Greymouser

That is the thing, I would want to be using the eyepieces I already have and none of them are a Panoptic! 😜 Encouraging to see it is a possibility though, shame it could still be an expensive experiment, a gamble.

That was the sort of thing I was hoping to do with the Skywatcher 50 ED, but it seems it will not work with a diagonal, or at least as far as I can find out, hence this thread, in the vain hope of someone showing me how, it would be ideal I suspect. I think Skywatcher have missed a trick with the design of that, how much more difficult would it have been to make it work with a diagonal? It would then have been a three in one: A guide scope; a spotting scope and an ultra light astro travel scope. A must buy, for me at least. @Nyctimene I had seen that spotting scope and whilst it seemed like a good idea, it would have been more than I was willing to pay for at the moment and it does not take eyepieces as far as I know. Edit: I was wrong, it will take some eyepieces! @Stu: Your example looks great, but again too expensive, unless I was very lucky to find one at a reasonable price second hand. Perhaps I should ask about monopods too, though I have already seen your thread on one, which unfortunately for me, is out of stock on Amazon at the moment. I think it seems that a plain ED monocular is the favourite so far, unless I go the Mighty Mak 60 as suggested by JeremyS, which does look very cute. I could afford to get both that and the monocular too, still have change from the other ideas... You can never have too many optical devices. Can you?

OK, so I may be getting a little obsessed with making things as light as possible, but just how lightweight can you get with a setup? I was kinda hoping that the EvoGuide 50 ED would provide me with a possibility, combined with a monopod, but it seems it is a no go, probably because of the lack of a prism working with it. I would want at least the availability of using a prism, for terrestrial use. Has anyone managed to make this work? If so, it has many uses and would be great. If not what else is usable as an ultra light set up? My eyes will not let me use my binoculars any more and I am considering an ED monocular, but the no altering magnification is annoying. I have seen the expensive spotting scopes, but they are just too high a price I think for me at the moment. Edit: @StarryEyed I want it light for what I hoped was an obvious reason: take anywhere, any time. Also I want to look at anything, any time I would have otherwise used binoculars, which I no longer can.

When I got my C5 from FLO, they were also selling the C6 for exactly the same price: £499, though have put the price up now. I also considered the Astro Fi, but after seeing a review for it on You tube was put off, as it was stated that the wifi aspect of the mount was poor. Edit: @JG777 In fact I have just discovered there is one seller still selling the C6 for £ 499. the SE OTA in this case. https://grovers.biz/optics/optical-tube-assemblies/7200-celestron-c6-6se-orange-ota-050234101097.html

Yes, very happy and healthy birthday Gina.

That was my first thought too, but I was dissuaded by several people telling me that the SLT mount was not that good, had problems. I got the Omni one, which basically got me a CG4 Mount and tripod for very little. It is not a goto mount, but I already had one of those and I intend to get a AZGTi for the C5. ( It's on a Horizon tripod at the moment. ) The CG4 is basically a EQ3-2 mount, but is better than the Skywatcher one, with a heavier payload capacity. I am not sure what I will do with the CG4 yet. It is just a shame that the two companies cannot get it together properly, after all they are owned by the same parent company. A C5 on a AZGi would be a great package.

The link on FLO seems to be for a V5 controller? I think they are saying that is the one to use now. I agree the buttons are better, as I found out on a very cold night last winter, with my Celestron Evolution mount. I also found it very annoying when the app crashed and the tablet went to home screen, very bright! I agree the app from Celestron is based on Skysafari and when it works, it is very decent. Just a shame the Evolution mount is not fit for a backpack!

Not really, the only answer I got was that it is an error of the human kind. I ended up getting the C5 for a travel scope and mighty fine it is, but it is not the weight stated the the advertising. I cannot remember the discrepancy, but think it is lighter than they stated.

Interesting thread, thank you. I would add a question regarding the AZGTi: I have read that you can use it via a hand controller as well? If so which one and how well does it work with it? I would like the option, if/when I get an AZGTi, as I doubt the wifi aspect being reliable, probably without foundation, but I have always been a belt and braces man!

I got a new eyepiece today, via FLO, of course. Heard and read so much good stuff regarding these eyepieces and my wife said she would buy me one to try. It feels good; light and compact; I am looking forward to trying it out. Of course, as you can see, it came with the obligatory clouds and rain. I am sure it has been asked loads before and it is a decent marketing ploy from FLO, but does anyone know which of them @FLO is the rain wizard? A half decent song, with appropriate lyrics and great drumming. Bringing magic to our land?

I have the 9.25 Evolution and love it, though it is not perfect. The OTA is excellent; the mount/tripod is excellent, but to be honest I feel that they are not that well matched. I would say Celestron is pushing things and the mount could have done with being a little larger, as well as the 9.25 being at the limit, weight wise. The OTA has a tendency to collide with the mount as you near the zenith, especially if you use the larger 2" diagonal. ( Which I bought separately. ) It is avoidable, to an extent, but the stability of the OTA is then affected, in my opinion, others disagree! I have also used my C5 on the mount and intend to use a small refractor on it too. It is in fact a great mount and comes with the hand controller, which makes life much easier, as the control from the app is annoying, at least when it is cold. Decent when warm and you don't need any tactile sensation to help you find the buttons. To be honest I also find using the tablet to control things can be annoying, particularly when the app crashes, which it can do. Then there is the effect it can have on my night vision, which is also annoying, even in night time mode. The mount/tripod for the 9.25 is heavier duty, I think than for the 6/8. Not sure if that is just the tripod, or the mount as well. Also there is a company which sells the mount separately, but confusingly pictures the 9.25 mount for sale, but states it is the 6/8 mount, which their picture is not. You would need to check up on that to be sure. https://grovers.biz/optics/home/7518-celestron-nexstar-evolution-6-8-mount-tripod.html

Thank you for that. I remember that you posted a little chart with such information for June, would it be very cheeky to ask you to do it for each month? They would be hard to miss then, even put it as a sticky maybe for us forgetful ( lazy? ) people. Speaking of the GRS, I tried to explain why/what I was trying to view, when looking for this in June to my 17 year old son. He had no interest, didn't even know what I was talking about. I have tried, but it is all a bit: I am a little bit ashamed, but will keep on trying to pry him away from Fortnite... Edit: By the way, if I wasn't enjoying your posts so much, I would demand you; John and others would stop with your astro porn. I have just had a look at the Orion optics website and I may have drooled a little bit...

I can see from the photos that it comes with quite a lot of extras. You would be getting a real bargain I suspect, assuming the optics are in decent condition, and from everything else on show, they will be. In fact I would guess you would have to pay well over £2000 for all that new. £ 1945 just for the CPC, according to FLO. Bite her hand off and consider yourself lucky you cannot be done for highway robbery! 😜

Just to tie off this loose end, so to speak: It seems as though it would be better to avoid the cheaper focuser, wait until I can afford the Moonlite, which allows the reducer to be included without a problem. Something to think about. As for the cap on the C5, it seems that I will have to use tape after all which is a little disappointing, but I will live with it.

Now you have confused me even more, I am sure I used the reducer, without the 2" back. I will check tomorrow. Edit: @paul mc c Ah, I misread your post, now re-reading it I understand what you were saying. Still leaves me a little confused though, because several say it is a no go, i.e. crayford and reducer; but @Owmuchonomy says it can be used. Unless that was with their particular crayford, because kirkster501s' linked article did say some made this possible. Another thought/question occurs, if adding a crayford alters the focal length, which I can get my head around, just how much does the focal length alter as you add and remove other things from the back of a SCT?

To be perfectly honest, life is too short to consider that for too long. Where do you draw that line? We cannot take it with us. Not that we have that much to spare, it would be instead of a holiday too I guess...

I was hoping to still be able to use the reducer, but some people say both cannot be used, together that is. kirkster501 linked an article which says it cannot be doe with most crayford focusers: So could you, or anyone else for that matter, tell me which is true please? I am confused with this apparent contradiction. 🤔

To be honest, not that I have noticed, that much. I just listen too much to what others say I guess, about the benefits of that fine focus, which I do miss from when I used my Newtonian. Fine focus is just so useful sometimes. It is very difficult to get decent focus on my C9.25 sometimes. For some reason, far easier on my C5...

Quite expensive though and considering two things, I will give that a miss I think, at least for now. There is a crayford focuser out there, on offer with 33% off, ( or so, ) which puts it at £86.10 It is just too tempting, even though it is perhaps offering me some extent of duplication, as I already have an adapter, allowing me to use two inch accessories. It is just so tempting though, even though it is not the best make, it will give me an idea, with little risk, if I should get a more expensive one in the future.

I still have my Hamlyn Guide to Astronomy and my 50mm Greenkat refractor, which funnily enough I just recovered from the nether regions, with the intention of giving it a go again. I was even going to get an adapter so I can use 1.25" eyepieces in it. It seems in decent nick and I just cannot bring myself to bin it. I still have the 6mm; 12.5mm and 20mm H eyepieces. Countless hours trying to find deep sky stuff. I won't mention the screw in sun filter, for the eyepiece, which is still there too...

Thought I would add this here, just to round things off a little. Sorry about the poor quality and the mess at the top of my back garden! I really must tidy things up there. My spot is only about eight metres from the house, so my chance of viewing Jupiter, is only in the gap between ours and next door's roof. I will get about an hour, maybe a little less, but am looking forward to it, I just cannot get enough of it! The weather forecast is not so good for later on, so I will miss Saturn this time. There are some ripe Blueberries on the plant in the background, just in case I fancy a little snack!

I am starting this thread here, because both questions are a little basic and I thought they might be useful to others. The first one is about adding a Crayford style focuser to a C9.25 SCT telescope: Is there going to be any advantage to doing it? Or is it going to make negligible difference? I would rather not waste money on something that will make little difference. Secondly, I also have a C5, which I love and have as my travel scope. ( Though have not yet used when travelling! ) The thing is that the cover that goes over the end plate is not a very well fitted on and it has a tendency to fall off! The C9.25 one locks in place, but not the C5. So my question is: Is there an after market alternative that will better protect the corrector plate? If not, any suggestions to keeping the damn thing in place, other than tape, which I would rather avoid. Thank you in anticipation.

Perhaps I should have come to you first then, rather than FLO, seeing as you are a wiz with that 3D printer? 😉

I have been looking at this thread and considering the horrible shock you have had Gina, when you discovered the discolouration. It must have been horrific to be honest and the thought of such happening, has so far put me off storing my kit outside the house. I too have bought some wonderfluid recntly, just in case a major issue, but also to clean an older eyepiece and a telescope that was in a loft for years. ( Dry loft though! ) With my apparent paranoia in mind and considering another fairly recent purchase of mine, have you considered such as this from FLO? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/flo-125-2-inch-desiccant-cap.html They are desiccant caps that fit in the eyepiece holder part of the scope. I am not sure just how effective they are, the are only a small amount of desiccant, but they give me some piece of mind in my SCT telescope. Even though I only store them in the spare room! Just a suggestion like, for future piece of mind...

I was out last night with the C9.25, observing Jupiter, which these photos do not show very well, but... Only had about an hour of viewing between the rooftops, but hey every little helps eh? Got to say, I was surprised with the view, I got a decent amount to see, but to be honest I do wonder if I got better last Thursday with my C5. What's that all about then? Logic dictates that the C9.25 would be better at higher mag and brightness. Was the seeing so much worse last night? I have so much to learn...