now source both direct from the factory). Neither are on our website, but they soon will be.

Some photos of the FLO stall, taken just before doors open. We try not to set up 'shop' when attending events. Instead, we focus on new products and services. Our new Remote Observatory hosting project in Spain is ready for launch, so Grant is showing one of the imaging rigs available for lease, while another, in Spain, provides live views of the Sun direct to our stall 🌞 We have StellaLyra telescopes, including a 16" RC on an EQ8 mount that has been upgraded by Tony Owens' of Shebumi Astro Engineering. Tony is with us at the stall. So too, is Alverez from AstronScientific, with one of their Rotarian rotators. We also have telescopes from Takahashi, StellaMira, William Optics, Sharpstar and Askar - including the new Askar 65 PHQ Quintuplet. Some Paramount and iOptron mounts and, of course, cameras from ZWO. Oh, and our new parallelogram binocular mount. Designed entirely in-house, with help from some beta-testers (shown on right of photo 1). My colleagues on the stall are amateur astronomers. None are salespeople (we don't have a card-reader with us, so are unable to process payments). If, however, you like what you see and think you might buy later, please ask for a show discount code. Hope to see you there 🤗

It is real 🙂 We are currently playing with testing one here at FLO. The central focus position means it needs a riser when used with some astronomy mount saddles. Otherwise, we are impressed. We can't post a price or specification without WO's permission but, if they agree, it will be on our stall at Astrofest this Friday & Saturday. HTH, Steve

You are not alone. Astronomy is a science so attracts intelligent, decent, educated people. People with strong attention to detail and good observation skills. Qualities associated also with ASD 🙂

Eek! You are right. I am mistaking two customers. Sorry @pipnina 😳 I see now that pipnina is posting about a telescope that was not purchased from FLO, so when he contacted us, we put him directly in touch with Es. The other customer, the one I am confusing him with, purchased an Esprit-100 from us, so we are making arrangements for him and handling collections/deliveries/redeliveries. I need more coffee! ☕ Steve

In fairness, your Esprit-100 is around three years old and the pinching is so very slight. We advised you it is not worth trying to correct it. All telescopes, if you look hard enough, have an aberration of one type or another. None are perfect. We offered to send it to Es' because we can tell it is upsetting you, you purchased it from us (the TS-Photon & 130mm f6.6 were not purchased at FLO) and we like to help. I don't know where that figure came from. Not us. The cost of collection, delivery to Es, and then collection and redelivery to the owner is normally around £30 total. If Es thinks he can sensibly improve the aberration - he will. He charges £75 per hour. Most adjustments are made within an hour. At FLO we are charging only what it costs us (Es' charge and courier costs). We are not profiting from this situation. @pipnina Your glass is currently half empty. It happens to all of us at one time or another. It is like the weather. It will pass 🙂 Best wishes, Steve

The morning after, so back at my desk. I see yesterday afternoon, Ian emailed you saying we would arrange for Es' to check your telescope if you wish. For your peace of mind. You replied that you wanted this to happen, so Ian arranged collection for Monday. All this before I replied to you here at SGL. I know from experience how two conversations, one here and another with a colleague via email, can confuse, so I'll bow out and leave you in Ian's capable hands 🙂 HTH, Steve

I understand you are already talking with my colleague, Ian. Kinda. It is after hours so I am not at my desk but my colleague, Ian, did mention this earlier today. He said (after looking at the images you emailed him) the pinching was only very minor, and not present at all until recently. I don't know if he communicated this to you, but when speaking with me, his opinion was it isn't worth your spending money trying to correct such a minor aberration. He was concerned chasing it down, to perfection, would only introduce another. HTH, Steve

Hi @bosun21 Sorry to hear your focuser wasn't correctly set up. Our office is closed over the weekend, but if you email us, we will send a new focuser and arrange a collection for the offending one when we reopen Monday. Nice and easy 🙂 HTH, Steve PS: I am visiting family this weekend, so I might not see your response here at SGL until Monday.

Yes. We were Vixen's largest UK retailer. Vixen moved their distribution from Opticron in the UK to Bresser in Germany. Unfortunately, as a UK retailer, we can no longer offer Vixen products at competitive prices. Yes. Bresser Germany owns Bresser UK. It is their website. Precisely. HTH, Steve

We hope you enjoy the Christmas / New Year hols. However you choose to spend them 🎅🎄🔭 2022 has been another extraordinary year! Your optimism and enthusiasm for astronomy continue, so - thanks to you - we and SGL continue to be in good health. We are hugely grateful for your support and appreciate every order, every referral and every review. You are at the centre of everything we do 🤗 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Alex, Annette, Ann, Chris, Cody, Dave, Grant, Ian, James, Katie, Lee, Maggie, Matt, Michael, Rob & Steve.

It's nearly Christmas 😀 🎅🎄🔭 Delivery before Christmas can no longer be assured but we will continue dispatching orders until midday Friday. Similarly, in-stock items ordered at our website can be collected, before midday Friday, from our warehouse. (Please email to confirm the collection date so we can prepare your items).

Good point, well made. Earlier today, I spent twenty minutes writing a post explaining spherical vs parabolic, then abandoned it because I thought it was too deep a dive for what are, after all, budget beginner telescopes. Your post reminded me I wrote a blog post five years ago comparing the 130 vs 130p. The f/4 Heritage 100 needs a parabolic mirror. The f6.3 Ursa Major 102 does not. It has been designed with a longer focal length to enable a spherical mirror. This is good because spherical mirrors are easier (cheaper) to manufacture with high surface accuracy. And the money saved can be spent on other things, like a collimateable cell and Plossl eyepieces. Steve

The Sky-Watcher Heritage 100p is a good beginner telescope, but it has already sold out. ETA April 2023! We thought this might happen, Sky-Watcher has a lot of retailers in UK, so we sourced these alternative tabletop Dobsonians. Ursa Major tabletop Dobsonians When you compare specifications (f6.3, collimateable mirrors, Plossl eyepieces), you will see they are worthy alternatives. Steve

Perhaps later 🙂

It doesn't matter. Adding virtual dimensions was easy. Now everyone is happy 🙂 And @markse68 was right. We had some typos on our product pages. It is good he mentioned this. Steve

This isn't unusual. We always fix typos when found. Though today I have been extra quick because I am in bed with a laptop recovering from Covid. I mean, I have nothing else to do 🙂 Steve

Done 🙂 In our specification tables, we now list physical dimensions (from the schematics) and virtual dimensions (from Don). StellaLyra Ultra Flat Eyepieces Thank you to @markse68 for mentioning this and to @Don Pensack for the virtual dimensions. Steve

We didn't have the schematic when making our product pages. It arrived after. Yes. Probably. So, if we list both 'Physical Field Stop Diamaters' and Don's 'Virtual Field Stop Diamaters' on our product pages, are we then covered? 🙂 Steve

Perhaps, but unlikely. We added them to our website only about one week ago (later than planned). They will most likely be purchased by a Mum & Dad for their son or daughter. The telescopes will perform well, so I doubt it will be an issue. If it is, they are welcome to return it for a refund (it would need to be a refund because we are unaware of a better tabletop Dobsonian available at the same price). HTH, Steve

Oh dear, this is embarrassing ☺️ The mirror spec' on Orion's website is correct. The mirror has a spherical surface. So the spec' on our page is wrong. Sorry. This sometimes happens when we duplicate and edit another product page from a similar model. Spherical mirrors are easier (cheaper) to manufacture with high surface accuracy. We have removed the reference to parabolic. We bought these tabletop Dobsonians direct from the factory because we were concerned supply of other similar models would sell out before Christmas. Thank you for noticing the eyepieces. They are noticeably better than those supplied with other similar telescopes. HTH, Steve

The following manufacturer/supplier sales end in approx two weeks: ZWO Black Friday / Christmas Promotion 2022 SharpStar and Askar Black Friday / Christmas 2022 Offers Baader Holiday Special 2022

For scale, here's one carrying a Sky-Watcher 10" Quattro f/4 Newtonian.

At home (a village in Devon) Evri is one of our best couriers. I know, it surprised me too. They employ a nice lady, Polish I think, who always delivers with a smile. My wife and I noticed she was starting to look a little stressed. We decided to give her a Christmas tip early but by the time I reached the door she was already back in her van, putting it into reverse. I raised my arm and then walked to her. She looked worried as I approached and asked if there was a problem. I said no problem, we just want to say thank you, then handed her the tip. She gripped my hand tightly with both of hers, close to tears. It was clear she was having a very difficult time. Lots of customers complain directly to her about delays. I hope we don't lose her. During Covid, she was considered an essential worker. Steve