davekelley

I have had a few problems with alignment! Perhaps this is the key...........

This seems a silly question but telescopes come with scant instructions no matter how sophisticated or expensive! So, is it of any importance when mounting a mak on an azgti wifi, that the scope must be mounted on the left side of the mount (left as in the direction the scope is pointing, as you stand behind it), and does the mounting screw need to be at the top ? Every pic I have seen shows the ota mounted in this way and I've only just realised it. will this have an effect on the goto accuracy? I feel a bit silly asking but I'm sure one or two of you will have the answer. Thanks Dave

Thanks. So the BBHSis noticeably better than those prisms? I should go with that thank you. Like you say it's a one off payment and you get a lifetimes use. Also, I can sell a few bits I don't really need anymore.....put that towards it.....

I do have AZ GTI WIFI, I have only tried it a few times and found it not to be very accurate. I'm not very good with the finder and have added a telrad, I think that will help with me setting it all up. I would be prepared to buy a 1.25" Baader BBHS if the total came to £250 or so, all I can seem to find is the 4" and the 1.25" non zeiss or tax prism. Is the BBHS worth the extra? I'd stretch to it if you think it's a lot better. Thanks

That's interesting but the BBHS costs more than my OTA! Quite a lot more. I'm not sure I want to spend £400 on a diagonal. Would a Baader T2 (not zeiss) be an improvement over the stock mirror diagonal that came with my scope? (skymax 127). I might even stretch to the zeiss at about £250 if that makes a lot of difference....I think £400 is just not on really.....

I have owned both these scopes and I sold the 100ed. I won't be selling the mak. I'm no expert and I'm only an occasional, casual observer, and I liked the views in the ed but for some reason I prefer the views in the mak, it seems to pull in more light somehow, and get more pinpoint stars, it's a lot more manageable, takes up no space and I like the simplicity of alt-az/goto! For someone like me, with poor skies, and I've owned dobs from 150-300mm as well, the mak is the perfect compromise. It would be very easy to take it out somewhere really dark as well it packs away so small.

I have heard about the spikes. I think I'm confusing myself! I'm not having spikes! erect image prisms are just for terrestrial? I'll have to be careful choosing.

I really like a telrad zero magnification finder! Once I'm looking through an optical finderscope, I get lost in all the stars, I find I have no idea what I'm looking at! I like to use telrad/red dot/rigel, then widest tfov eyepiece I have, tolocate an object! It's horses for courses I suppose!

Oh! Thanks for that, I assumed a prism produces a correct image?

This is all good news. I had always thought that there was a big trade off in image quality if you wanted an erect image. I shall make the Baader my next purchase

I have always believed that a mirror diagonal, especially a dielectric one, produces a brighter and sharper image than a prism. I've never tested it out it's just something I read a long time ago and have always taken as fact. Lately I have been reading that, on long focal length scopes, a prism will give noticeably better images, brighter, more contrast, no false colour etc. as well as the nice advantage of producing an erected image. I have a 127 starmax and I want to upgrade the diagonal. What's the best way to go? I have a telrad because I find upside down back to front images in the finder just annoying and I think a combination of telrad + prism diagonal would suit me so well. Having said that, my scope is goto so it shouldn't really be an issue, I just haven't quite got the goto to go to anything very well yet! I like to keep things simple. I was looking at a baader t2 90 deg prism. Any thoughts or experienced user observations would be excellent thanks folks. regards Dave

I've confused myself. My Speers is a 13.4mm, hyperion is 24mm.. I bought they hyperion for maximum fov, to use as a finder/general low-ish power ep. It is going to prove to be a far more useful ep. My Nirvahas came in boxes marked "Helios" but it's all GSO is it not?

I was surprised at the Hyperion beating the Nirvanas and especially the Speers-waler, but I guess under far from perfect conditions, lower power often produces better results, however the Hyperion 13.4 was quite a lot better than Nirvana 16mm imo. I don't like the size of the Hyperion or the fact that the rubber eyeguards fall off too easily, and it's difficult to tighten the holding screws due to the fat shape, but definitely the best view by far.

Just popped outside, skies not yet fully dark, Saturn and Jupiter Skywatcher 127. Just comparing views with various budget level swa ep's. Conditions not ideal planets low in the sky and fov includes partial buildings but same conditions for each eyepiece. Nirvanah 16mm, nice views of both planets, bright, sharp, no real surface detail visible due to conditions, Nirvanah 7mm...image goes a bit mushy now can't get sharp focus but very bright, very nice views of both planets, Speers Waler 13.4mm, loss of brightness and not quite as sharp as either of the Nirvana's! Finally 24mm Hyperion, best view of saturn by far, small but tack sharp and loads of contrast, jupiter not so great but it's so low in the sky. GSO 32mm plossl gave nice view also but very low power. Given that the Hyperion provides the maximum FOV possible for this scope and the sharpest most contrasty image, it gets the thumbs up here! Odd because people laud the Speers on here and seem to diss Hyperions somewhat. Just my little opinion folks. I'm surprised but it's interesting. Clear skies Dave

thank yoy for that. I have ordered a 16mm and a 7mm. What do you use for the occasional bright DSO, M13, M57, M15, M27 etc...?

Skywatcher 127 Mak with AZ WIFI. What is going to work best for this scope I know the BST eyepieces are great but craving a larger fov I am tempted by the Nirvanah line. Maybe I could go for a 25mm BST and then 16mm and 7mm Nirvanah? I know they are all good eyepieces and the prices are not a problem. I havepoor skies so it's bright nebula and planets/double stars I'd be looking at. I have seen that the starguider ep's do amazingly well on planets, especially at the cost!! Do the Nirvanah perform just as well but with the larger fov or is some sharpness/contrast lost? Thanks everybody.

Well skies are predicted for tonight so I shall be re tightening everything, resetting the alignment and trying again. One small thing mentioned in the app instructions is that the final slewing direction in the centering for alignment purposes has to be up and right. Something so casually mentioned but perhaps significant. I shall report back hopefully with better results this time.

I am quite confused as to how I load the firmware update onto the mount. If I download the file to my pc how do I get that onto the mount? Or can I download directly into the mount?

I've got power saving turned off and wifi on. I do seem to have bugs my phone is always complaining that this or that app has "stopped working" My phone is rubbish. Having said that, when I do an alignment and confirm the position of Jupiter and then Deneb, why then if I ask it to goto Jupiter, does it get nowhere near? How can that happen? I already told the scope exactly where Jupiter is located!

Yes I have the clutches tightened as it says in the instructions that will give best results! the options I get in "Alignment" are "Brightest star" (which is a 2 star method) and "North Level" which also asks you to confirm 2 stars!! No 3 star option. reading reviews of the mount everyone says that even the 1st star in the process should be somewhere in the fov in a 32mm plossl. I don't even get it in the fov of the finderscope. It's beginning to really bug me now!! Dave

I am beginning to think it could be my phone that is the issue, the app keeps hanging up. I'm not sure it is even feeding the mount the right coorninates. the app says 51,55N 2,06 W. If i google Cheltenham UK I get 51,89N 2,08W. I am hoping someone on here will know if that small variation should make such a big difference? You'd think I'd still be getting pretty close? I'm not going to give up on this I really want to get this thing working ! Clear skies Dave

The scope tries to slew to Jupiter, it should at least put the planet in the fov (32mm plossl) but it's nowhere close. I have slewed it and centred it, and then it will slew to the next star, and be miles away from that! i can centre that star and then confirm alignment, then even if I ask it to goto jupiter, it'll be nowhere near!

I have to say, I thought I detected a tiny "notch" on the extension tube, I thought I lined up one of the screws and tightened everything up correctly, I did a level and north align, then there were no stars tonight very overcast but I started a 2 star alignment with Jupiter which was peeking out from the clouds.....the bloody scope was nowhere near jupiter. Again, it went off looking in the right direction but it was miles off. I am extremely frustrated with this now. I assumed this thing would be idiot proof! Could it be down to my phone being a bit rubbish? so depressed with this.